The haters, if any remain, should stand down now.
All of those folks who have lambasted Dave Roberts over the years because his relief pitchers failed him, or because he wasn’t as ebullient as Tom Lasorda, or for whatever reason – including some that might have been either incomprehensible or downright offensive? Surely you’ve seen the error of your ways by now, right?
He’s entering his 10th season as Dodgers manager. He has managed teams to four World Series and won two in the last five seasons – and I’m trying hard not to make one more reference to 2017 and trash cans – and none of his teams have missed the postseason.
He’s maybe the ideal manager for this era of baseball, – respectful of the game’s analytics trend, yet uniquely skilled in dealing with and getting the most out of the men who populate his clubhouse, as the face of an organization that demands versatility and emphasizes positional flexibility. (Remember, as I’ve said before, there’s a good reason why the job title is “manager.”)
For example, there were the words with which he addressed his players early last spring at Camelback Ranch, when he talked about delivering in the biggest of moments in the postseason and, ideally, the World Series.
“I believe his exact words are, ‘You need to want to be the guy,’” Max Muncy said before Game 3 in Yankee Stadium last October. “That’s why we’re all here. We all want to be in this situation. We all want to be the guy in that moment. … That’s definitely something that sticks out to you when your manager calls you out like that in spring training saying, ‘Hey, you guys all need to want to be the guy in that situation. You can’t leave it up to someone else.’”
Roberts has shown the same consistency, in demeanor and decisiveness, that he has asked of his players.
And now he’s going to get paid.
The four-year extension that Roberts and the Dodgers have reportedly agreed to will not only double his pay but assure him of a record average annual value, slightly more than the $8 million per year Craig Counsell is getting from the deal he signed last year with the Chicago Cubs.
If I were Roberts, I’d call Counsell and start the conversation with, “Eight-point-one million a year,” just to get a reaction. (Counsell would probably laugh.)
Let’s see: Two rings, matching Lasorda (but in only nine years compared to Tommy’s 19 full seasons), a record-setting contract, fairly unanimous respect among baseball people, total and unquestioned respect from those who play for him, and now maybe even some grudging respect from those among the fan base who have been ready to turn on him at the first sign of difficulty.
And another reminder: Roberts’ regular-season winning percentage as a manager is .627, and his 851-507 includes an 0-1 record as interim manager of the Padres in 2015. (And don’t think there aren’t people in San Diego who still wonder if Padres front office boss A.J. Preller should have kept the guy who was already on staff when he, too, made a managerial change that fall.)
As we have noted before, Roberts’ winning percentage is the best ever among those who have managed in the National or American leagues. The only ones better are Negro Leagues managers Bullet Rogan, Vic Harris, Rube Foster and Dave Malarcher, and Rogan and Foster have plaques in Cooperstown. By way of comparison, Walter Alston’s winning percentage in 23 Dodgers’ seasons was .558 (and he won four World Series). Lasorda’s in 21 seasons was .526. Both are in the Hall of Fame, and it’s certainly conceivable that Roberts, who turns 53 in May, will be enshrined at some point in the distant future.
And after Roberts’ master class in marshaling his pitching resources and papering over an injury-ravaged staff in last October’s run to a title, can we stop with the knee-jerk reactions to every decision?
An increasingly fatalistic fan base howled, for example, during a Labor Day weekend game in Phoenix last year when a game against the Diamondbacks got out of hand early, with Arizona taking an 8-0 lead in the second inning. Rather than dip into a bullpen that had been taxed already that weekend – eight pitchers on Friday, the night Clayton Kershaw left with a foot injury, and four more on Saturday, both in Dodgers victories – Roberts stayed with Justin Wrobleski into the sixth.
The fan reaction on social media was outrage and frenzy – “He’s not trying to win!!!” – but consider: The Dodgers did lose that game, but it was the only blemish in a 6-1 stretch. Roberts was managing for the long haul, recognizing that sometimes it’s best to save your best pitchers for when you really need them. If the benefits of that strategy weren’t immediately obvious, they became so during the postseason when a Dodgers pitching staff that by October was running on fumes had enough to make it to the end.
Take Game 4 of the World Series in Yankee Stadium. A bullpen game turned ugly, the Dodgers were trailing 5-2 after three innings, and Roberts elected to stay away from his leverage relievers that night, using Landon Knack for four innings and Brent Honeywell for one with an eye toward what turned out to be the decisive Game 5. The Dodgers got to within a run in the top of the fifth, but the Yankees broke it open with six in the eighth in an 11-4 win.
Afterward Roberts said: “To have six guys in your ’pen that are feeling good, rested, I feel good about that.”
The proof came the following evening, which is why the Dodgers will be receiving World Series rings at their second home game of 2025, March 28 against Detroit.
When Roberts receives his, the cheers had better be deafening.
jalexander@scng.com