Dave Roberts provides sobering update on Will Smith as Dodgers’ clock runs down

The Dodgers have been breathtakingly wrong about the status of their injured players a few times this season, but their most recent saga with Will Smith might be the worst instance yet.

On Sept. 3, Smith took a foul ball off of the hand and was taken out in the top of the third. Further imaging didn't reveal any breakage, so the Dodgers didn't put him on the IL, but they called up trade deadline acquisition Ben Rortvedt as insurance.

Smith made a start on Sept. 9 against the Rockies, but Dave Roberts admitted a few days later that playing had exacerbated the issue. The Dodgers finally put him on the 10-day IL on Sept. 13, retroactive to Sept. 10, when they could've had him resting, rehabbing, and shooting for the earliest possible return date much sooner.

Smith is eligible to come off of the IL on Saturday, but that almost certainly isn't going to happen. Roberts admitted that he's at a "standstill" and his return isn't imminent.

There's a distinct possibility that we won't see Smith during the rest of the regular season. It makes sense — the Dodgers want to give him as much time to rest and be ready for the postseason — but we can't forget that the Dodgers might not have found themselves in this position if they'd handled the whole thing better.

Will Smith's progression from hand injury is at a "standstill" while Dodgers struggle to clinch NL West

Rortvedt has shockingly emerged as a hero in the interim. He caught Yoshinobu Yamamoto's near no-hitter, Tyler Glasnow and the Dodgers' bullpen near combined no-hitter, Shohei Ohtani's five no-hit innings, and he'll catch Clayton Kershaw's last regular season start at Dodger Stadium against the Giants on Friday night. He's batting .294 with a .721 OPS as a Dodger and has been entrusted with the majority of starts behind the plate in Smith's absence.

Still, a Rortvedt-Dalton Rushing tandem in the postseason isn't ideal. Smith has been on the verge of a .300/.400/.500 season basically all year long, and he was batting .316 with a 1.119 OPS in his last seven games before officially going onto the IL. He has the best batting average and OBP of any Dodgers hitter this year and his slugging percentage is second only to Shohei Ohtani.

Rortvedt might fizzle offensively — Smith has been consistently excellent all year long. If the Dodgers can muddle through their last few games without him, fine, but everyone should be keeping their fingers crossed that he'll be right for the postseason.