This story was excerpted from Sonja Chen’s Dodgers Beat publication. To learn the complete publication, click on right here. And subscribe to get it frequently in your inbox.
It may be difficult to judge how good Main League managers are at their jobs. Not like with participant efficiency, there is not any metric that these on the surface wanting in can use to know the affect {that a} specific particular person has in a giant league clubhouse.
Take the BBWAA’s Supervisor of the Yr Award, for instance. In recent times, voters have favored managers whose groups overachieved in some compelling manner or in any other case took a giant step ahead from the earlier season. And there is nothing fallacious with that — but it surely does imply that persistently profitable managers such because the Dodgers’ Dave Roberts are likely to get missed come award season.
No matter what awards voters resolve, the Dodgers understand how precious Roberts is to their group. As soon as the entrance workplace has constructed subsequent yr’s roster to satisfaction, the subsequent merchandise on the offseason to-do checklist is prone to lengthen Roberts, whose present contract ends after the 2025 season.
“We have talked to him, like, ‘Hey, let’s get our staff in a very good place, after which we’ll sit down and speak,'” basic supervisor Brandon Gomes stated final week on the Winter Conferences in Dallas. “So the expectation is, let’s get by way of all of this participant stuff, after which we will have conversations.”
In 9 years on the helm, Roberts has led the Dodgers to an 851-506 file within the common season. His .627 profession successful share is the very best all time amongst those that have managed a minimum of 1,000 video games.
He is at all times had well-constructed rosters to work with, sure, however the expertise at hand is only one a part of the equation. It is about how that expertise is used, formed and developed, one thing that comes with time — and for Roberts, that evolution has been particularly obvious within the postseason.
Roberts’ Dodgers have made the postseason in yearly he is managed, successful 4 Nationwide League pennants and two World Collection titles, however back-to-back NL Division Collection exits in 2022-23 contributed to a popularity as a regular-season powerhouse that falls brief within the playoffs. Roberts discovered some vindication within the ’24 postseason run that culminated within the Dodgers’ eighth championship.
Regardless of Los Angeles’ $1 billion offseason led by the Shohei Ohtani signing, the Dodgers confronted loads of adversity, primarily stemming from accidents. The rotation was hit the toughest, ensuing within the staff utilizing solely three conventional beginning pitchers within the postseason and bridging the hole with bullpen video games.
The scenario was removed from supreme, however Roberts was in a position to push the correct buttons when it mattered. That was one side of the previous season the place the worth of his managerial expertise and his understanding of the roster was clear.
“To be fairly trustworthy, the robust factor a couple of bullpen recreation is it’s important to make extra selections,” Roberts stated on the Winter Conferences. “And the extra selections you make, the extra probabilities there are so that you can be fallacious in betting on the particular person for a specific evening.”
Past the game-to-game technique, Roberts’ perspective was additionally key throughout a attempting season. Whereas the magnitude of accidents might simply have been demoralizing, the Dodgers’ skipper frequently instilled confidence within the staff.
Roberts’ message, in accordance with Gomes: “Hey guys, irrespective of which man we lose, we’re ok to win this factor.”
“I feel that’s as spectacular of a job as we’ve seen,” Gomes continued. “I do know our expectations are excessive and we’re anticipated to win, however the challenges that this staff went by way of with Dave main the helm is de facto spectacular, to return out the opposite facet as champions.”
With the entrance workplace nonetheless eyeing roster enhancements for 2025 and three months remaining earlier than the Dodgers open the common season in Tokyo on March 18, Roberts’ eventual extension might not occur till Spring Coaching. When Roberts was beforehand prolonged in ’22, the settlement didn’t come till two weeks earlier than Opening Day.
