The Dodgers are 12-17. They’re already seven and a half games back in the NL West, behind teams that weren’t expected to be nearly as competitive as Los Angeles — the .500 Giants to name one. It’s not even May yet and there are a lot of questions in LA.
Corey Seager is done for the season. Just one more piece of bad news for the Dodgers.
Seager is set to have Tommy John surgery.
Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images
This weekend Dave Roberts benched star Cody Bellinger for failing to hustle, which he had apparently been warned about before the last straw incident that led to the benching, but the move was still a surprise.
Pedro Baez is probably pitching too much. At the moment, the bullpen is mostly unreliable and even more of a mess setting aside the Baez issue. Logan Forsythe, Justin Turner, and Yasiel Puig are all on the DL as well. All players the roster would benefit from having back sooner rather than later.
And now there’s even more bad news, as the team announced Corey Seager will undergo Tommy John surgery and be sidelined until next season.
Seager is one of only six players on the roster hitting higher than .260 in more than 50 at bats. For a team that has been struggling to hit so far this year, losing Seager and his offense is a blow. But it would be far more manageable if other parts of the team were clicking.
As is, they’ll have to turn to Chris Taylor to be an everyday shortstop, while Enrique Hernandez will take over Taylor’s outfield responsibilities. That’s not an unworkable situation of course. Both players are solid contributors to the team and more playing time or playing at a different position won’t irreversibly upend things.
This injury news comes just when there were some bright spots to grab on to, like Joc Pederson having a great weekend at the plate, and now there’s more rejiggering and disappointment at Dodger Stadium. For a team defending the NL crown, a team that made it to within one game of a World Series, this isn’t the April they wanted.
If the rest of the roster steps up, and the bullpen fixes itself either through trades or better decision making (no more Baez, mostly), and they get Puig and Turner back without losing any other major pieces, this season’s performance could be reversed for Los Angeles in no time. But as it stands this is yet another piece of bad news for the Dodgers to work around and it doesn’t make achieving any sort of turnaround any easier.
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