This article was generated by artificial intelligence and is automatically updated as news breaks. All credit belongs to the original reporters and their publications.

The Dodgers made a trio of roster moves ahead of Friday’s bullpen game against the Boston Red Sox. Cole Irvin has been called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City, Brock Stewart has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a sore right shoulder, and Chayce McDermott has been designated for assignment to clear the 40-man roster spot, per Dodger Blue staff.

Irvin is a six-year veteran lefty who has bounced around the league, spending time with the Phillies, Athletics, and Orioles before landing in the Dodgers organization. He’s never been a flashy arm — he’s a pitch-to-contact, innings-eater type who keeps the ball in the zone and limits walks. That profile fits exactly what you need for a bullpen game, and with the rotation in flux between injuries and the trade deadline swirling, having a reliable arm who can soak up multiple innings is genuinely useful. Irvin has been pitching well enough in Oklahoma City to earn this look, and at this point in the season, steady is more valuable than spectacular.

Stewart’s IL stint is a blow, though the team reportedly doesn’t expect the shoulder issue to sideline him for an extended stretch. Stewart has carved out a solid role in the Dodgers’ bullpen this year after his long journey back from multiple arm surgeries earlier in his career. His durability has been one of the better stories on the pitching staff, so any shoulder soreness — even if it’s described as minor — is something to monitor closely. The 15-day IL designation gives him a window to rest without the club having to push him through discomfort during a pennant race.

McDermott’s DFA is the tough-but-necessary part of the equation. The hard-throwing right-hander came to the Dodgers with upside — big velocity and swing-and-miss stuff — but command issues have plagued him throughout his minor league career, and he never quite put it together at the upper levels. Walks were a persistent problem, and in a system as deep as Los Angeles’s, there’s only so long you can hold a 40-man spot for a pitcher who hasn’t shown enough control to stick. Another team could certainly claim him and try to develop the raw stuff, but for the Dodgers, the roster spot was more valuable elsewhere right now.

The bigger picture here: we’re patching the bullpen together heading into August with trade deadline moves still potentially incoming. Losing Stewart for even a couple of weeks tightens things up in the relief corps, and calling up Irvin is a pragmatic stopgap. If the front office lands an arm (or two) before the deadline passes, these moves become footnotes. If they don’t, Irvin’s ability to eat innings could matter more than we’d like. Either way, the Dodgers aren’t going to let a bullpen game against Boston slip away because they were short a capable arm — and that’s exactly what this move addresses.

Source(s): Staff (Dodger Blue) | First reported: August 1, 2026 1:40 AM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers