Dave Roberts speaks out of both sides of his mouth with Mookie Betts injury update

When it was revealed on Friday that Mookie Betts fractured his toe by stubbing it while walking to the bathroom in the dark, Los Angeles Dodgers fans collectively breathed a sigh of relief. Surely, such a clumsily sustained injury can't result in anything serious... right?

That's certainly what Dave Roberts wants us to think, anyway. As he is wont to do, the Dodgers' skipper has already majorly downplayed the nature of Betts' injury by saying that the former MVP will likely not require an IL stint.

On Saturday, however, Roberts elaborated further on Betts' condition, and the outlook is less than ideal. Based on what we now know, avoiding an IL stint feels like a highly ambitious best-case scenario for Betts and the Dodgers.

Dave Roberts speaks out of both sides of his mouth with Mookie Betts injury update

According to Rowan Kavner of FOX Sports, Roberts confirmed that while there is indeed a fracture at the tip of Betts’ toe, the prognosis remains the same and that Betts' pain tolerance is going to dictate how quickly he returns to action for the Dodgers.

“The last couple days it’s been hard for him to even put on a shoe," Roberts said Saturday (via Kavner). "But I still don’t believe it’s going to be an IL stint.”

Call it what you want – optimism, delusion or straight disinformation – but Roberts appears to be full of it. It feels borderline impossible that someone who can't even put on a shoe without pain is in any condition to be the Dodgers' starting shortstop anytime soon.

At this point, it appears to be a foregone conclusion that Betts will be unavailable for the remainder of the series against the American League East-leading New York Yankees (at the very least). Veteran infielder Miguel Rojas replaced Betts in the Dodgers' starting lineup in Friday's series opener, and we can reasonably expect to see Tommy Edman or Kiké Hernández get some time at shortstop if Betts remains out for an extended period of time – which, let's face it, he almost certainly will.

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