Amid wave of injuries, Los Angeles Dodgers could be starting to get healthy

5 Dodgers on injured reserve and when they are due back:

* Mookie Betts: Mid-August return. Cannot return soon enough.  He's the offensive catalyst, but where will he play?

* Tyler Glasnow: Expected to make a start Wednesday. Has logged 109 innings so far this year and his career high is 120.  Watch out.

* Clayton Kershaw: Also scheduled to start this week, likely on Thursday.  He’s 36 and hasn’t pitched at all this season.

* Walker Buehler: He is training on his own back home in Kentucky so very little information is available.  Don’t hold your breath.

* Max Muncy: Progress is slow, likely out a few more weeks.

This is not good news for a team that is barely playing .500 ball for the past six weeks.  How Glasnow and Kershaw fare will impact decisions on the trade deadline. Help is needed.  Maybe not to win the division, but to win in October.

5 Hall of Famers who were underrated:

* Robin Roberts: He completed more than half (305) of his 609 career starts, pitched 4,688 innings and won 20 or more games six straight times.

* Arky Vaughan: His .318 career average is second among all shortstops behind another Pirate Honus Wagner.

* Jim Thome: Rarely mentioned as one of the great sluggers, his 612 total is eighth all-time and he is seventh all-time in walks (1,747).

* Johnny Mize: His strikeout to walks ratio (276 strikeouts, 939 walks) is the best among all power hitters.

* Eddie Murray: One of only four players to have over 500 homers (504) and over 3,000 hits (3,255).  The other three are Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Albert Pujols.

5 Players on current rosters who will be first-ballot Hall of Famers:

*Clayton Kershaw

*Mike Trout

*Justin Verlander

*Max Scherzer

*Shohei Ohtani

5 Other current players who have likely done enough to merit a pass to Cooperstown:

*Bryce Harper.

*Jose Altuve.

*Freddie Freeman

*Salvadore Perez

*Mookie Betts

Aaron Judge could be included here, but he’s only played nine seasons.

5 More current players who will get Hall of Fame votes, but come up short:

*Giancarlo Stanton

*Paul Goldschmidt

*Nolan Arenado

*Andrew McCutchen

*Kenley Jansen

Pete Donovan is a Palm Desert resident and former Los Angeles Times sports reporter. He can be reached at pwdonovan22@yahoo.com

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Amid wave of injuries, Los Angeles Dodgers could be starting to get healthy