The Dodgers’ decision on Friday afternoon made Eric Lauer’s season official over. By moving him from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list, the club cleared a 40-man roster spot for top prospect Josue De Paula and ensured Lauer won’t be available again this year.
Lauer was initially placed on the injured list on September 2 because of elbow inflammation. Even with the 60-day designation backdated to that original date, the calendar pushes his return past the end of October, and the World Series will be wrapped up by then. In other words, there’s no path left for him to come back.
The timing is a little unexpected, since there hadn’t been much to suggest the injury was especially serious. Still, Lauer was already a long shot to make the postseason roster even if he had stayed healthy. The elbow problem shut that door for good.
His final line for the year sits at a 5.23 ERA across 22 appearances. That number is weighed down by a rough eight-start stretch to open the season with the Blue Jays.
After the Dodgers picked him up in late May, the 31-year-old settled in as a steadier option at the back of the rotation. He started 12 of his 14 appearances for Los Angeles and posted a 4.50 ERA over 72 innings, though his strikeout rate was a modest 15.1%.
Lauer, a former first-round pick by San Diego, has now pitched for four MLB teams and also had a brief run in Korea in 2024. Since returning to the majors last year, he has logged a 4.23 ERA with a 19.5% strikeout rate and a 6.8% walk percentage over 213 innings. If he’s healthy this offseason, that profile should still get him a big league contract, most likely a one-year deal with a chance to compete for a rotation job, possibly with a rebuilding club looking for affordable innings at the back end.
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Dodgers May Have Found An Unexpected October Arm After All
The Dodgers spent the summer piecing together pitching depth with October in mind, and Kris Bubic has quietly become a name worth watching. Acquired despite his recent shoulder injuries and limited appearances, the left-hander has started to build a case during a minor-league rehab assignment, where he has turned in five scoreless innings and shown enough life to get into back-to-back games.
For a club that is always looking for one more usable arm when the games get tighter, the timing matters as much as the performance. Los Angeles is already adjusting its postseason plan after Shohei Ohtanis season-ending injury, and Bubics recent stretch at least opens the door to a relief role in the playoff bullpen if the Dodgers decide he is ready for that kind of October trust. [Read more 🡒]
Freddie Freemans Absence Just Raised A Bigger Dodgers Concern
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Los Angeles has leaned on Freeman for middle-of-the-order consistency, so even a short stretch without him changes the look of the lineup. If the knee issue is still bothering him at the plate, the Dodgers are not just waiting for him to return to first base, they are waiting to see whether he can get back to being himself once he does. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Pitching Picture Just Took An Unexpected Turn
The Dodgers pitching depth chart got a fresh jolt this week, and not in the way the club had hoped. Dave Roberts said Edwin Daz will keep working through his rehab assignment into the weekend, with another outing expected before any return decision is made, which pushes back the timeline a bit for a reliever the club had been eyeing to rejoin the mix.
Roki Sasaki, meanwhile, appears to be moving in the other direction. The right-hander has been on the injured list with a blister, but after bullpen sessions and live batting practice, he may be ready as soon as Sunday, and he is now eligible to be activated. For a Dodgers staff that has already had to adjust its plans, the shifting paths of both pitchers make the next few days worth watching closely. [Read more 🡒]