Once again, Andrew Toles finds himself out of luck and in the minors. Is it bad mojo, a jinx, the curse of the Friedman, or is he just not destined to fill out his career as a Dodger?
Let’s take a look at his past and what may be in store for the future.
Oscar Martinez
I was born in the shadow of Dodger Stadium and immediately drenched in Dodger Blue. Chavez Ravine is my baseball cathedral, Vin Scully was the golden voice of summer all my life, and Tommy Lasorda remains the greatest Dodgers manager ever. My favorite things are coffee, beer, and the Dodgers beating the Giants. I also blog about my baseball card hobby at All Trade Bait, All the Time.
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Sorry but Toles is getting screwed again. On another note, Forshyte taking a roster spot the fans and the team is getting screwed again.
I think there are a lot of teams that could use a player like Toles.
Forsythe will snap out of it. Starting tonight.
Badger,
It’s a joke, right?
It’s the power of positive thought pack. You familiar with Noetics? If all of us think that thought at the same time the universe will respond.
Including the Dodgers. We need him a lot more than Forsythe.
We will all be bashing Forsythe and Grandal in September, or maybe even starting tomorrow. I seriously doubt they’re capable of being consistent contributors.
God I hated this video.
It was basically a retelling of Toles history, with nothing else. No analysis of why Toles may have been sent down. No mention of what may have happened if the team had traded Kemp. No theory on where the team think Toles will play in the future (LF, CF, RF) No looking at Toles 2019.
Nothing. Just his background.
Love Oscar’s beer stuff. That’s fun. Let’s try to add value!
Forshyte has earned the shortening of his name, I think his play is just Shyte!
Yeah, noetics don’t work for shyte.
Badger,
Religions have been trying this route for millenia. You be the judge of whether it works or not.
As far as Toles goes, there are some good points that Bluto and others make. The big question, which we don’t really have an answer for, is he just a victim of circumstances in that the Dodgers are loaded with outfielders and their incumbents, Taylor, Kemp, Puig, Pederson, & Hernandez, are not playing poorly. Hernandez just won the Milwaukee game for us. The minors are also filled with OF’s who are showing good talent. Or, are the Dodgers just slowly cherry picking the farm and keeping the rest as trade fodder like in the Manny deal, or for future deals? Getting Manny was the smartest move any FO could make using only prospects. Tremendous patience is needed to land deals like this which proves the business side of the equation needs its own acumen to put a team together. No one is really a victim. It’s a business and all are voluntarily playing it. In order to rise to the MLB, you’ve got to show exceptional talent in some ways. And, then the competition starts with others showing equal or better talents. If Toles demanded out of this carousel, what would happen? Would the team comply and finally trade him? They are not obliged to do that if they think it is not beneficial for them. OTOH, sometimes a personal plea goes a long way and even the FAZ is ultimately human and may sympathize with a player’s requests. The answer lies with Toles. What is his take?
It’s not religion Jeff. It’s quantum physics. Consciousness matters. Thought has mass.
Toles wants to play baseball for a living. And he is. He’s good enough to play at the highest level. Will it be for the Dodgers? Somehow I doubt it. If he’s getting good advice, and following it, he will need to show continued patience as long as he’s in this organization.
What do you all think about giving Ruiz a chance at backup catcher to Yasmani? We really don’t need Barnes’ utility resume with the other players on the roster more than making their contributions. Barnes is simply flat this year and is really not helping the team much. Ruiz, a highly touted prospect, could be one of the answers to our 2nd half push. If he’s successful, we answer many questions about his abilities in the big league and also can make some smarter choices for the future such as the future of our starting catchers, and possible trade scenarios. I don’t think Farmer is thought of as a future backup catcher but he does have a utilitarian resume. When does a prospect like Ruiz get his chance? Does it have to come with an injury to Yasmani or Barnes or do the Dodgers have the luxury of auditioning him now?
No way the team starts the clock on Ruiz, and according to everything I’ve read Ruiz is nowhere near ready. i don’t know what goes into this stuff, but most don’t expect Ruiz in the majors until 2020.
Maybe he’s still physically developing? Maybe he still has holes in his swing?
Dunno.
So why is he mentioned as much as he is in trade scenarios and also coming up to the team?
Wouldn’t Smith come up first?
Jeff
Kike is an utility player he has nothing to do with Toles.
And the season is not over yet, so I wouldn’t assume anything about our outfield, until this season is over.
Last year at this time, we also thought the whole team was hitting, but that didn’t last.
And not everyone in our outfield is hitting, that production has went down quite a bit, after the first two weeks of June, take a look!
MJ,
I don’t understand your comment about Kike and Toles. What am I assuming? There simply is no room for Toles at the moment on the roster. It’s probably that simple. There’s a waiting list.
He’s not.
Not what?
Oscar
I know you follow the Dodgers history, what happened last year, right after the trade deadline went by?
Not everyone continued to hit, and that same players production, has not been there much at all, after the first two weeks of June.
Toles has done nothing but produce, every chance he has been given, unlike other outfielders, that have had unlimited chances, to show they can produce.
The season is far from over, and that player’s production has already started to wane, so take a look.
And I don’t know if you know this, but I seem to think like you, when it comes to the Dodgers.
Because when you have wrote something or brought up something, I find myself agreeing with much you say, except Forsythe, sorry.
Just like I mentioned yesterday, Roberts started Forsythe against the leftie yesterday
During the game, I looked at Forsythe’s numbers in July, and against lefties and righties.
Before yesterday’s game, Forsythe had 16 at bats in July, and he had struck out in 8 of those 16 at bats.
And yesterday he had four more at bats, but he struck out in one of those four at bats yesterday again, so in 20 at bats now, he has struck out 9 times, which is close to 50 percent of the time.
Why even send him out there, he is more likely to make an out, or strike out.
And he is not hitting lefties this year at all, if he was up from AAA, he would have already been sent down!
My other posts are in moderation, could you release them when you get a chance, it is my fault, because my Email was not correct.
Thank you!
Twenty at bats is not significant.
Forsythe’s stats stink across the board.
Any chance Oakland flips Familia to us? Maybe we know somebody there…. One has to wonder what they want him for….
Jonah
They didn’t trade for Chapman, when he had those domestic violence charges, so I don’t think our front office seriously thought about going after Familia, but I could be wrong.
There is no jinx here, it is politics more then anything, and Toles is a very quiet guy.
And he has not been given unlimited chances like some.
But here is a better question, where would both Toles and Verdugo be, if they were given four years to prove themselves?
And with that kind of chance, and four years of experience, they would both be much farther along!
And Toles has already shown he can hit consistently for longer then two or three weeks.
And that is more what this team needs, because we have plenty of players that can hit one out, but how many players do we have, that can even get their bat on the ball, when runners are in scoring position, or hit in tough RBIs?
Toles only has 240 PA’s and with that has 8 home runs and an .800 OPS. I think that could easily translate to 20 dingers over a season. It’s close to the same ratio as Kiké, with a better OPS. Problem for Toles is he isn’t a utility guy. We have a full outfield now, and we still have 2 top outfield prospects in the system. What to do? Trade, trade bullpen aid.
Badger
Your right, let’s hope they make the right move when it comes to this.
It’s not politics.
What does that even mean in this context?
Who is being political and how? Why?
Don’t post silly conspiracy theories.
Sheesh
Bluto
When they are worrying about one player’s psyche, to make a decision between two players, and not the player’s performances, sorry I don’t know what else to call it.
Who said any of that was happening? That’s 100% MJ speculation.
Who said past performance has to be valued higher than something else?
Something(s) like potential, positional flexibility, salary and health?
Bluto
I know you are smart enough to know that the Dodgers are full of politics. All you have to do is look at who plays and who does not and when. No sense in going over this stuff as I have stated many times who is favored and who is not. MJ is right. Some have excuses made for their performance and others do not have that luxury. You can also tell by the punishment given over different situations. Think about it Bluto.
Don’t agree at all.
Don’t see it either.
Bluto
I read that in the LA Times.
But I am not talking about anything about the last few days.
There are many definitions and synonyms for the word politics. I’m sure several could be applied.
Bluto
It is not a conspiracy theory when Joc plays fantasy football with the FO. It is office politics. It is brown nosing or whatever you wish to call it.
Wait.
Wait.
You think the team is playing Joc Pederson because he play Fantasy Football with the Front Office?
Adrian Gonzalez. Was it politics when he was benched because he was dreadful?
Austin Barnes. Is it politics when he is benched for Grandal.
Justin Turner. Is it political when he plays 3B more than Forsythe?
No, all decisions have a rationale. Inclusive of Joc Pederson.
Is this a joke?
Bluto
It is no joke. If you think Joc is not brown nosing when he is playing fantasy football and hob nobs with the high rollers I cannot help you. Your comparisons leave a lot to be desired.
LOL.
All those comparisons, in case you didn’t know, also play fantasy football in the same league.
And that’s an order!
Yeah, but not a real order. Bluto is a seaman. They don’t give orders.
I do love to fish
And you love love love watching Rich Hill pitch. I now know why. Because he often pitches like crappie.
Everybody sleeping in?
Baez ready soon. Probably Atlanta. Cingrani and Fields moving forward, probably not this trip. Urias will be ready in early August. That’s 4 bullpen arms, 1 of whom can be a three inning reliever (45 pitches). Maybe we don’t need another bullpen arm?
Yeah, we do.
Tolesy. The guy has proved he can play in the bigs and contribute. Problem: He is on a team loaded with quality outfielders at all levels. There is not a real solution to his problem unless they deal a LH hitting outfielder. Everyone thought they were going to do that when they got Machado and surprise, it was Diaz and not Verdugo. Most of the prospect outfielders hit from the right side. Verdugo and Kendall are lefty hitters. But other than Verdugo, most are at single A level. So a few years away. As for Ruiz, he is not hitting all that well at Tulsa. Far from being ready to backup Grandal. Smith is hitting 40 points higher and they both are at Tulsa splitting time as the backstop. The guys most likely to be called up if they decided to send Barnes down would be Farmer or Gale. Those are the guys handling the duties as catcher at AAA. Both have MLB experience. Both are hitting close to .300 at OKC. No way they bring up a AA catcher over both of those guys.