Plan is for Cole Hamels to join Dodgers’ rotation in September

The Dodgers need all the pitching help they can get. Their starting rotation is depleted, along with their bullpen. At the moment, they have only four starting pitchers. Well, if all goes right, they could be getting a fifth in a few weeks.

In case you missed it, the Dodgers signed Cole Hamels to a major-league contract last week. The contract will pay him $1 million, per Buster Olney of ESPN. Both Bob Nightengale at USA Today and Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic say Hamels will be paid an additional $200,000 per start.

On Thursday, manager Dave Roberts was asked if there is any update on the 37-year-old lefty, saying he’s currently in Arizona at Camelback Ranch.

“He’s still building up,” Roberts said. “He’s in Arizona. He’s still part of the plan in September.”

When asked if Hamels could slide into LA’s rotation when ready, Roberts said that the team hopes he’ll be able to.

“That’s why we signed him, that’s the plan.” Roberts said.

Roberts added that he doesn’t have an idea on when we can see Hamels go on a rehab assignment. He recently threw a simulated inning at Dodger Stadium last weekend. For right now, the plan is to get Hamels throwing 3-4 innings before they even consider sending him to the minors to pitch.

Clayton Kershaw is out through at least the first week of September and Danny Duffy is out through at least the middle of September as well. Hamels doesn’t have to pitch like he did to win 2008 World Series MVP. If he somehow does, hey we’ll take that. If he’s able to eat innings and be a solid addition to the rotation, the Dodgers could be in good hands.

Links

• Bill Plaschke of The LA Times writes about how the Dodgers may be losing time to gain ground on the Giants
• ICYMI: Bill Shaikin of The LA Times provides the latest information on the Trevor Bauer case
• Dustin Nosler from Dodgers Digest shares his thoughts on what the Dodgers can potentially do moving forward in the future with both Trea Turner and Corey Seager