Dave Roberts is trying to temper his expectations, but that’s hard to do when a veteran reliever who closed for a World Series-winning team just four years ago takes a significant step in his return from knee surgery.
Daniel Hudson is still weeks away from a possible return, and he has endured so many setbacks over the last three months that there is no guarantee he will pitch for the Dodgers this season.
But the right-hander completed a 30-pitch bullpen workout in Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, and if he could return in the second half?
“It would be huge,” Roberts said before Tuesday night’s game against Washington. “He gets lefties out, he gets righties out, he’s made the last pitch in a World Series game. So to have him, to have that veteran presence, that calmness, it’s gonna be a big boost.”
Hudson, who helped the Nationals win the championship in 2019, went 2-3 with a 2.22 ERA and five saves in 25 games for the Dodgers before tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee last June.
He used his entire pitch mix Tuesday and said he came out of it “feeling like I’m ready to make that next step.” That would be returning to Arizona to resume facing hitters this weekend and hopefully begin a minor league rehabilitation stint later in June.
“I know he wants to get back with us, but he still feels it in his knee,” Roberts said. “He was really good today, and I think he came out of it really well, but when he gets out on rehab and is back pitching in competition, then I’ll really get excited.”
Hudson believed he “turned a corner” when he received a cortisone injection in the knee two weeks ago. He hoped to be ready for the start of the season but had to slow his throwing progression in March because of knee soreness and a right ankle injury. He threw to hitters three times in early April before suffering another setback.
“I felt some pretty bad soreness in there and had to shut it down for a little bit,” Hudson said. “And then, as I was coming back, I felt it again, so that’s when we decided to get a little bit aggressive with the injection. There was some inflammation, some tendinitis, in the patellar area that was bugging me. I tried to push through it and couldn’t get over the hump.”
Hudson, 36, could not put a timetable on his return.
“As soon as possible,” he said. “I’m not really going to say I hope to get back by this date or that date. At this point, I’m just trying to get over the hump. … It’s been extremely frustrating, but I’m hoping we’re on the backside of it.”
If Hudson does return, his effectiveness, durability and availability will probably hinge on how well he can manage the pain in his knee.
“Is it going to be perfectly 100%? I don’t know that,” Roberts said. “I think we’re [resigned] to there being some discomfort, but as long as we know that he can pitch through it and it’s not gonna get worse, I think he’ll be OK.”
Vesia up, Stone down
The Dodgers recalled reliever Alex Vesia from triple A and optioned struggling starter Gavin Stone to Oklahoma City, giving them an extra left-hander in the bullpen until Michael Grove is activated for Saturday’s start against the New York Yankees.
Vesia, 27, went 0-2 with a 7.84 ERA in 13 games for the Dodgers this season, but was dominant in his last nine appearances for Oklahoma City, giving up no earned runs, five hits and striking out 18 in 9⅔ innings.
“I felt like I was fighting my mechanics and trying to get into different positions that I wasn’t able to get into,” Vesia said of his struggles. “One little tweak with my front leg led to the ball coming out of my hand a lot easier and with more life.”
Stone, the organization’s minor league pitcher of the year last year, had a 14.40 ERA in three big-league starts and was roughed up for seven earned runs and 10 hits in two innings of Sunday’s 11-10 loss at Tampa Bay. His other two starts were against the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves.
“Given who he faced, very good,” Roberts said of Stone’s confidence level. “I think as a competitor, you never want to get it handed to you. But I do think that with Gavin’s toughness, he’ll take from it and know that he’ll be ready when he gets back.”
Urias update
Julio Urías, who went on the 15-day injured list because of a left hamstring strain on May 20, threw a 15-pitch bullpen workout that Roberts described as a “touch-and-feel” session.
Barring a setback, the plan for the left-hander is to throw off the Dodger Stadium mound Saturday, face hitters in Cincinnati next Tuesday, throw a simulated game of three or four innings the following weekend in Philadelphia and return to the rotation in mid-June .
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.