An unwelcome tune is playing once again for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced on Friday that reliever Evan Phillips is set to undergo Tommy John surgery and will be out for the season as a result. Roberts said that Phillips recently tried to play catch but added that it did not go well, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.
The righty Phillips, 30, had been on the injured list since early May with inflammation in his throwing elbow. Over seven relief appearances for the Dodgers this season, Phillips had not given up a single run, allowing just four hits and two walks over 5.2 total innings pitched.
Phillips has been with the Dodgers since 2021 and has historically been one of their better high-leverage arms out of the bullpen. But injuries also plagued Phillips last year as he suffered an arm issue in the NLCS and was left off the Dodgers’ World Series roster as a result (as the team ultimately defeated the New York Yankees in five games).
A Tommy John procedure means that Phillips will miss the remainder of the 2025 campaign as well as possibly a significant chunk of the 2026 campaign too. Phillips is set to enter his final year of arbitration eligibility in 2026 before becoming a free agent in 2027.
As for the Dodgers, this continues on an ugly tradition of widespread pitching injuries up and down the roster. Among the team’s other pitchers currently on IL are Roki Sasaki, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Emmet Sheehan, River Ryan, Gavin Stone, Michael Kopech, Kirby Yates, Blake Treinen, and Brusdar Graterol. But the good news for the spend-happy Dodgers is that they still have more than enough depth to go around and also just swung a trade for a former All-Star reliever earlier this week.
