Paul Ukighir
The Dodgers have one last box to check: Dave Roberts
The current World Series champions have put together a roster full of superstars. Roberts must now become the wealthiest manager in MLB history.
The Dodgers have chased their 2024 World Series championship with the greatest offseason since the previous offseason.
They have so far added relievers Blake Treinen, Tanner Scott, and Kirby Yates, as well as starting pitchers Roki Sasaki and Blake Snell. They added infielder Hyeseong Kim and outfielder Michael Conforto, extended playoff hero Tommy Edman, and brought back fan favorite Teoscar Hernández.
All that remains is for Dave Roberts to become the wealthiest manager in major league history.
Coming off a World Series championship and heading into the final year of his current deal, he’s earned it, wouldn’t you say?
Or would you attempt to make the case that any manager should be able to win with a roster so full of superstars? That a $300 million paycheck ought to be self-sufficient?
Or perhaps you question whether baseball is becoming so analytically focused that managers’ influence is diminished. Whether mathematicians now have as much influence as managers do? You might have decided it’s mostly a matter of pushing predetermined buttons – forgetting what it takes to push people’s buttons.
The Dodgers have a manager who is capable of both.
It is really best described as managing. controlling expectations and egos. Crisis management, both in and out of the game. Handling strikes, balls, and the day-to-day grind.
The Dodgers’ drumbeat remained consistent throughout 2024. Not after Ippei Mizuhara, Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, admitted to stealing $17 million from the celebrity to pay off debts related to gambling and caused a scandal. Not when Mookie Betts replaced a struggling Gavin Lux at shortstop. Not when Betts broke his hand, joining the dozen pitchers who missed time with injury.
Since taking over in 2016, the 52-year-old Roberts has led the Dodgers to an 851-506 regular-season record. Few players can control a team’s temperature like Roberts. They have not missed the playoffs on his watch and his .Of all managers with at least 1,000 major league games, this one has the highest career winning percentage (627). In addition to his four National League pennants, he has eight division titles.
The Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres, New York Mets, and New York Yankees in five World Series games last season thanks to Roberts’ managerial masterclass. With that cherry on top of his Dodgers tenure, he should be able to join a select group of coaches who, like Andy Reid in the NFL and Gregg Popovich in the NBA, will only leave when they are ready, never before.
We learned to appreciate the bullpen game’s art thanks to Roberts. He was well aware of when to bet on a game and when to go for it. Even though he handled things instinctively and humanly, the math still made sense!
He put a great deal of faith in Treinen, the reliever, before relying on Walker Buehler, his Game 3 starter, to end the ninth inning of the pivotal Game 5.
Recall that Treinen was at 37 pitches in the eighth inning, with Giancarlo Stanton due up and Aaron Judge on second base and Jazz Chisholm on first. How Roberts walked to the mound and looked his pitcher in the eye:
“How do you feel? How much more do you have?”
“I wanted him to tell me he had enough to get Stanton,”
The Dodgers were on the verge of elimination when Treinen struck out Anthony Rizzo and got Stanton to fly out, Roberts informed the Fox Sports panel.
Offer Roberts $80 million and ten years.
The Dodgers’ managerial negotiations should not drag on into spring training, as they did when Roberts’ contract was last extended for three years on March 25, 2022, now that all of the players are on board.
Roberts has demonstrated his ability to withstand the strain, criticism, and animosity that the Dodgers will face.That he will continue to win the major ones.
We discovered that he is not as good at dancing during the previous season’s championship parade and ballpark celebration, when he stumbled around the stage while Ice Cube performed an encore of “It Was a Good Day.”
However, everything is fine because Roberts will be paid by the Dodgers to mangage the stars rather than to dance with them.
