The New York Times says the Dodgers have built one of baseball's best pitching staffs. I guess the question is whether that's a compliment or a coping mechanism. This is Dodgers Daily. National attention for the six-man rotation, Alek Thomas is in Triple-A OKC, and Dave Roberts just made it pretty clear Tommy Edman is not racing back. I'll take the NYT validation, sure. But Roberts still won't give you a Glasnow date, and the six-man only sounds like a grand strategy when your ace isn't in a treatment room. Yeah, that's the thread today. Stay with us. Here's CBS Sports:
PHOENIX (AP) Shohei Ohtani had a double, triple and two RBIs to stay hot at the plate, Freddie Freeman smacked a two-run homer and the Los Angeles Dodgers held on late to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-5 on Tuesday night.
So we called out that Ohtani two-way start last time — six scoreless innings, 7-0, statement game. Then two days later in Phoenix, he's 12 for 26 over six games with a double, a triple, and two RBIs in a 6-5 win. At some point, that's not a heater. That's just him. Freeman goes yard for number nine, Ohtani drives in two with a triple in the second, and they're still hanging on for a 6-5 final against a .500 Arizona team. I love winning. I just wish it didn't always come with a side of stress. Fifteen wins in nineteen games is a real thing. The bullpen had to cover the back end and it got messy, but the offense picked them up. That's what good teams do — they find different ways to win ugly. The part that gets me is the 'held on.' It's 6-2 in the seventh, Arenado's double makes it 6-4, then the bases-loaded walk makes it 6-5 — that's the rotation handing the bullpen a grenade and hoping nobody drops it. The NYT can call this one of baseball's best staffs all they want; that ending didn't look like it. This one's from The New York Times:
The Dodgers traded for Lauer, who was designated for assignment by the Toronto Blue Jays in mid-May, because of their commitment to using a six-man rotation. For a team with October aspirations and a deep pool of starting pitching talent, utilizing extra rest days throughout the season was a no-brainer.
The Times ran a structural piece yesterday making the case that the six-man rotation has built one of baseball's best staffs. The hook is Eric Lauer — a guy the Dodgers grabbed after Toronto DFA'd him in mid-May — and he went four and two-thirds against Arizona. That's the proof of concept: the sixth spot doesn't need to be flashy, it just needs to hold. Fine, the rotation looks great on paper at 39-22. But the whole setup still leans on Glasnow eventually coming back, and Roberts has no return date for him. The Times is calling this one of baseball's best staffs while the guy who's supposed to be the ace is just... missing. That's a fair push. Here's the honest read: the six-man exists partly because Glasnow is out — Roberts said that to Yahoo Sports the same day the Times piece dropped. So now you've got two sourced takes in 24 hours on the same question. That's the front office making its case in public, not just a beat writer filling space. Right, so Roberts goes on Yahoo, the Times writes the validation piece, and the Glasnow question just gets swept into the background. That's a deflection dressed up as a rotation philosophy. Call it what it is. This one's from Yahoo Sports:
“Giving those guys a good amount of recovery time is beneficial,” Roberts said. “It’s also a luxury that we have six really good starters. We can give those guys that optimal rest. And to their credit, they’re preparing, and each time, they feel like they’re chomping at the bit to get going.”
Roberts went on record with Yahoo Sports yesterday explaining the six-man rotation, and the reasoning is basically depth and Ohtani. A 0.82 ERA through nine starts is the number that makes 'optimal rest' sound less like spin and more like a real plan. Sure, Roberts says everyone's 'chomping at the bit' — great line, love the energy. But the six-man exists because Glasnow is still nowhere near a mound, and he didn't mention that part. The NYT called it one of baseball's best staffs the same day. That's a convenient headline to hide behind. It's not hiding. Roberts is answering a real structural question with a real answer. The problem is the 'luxury' framing gets a lot harder to sell the longer Glasnow doesn't have a timetable. The sixth slot stops feeling like a luxury the moment one of those five goes down. ClutchPoints, with Matty Breisch:
“He's good. I still think it's going to be the full three weeks for Tommy, but yeah, he's going to play second, I think, tomorrow,” Roberts noted. “Then he'll kick over to third and then play a little bit of left, play some center, so I think the lion's share will be second.”
Roberts on Edman Tuesday: still the full three weeks, no shortcuts. After the June 2 episode closed on that rehab moving smoothly, that's Dave Roberts publicly putting a ceiling on the optimism. Caution is a management decision when your outfield is already running Ryan Ward out there. I was building up that Edman-in-center note two days ago like it meant something was coming, and now Roberts is out here saying, 'Nope, full three weeks, be patient.' Meanwhile Glasnow still has no timeline at all. So we're managing expectations on the one guy who's actually rehabbing? That's the fair frustration, but the Edman caution is probably the responsible read. He's going second, then third, then the outfield corners, then center in sequence. Roberts isn't hiding anything — he just isn't going to blow up the rehab to patch a May roster crunch in June. Sure, but Snell, Glasnow, Diaz, Mookie, Kike, Teoscar — that's six names on the IL since opening day. At some point, 'responsible' starts sounding like a talking point when the lineup card has Ryan Ward penciled in. Here's Ari Koslow at FantasyPros:
Thomas was acquired by the Dodgers a few weeks ago. He'll look to work his way back up to the majors. Some interesting notes regarding OKC's lineup tonight:-James Tibbs III is at 1B and will play in the field for the first time since May 7.-Tommy Edman is in LF -- a position he has not played since 2020.-Alek Thomas makes his team debut after being acquired 3 weeks ago.
Alek Thomas finally got his first reps at Triple-A OKC Wednesday night, three weeks after the Dodgers actually acquired him. That gap is the story. This isn't a prospect getting developed. This is a major-league veteran they needed ready fast, and it took until June 3rd to get him on a field. And while we're reading the OKC lineup, Tommy Edman was out there in left field — a position he hasn't played since 2020. Dave Roberts just pumped the brakes on Edman's return this week, and here's Tommy playing a spot he basically hasn't touched in six years on a rehab assignment. Make it make sense. The Thomas piece does answer the question the front office was dodging about outfield depth. They went and got a proven big leaguer instead of promoting from within. Whether he gets to LA before Teoscar comes back is the live question now. If Teoscar comes back before Thomas ever sees Dodger Stadium, what exactly was the point? I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm saying the timeline has to work or this whole depth argument falls apart. Got a Dodgers question, a story idea, or a correction we should know about? Send it our way at dodgersdailyfancast at lantern podcasts dot com. We read what comes in, and it helps shape the show.
You'll find links to every story we touched on today in the show notes, so if one caught your ear, you can dig in a little deeper there. That's Dodgers Daily Podcast for Thursday, June 4th. This is a Lantern Podcast.