The Los Angeles Dodgers have finally seemed to put it all together. They have won six of their last seven and now have a 5.5 game lead in the NL West over the San Diego Padres.
Unfortunately, though, it seems as if the Dodgers will be without their All-Star Utility man Chris Taylor for at least the next several weeks.
Taylor fouled a ball off his left foot during Saturday night’s game against the Padres. He sat out of Sunday’s contest, and was removed in the sixth inning of Monday night’s game with what was initially thought to be ankle swelling. He underwent a CT scan on Tuesday which revealed a small fracture in his left foot.
“Not what I was hoping for, obviously”, Taylor told Sportsnet LA. “Definitely was a surprise to me”. Taylor was surprised by the result as he hasn’t felt a lot of pain. He stated that it was a small fracture, “but it’s going to be a little longer than initially expected”.
“Once we get the swelling out, I think it going to be ‘per his tolerance’, so, hopefully it won’t be more than a few weeks” manager Dave Roberts also said to SNLA.
The Dodgers are lucky to already have Trayce Thompson on the team, whom they acquired when Mookie Betts was out with his injury. Thompson has been playing well since his return to the Dodgers, and should be seeing more playing time in place of CT3.
Closer Craig Kimbrel should be available to pitch on Wednesday. Kimbrel was hit in the back by a come-backer on Sunday.
“Everything came back clean with Kimbrel”, Roberts also told reporters. He will avoid in the injured list and should be ready next time he is called upon.
Blake Treinen has started throwing off a mound. His first bullpen session was July 4th. Roberts quipped that he looked “pretty dang good”. The earliest Treinen would return would be August, but there is no set timetable as of yet.
Andrew Heaney has also started throwing off the mound. He threw a bullpen session before Tuesday’s game, his first since retuning to the IL with some renewed shoulder discomfort after his start on June 19.
“I saw it. The ball was coming out well,” Roberts told Bill Plunkett of the OC Register. “It was fastball, slider. I think it was right around 30 pitches. As far as the next progression, certainly there’s another bullpen. There’s facing hitters and then we’ll talk about potential starting. So I think he’s still a ways down the road.”
It was originally thought that Heaney would only miss a few starts, but now the general consensus is to slow play him and make sure he is fully healed before returning to the team.
Walker Buehler still is not doing anything with his throwing arm yet. He had surgery three weeks ago to remove a bone spur from his right elbow, and has been working to regain his range of motion.
He is not expected to do any throwing for the next three weeks. Buehler will likely have an MRI on that elbow before he is able to start throwing.
