The Los Angeles Dodgers placed right-hander Roki Sasaki on the 15-day injured list with a blister on his pitching hand, the club announced Thursday. The move comes eight weeks before the postseason and 12 days before the trade deadline, shrinking the window for rotation certainty.
Sasaki, 23, last pitched Sunday against Arizona, throwing 94 pitches over 5.2 innings. The blister developed between starts, visible enough during his bullpen session Tuesday that pitching coach Mark Prior shut him down. Blisters heal, but the timing matters: Sasaki will miss at least two starts, possibly three if the skin doesn't cooperate. That puts his return around August 10, leaving eight regular-season starts to build trust before October. The Dodgers have already cycled through nine different starting pitchers this season due to injury.
The club's rotation math is now uncomfortable. Clayton Kershaw remains on the IL with shoulder inflammation, no timeline. Dustin May is rehabbing from Tommy John revision surgery, targeting September. Tony Gonsolin hasn't pitched in the majors since August 2023. That leaves Tyler Glasnow, Bobby Miller, and a rotating cast of Gavin Stone, James Paxton, and Ryan Yarbrough holding 162 innings over the next 65 games. Andrew Friedman has spent the last three trade deadlines adding starting pitching—Marcus Stroman in 2023, Jack Flaherty in 2022—and the market is already pricing in Los Angeles as a buyer. Detroit's Tarik Skubal and Miami's Jesús Luzardo are drawing calls. The Sasaki blister doesn't change the Dodgers' strategy; it removes any remaining optionality to stand pat.
The bigger question is workload design. Sasaki threw 129.2 innings for the Chiba Lotte Marines last season in NPB, his career high after missing most of 2022 with a shoulder issue. The Dodgers signed him in January for a $6.5 million bonus, planning to manage his workload carefully through Year One. He's already at 102.1 innings through 18 starts, on pace for roughly 150 innings if he makes every remaining turn. The blister gives the front office a forced breather, but the postseason doesn't care about careful. If Sasaki is healthy in October, he pitches. If he's not, the $325 million spent on Shohei Ohtani—who won't pitch until 2025—looks even more like a luxury tax optimization play rather than rotation insurance.
Sasaki's absence also shifts leverage in contract talks elsewhere. Walker Buehler is a free agent after this season, currently posting a 5.84 ERA and fading trade value. If the Dodgers add two starters at the deadline, Buehler's October role shrinks, and so does his winter market. The inverse is true for Bobby Miller, 25, who now absorbs more high-leverage innings and more scrutiny from rival evaluators. Miller threw 5.1 innings of one-run ball Monday; two more starts like that and his name surfaces in rival front offices' 2026 trade target files.
Sasaki is expected back mid-August, barring setbacks. The Dodgers have 19 days until the trade deadline. Friedman's phone is already ringing.
The takeaway
Sasaki's blister removes any chance the Dodgers skip deadline pitching adds; rival GMs now pricing them as desperate buyers.
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