Fans of Andre Ethier and Dodger fans in general collectively held their breath on Saturday while awaiting word on how the soon-to-be 35 year-old veteran outfielder’s meeting with noted back specialist Dr. Robert Watkins went. Those results were revealed shortly after the Dodgers 11-6 win over the Oakland A’s at Camelback Ranch and shared with the media by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

“I don’t know the exact diagnosis but I know that we’re going to take up until the second or third (of April) and just kind of let his body just kind of settle down and resume baseball activities here (in Arizona) in the first week of April. At that point we’ll see how he progresses,” Roberts said. “So I don’t know a date on when his likely return [will be], but I know up until the second or third, we’re going to kind of limit his movement.”

Although the news on Ethier could have been better, it also could have been much worse.
(Video capture courtesy of Michael Duarte)

Roberts, like the rest of us, didn’t really know what the prognosis would be, but it fell right about in the middle between best-case and worst-case scenarios.

“I think that something with Andre – a guy who loves to be out there, who’s got a high pain tolerance – and so a couple weeks from the initial injury to kind of let it subside, I think it’s actually a good sign,” Roberts said. “It’s not a six to eight-week thing from what I understand, so him taking another week to kind of let it kind of decide. I think that we’ll have a better idea of how aggressive we need to be.”

The one thing that Roberts made no mention of until asked was the possibility of surgery.

“They did not talk about that, they did not talk about that.” Roberts said emphatically. “I think that right now for us, for Dre, as he stays off of it, and minimizes activity, the scarring kind of takes place. Once he’s  asymptomatic we can continue to be a little more aggressive.”

Although we now have somewhat of a rough idea of when Ethier may be ready – or at least when he will begin getting ready – for the season, Roberts would not say who his so-called everyday left fielder would be in Ethier’s absence, although rookie outfielder Andrew Toles appears to be that guy – especially after his 2-for-4 / four RBI outing on Saturday that included a game-changing grand slam home run in the bottom of the fourth inning.

“Andrew’s having a real good camp,” said Roberts. “For him the at-bat quality that continues to be there, he’s a really good athlete, he’s dynamic and so he does a lot of things to help you win a baseball game.”

Toles’ grand slam in the fourth inning on Saturday afternoon quickly turned a 4-2 deficit into a 6-4 lead, which the Dodgers would not relinquish in their eventual 11-6 win over the Oakland A’s.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

But as non-committal as Roberts is about naming Ethier’s replacement, Toles himself – who is extremely quite by nature – took a much lighter approach to his situation, one that had reporters laughing.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s the Dodgers. That’s the word on the street,” the rookie outfielder said, after his impressive outing. “It’s like that pretty much at every position.

“I just go out and worry about me. I don’t worry about anybody else,” Toles added, “I don’t know, man. We’ll see how it works out.”

How can you not love a guy like that?