Hernández: Even if Tyler Glasnow returns, will he make a difference for the Dodgers in October?

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

He couldn’t say that.

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

The notoriously vulnerable Glasnow is on the 15-day injured list with elbow tendonitis. He canceled a game of catching earlier this week and is scheduled to return to pitching Friday before the Dodgers open a four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

“There are still a lot of variables that we can’t say for sure,” Roberts said.

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

Read more: Dodgers continue to surge, beat Orioles ahead of key NL West showdown

When the Dodgers acquired the 31-year-old Glasnow from the Tampa Bay Rays in the offseason, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman put up more than $136.5 million to give him a five-year contract extension.

Friedman bet the Dodgers’ season on him.

Along with $325 million Japanese player Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Glasnow was expected to provide the Dodgers with the front-line pitching they lacked in recent Octobers.

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

When Glasnow was approached by reporters outside his locker room on Thursday before the Dodgers’ 6-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles, he said he didn’t have time to talk.

Glasnow has always been a big gamble for the Dodgers, as injuries have kept the right-handed pitcher from starting more than 21 games or throwing more than 120 innings in a season — until this year. Before this season, he argued that his previous injuries were elbow-related. With that elbow undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2021, Glasnow was confident he could stay healthy. The Dodgers were, too.

So much for that.

A few weeks ago it was expected that Glasnow would be back before Yamamoto. That is no longer the case.

There are only four weeks left in the regular season, limiting the time Glasnow and Yamamoto have to build the arm strength needed to handle the workload of a starter in the postseason. The diminutive Yamamoto, who has been sidelined for more than two months with a shoulder injury, began a minor league rehab assignment on Wednesday, pitching 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 several phases, starting with catching balls, throwing bullpen sessions and facing batters.

“There is definitely an urgency given that he hasn’t thrown a baseball in days,” Roberts said.

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

In his short time with the Dodgers, he has developed a reputation as a pitcher who falls apart when something goes wrong with his delivery. His height makes repeating his delivery a major challenge. Discomfort in his elbow will only increase the difficulty. Does he need to be pain-free to pitch well?

Read more: Why Tyler Glasnow Felt Compelled to Speak Out About His Elbow Pain

And how will he respond to the criticism he faces pitching big games for the biggest franchise in the country’s second-largest media market while struggling to get attention in the playoffs in tiny 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 be Clayton Kershaw, Gavin Stone and Jack Flaherty. If the playoffs were to begin tomorrow, that would likely be their rotation, in some order.

In fact, the Dodgers could be right back where they were last year and the year before, when they dominated the regular season and are now in the playoffs without any players at the top of their rotation who can make a difference.

Glasnow has one month to change that.

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.