Alex Reyes' season-ending surgery is another indictment on Dodgers front office moves

Again. It happened again. It feels like we've written this article 30 times over, but the Los Angeles Dodgers aren't giving us a reason to stop. The latest hit has come in the form of Alex Reyes undergoing his second shoulder surgery in 13 months, which will knock him out for all of 2023.

The Dodgers' bullpen was an utter embarrassment over the past week, getting shelled by the Reds and Phillies. Nobody is absolved of blame.

Reyes, the former closer for the St. Louis Cardinals, was brought aboard this offseason with the idea he would help fortify the unit later in the season along with fellow injured arms Blake Treinen, Daniel Hudson, JP Feyereisen, Jimmy Nelson and Walker Buehler.

On top of the status of all of those names being largely up in the air, Reyes' name can officially be crossed off the list. Another little fun $1.1 million down the drain. The Dodgers' micro risks have added up to a lot over the last few years and we are once again asking Andrew Friedman to stop doing this (Bernie Sanders voice).

And if the Dodgers even dream of picking up Reyes' $3 million club option for 2024, then they've really lost the plot.

Dodgers' Alex Reyes out for season after second shoulder surgery

There was a very evident reason the Cardinals non-tendered Reyes, who was projected to make $2.85 million in his final year of arbitration eligibility. The Dodgers thought they'd be getting away with murder signing him to a one-year, $1.1 million contract that could turn into a two-year, $4.1 million pact, and it's really, really difficult to see why.

Reyes has just 101 career MLB games under his belt. His entire career has been derailed by injuries, starting in 2017 when he needed Tommy John surgery. After returning in 2019, he spent most of that year on the injured list with pectoral, lat and finger issues and logged just 37.1 innings in the minor leagues.

He pitched in just 19.2 innings during the shortened 2020 and logged 6.4 BB/9. He had an All-Star season in 2021, but again had a concerning walk rate (6.5 BB/9) and struggled in his last 25 games of the year. Then came his shoulder issues, which knocked him out for all of 2022 and now 2023.

As we've said before, you'd think the Dodgers would've learned by now after their experiences with Nelson, Hudson, Treinen, Noah Syndergaard, Tommy Kahnle, Danny Duffy, Brusdar Graterol, Cole Hamels, Brandon Morrow, and possibly a few others we might be forgetting.

Reyes marks another sunk cost. Another arm baked into the future bullpen picture that won't pan out, leaving the Dodgers to make another move that will cost them more because they're on a more expedited timeline at the moment. If this front office has an Achilles heel, it's dealing with anything bullpen related, and it's badly affected the team's last three seasons of play.