Blue Jays castoff gets impressive praise for turnaround with Dodgers

When the Los Angeles Dodgers added Eric Lauer to their bullpen after he was DFA’d by the Toronto Blue Jays, few fans expected he’d be dishing out six scoreless innings against the Minnesota Twins a few weeks later.

Taking to the Dodgers Territory podcast to talk about Lauer’s big game against the Twins on Monday, The Athletic’s Katie Woo broke down just how important the 31-year-old has become to LA’s rotation, as if he couldn’t hold things down as a sixth starter now, Dave Roberts wouldn’t be able to maintain his six-man rotation.

“You look at the other 29 other clubs, obviously familiar with Eric Lauer, with Mark Prior’s connection, and they said, ‘You know what, we’re the Dodgers, we can fix that,’ and they have. And they don’t need Eric Lauer to go out and post six hitless innings, but they’ll certainly take it. They just need him to be a certifiable, solid six starter. And he’s done that and more for this club. It’s allowed guys like Justin Wrobleski to keep working, Roki Sasaki, and we’ll get to Emmet Sheehan there. It’s bought him a little bit more extra time, but for Eric Lauer, we know how important the six-man rotation is for the Los Angeles Dodgers. They’ve committed to it all season long. Shohei Ohtani does not get to do two-way duties without a season-long six-man rotation,” Woo noted.

“So, for Eric Lauer to come in and just fill that spot out of need, I think the Dodgers were planning on just giving him a couple and seeing where it goes, but he’s been more than serviceable. He’s been a very good addition to this club. He’s fit right in in the clubhouse. And he’s really helped keep a critical anchor of this Dodgers team afloat. They have the best starting rotation in baseball. That is not by accident. It is because they remain committed to the six-man. Eric Lauer, very underrated in that overall area because he’s allowed them to be able to keep that up.”

A key part of the Blue Jays’ stable in 2025, who famously traded innings with Will Klein during the 18-inning World Series game, Lauer’s tenure in Toronto ended poorly, with comments about his usage, coupled with a 6.69 ERA, all but signing his DFA papers. Fortunately, with his ERA almost a third of its Canadian high, the Dodgers are certainly happy they employ him for the low, low price of some financial compensation.

"He's been more than serviceable. He's been a very good addition to this club."@katiejwoo breaks down the addition and strong production from Eric Lauer for the Dodgers. pic.twitter.com/72XiYO7PFT

— Dodgers Territory (@LADTerritory) June 23, 2026

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