ANAHEIM -- Just one start into his 2026 season, left-hander Blake Snell is landing back on the injured list.
Snell was scratched from Friday night's series opener against the Angels and placed on the 15-day IL with loose bodies in his left elbow. His IL stint was backdated three days, to Tuesday.
Righty Will Klein started a bullpen game in Snell's place, combining with seven other Dodgers relievers to shut out the Angels, 6-0. Left-hander Charlie Barnes -- who was recently claimed off waivers from the Cubs -- was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City to fill Snell's spot on the active roster.
The Dodgers have already had one pitcher land on the IL with loose bodies this year: closer Edwin Díaz, who underwent surgery to remove them from his right elbow and is targeting a return after the All-Star break. The team has not yet made a decision on whether Snell needs surgery. For the time being, manager Dave Roberts said, "anything is on the table."
"We’re still talking through what’s next," Roberts said. "I think at the end of the day, we feel confident that he’s going to be back with us this year. Either path. But right now, no definitive decision has been made."
Snell experienced this same issue earlier in his career while with the Rays, having surgery to remove loose bodies from his pitching elbow in July 2019 and returning to big league action about two months later. Because he's done it before and has an idea of what it takes to come back from the procedure, that could help to inform the Dodgers' decision on how to proceed this year.
After beginning this year on the 15-day IL with fatigue in his left shoulder -- which also sidelined him for four months last season -- Snell made his season debut last Saturday. He showed some rust in his return to action, giving up five runs (four earned) on six hits and two walks while striking out five, but the quality of his stuff was better than his final line.
Snell felt good at that time, but when he played catch leading into his planned second start, he reported "something in the back of his elbow and just couldn’t continue," Roberts said. That led him to undergo testing, and the Dodgers discovered the loose bodies in his elbow.
With Tyler Glasnow also on the IL with lower back spasms, the Dodgers are running out of 40-man pitchers to plug into their six-man rotation. Glasnow's IL stint will be longer than the minimum 15 days, but depending on how much longer he's sidelined, L.A. could plug in bullpen games to keep its five starters on their regular schedule. The team could also look to Triple-A, where River Ryan returned from the Minor League IL on Friday and could be a "slim possibility" to fill Snell's spot, per Roberts.
Similar to stretches of the past several seasons where their starting depth was pushed to the limit due to injuries, the Dodgers' rotation is much thinner than it was at the beginning of the year. They've navigated times like these before, and they'll have to make it work once more in their bid for a three-peat.
"It seems like every year we go through it," Roberts said. "What I have learned is we get through it. It doesn’t feel great when you’re in it. … In baseball, it happens all the time with pitching."