Eric Lauer Hits IL as Dodgers Sacrifice Klein for Treinen

The Dodgers placed Eric Lauer on the 15-day injured list Wednesday with left elbow inflammation and activated Blake Treinen from a 60-day elbow layoff. To open a 40-man roster spot, they transferred Will Klein to the 60-day IL, ending his regular season.

Lauer had just returned to the rotation. One start later, Los Angeles is paying for Treinen’s bullpen look with Klein’s September and a fifth-starter hole.

Treinen Comes Off the IL at Klein’s Expense

The club announced all three moves together before Wednesday night’s game against St. Louis. Treinen, 38, had been out since June 20 with right elbow inflammation. Klein, 26, had been on the 15-day list since August 1 with what the team listed as right elbow discomfort, later described as bone chips.

That is the trade. Treinen gets a roster spot and a runway into October. Klein cannot come back until September 30, which is after the regular season ends, and he would have to be carried in October without a recent game.

THE WEDNESDAY ROSTER SWAP

High-leverage work from the right side was already the thin part of the staff. Edwin Díaz has been out since August 18 with neck inflammation and was eligible to return Wednesday, but he was still listed on the injured list early Thursday. Klein’s transfer closes another right-handed option for the next four weeks.

The club put the three moves on the record in one post.

The Dodgers have activated RHP Blake Treinen from the injured list and placed LHP Eric Lauer on the injured list with left elbow inflammation. In order to make room on the 40-man roster, the Dodgers added RHP Will Klein to the 60-day injured list.

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 3, 2026

Lauer’s One Start Back Ends on the IL

Tuesday’s assignment was Lauer’s return to the starting five. Tyler Glasnow came off the injured list on August 25, which had bumped Lauer to the bullpen. Roki Sasaki then went on the 15-day IL on August 27 with a blister on his right middle finger, and the fifth spot opened again.

St. Louis scored 7 earned runs on eight hits, including two home runs, in three innings in a 13-8 loss. Lauer did not mention his elbow after the game. He talked about losing the feel for his pitches.

I felt good warming up, felt good in the bullpen and then got out there and kind of just lost it. I think I might have been tinkering a little too much in between. I don’t think that there’s something glaringly wrong.

Eric Lauer, Dodgers left-hander, after Tuesday’s start

The IL move arrived the next afternoon. The timing, one night after a blowup, is why the elbow listing reads to some like a clean way to sit a starter who had just been hit. His own words after the game pointed at mechanics, not pain.

HOW LAUER GOT THE BALL, THEN LOST IT

1. August 25: Glasnow is activated, and Lauer shifts toward relief.
2. August 27: Sasaki hits the IL with a blister, and the fifth-start job reopens.
3. September 1: Lauer starts against St. Louis and allows seven earned runs in three innings in a 13-8 loss.
4. September 2: Los Angeles places him on the 15-day IL with left elbow inflammation.

The beating does not wipe out what he had already given them. After a May 17 claim from Toronto for cash, he went 7-2 with a 4.50 ERA in 14 games, 12 of them starts. He had been 1-5 with a 6.69 ERA in eight games for the Blue Jays. In 2025 he was 9-2 with a 3.18 ERA. He is not in the October rotation plan. He was the innings bridge, and that bridge just closed.

Nine Games, Four Starters, Two Holes

Manager Dave Roberts had already said the club would call up a spot starter during a stretch of nine games in nine days. Lauer’s IL stint does not create that need. It moves it forward and removes the man who was supposed to cover it.

The homestand runs September 1 through 9 against the Cardinals, Nationals and Reds, all night games at Dodger Stadium. Yamamoto started Wednesday, and Los Angeles still lost 8-6 in 10 innings, falling to 82-57. Tarik Skubal is lined up for Thursday. Blake Snell and Glasnow are expected to take two of the three Washington games.

That leaves Sunday, September 6, and Monday, September 7, without an announced starter. The IL placement leaves Los Angeles with four active starting pitchers, the group already viewed as the postseason four: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Skubal, Snell, and Glasnow.

REMAINING GAMES ON THE HOMESTAND

Lauer is eligible to come off the 15-day list on September 17. That date does not help this homestand, and it may not help the next turn either if the elbow is slow.

What Treinen Showed on His Way Back

Treinen last pitched for Los Angeles on June 19. Imaging later in June showed inflammation from wear, not a structural tear. He still spent 62 games on the list and had to be moved to the 60-day IL on August 11 so Blake Snell could come back.

Before the layoff he was 4-1 with a 3.52 ERA in 29 games, 23 innings. That is a useful middle-inning line, not a locked ninth-inning one. The club is betting the rest of September can get him sharp enough for October, when right-handed leverage has been the soft spot.

TREINEN’S ROAD BACK

• Regular season: 4-1, 3.52 ERA, 23 innings in 29 games before the June 20 IL stint.
• Rehab: Seven appearances at Low-A Ontario and Triple-A Oklahoma City, 6 1/3 innings, 0.00 ERA, eight strikeouts, two walks, two hits.
• Time missed: Placed on the IL June 20, activated September 2, 62 games out.
• Age and role: 38, back as a sinker reliever, not as a fifth starter.

They will carry an extra reliever for the games before a starter can be added. That is the choice in plain terms. Wednesday’s roster math used Lauer’s active spot on Treinen, not on a pitcher who can start Sunday.

The Game 3 Hero Sits Until September 30

Klein is not a nameless 40-man chip. On October 27, 2025, he was the last arm in the bullpen in World Series Game 3 against Toronto, an 18-inning 6-5 win. He threw four scoreless innings on 72 pitches, one hit, two walks, and five strikeouts, and he was the winning pitcher. Freddie Freeman ended it with a walk-off homer in the 18th. Sandy Koufax found Klein afterward. Dave Roberts left him in for a fourth inning even as Yamamoto warmed.

He last pitched on July 31, then went on the IL on August 1. An MRI found bone chips. Surgery was on the table. He chose rest and anti-inflammatory treatment so he might still pitch in the postseason. The 60-day transfer ends the regular-season half of that plan. He can be activated on September 30, which is late enough that any October roster spot would come without a recent game to test the elbow.

If the club is comfortable carrying him cold, he remains a postseason option. If it wants to see him face hitters first, this move is the end of his year. Either way, the 40-man spot he occupied now belongs to a 38-year-old coming off the same joint problem that sat him for two months.

Sheehan Is Eligible Saturday, Not Before

Emmet Sheehan is the name Roberts’s staff has already pointed toward. He was optioned on August 21 and, under the option rule, cannot rejoin the major league club until Saturday, September 5, unless he is replacing a player placed on the injured list. Lauer’s IL stint could have been that opening. The club used it on Treinen instead.

Sheehan is 4-8 with a 5.29 ERA in 20 starts, 95 1/3 innings, 108 strikeouts, and a 1.29 WHIP. In four Triple-A starts since the demotion he has a 1.50 ERA, and he was lined up to start for Oklahoma City on Sunday, the same day Los Angeles already needed a fifth starter to keep the four-man group on turn. With Lauer out, that one spot start may become a longer look, including Monday if they do not want a bullpen game.

Justin Wrobleski came off the 15-day IL on Tuesday after left forearm inflammation, a 12-game absence. The club moved him to relief for the role it wants in October. He allowed three runs in two innings that night. He can still cover bulk innings on Monday if they keep him stretched out.

THE OPEN STARTS

• Sheehan on Saturday: Eligible to be recalled then, already stretched out, with a 1.50 ERA in four Oklahoma City starts.
• Wrobleski in bulk: Back from a forearm IL stint and parked in relief, with the length to eat innings if Monday becomes a bullpen night.
• Gavin Stone: Near the end of a shoulder rehab and described as a long shot to pitch for Los Angeles this season.
• Shohei Ohtani as a starter: Still not throwing bullpens on a timeline that can cover this homestand.

Sasaki is playing catch and is eligible September 11, after the homestand. If he returns on time and Sheehan sticks, the club can go back to a six-man group. That is a September 11 problem. Sunday and Monday are not.

October Still Runs Through the Big Four

The postseason rotation the club is pointing at did not change Wednesday. Yamamoto, Skubal, Snell, and Glasnow are healthy. Sasaki’s blister keeps him on a relief track if he comes back as planned, the same role he had in the 2025 run. Lauer was never that October starter. Treinen is the October bet in this transaction, a sinker reliever the club wants for leverage if the elbow holds.

Klein is the cost that does not show in the starting-pitcher column. He saved an 18-inning World Series game last October, and the same elbow that let him throw 72 pitches that night is now the reason his regular season is over. Lauer, claimed in May to eat innings while the staff healed, is on the 15-day list after one start back. Treinen is the pitcher they chose to have on the roster Thursday.