Will Smith began his rehab assignment with a bang on Tuesday night, hitting a home run for Triple-A Oklahoma City while catching five innings. It was the first game action in 81 days for the Dodgers catcher, who has missed nearly three months with neck inflammation.
Blake Treinen has also been sidelined since June, and is four appearances and nearly two weeks into his own rehab assignment. If we see Treinen pitch in back-to-back games this week, that might be a sign he’ll rejoin the Dodgers bullpen
soon.
Smith and Treinen are both on the 60-day injured list, and will require a corresponding roster move to make room on the 40-man roster once they are ready. But they aren’t the only roster decisions coming for the Dodgers in the next 10 days.
Three other injured Dodgers pitchers have already started rehab assignments, and all are with Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Ben Casparius, out since April with shoulder inflammation, began his rehab assignment on July 25. He’s struggled mightily with more walks (14) than strikeouts (10) with a 7.27 ERA in 10 games, though a lot of those struggles were early, and four of his last five outings were scoreless.
Pitchers are allowed up to 30 days on a single rehab assignment, which meant a Casparius decision should have happened by Monday. But Major League rule 6(g) allows for flexibility if the player suffers a new or recurring injury:
If the player sustains a new injury or a reoccurrence of an injury while on a rehabilitation assignment, separate written consent from the player and approval from the Commissioner’s Office is required for a subsequent rehabilitation assignment. The Office of the Commissioner will carefully scrutinize any claim by a Club that a new rehabilitation assignment period is warranted if the player has not been returned from the original rehabilitation assignment for at least five days for a position player and seven days for a pitcher. A Club that decides to return a player from an injury assignment should notify the Commissioner’s Office at the time a decision is made to end the rehabilitation assignment. If it was determined that a new injury or reoccurrence of the player’s original injury occurred, the player’s five or seven day “down” period would begin on the date the Commissioner’s Office was originally notified. The player would then be eligible for a new 20 or 30 days rehabilitation assignment, pending the completion of the five- or seven-day period and the completion of a new SFD. If it was determined that there was no new injury or reoccurrence of the player’s original injury, then the player would return on rehabilitation assignment without any interruption.
SFD in this case is standard form of diagnosis. Casparius last pitched on August 19, a week ago, so it’s very possible he’s in a review period at the moment and might remain on the injured list for a while longer.
Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone are both coming off shoulder injuries, and started rehab assignments on August 5 and August 6, respectively, with means decisions will need to be made by September 4 for Miller and September 5 for Stone.
Stone, who last pitched for the Dodgers in August 2024, has been dominant thus far, striking out 13 of 28 batters faced while allowing two runs on three hits with only one walk in 7 2/3 innings. He’s set to start on Wednesday night for Oklahoma City against El Paso.
“Gavin, given where we’re at, what he’s done, I think it’s more potentially out of the ’pen, a spot start if he builds up,” manager Dave Roberts said two weeks ago. “Obviously between now until the end of September, roles can change, but for now it’s just let’s get him built up, let’s sustain health. That’s something we haven’t been able to do the last couple of years with Gavin.”
The Dodgers have eight total players on the 60-day injured list. Brusdar Graterol had back surgery in May and isn’t expected back this year. Kris Bubic was on the 60-day injured list when the Dodgers got him at the trade deadline, working his way back from shoulder soreness suffered while on the injured list with elbow soreness. Jake Cousins had Tommy John surgery last June and was at Dodger Stadium last weekend pitching a simulated game, putting him ahead of this group of three in terms of readiness.
Putting Casparius aside for the moment, the Dodgers will likely end the 60-day injured list stints of Smith, Treinen, Stone, and Miller within the next 10 days, which will require corresponding roster moves to create space on the 40-man roster.
Let’s look at those candidates.
60-day injured list
Will Klein (placed on IL August 1) has loose bodies on his right elbow, and while he told Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic last Friday that he’s symptom free, Klein still could miss some time. Catcher Dalton Rushing (August 3) has a partially-torn UCL, and whether he will be able to catch this season is up in the air. Rushing still could be added as an extra left-handed bat.
A 60-day IL transfer would mean Klein (September 29) and/or Rushing (October 1) wouldn’t be available until the postseason if at all, but that might align with their timeline anyway.
DFA candidates
The Dodgers have five catchers on the 40-man roster, and getting Smith back solidifies the depth chart, making it exceedingly likely at least one catcher will be on the outs. Eliezer Alfonzo is currently on optional assignment in Triple-A. One of Ben Rortvedt and Hunter Feduccia would likely be headed to the minors anyway with Smith back, unless the Dodgers decide to carry three catchers during expanded September rosters. Rortvedt is out of options, but the Dodgers are familiar with the DFA dance with him to try to keep him around as depth. Feduccia has an option season remaining, but sending him down for at least 20 days means he’d be out of options next year. Keeping him around now as the backup, allows them to have an optionable third catcher on the 40-man roster in 2027.
Landon Knack is using his third option season already this year, and will be out of options in 2027. That puts his long-term status on the roster in jeopardy anyway, making it likely his streak of one save per season won’t continue with the Dodgers next year.
Ronan Kopp was added to the 40-man roster last November, but has pitched this season like someone who won’t be there much longer. The hard-throwing left-hander has a 7.78 ERA and 6.23 xERA with more walks (41) than strikeouts (40) in 39 1/3 innings, with a 21-percent walk rate.
Ryan Ward has been perpetually an extra player who the Dodgers don’t have much use for, but at least he got to make his major league debut this year. His best shot at playing time in the big leagues is going elsewhere.
Hyeseong Kim hasn’t done much at all Triple-A, hitting .259/.327/342 with an 84 wRC+. He has one year and $3.75 million guaranteed remaining on his contract, plus a $10 million club option for 2028-29 combined with a $1.5 million buyout. Cutting bait now would mean eating $5.25 million
