Dodgers just confirmed they wasted everybody's time with Michael Conforto decision

The Los Angeles Dodgers stubbornly held on to Michael Conforto for the entirety of the regular season. At first, it seemed reasonable. At 32, Conforto is older, but it's not like he was completely over the hill.

After all, it was just a year ago that the longtime New York Met put up 20 homers and a 112 wRC+ for the rival San Francisco Giants. Sure, he defense was atrocious, but with a career .811 OPS against righties, there was a thought that maybe the lefty-swinging outfielder could be a potent platoon bat at minimum.

However, April faded into May and then May to June, and Conforto hadn't hit. Maybe the Dodgers were convinced by his .273/.342/.485 in July, which probably played a role in sparing his spot on the roster at the trade deadline. Like a house of cards, however, he'd collapse again in August.

138 games played, 486 plate appearances, a .199 batting average, and -0.6 fWAR, and now — only now — is he off the roster.

The Dodgers leave Michael Conforto off the postseason roster, begging the question of what took them so long?

Of all hitters with at least 400 plate appearances, only two had a lower fWAR than Michael Conforto: Logan O'Hoppe of the crosstown Angels and Tyler Freeman of the pitiful Colorado Rockies.

As a hitter, his 83 wRC+ fared slightly better, coming in 25th-worst in the league, one spot behind once-rumored Dodgers' trade target, Luis Robert. Overall, Conforto was an absolutely brutal return for a $17 million investment.

The money, however, is secondary to the Dodgers. The question is, why did the Dodgers ride with him for so long? Were they really blinded by his hot stretch in July that they hesitated to go all in on an obvious upgrade? If there was a chance to pay the piper for Steven Kwan and they passed, everybody would be furious.

Or is there more to the story? Likely not. The hope was probably that he'd finally hit his stride and be able to serve at least as a bat off the bench in the playoffs to take advantage of a platoon edge.

That was never going to actually come to fruition, though. The Dodgers finally came to their senses, electing to carry Will Smith, who, despite a promising injury update, likely isn't going to play in the Wild Card round against the Cincinnati Reds.

And that's where the Dodgers finally admitted defeat. They'd rather carry an injured player who has almost no shot of getting into a game over Conforto. You're forgiven for feeling like this was all just a colossal waste of time.