Dodgers’ bullpen could get a boost from 3 veteran relievers

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Dodgers’ resources are so deep, they are going to head into the season with a bullpen – and a shadow bullpen ready to step in at some point during the season.

Three experienced relievers with track records of success – Brock Stewart, Brusdar Graterol and Evan Phillips – will open the season on the injured list, working their way back from surgeries.

Stewart and Graterol, both recovering from shoulder surgeries, have progressed far enough in their rehabs to throw off a mound already this spring. Phillips, returning from Tommy John surgery, is not as far along in his rehab.

For Stewart, his shoulder surgery in September was his second in just over a year. The Dodgers’ most significant major-league addition at the trade deadline last summer, Stewart made just four appearances for his new old team (Stewart came up with the Dodgers in 2016) before his season ended with the surgery.

“The big trade deadline pickup? Thanks for that,” Stewart said with a laugh this spring. “I really had full expectations to come and help out, kind of continue to do what I was doing. It sucked. The shoulder flared up and after that it was mental warfare, man. It was not fun. I really wanted to help the team. That’s what they brought me over to do and to not be able to do that to the best of my abilities sucked. There’s no way around that. It sucked.

“But having gone through it before with injuries – unfortunately I’ve had to deal with plenty – it sucks each time but maybe it gets a little easier every time. But there’s no way around it, it sucks.”

Stewart’s 2024 shoulder surgery was a fairly simple arthroscopic procedure. Last September’s surgery was more involved.

“They shaved off a bone spur, made my acromion bone (in the scapula) more flat. It was hooked and sloped and they shaved it up to give me much more room, then they took off part of my clavicle,” Stewart said. “It’s like a distal clavicle resection. Then they took out the bursa. So a bursectomy, shoulder debridement and then the clavicle resection.

“He did more than just going into the cuff area and cleaning up some debris. But he didn’t have to put any anchors in the (rotator) cuff, didn’t have to put any anchors in the labrum. That’s why it’s only going to be a six-, seven-month recovery. Inherently, I can already feel there is more room. It feels cleaner. There is no more pinching or stabbing feeling.”

Recovery hasn’t been “a totally linear progression,” Stewart said, acknowledging there have been “cobwebs I’ve had to knock off” along the way. If he continues to progress, though, he hopes to face hitters before the Dodgers break camp in Arizona and return “maybe a month or so into the season … we’ll see.”

“Hopefully it won’t be too long into the season and I’ll be able to pitch for the majority of the season,” he said.

Graterol had his labrum repaired in November 2024 and had visions of returning for the stretch run and postseason in 2025. When he couldn’t, it left him “very frustrated.” He said he was grounded by having his wife, mother and daughter with him throughout the process.

“It was very difficult,” Graterol said this spring. “All year, working to get back. I worked so hard but I can’t play baseball. Those three really helped me.”

He reported to camp this spring 15 pounds lighter after all that work. Being on the Opening Day roster is “my goal,” Graterol said, but he acknowledged that he doesn’t know when he will be back to full strength on the mound after missing so much time.

“It might take two, three weeks,” he said. “But I think I can be better, stronger (than before the injury).”

Of the three, Phillips has the longest road still to go. He is still in the early stages of his throwing program. A return in July – more likely August – is the best-case scenario at this point.

“It all depends how the build-up goes, and if there are any slowdowns or hiccups, depending on once he gets going into the mound progression and the full TJ stuff,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said. “But he’s feeling really good. Throwing looks great. Body looks great. So I think it’s just being mindful and viewing him almost as a trade deadline acquisition in some way, shape or form.”

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Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start the Cactus League opener in Tempe on Saturday. Pitching prospect Jackson Ferris will start the second game in Peoria against the San Diego Padres on Sunday.