The Dodgers made two rotation moves Monday that speak to where they are right now: trying to get Emmet Sheehan back on track, and plugging Tarik Skubal into the mix after the 2026 MLB trade deadline.
Sheehan was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City, while Skubal was added to the active roster ahead of Los Angeles’ matchup with the Chicago Cubs. Manager Dave Roberts said the decision to send Sheehan down was about giving him a breather and a reset.
“I think for everyone, it’s the right thing to do,” Roberts said of optioning Sheehan. “It’s going to give him a chance to reset, get out of this hot box of performance.
Obviously, we believe in him. We’ve shown that year in and year out.
I just had a good conversation with him.
“So he’ll start on Saturday for that OKC team. We just got to get him back to being who he is.”
Sunday’s start against the Boston Red Sox was another rough one for Sheehan, who lasted only 2.2 innings and threw 58 pitches. He gave up five runs on six hits, including three home runs, before being pulled.
The numbers behind the outing told the same story. Sheehan’s velocity dipped sharply during the game, another sign of a season-long issue that has lingered all year. His fastball averaged 93.3 mph, down 1.2 mph from his season average, and by the third inning it had fallen to 92.1 mph.
That drop fits a larger trend. Last season, Sheehan averaged 95.6 mph on his fastball.
This year, it has sat at 94.4. He has also had multiple starts in which the velocity kept falling from inning to inning.
Through 95.1 innings this season, the 26-year-old owns a 5.29 ERA, 4.75 FIP and 1.29 WHIP. His strikeout rate has fallen by roughly 4% from last season, and he is allowing 1.89 home runs per nine innings.
The Dodgers think the problem is tied to mechanics, though Roberts acknowledged there could be a mental element involved too. Sheehan has maintained that he is healthy, and he told Roberts on Monday that he feels great.
That makes the contrast with last year even sharper. In his first season back from Tommy John surgery, Sheehan looked like he might be turning into a frontline arm, putting up a 2.82 ERA, 2.93 FIP and 0.97 WHIP over 73.1 innings. He struck out 30.6% of hitters and walked 7.6%.
Now the Dodgers are hoping the move to Oklahoma City helps him clean things up and find himself again.
On the other side of the transaction, Skubal is officially in the fold and expected to make his Dodgers debut Tuesday. He was acquired from the Detroit Tigers on Sunday, and he arrived at Dodger Stadium during that game while beginning the process of getting settled with his new teammates.
Skubal went 7-5 with a 2.79 ERA, 2.60 FIP and 0.92 WHIP in 16 starts for Detroit this season. His year was interrupted by five and a half weeks on the shelf after surgery to remove loose bodies from his left elbow.
One more ripple from the move: Eric Lauer is staying in the Dodgers rotation. Roberts said the club had previously told Lauer he would head to the bullpen after Skubal was acquired, but that plan changed with Sheehan going to Triple-A.
Lauer has pitched well since joining the Dodgers and had also been mentioned as a possible trade chip.
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