Dodgers can't wait any longer to give Michael Conforto the Jason Heyward treatment

The Dodgers released Jason Heyward almost exactly a year ago. He was batting .208 with a .682 OPS over 63 games at the time, but he'd just hit a game-tying homer against the Mariners on Aug. 20, had a strong history with the club, and is Freddie Freeman's best friend. Still, it was clear that Heyward's time on the roster was running short without the emotional considerations, and he was DFA'ed to make room for Chris Taylor coming off of the IL.

With the one-year anniversary of that release just around the corner, there's no reason the Dodgers shouldn't follow their own blueprint and let go of Michael Conforto, a player with less history with the club, worse offensive performance, and who is not Freddie Freeman's best friend.

Just this week, Conforto has been in two bases-loaded, two-out, tie-game situations — and he came up short in both.

On Sunday against the Blue Jays, he made contact with a 3-1 fastball right down the middle but popped it up to end the inning. On Tuesday against the Angels, he struck out swinging on a high fastball. The Dodgers went on to lose both of those games by a single run.

Jason Heyward was released almost exactly a year ago, and it's time for the Dodgers to do the same to Michael Conforto

Conforto's .187 average through Tuesday's game is still the worst of any qualified hitter in baseball by almost 20 points. He managed to dupe the front office with a decent July (.273 average, .827 OPS), but he's back to batting a horrendous .100 with a .373 OPS in August. After the first opportunity he spoiled against the Blue Jays, Dave Roberts said, "You couldn't put it on a tee better."

Heyward was making less money than Conforto last year ($9 million to Conforto's $17 million), which probably made it easier for the Dodgers to cut him, but what will it take for Andrew Friedman and front office give up on their clearly fruitless faith in him if not what we've seen this week?

Conforto successfully duped the front office into thinking that his July success was sustainable and they weren't proactive about finding a replacement outfielder. Now, their internal options are low with three utility men on the IL. Still, Dodgers fans would probably prefer to see a minor leaguer come up or Dalton Rushing get some major league reps in the outfield than keep watching Conforto play.