The Los Angeles Dodgers made a quiet, yet notable move on Wednesday, renewing the contract of former outfielder Andrew Toles, according to the Associated Press.
Toles, 31, has not played in the majors since 2018. He’s been on the restricted list since March 2019 because of mental health issues. (He was subsequently diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.) There’s no reason to believe he’ll ever take another swing, for the Dodgers or anyone else. Nevertheless, the Dodgers have continued to renew his contract each spring so that he maintains his health insurance. It’s a shockingly decent act in an industry that too often loses touch with humanity.
Toles appeared in 96 games for the Dodgers from 2016-18, hitting for a 111 OPS+ and even batting .462/.467/.615 in the 2016 National League Championship Series. Back in 2021, USA Today reported that he had been in “at least” 20 mental health clinics since leaving the Dodgers. After Toles was found sleeping at a Florida airport following a 2020 arrest, his father, Alvin, gained legal guardianship and brought him back to Fairburn, Georgia.
“We are having challenges,” Alvin Toles told USA Today, “but nothing that God and I can’t handle. Schizophrenia, it’s just so tough. I mean, he can’t even watch TV. He hears voices and the TV at the same time, so it’s kind of confusing. I’ve seen him looking at some baseball games on his laptop, but I don’t think he really understands what’s going on. I just want him to have a chance in life. That’s all. Just to be healthy, live a normal life.”
The Dodgers seem to want the same from Toles.
“Man, I would love to see him. I’d love to put my arms around him. I miss him. I really miss him,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Toles in 2021.
For those unfamiliar with Major League Baseball’s transactional jargon, teams are allowed to “renew” contracts of players who are not arbitration eligible each spring. The restricted list, meanwhile, is an official designation that allows a team to maintain a player’s rights without them counting against their active roster limits.
