LOS ANGELES – The final hours of Max Muncy’s frustrating and confusing three-month stint on the injured list provided at least a little black humor regarding the Los Angeles Dodgers’ massive injury problems that have hampered their season.
Muncy woke up Sunday expecting to play on the second-to-last day of his week-long rehab assignment, but then things took an unexpected turn. Instead of one final game in the lineup for Triple-A Oklahoma City, he practiced at first base and then prepared for a postgame flight to Los Angeles after news broke that Freddie Freeman’s jammed middle finger was worsening.
In the middle of the game, someone handed Muncy a phone in the dugout – Dodgers backup catcher Austin Barnes had caught a foul ball off his toe. Could he catch a bullpen?
“It was a joke, of course, but that’s how it went yesterday,” said Muncy, who has never played a professional game behind the plate.
That’s how this season has gone for the Dodgers, who have lost more talent and value to the injury list than any other team in baseball this season. But on Monday, they looked somewhat like the roster the front office had envisioned.
“As far as the fielders go, we are as healthy as we have ever been since Opening Day,” said manager Dave Roberts.
River Ryan was placed on the 60-day IL to make room on the 40-man roster for Max Muncy. All other expected moves are official.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) 20 August 2024
Freddie Freeman returned to the lineup despite CT scans Monday showing a hairline fracture caused by the sixth-inning ground ball that came up Saturday night in St. Louis and jammed his right middle finger. On Sunday, Freeman missed his first game due to injury in three seasons with the franchise.
But he never came anywhere close to being on the injured list, Roberts stressed, and the 34-year-old first baseman will continue to play as long as he can tolerate the discomfort; when he played catcher on Monday, he did so with the middle finger of his throwing hand tightly wrapped.
“He was absolutely convinced he was going to be OK,” Roberts said. “He’s a guy you can definitely trust.”
Tommy Edman, who was signed at the last minute after missing the season so far with the St. Louis Cardinals due to offseason wrist surgery and an ankle sprain, made his debut in center field and could step in as shortstop as early as Tuesday.
And Muncy, whose rehab from an oblique strain consisted of several stoppages due to discomfort, started at third base. The story was infuriating and confusing; Muncy complained of a mild oblique strain that scans showed healed as expected, only to discover that a lower rib was dislocated. How that happened was not immediately clear; Muncy suspected he injured it diving for a ground ball the week before being placed on the injured list, and noticed some bruising on his side in the days that followed. Several attempts at seeing a chiropractor brought no improvement, so Muncy went days without discomfort before feeling pain similar to a re-injury.
“Everything about it was frustrating,” Muncy said, adding that it took “three to four” attempts to get his ribs back in the right position.
“I would show you again, but I can’t physically put my body in that position like they did. It felt like they almost broke my rib, but they didn’t. But it almost felt like it happened. It’s one of those things where it hurts in the moment, but there’s a huge sense of relief almost immediately.”
This, along with an injection and accelerated rehabilitation, provided an immediate solution.
That sent him and Edman back into the Dodgers’ lineup on Monday, batting seventh and ninth, respectively, for a lineup that suddenly looks very different from the injury-plagued group that had been trying to get through July.
“When Tommy Edman bats ninth, Miguel Rojas bats eighth and Max Muncy bats seventh, you have some length in the lineup,” Roberts said.
Of course, the wave of players returning to the roster (including Mookie Betts, who returned last week from a broken hand) is not enough to ensure full strength this year.
Barnes broke his big toe in the second inning but caught the final seven innings of Sunday’s win before going on the injured list (though Roberts said the catcher could be back soon after the 10-day minimum). While the Dodgers believe they’ve avoided anything catastrophic with Tyler Glasnow (elbow tendinitis), they’re still without him and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (rotator cuff strain) as they work through an uncertain starting lineup. Brusdar Graterol (hamstring) will play in a bullpen just a few weeks after being brought off the mound in what is a vulnerable season, much to the organization’s astonishment.
They still have to make a decision this week on Chris Taylor, who said Monday he is back to full strength from his groin strain and has taken time in his rehab to work through some drastic swing changes and try to find his strength again. His return will add to the roster scandal that somewhat unraveled Friday; the club has designated Nick Ahmed for assignment, with Edman and Kiké Hernández each filling in for Rojas at shortstop, and the club has opted to send Andy Pages — the only bench choice with minor league options remaining — to the minor leagues, with the likelihood of calling him back up once rosters expand on Sept. 1.
Of course, given the course of events so far, circumstances may still change by that date.
(Photo by Max Muncy on August 7: Eric Thayer / Associated Press)
