{"id":106375,"date":"2025-08-26T23:38:38","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T03:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=106375"},"modified":"2025-08-26T23:38:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T03:38:38","slug":"dodgers-alex-vesia-injured-list-oblique-strain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/08\/26\/dodgers-alex-vesia-injured-list-oblique-strain\/","title":{"rendered":"Southpaw Dodgers Closer Heads to the Injured List"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Just when you thought the defending World Series champs were getting healthy, their relief corps has taken a major hit. The Los Angeles Dodgers placed left-hander Alex Vesia on the injured list (retroactive to 8\/23) with a strained right oblique, the team announced Tuesday. Starter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/snellbl01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-26_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Blake Snell<\/a>, who was on paternity leave for the birth of his son, has taken Vesia&#8217;s roster spot. Snell will start on Friday against the Arizona Diamondbacks.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_105172\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-105172\" style=\"width: 482px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-105172\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/07\/USATSI_25832254_168400885_lowres-300x204.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"482\" height=\"328\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/07\/USATSI_25832254_168400885_lowres-300x204.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/07\/USATSI_25832254_168400885_lowres-1024x698.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/07\/USATSI_25832254_168400885_lowres-768x523.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/07\/USATSI_25832254_168400885_lowres-1536x1046.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/07\/USATSI_25832254_168400885_lowres-2048x1395.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-105172\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apr 2, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell (7) throws during the third inning against the Atlanta Braves at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Dodgers Place Alex Vesia on Injured List, Blake Snell Back from Paternity Leave<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Dodgers have reinstated LHP Blake Snell from the paternity list and placed LHP Alex Vesia on the injured list with a right oblique strain, retroactive to 8\/23.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Dodgers\/status\/1960514218358096136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 27, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>High Leverage Situations<\/h3>\n<p>The Dodgers&#8217; bullpen has logged more innings than any MLB club this year. As a result, their ERA has hovered around 4.50 for most of the year. In addition, the pen has had several high-leverage options <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/05\/30\/dodgers-evan-phillips-tommy-john-surgery\/\" target=\"_self\">sidelined with injuries<\/a> for at least some of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/08\/13\/dodgers-injury-brock-stewart-edgardo-henriquez-call-up\/\" target=\"_self\">the season<\/a>. Consequently, Vesia has been near the top of manager <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/managers\/roberda07.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dave Roberts<\/a>&#8216; trust tree. Only fellow left-hander <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bandaan01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-26_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Banda<\/a> has appeared in more games for the Dodgers.<\/p>\n<h3>Behind the Numbers<\/h3>\n<p>Vesia has a 2.75 ERA over 52 1\/3 innings. To demonstrate just how effective he has been, he has struck out nearly one-third of the batters he&#8217;s faced. This is in a year where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/y\/yateski01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-26_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kirby Yates<\/a> and projected closer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/scottta01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-26_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tanner Scott<\/a> have struggled with injuries and effectiveness. Vesia has filled in admirably with four saves and 21 holds.<\/p>\n<h3>Leaking Oil<\/h3>\n<p>It has been evident that Vesia hasn&#8217;t been as sharp lately. He has allowed runs in his most recent outings. The left-hander has expressed some frustration with a lack of command of his fastball. However, he was potent in his most recent appearances against the San Diego Padres.<\/p>\n<h3>Is There Any Good News?<\/h3>\n<p>Right-hander reliever <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kopecmi01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-26_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Kopech<\/a> is set to rejoin the Dodgers during next week&#8217;s road trip. Kopech has struggled to stay healthy this season. He has been out due to a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/08\/21\/dodgers-roster-reinforcements-enrique-hernandez-hyeseong-kim\/\" target=\"_self\">torn meniscus<\/a> in his knee.<\/p>\n<p>The Dodgers need all arms on deck for the next 30 games if they want to win the National League West Division.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just when you thought the defending World Series champs were getting healthy, their relief corps has taken a major hit. The Los Angeles Dodgers placed left-hander Alex Vesia on the injured list (retroactive to 8\/23) with a strained right oblique, the team announced Tuesday. Starter Blake Snell, who was on paternity leave for the birth [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5226,"featured_media":106378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33,1071,35],"tags":[5180,2845,771,5660],"class_list":["post-106375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dodgers","category-mlb","category-news","tag-alex-vesia","tag-kirby-yates","tag-michael-kopech","tag-tanner-scott"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106375"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106379,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106375\/revisions\/106379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}