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The Dodgers placed Blake Treinen on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation and recalled right-hander Chayce McDermott from Triple-A Oklahoma City, per Dodger Blue staff. This is an official roster transaction — and given Treinen’s injury history, this one bears watching closely.

Treinen has been having a solid bounce-back year out of the bullpen, going 4-1 with a 3.52 ERA across 29 appearances and 23 innings this season. He’s been punching out hitters at a 9.78-per-nine clip, which is right in line with the kind of swing-and-miss stuff we’ve come to expect from him when healthy. The problem, of course, is that “when healthy” caveat. Treinen has had a long, complicated relationship with his right arm. He missed essentially all of 2022 recovering from shoulder surgery, battled through various arm issues over the years, and now we’re looking at elbow inflammation — a phrase nobody wants to hear attached to a reliever who already has significant mileage on that arm. He’s 33 now, and while a 15-day IL stint could end up being relatively minor, the location of the issue is inherently worrying. We need to see how this responds to rest before drawing any firm conclusions, but I’m not going to pretend this doesn’t raise a flag.

McDermott gets the call to fill Treinen’s roster spot, and he’s an interesting arm to watch. The right-hander came to the Dodgers organization and has been developing at Triple-A Oklahoma City, where he’s shown flashes of the electric stuff that made him a notable prospect. McDermott’s fastball can touch the mid-90s and he pairs it with a sharp breaking ball, though command has been the swing factor in his development. Triple-A hitters have tested his ability to throw strikes consistently, and that’s going to be the key question as he steps into a major league bullpen that’s suddenly thinner than we’d like. If he can locate, he has the raw arsenal to be useful in middle relief.

The broader picture here is concerning. Our bullpen was already navigating without some key arms, and now losing Treinen — who’s been one of the more reliable options in high-leverage spots — puts real pressure on the rest of the relief corps. We’ve already covered Evan Phillips working his way back through rehab and Brusdar Graterol‘s extended absence, so the margin for error keeps getting smaller. McDermott is a capable arm, but asking a young pitcher fresh from Triple-A to immediately absorb the kind of innings Treinen was handling is a tall order. This also adds fuel to the trade deadline conversation. If Treinen’s IL stint drags or the elbow issue proves more serious than inflammation, the Dodgers’ need for bullpen reinforcement goes from “would be nice” to “absolutely necessary” in a hurry. For now, we wait — but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous about this one.

Source(s): Staff (Dodger Blue) | First reported: June 21, 2026 1:06 AM UTC

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