Dave Roberts' tough love won't be enough for Dodgers to resurrect Michael Conforto 

There’s no denying that this year has been an abject failure for Michael Conforto. While he’s had flashes for the Dodgers, he’s largely failed to live up to the $17 million contract the team invested in him in the offseason. 

But even with that rough performance, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts hasn’t stopped rolling Conforto out there. In fact, he’s fifth on the team in games played (109) despite having the lowest bWAR (-0.6) of every position player on the roster. 

It seems like Roberts is viewing Conforto as a kind of “project” that he can help bring back from the dead. But there’s only so much Roberts can say or do before it's time to admit that the veteran outfielder’s lack of production has become too much for the team to handle. 

Dave Roberts' tough love might not be enough for Dodgers to resurrect Michael Conforto 

Roberts took a step toward admitting that last week when he sat Conforto in the Dodgers’ series finale against the Angels before sitting him again against the Rockies on Monday. Normally, you’d want your manager to do everything in his power to keep a key offseason acquisition in the lineup. 

But the situation around Conforto isn’t normal. 

“I think Michael is going through it,” Roberts said last week, per Dodger Blues’ Blake Williams. “I do think I’ve got to find some combinations to get some consistent production. That’s just kind of where we’re at this time in the season, I’ve got to do it.”

The Dodgers entered play on Tuesday two games up on the Padres after suffering an embarrassing walk-off loss to the lowly Rockies, so they have little room to take their foot off the pedal. Yes, their sweep of the Padres last weekend was a great sign, but it would take one bad series to make the momentum gained from that disappear.  

The one thing going in Conforto’s favor is that lack of quality options the Dodgers have to fill left field. Kiké Hernández has gotten the second-most starts in left, but he’s currently on the injured list. Andy Pages has the third-most, but is best in center. Teoscar Hernandez has been utilized in right with Mookie Betts playing shortstop. At this point, no amount of motivating from Roberts will help Conforto figure it out. It is what it is.

They had a chance to go get an obvious replacement in Jake Fraley after he was designated for assignment by the Reds, but the Braves swooped in and stole him away, which only adds to the pain of having Conforto in the lineup. 

While Conforto has enough experience that he’s earned some benefit of the doubt when it comes to his struggles, we’ve reached a point where we all know how much (or, in this case, how little) he can bring to the Dodgers’ roster. Reinforcements are coming as players recover from injury.

At that point, Roberts will at least know he's done all he can to put Conforto in a position to succeed, as he even went outside of his typical managerial style to see if a different approach might help. It's Aug. 20. Time's up.