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The Dodgers had both Blake Snell and Edwin Díaz undergo surgery to remove loose bodies from their respective throwing arms, and while the procedures sound identical on paper, the specifics were actually different from the loose bodies surgery Tarik Skubal previously underwent, per staff reporting at Dodger Blue. Díaz had his surgery on April 22 and is projected to return at some point in the second half of the season. Snell’s procedure came later, and the recovery timelines for both pitchers are costing the Dodgers multiple months of availability from each arm.

Snell came to Los Angeles as one of the most accomplished left-handed starters in the game. The two-time Cy Young winner — he took home the award with Tampa Bay in 2018 and again with San Diego in 2023 — was supposed to anchor the middle of this rotation. He’s been electric when healthy, posting a 1.41 ERA in his Cy Young campaign with the Padres, but durability has been a recurring question. His free-agent deal with the Dodgers was built on the belief that his ceiling was worth the injury risk, and loose bodies in his throwing arm represent exactly the kind of setback that tests that calculus. The fact that his surgery differed in specifics from Skubal’s — who dealt with a similar diagnosis but apparently had a different anatomical situation — matters for projecting Snell’s recovery arc.

Díaz, meanwhile, was brought in to fortify the Dodgers’ bullpen after a turbulent stretch with the Mets. The hard-throwing right-hander saved 32 games for New York back in 2022 and was one of the most dominant closers in baseball during that run, but a knee injury and subsequent struggles complicated his trajectory. Getting loose bodies removed from his throwing arm in late April was another frustrating chapter. His projected second-half return at least gives the Dodgers hope that he can contribute down the stretch, but that’s a lot of lost time for a reliever the club was counting on in high-leverage spots.

Skubal’s name continues to orbit the Dodgers universe — we’ve heard plenty about him in trade conversations — but in this context, his loose bodies surgery serves as a medical comparison point rather than a roster one. Skubal dealt with his own procedure and came back to become one of the best pitchers in the American League with Detroit, which is encouraging as a general precedent. The key detail here, though, is that Snell’s surgery was apparently different in nature, so a one-to-one recovery comparison doesn’t fully apply.

For the Dodgers, losing both Snell and Díaz for extended stretches puts real pressure on the pitching depth. The rotation has leaned heavily on Shohei Ohtani and the rest of the healthy arms, and the bullpen has had to absorb innings without its expected late-game anchor in Díaz. I think the front office anticipated some attrition — they always build for it — but two surgeries on two key pitchers in the same general timeframe is a stress test. The second-half returns for both guys will be critical, especially if this team is chasing October positioning. Getting Snell back as a viable mid-rotation starter and Díaz back as a reliable high-leverage arm could functionally feel like deadline acquisitions, but that’s only useful if the recoveries go cleanly.

Source(s): Staff (Dodger Blue) | First reported: June 4, 2026 4:13 PM UTC

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