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Dodgers’ season-opening roster all but set with one spot still undecided

March 21, 2026

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Dodgers’ roster is all but set. Some of the roles might still be a little blurry.

With camp in Arizona winding down, the Dodgers have decided on their 13-man pitching staff (plus two-way star Shohei Ohtani). Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki and Ohtani will open the season in the rotation with Blake Snell and Gavin Stone on the injured list for now. New closer Edwin Diaz will be joined by Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia, Will Klein, Edgardo Henriquez, Jack Dreyer, Tanner Scott and Ben Casparius in the bullpen.

And then there are Emmet Sheehan and Justin Wrobleski. Both will be on the season-opening roster but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts would not designate one as the rotation’s fifth starter.

“We’re talking through that,” Roberts said Friday. “But obviously the guys that are involved – one of those guys is going to probably ‘piggyback,’ that sixth guy. We’ll figure out when we pencil him in to piggyback. But it’ll essentially be a sixth starter. But I’m not sure who that is yet.”

With four off days in the first three weeks of the season, the Dodgers can go with a five-man rotation and still give each starter five days of rest between assignments. A sixth starter won’t be needed until the home series against the New York Mets on April 13-15. That would free up either Wrobleski or Sheehan to pitch in a multi-inning role behind any of the starting pitchers as they build up.

Sheehan came into camp as the leading candidate to grab the final spot in the rotation. He will start the Cactus League finale on Saturday with a chance to leave a better final impression than he has made so far. An illness set Sheehan back and he has made just two Cactus League starts, allowing three runs on five hits, four walks and a hit batter in six innings.

“He’s shown enough for us last year and hasn’t had the best of springs, certainly with the command,” Roberts said. “I think he’s earned the opportunity to get out there and start and see how it looks as the season starts.”

Sheehan’s fastball velocity was down during those two starts, something Roberts said the Dodgers coaching staff attributes to mechanical issues.

“But we’ll see. We’re keeping an eye on him,” Roberts said. “But we believe in him as a player and he’s put himself in a good spot to earn this opportunity. But at the end of the day he’s got to go out there and pitch well.”

SECOND BASE

The only roster spot that appears to be undecided at this point comes down to Hyeseong Kim or Alex Freeland as the left-handed hitting half of a second base platoon. Miguel Rojas and Santiago Espinal, both right-handed hitters, are on the roster.

“We haven’t made that decision yet,” Roberts said.

Freeland has not had a good spring. He is just 4 for 37 (.108). Kim started out hot with six hits in his first 13 Cactus League at-bats then went 1 for 12 while playing for South Korea in the World Baseball Classic. He is 3 for 8 since returning to the Dodgers.

Roberts wouldn’t say it so bluntly, but the position remains unsettled because neither player has grabbed hold of it with a stronger spring.

“It’s one of those things that you could argue both sides of either decision, as far as Alex or Hyeseong. And so I just don’t think it’s clear cut,” he said. “We still haven’t seen Hyeseong a bunch. Alex, I think he’s taken great at-bats, the numbers, the surface line certainly isn’t there, but it’s still spring training. There’s just deeper conversations that are going to be had.”

MINOR MOVE

The Dodgers signed former major league left-hander Logan Allen to a minor-league contract.

The 28-year-old pitched for four teams in parts of five major-league seasons including most recently the Arizona Diamondbacks for 12 games in 2024.

Allen spent last season pitching in South Korea and then for Team Canada in the WBC this spring, where he pitched well enough (one run in 3⅓ innings) to earn a contract offer from the Dodgers.

Orange County Register

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Dodgers’ season-opening roster all but set with one spot still undecided

SECOND BASE

MINOR MOVE

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