The Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen lost a couple key contributors this past offseason in Brandon Morrow and Tony Watson, who signed with the Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants, respectively.
To replace them, the team traded for left-hander Scott Alexander and signed righty Tom Koehler, in addition to believing some in-house options could help fill the roles voided by the departures of Morrow and Watson.
One of those internal options is right-hander Yimi Garcia, who missed most of the 2016 season due to multiple injuries, and all of 2017 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Given that he hadn’t seen Major League action in almost two years, Spring Training was not enough time to get Garcia prepared for a full season. So he began the season on the 10-day disabled list and remained at extended Spring Training.
It appears he is on his way to being back, as according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, Garcia is set to go out on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City:
Dodgers reliever Yimi Garcia, who has been at extended spring training in Arizona, will join Triple-A Oklahoma City this week to begin an injury rehabilitation assignment.
It was originally expected that Garcia would be ready to come off the DL at some point in April, so he is still on that schedule if he is beginning a rehab assignment.
The Dodgers’ bullpen has been a bit taxed early this season as the team has played extra innings in three of their first 11 games of the season. So Garcia will gladly be welcomed back to the mix once he is deemed ready to return.
