LOS ANGELES — Tanner Scott says he’s healthy after missing the last two weeks with an abscess excision. But whether he is added back to the Dodgers roster for the World Series remains to be seen.
Scott
was removed from the roster with the injury after three games in the Division Series against the Phillies, which made the left-hander ineligible for the NLCS roster as well.
“I feel a lot better now. There were a few days where it felt miserable,” Scott said Monday at Dodger Stadium. “I’m throwing, threw a couple of bullpens. I’ll see where it takes me. … I feel healthy. I definitely feel better than I did coming off that Phillies series. I wasn’t feeling great.”
The Dodgers held workouts at Dodger Stadium on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday night, and planned to hold another workout on Wednesday before flying to Toronto. The World Series starts on Friday, with Game 1 at Rogers Centre.
Scott had a trying first season of his four-year contract with the Dodgers, posting a 4.74 ERA and 4.25 xERA in 61 games, with 60 strikeouts and 18 walks in 57 innings. His 11 home runs were nearly double his total allowed (six) over the previous two seasons and 150 innings. Scott also led the majors with 10 blown saves.
Dodgers relievers have been like Maytag repairmen this postseason, rarely used with the rotation covering the overwhelming bulk of the load, plus starters Roki Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan, and Clayton Kershaw moved to the bullpen. Actual relievers have accounted for only 12 2/3 of 92 innings this postseason (13.8 percent). None of those innings have been thrown by Scott, who was active for five games before getting removed from the roster.
Scott last pitched on September 26. Game 1 of the World Series on Friday will be exactly four weeks later. The left-hander insists he’ll be ready to go.
“Playoff energy is different,” Scott said.
But whether he’s active is a different story.
“It’s good to see Tanner continuing to throw, and throw ’pens. It’s just trying to get a grasp on the doctors giving him a full green light to go ahead,” manager Dave Roberts said on a conference call Tuesday. “Really today I can’t answer that question. I know that he’s anxious, which is a good thing. Fortunately we’re going to see for a couple more days how he responds to throwing.”
During the National League Championship Series, the Dodgers carried 12 active pitchers on the roster not counting Shohei Ohtani. The Dodgers could add a 13th pitcher, at the expense of Hyeseong Kim or everyday Justin Dean. But it sounds like any roster change could be adjusting the mix of the pitchers. In the NLCS the Dodgers carried four right-handed relievers (Sasaki, Blake Treinen, Sheehan, Ben Casparius) and five left-handed relievers (Alex Vesia, Jack Dreyer, Anthony Banda, Kershaw, Justin Wrobleski). Neither Casparius nor Wrobleski have appeared in a game yet this postseason.
“We’re still in talks. There’s one spot that we could potentially kind of debate, and we’ll continue to debate,” Roberts said of the roster on Tuesday. “We haven’t made a decision, but outside of that one spot, it’s probably going to look exactly the same.”
World Series rosters are due on Friday morning.
