Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES, CA — If the bullpen meltdown in the final game in San Diego taught us anything, it’s that you can never have too many quality arms in your relief corps. One of those quality arms has now had surgery and is in doubt for much of next year: right hander Blake Treinen.
Treinen, the fireballing righty with one of the nastiest sinkers in all of the game, finally underwent surgery for the shoulder discomfort that limited him to only a handful of appearances in the 2022 season. The pitcher underwent right shoulder surgery, the team announced Friday, to repair his labrum and rotator cuff.
The procedure, performed by the Dodgers’ surgical whiz, Dr. Neal ElAttrache, comes with roughly a 10-month rehab. You can do the math as well as I can, Dodger fans. Ten months from now gets you all the way to September of 2023. So if that timeline is accurate, Treinen could be around for the final weeks of the season and (hopefully) the postseason next year.
In 2022, Treinen had a couple of early season appearances in which he looked pretty much like the old Blake, but got sent to the IL for most of the summer after only three innings of work. Then, he made a brief return late in the season, but only made it through two appearances before returning to the IL once again. He got activated for the NLDS and pitched one inning against the Padres, giving up a home run late in Game 2 that stretched the Padres’ lead in that game, a contest that the Dodgers would go on to lose 5-3. Treinen’s final line for the season: 5.0 IP, 1.80 ERA, 6 K, 0.40 WHIP.
This is perhaps a case of the folly of delaying the inevitable. After his injuries in May, surgery was suggested to Treinen, but the pitcher opted against it, hoping to come back in time to help the club down the stretch. However, that didn’t work out as planned and the injury didn’t heal up as Treinen had hoped, leaving him in the same situation that he was in six months ago. At that time, the Dodgers extended Treinen another season with a club option for 2024. The Dodgers have picked up that option for a cool $8 million, and are banking that they’ll be able to get something out of Treinen once he is fully healed.
This makes three guys from the pen that are hoping to come back from injuries sometime in 2023. Daniel Hudson, so good in the first half of the season, is still rehabbing from that nasty spill he took fielding a groundball in Atlanta. And Victor Gonzalez, so important to the World Series team in 2020, will try to return to the team after missing so much time for an elbow injury. Gonzalez briefly pitched at OKC last season, but was shut down after experiencing arm fatigue. Neither figure to be on the Opening Day roster, but should be back sometime during the year. They both will probably be ready long before Treinen can begin pitching again.
And with starter Walker Buehler on the shelf for most, if not all, of next season, the Dodgers’ pitching doesn’t look nearly as great as it could or should be. If we can learn anything from the Astros* success this year, it’s that pitching can get you a very long way in the postseason. And, the Dodgers would be wise to restock the stable as soon as possible.
Next season and beyond could depend on it.
