Dodgers make expected and necessary roster move after Justin Wrobleski disaster start

Losing Blake Snell to the IL threw an immediate wrench into the Dodgers' season with fewer than 15 games under their belts. Luckily, the Dodgers have the depth to cover for it if Snell's absence proves to be short. Still, the pitchers they called up were always going to be on a short leash, especially in the immediate aftermath of Snell's issues.

Justin Wrobleski was the first to get tapped. He started the season in Triple-A after a nice spring training and took the mound for his season debut against the Nationals for the Dodgers' second game in Washington DC. It proved disastrous; he gave up a single to the first batter he faced, and then top prospect James Wood hammered a two-run homer to give the Nats an early lead.

And it only got worse from there. Wrobleski walked in a run in the second, then gave up a two-run single, followed by three more Nationals runs on a sac fly and another Wood two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth before the lefty was finally pulled.

Keeping Wrobleski in for even that long was almost certainly an effort to preserve the bullpen, but it slapped the Dodgers with their fourth loss in five games and cemented a series loss for LA.

On Wednesday, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reported that Wrobleski no longer had a locker in the visiting clubhouse, and that Landon Knack would be getting the start on Wednesday.

Dodgers option Justin Wrobleski after eight-run season debut, call up Landon Knack

Knack made his season debut against the Cubs in Tokyo, pitching two innings behind a short start for Roki Sasaki. He gave up one hit, no walks, and struck out three in an admirable first go of things, but like Wrobleski, there wasn't room for him on the roster and the Dodgers sent him to Oklahoma City to wait in reserve.

Knack got more time on the mound than Wrobleski last season and was an important part of their World Series run, subbing in when most of the rotation was lost to injury. He appeared in the one game the Yankees managed to win during the Fall Classic and fared better than any of the other bullpen arms the Dodgers put up, going four innings and giving up just one run.

He didn't have quite as good a spring training as Wrobleski and has struggled a bit through 4 2/3 innings in Triple-A so far, but Wrobleski was the only pitcher the Dodgers' could've cut to accommodate another starter, and after the kind of blow up he experienced on Tuesday, such a move was needed.