Dodgers Notes: Ohtani, Klein, Coaching Staff

Shohei Ohtani will not require surgery on either the knee or biceps injuries that hampered him in the second half, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told reporters on Wednesday (link via Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic). He’s expected to be fully healthy for the start of Spring Training.

Friedman confirmed that Ohtani will return to a two-way role in 2027, as the four-time MVP suggested over the weekend. However, the front office leader declined to answer whether they believe Ohtani can sustain a full two-way workload for the entire season. He indicated the team hasn’t decided yet what kind of limitations Ohtani might face.

A physically hampered Ohtani was a liability for the Dodgers down the stretch and into the postseason. He missed a couple weeks in September due to the biceps issue and didn’t hit well while playing through the injury. Ohtani went nearly two months between his final regular season home run in mid-August and the three-run shot he hit in Game 4 of the NLCS, their eventual elimination game. He didn’t pitch after July 3 due to the left knee concern.

Ohtani was firing on all cylinders in the first half. He carried a .293/.403/.549 slash line with 22 home runs into the All-Star Break. He was also in the early-season Cy Young conversation with a 1.79 earned run average and 28% strikeout rate over his first 14 starts.

While Ohtani will avoid surgery, reliever Will Klein wasn’t so fortunate. The Dodgers announced that the right-hander underwent an elbow procedure to remove bone chips this afternoon. It’s a relatively minor operation that isn’t expected to impact his availability for Spring Training. Klein, a surprise World Series contributor in 2025, tossed a career-high 41 2/3 innings of 3.67 ERA ball with a 26% strikeout rate this year. He missed the final two months of the season due to the elbow injury. (The Dodgers also announced a more significant surgery for backup catcher/DH Dalton Rushing this afternoon.)

Friedman also addressed the coaching staff, indicating he expects the entire group to return in 2027 (link via Alden González of ESPN). It’ll be status quo for Dave Roberts’ 12th season at the helm. Bench coach Danny Lehmann has gotten some attention as a managerial candidate in the past but hasn’t been publicly linked to either the Houston or Seattle vacancies in this cycle. There haven’t been any defined candidates for the Angels vacancy that arose this afternoon when they officially declined their option on Kurt Suzuki.