Hernández: Even if Tyler Glasnow returns, will he be an October difference-maker for Dodgers?

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked Thursday afternoon if he was certain Tyler Glasnow would pitch again this season.

He couldn’t say he was.

“We’re hopeful,” was the best Roberts could muster.

The notoriously delicate Glasnow is on the 15-day injured list because of elbow tendinitis. He canceled a game of catch earlier in the week and is scheduled to resume throwing Friday before the Dodgers open a four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

“There’s still a lot of variables to be certain,” Roberts said.

This could be a problem. This could be a major problem. This could be a problem as massive as Glasnow’s 6-foot-8 frame.

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When the Dodgers acquired the 31-year-old Glasnow in an offseason trade with the Tampa Bay Rays, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman staked more than the $136.5 million to sign him to a five-year extension.

Friedman staked the Dodgers’ season on him.

Along with $325-million Japanese import Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Glasnow was counted on to provide the Dodgers with the frontline pitching they have lacked in recent Octobers.

Now, both Glasnow and Yamamoto are on the injured list, and the Dodgers don’t know how much they can rely on them in the postseason, if at all.

Approached by reporters at his locker Thursday before the Dodgers’ 6-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles, Glasnow said he didn’t have time to talk.

Glasnow always represented a major gamble for the Dodgers, as injuries had prevented the right-hander from starting more than 21 games or pitching more than 120 innings in a season — until this year. Before this season, he made the case that his previous injuries were related to his elbow. Because that elbow was repaired by a Tommy John operation in 2021, Glasnow was convinced he would be able to remain healthy. The Dodgers were convinced too.

So much for that.

As of a couple of weeks ago, the expectation was that Glasnow would return earlier than Yamamoto. That’s no longer the case.

Only four weeks remain in the regular season, which limits the time Glasnow and Yamamoto will have to build up the arm strength required to shoulder a starter’s workload in the postseason. The undersized Yamamoto, who has been sidelined for more than two months because of a shoulder injury, started a minor league rehabilitation assignment Wednesday and pitched two innings for the Dodgers’ triple-A affiliate.

Glasnow, who is 9-6 with a 3.49 earned-run average, last pitched on Aug. 11. His comeback will consist of multiple stages, starting with playing catch, throwing bullpen sessions and facing hitters.

“There’s certainly urgency, given he hasn’t thrown a baseball in however many days,” Roberts said.

Even if Glasnow returns, who knows how he’ll pitch?

In his short time with the Dodgers, he’s developed a reputation as a pitcher who unravels the moment something goes wrong with his delivery. His height makes repeating his delivery a major challenge. Discomfort in his elbow will only increase the degree of difficulty. Will he have to be pain-free to pitch well?

Read more: Why Tyler Glasnow felt obligated to say something about his sore elbow

Also, how will he respond to the scrutiny he will encounter pitching meaningful games for the signature franchise of the country’s No. 2 media market, when he had trouble dealing with the postseason spotlight in small-market Tampa Bay?

In 10 postseason starts for the Rays, Glasnow was 2-6 with a 5.72 ERA. The Rays lost each of the last five playoff games he started, including the two he pitched against the Dodgers in the 2020 World Series.

In their upcoming series against the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers’ starters will include Clayton Kershaw, Gavin Stone and Jack Flaherty. If the playoffs started tomorrow, that likely would be their rotation, in some order or another.

Basically, the Dodgers could be back where they were last year, and the year before, when they dominated the regular season only to find themselves in the playoffs without difference-makers at the top of their rotation.

Glasnow has a month to change that.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.