Treinen goes on IL with sore shoulder
SAN DIEGO >> Another Dodgers pitcher has landed on the injured list with a sore shoulder and manager Dave Roberts thinks the shortened spring following MLB’s lockout is likely a factor.
“Yeah, I think so,” Roberts said Friday after the Dodgers placed Blake Treinen on the IL with shoulder discomfort. Andrew Heaney was placed on the IL with a sore shoulder following his most recent start.
“We did what we could to prepare them and not overtax them going into the season. But I think with any pitcher, the uncertainty of when we’re going to start (the season), if we’re going to start and then now we have a week to get ready for spring training — I think that certainly had some impact.”
Treinen pitched a scoreless inning in the Dodgers’ home opener against the Cincinnati Reds last week. But he said he was starting to feel some discomfort in his shoulder when he played catch before that game.
“There’s times you go through fatigue and soreness in the season and you just throw through it and find the light on the other side of it,” he said. “This one wasn’t really that way.”
Instead, Treinen said he woke up the next day “feeling pretty fatigued” and said something to the Dodgers’ training staff and coaches.
“Obviously you don’t want to go on the IL, but you don’t want to handcuff an organization if you’re playing day-today games,” Treinen said. “At some point, you have to make a decision that’s better for the organization, the cost of having fresh arms instead of playing this game of how are we going to keep them off the IL so we can use him. For me, I don’t like being on the IL, but it’s a very smart decision to just try to get this under control. It’s not taken lightly on my mental side to do that. But I think it’s probably best that I continue to try to get this under control.”
Treinen will be eligible to return after the current road trip but he wouldn’t venture a guess on whether that will be the case.
“I wish I could look into a glass ball, right?” he said. “Those aren’t easy questions to answer. In a perfect world, yeah. That’s the whole goal. It’s supposed to be a short stint and just continue to train the right way and get my arm in shape. It’s never fun having to fight through any type of bug.”
Treinen has become the Dodgers’ most important and trusted piece of the bullpen since joining the team in 2020. Without him, Roberts will have to rely on other relievers in key situations.
“You lose a guy like Blake, it certainly impacts our bullpen,” Roberts said. “He gets left(-handed hitters) out, gets right out in leverage. Having a guy that can take down a potential one-plus inning — we don’t have a whole lot of those guys. That’s an impact. It also kind of moves guys like Evan Phillips up to the forefront, gives them an opportunity. And obviously what Brusdar (Graterol) is doing, what Huddy (Daniel Hudson) is doing. It certainly changes the dynamic and the depth.”
Heaney limbo
Heaney beat Treinen to the IL by a couple of days after coming down with his own shoulder discomfort earlier in the week.
Heaney wouldn’t point to the shortened spring schedule as the cause of his problem.
“It’s hard to attribute it to any one thing,” Heaney said. “It’s just an inevitable part of the sport.”
Heaney will be eligible to come off the IL next weekend, but it’s likely he will miss more than one start. He has yet to pick up a ball since trying to play catch and feeling shoulder pain on Wednesday.
“There’s always a battle between player and training staff, how fast you can get back out there, how quickly you can get going again,” Heaney said. “We’ve got such a great team with so much depth that affords you the luxury of being smart with everything and making sure you’re healthy. At the same time, we’re all competitors and want to get back out there. That’s always the debate.”
Left-hander Tyler Anderson will take Heaney’s turn in the rotation for as long as he is out. Anderson has made two fourinning relief appearances in a “piggyback” situation with Tony Gonsolin and allowed a run on two hits in each.