The Dodgers had a very full off-season. They added some bats, some relief arms and bolstered the starting rotation. Clayton McCullough left to be the manager of the Marlins. Chris Woodward replaced him in the first base coaching box. The one issue they did not address was the expiring contract of manager Dave Roberts. Over his 9 seasons as the Dodger manager, his teams have won 851 games and lost 506. A winning percentage of .627. The best in baseball and by far the best in Dodger history. He has taken the team to 9 consecutive appearances in the playoffs. He has two World Series titles, the same number as Lasorda, four World Series appearances, the same as Lasorda. His post season record is 56-44.
He was named manager of the year in 2016. But to tell the truth, he probably did his absolute best managing job last season. With all of the injuries the Dodgers had to navigate in the 24 season, Roberts was more than up for the task. He did not make many bad decisions once it came down to the crucial part of the season. His bullpen bailed him out more than once. So, why hasn’t a new contract been offered to the skipper? We can only guess. AF has said that signing Roberts to an extension is a priority. So far, it doesn’t seem like there is any rush at all to reach an agreement.
It seems that the delay in getting a deal done has not affected Roberts in anyway, at least publicly. We do not know what he is really thinking. But some have suggested that the Dodger brass will offer him the largest contract for a manager ever. Is that possible? I would have to believe so. He has done whatever the brass has asked of him. And despite what we fans might think, Roberts, like any manager, can only put players in a position to succeed. Doing so on the field is on the player.
Personally, I have seen Dave make some questionable moves in the post season. I think we all have. But in 2020 and last season, he made the right ones. I don’t think 2017 is on him either. Nor can you blame the injuries in 21-22 and 23 that weakened the team going into the playoffs. Muncy in 21. Kersh in 22, along with Buehler and some others. The entire starting staff in 24. But for my money, he deserves to be extended. Just how long is up to the front office brass.
Spring Training Notes
Blake Snell started today’s game against the Mariners. He went one scoreless inning allowing 1 hit, striking out 1. He made 30 pitches. The Dodgers managed to score a run in the first on a couple of misplays by the Mariners. But in the top of the second, a throwing error by pitcher Carson Hobbs, opened the door for the Mariners to score 4 runs. None of the runs were earned. Casparius finished the inning, then gave up the fifth run in the third on a homer by Mitch Garver. The Dodgers continued their futility at the plate striking out 13 more strikeouts. That is 71 Ks in 6 games. Conforto, Kim and Ward all struck out twice. Kim is now hitting .111 in spring. LA fell to 1-5 in spring training with the 11-5 loss. Kody Hoese hit a 2-run double in the bottom of the 9th.
On the upside, Barnes and Rojas both had hits, raising their averages to .571 this spring. Outman was 1-3. Justin Wrobleski pitched two scoreless inning. Joe Jacques, Jose Rodriguez, and Robinson Ortiz also pitched scoreless frames. Julian Fernandez, 5 earned on one hit, and 3 walks, continued his bid to be released with his ERA ballooning to 45.25. Kopp allowed 1 run on no hits and 2 walks in the same frame as Fernandez. LA faces the Brewers next in Maryville at 12.10 PST. Yamamoto makes his second start of the spring. Dodger Nation reported today that a third Dodger pitcher will not be ready for the start of the season, Michael Grove is about a month behind in his recovery from a shoulder injury suffered last year. Dodgers have 13 games left before they play their season opener in Japan.
Born June 14th, 1948, in Los Angeles California. AKA The Bear
Yes.
Small note Michael, no apostrophe needed in your article’s headline. Unless you add the word “contract” after Robert’s.
Thanks, I will write my way, you write yours, I am not worried about correct grammar.
Now, be nice, Bear. At your age, you should know Roberts is the manager’s name and how to spell it.
Extending him fits with the Dodger MO.
I fixed it just to please Y’all.
Wouldn’t it then be Roberts’ ?
And now lets move on to politics.
Good plan.
As Mayor of Dodgertown I think Roberts, or Robert’s, has done a commendable job and should be given an extension. He has the best winning record in the history of history so yeah re-elect him
4 MORE YEARS! 4 MORE YEARS!
How’s that Jefe?
Well he won me over and I switched sides, he gets my vote. Hope I didn’t forget a period or make any other grammar mistake. Hate to lose sleep tonight
sides. He gets my vote.
Me to!
Eye will right the whey eye right^
da whey eye right
Too
Two
Too
Well done, Mr. Mayor, but I think Doc’s agent is probably going for more than 4 More Years.
Work for me.
YES!
Bluto that is rude. He works very hard for our enjoyment.Why would you want to an English class into our Dodger blog .
Fuck is wrong with English class
Grammar is important, regardless of where it is employed.
if you consider that rude, I don’t know what to tell you.
I’d expect Dave Roberts to sign the largest managerial contract in baseball history in March (either before Tokyo, or by the home opener).
Do you think they will delay his money like Shohei’s?
I doubt they defer his money since coaches and managers salary’s to not count against the CBT.
It was meant as a ‘tongue in cheek’ comment.
Sounds right to me.
Now I am confused; is his name Dave Robert or Dave Roberts? Punctuation is our friend
Yeah, well at my age, a good night’s rest is my best friend. Sometimes I just really don’t care about the punctuation. I don’t get paid for this you know, I do it because I love the team and the game.
Sasaki got taken deep by Kyle Teel, the White Sox top position prospect, on his second pitch of the simulated game. Teel came to the Sox in the Garrett Crochet trade with Boston. He is the #32 prospect in MLB. Sasaki settled down some after that, then left in his third inning after walking two batters. Per Newsweek.
I read in the Times this morning that the Dodgers are working on adding a few mph to Sasaki’s fastball. It’s sitting in the mid/low 90’s and they want to get it up to the 97-98 range he allegedly had in Japan. It concerns me when I hear things like this. Throwing harder and harder is asking for trouble.
I totally agree with that take. The kid is 23 years old.
I am more concerned that the rumored arm issues may be coming into focus. In the 2023 WBC, Sasaki was hitting 100.3. 2023 season, 98.8. 2024 season, 96.8. Now mid to low 90’s? One has to wonder.
Definitely a concern. He might be a TJ waiting to happen.
I know I make my share of grammar/spelling/unclear sentences…I actually appreciate it if anyone notices it and calls me out. Often times I will come back after it is published and say to myself…”Did I actually write it that way?” But I fix it; say thank you; move on. I do not have an editor, and I am not Bear’s editor. In fact, I have told him I will never make any edit changes to his posts. Sentence structure, spelling, and grammar errors on Dodger Nation and True Blue LA are abundant, and I would never say anything. It is the context of the post that I would comment on.
I remember one day I spelled Andrew Friedman’s name Andrew Freidman. Simple transposition of the e and i. I was called on it by…make a guess. I fixed it. But it did not take away from the message that was being relayed by the post. The same with Bear’s. Everybody knew who Bear was writing about. For me, I would not care that Bluto pointed out the grammar error, but at the same time, I have to ask; “That was your take away from his post”? Why not at least make a concerted effort to comment on the subject matter as well.
Regardless, the responses were very good.
5 plus weeks in the hospital in Long Beach dulled my senses somewhat. I wasn’t concerned with grammar. I usually spell check anyway. I am just getting back into the swing of things writing wise. So, if I blow one now and then, I apologize. I just took Bluto’s post as a jab at me and my writing style.
The fun part of this grammar discussion was the correction of someone’s sentence structure and in doing so, used the wrong to/too/two.
That is just two funny.
I thought so to.
Bear, you have NO reason to apologize. Bluto is just being Bluto.
I think it was Reacher who said “details matter”. I believe that guy.
Well, Reacher is also 6’5 and 260lbs
And he has a black and blue belt in f*** you up.
That said, I’m sure in my prime I could’ve outrun him.
I know, just in my DNA I guess.
DNA
Do Not Accessitate
B’uto.
I’m guessing it’s the years and not the $$ that is the holdup.
Scherzer went off about the challenge system yesterday after two of his pitches were ruled balls instead of strikes. Seems Scherzer would rather keep the human element in the game.
I know there are going to be a lot of interested parties in review of the ABS usage and results after ST. I would be very curious to find out which of the catcher/pitcher/hitter triumvirate had a better percentage of reversals.
Postcard day yesterday at Camelback ranch. Outman had a solid line drive base hit. But not much offense to speak of. The front line pitchers looked fine. Hernandez and kopp not so much. I really don’t know how 2 pitchers issue 5 walks in1 inning ? With a reduced time in AZ, I find it amazing that we waste innings with these pitchers and Rosario Good article on CT3. He’s dead weight
I’m thinking maybe Friedman is looking for a deal, maybe even a multi player deal, to exchange dead weight contracts.
I also get the feeling Spring games mean very little to the veteran lineup with which we will open the season. These pitchers we are seeing will soon be sent to the minor league camp and off they’ll go to A and AA.
I think all of the early conversation about Scott assuming the “closer” role is interesting.
I thought the closer role was vanishing for the Dodgers and some other teams. The Dodgers had great success the 2nd half last year and especially the playoffs by employing a match-up strategy. Through excellent scouting, Doc looked brilliant bringing in the right reliever to matchup with that portion of the opponent’s lineup. The inning didn’t matter.
I loved that strategy and see it being successful during the season with some modifications and concessions to injuries. This strategy, along with a 6 man rotation and perhaps some piggy-back starters, is an exciting change that I like.
No more 7th inning guy, 8th inning guy and closer.
With all the data and advanced scouting this seems to me to be the best way to use the bullpen.
I really like David Bote. I get a strong David Freese vibe with him. They have to make a spot for him, right?
Right! But it ain’t gonna happen. No room at the inn.
I’ve been a fan since his Cub days. Definitely a grinder and I can see your comparison with Freese.
Oh well, we can root for him when he opts out and gets picked up by some other team in May (or whenever his opt out is).
I think he has a real shot, especially if they send Kim to AAA. He does not look ready to face major league pitching and a team with aspirations of repeating as WS champs cannot afford OJT for the guy.
Even if they start Kim at OKC I just don’t see adding another right hand hitting utility guy.
If Kim doesn’t make the OD roster, I’m thinking they might go with a lefty hitting guy for the 4th bench piece. That could be Rosario but, frankly, I’d rather see them bring back Peralta who still hasn’t signed anywhere.
Been great offensively and defensively.
Nestor Cortes take on the WS
We had done enough to win that game,” Cortes said. “They can talk whatever they want to talk, but we win Game 1 — which we should have — we lost 2 and 3, we win Game 4 and we should have won Game 5. Then we go back to LA up 3 to 2.
“So people can say it slipped away from us, people can say we made a lot of mistakes, which we did. But at the end of the day, we were the better team. I see it that way, and I’m sure everybody in that clubhouse sees it that way. The reality (could have been) going back to LA leading 3-2. It didn’t happen that way and they deserve all the credit in the world, they won the World Series. At the moment, they showed they were the better team.”
Coulda, shoulda, woulda. Well, you lost, and the best team won.
I’ve always been a big Nestor Cortes fan, ever since I saw him dive head first into the first base bag trying to beat a runner who had hit a comeback grounder to him.
And he does give us credit for actually winning the Series.
That said, as writer Craig Calcaterra points out, Nestor says the Yanks should have won game 1, an ironic statement coming from the guy who gave up the grand slam to lose the game.
And then, as Calcaterra points out, there is Cortes’ convoluted logic which basically says if we would have won the games we lost, we would have won the Series, so that makes us the better team.
That’s OK, Nestor, I’m still a fan, and wish you success in Milwaukee.