Dodgers: Three Underrated Players Returning From Injuries in 2018

SAN DIEGO, CA - MAY 5: Andrew Toles
SAN DIEGO, CA - MAY 5: Andrew Toles
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SAN DIEGO, CA – MAY 5: Andrew Toles
SAN DIEGO, CA – MAY 5: Andrew Toles /

When spring training kicks off next February, there will be a few players most people will have eyes on to see how they return from injuries.  While Adrian Gonzalez and Corey Seager will get most of the attention, there are some other Dodgers to observe.

Adrian Gonzalez’s return from various back ailments will be one of the biggest stories to follow as next season’s spring training gets underway.  Corey Seager will also be watched closely by the media and rightfully so.  Seager will attempt to show he’s over his right elbow issues that still have not been fully disclosed by the front office.  All the front office has said is that they hope his elbow heals without surgery.

While the aforementioned Seager and Gonzalez will garner everyone’s attention, there are three other Dodger players whose recovery should also be monitored.  Those three players are Andrew Toles, Yimi Garcia, and Adam Liberatore.  Toles is recovering from ACL surgery, Liberatore is recovering from multiple elbow and knee problems, and Yimi Garcia is trying to come back from Tommy John surgery.  If all three players are healthy and producing, then the Dodgers may not need any off-season acquisitions to improve.

LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 30: Andrew Toles
LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 30: Andrew Toles /

Andrew Toles

For Andrew Toles, he has already come back from being out of baseball and now he will try to come back from ACL surgery.  Toles injured his knee while trying to make a tough catch in left field last May and missed the rest of the 2017 season.   Toles was a much-needed spark to the Dodgers in the later stages of the 2016 season and ended up hitting one of the most significant home runs of the 2016 season when he launched a grand slam that led the Dodgers to a come back win over the Rockies.  That win sparked the Dodgers 2016 playoff run before it came to an end in the NLCS.

In 2017, Toles was off to a great start hitting five home runs in only 31 games.  His hot start was erased by his knee injury that ended his season.  Toles is a 294 hitter in his time with the Dodgers and has been an excellent left fielder.  He can even make a spot start in center field or right field when needed.  While Chris Taylor became the Dodgers leadoff hitter this season, Andrew Toles could take that role back if he makes a successful comeback from his knee injury.  Batting Taylor lower in the lineup would only make the Dodgers lineup even stronger as it would add one more run producer to the middle of the order.

Toles hasn’t stolen many bases, but he has the speed to and could add a base stealing threat to the Dodger lineup in 2018.  While the Dodger lineup was one of the best this year, the one thing they lacked was the ability to steal bases.  Putting Toles and Taylor in the everyday lineup would give the Dodgers two base stealing threats and an added dimension to an already robust starting lineup.

GLENDALE, AZ – MARCH 07: Adam Liberatore
GLENDALE, AZ – MARCH 07: Adam Liberatore /

Adam Liberatore

Entering the 2017 season, the Dodgers thought they had a deadly assortment of left-handed specialists in Adam Liberatore, Grant Dayton, and Luis Avilan.  Then all three were injured this past season with Liberatore and Dayton missing most of the regular season and post-season.  That led to the Dodgers acquiring Tony Watson and Tony Cingrani.  While Cingrani is still under team control, Watson is a free agent and could be let go if the Dodgers feel that Liberatore will be ready to roll for the 2018 season.

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In 2016, Adam Liberatore was an elite reliever for the Dodgers before he ran into some more injury issues.  Left-handed hitters only hit 171 off of Liberatore in 2016, and he made a serious run at making the all-star team as a left-handed specialist.  His injuries in the latter half of 2016 ruined his stats, but before the all-star break when he was healthy he had a 0.61 ERA and batters were only hitting 153 against him.

If Liberatore is fully healthy for next season, then the Dodger bullpen will be even better than they were this season in which they were a top three bullpen in the majors.  Grant Dayton will miss most of the 2018 season so the Dodgers will have Avilan, Cingrani, and Liberatore as their southpaw relievers.  There is no doubt that Liberatore would be the best of the bunch if he could shrug off his injury woes.  This makes him a very underrated buy key player to watch as the spring rolls around.

LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 16: Yimi Garcia
LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 16: Yimi Garcia /

Yimi Garcia

If you find yourself asking who Yimi Garcia is, you are most likely not alone.  After undergoing Tommy John surgery at the end of 2016, Yimi Garcia missed all of the 2017 season.  Before his arm injuries, he was one of the primary setup relievers in the Dodger bullpen.  He was in the Pedro Baez role before he succumbed to his arm troubles.

Garcia had somewhat of a breakout season in 2015 when he appeared in 59 games and hitters only hit 209 against him.  He started the 2016 season in the Dodger bullpen but didn’t last ten innings before he first went down due to his arm problems.  Garcia is equipped with a mid 90’s fastball that has horizontal movement when he is fully healthy.  He also features a slider that he was fine-tuning into his primary out pitch before he started missing time.

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The Dodgers would like to bring Brandon Morrow back, but given that Morrow is 33 years old he is probably looking for one final payday.  If the bidding extends past a couple of years, the Dodgers would be wise to let Morrow go even though he will be hard to replace.  Yimi Garcia is one of the internal options that could replace Morrow if he can finally answer the bell in 2018.  He could find himself in a battle with Josh Fields, and Pedro Baez for one of the final spots in the pen and the competition should only help improve the Dodger bullpen.  If Yimi is finally healthy in the spring, then the Dodgers bullpen competition will be very stiff.

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