PHOENIX — The season will mark one full decade for Dave Roberts as supervisor of the Dodgers, a adorned run by which Roberts has led the group to eight division titles, 4 Nationwide League pennants, two World Collection titles and extra regular-season wins than some other franchise in baseball.
On Monday, Roberts added yet another distinction to his tenure.
As had been lengthy anticipated this offseason, the Dodgers lastly locked down Roberts — who has one of the best successful share in MLB historical past amongst non-Negro League managers — to a contract extension, agreeing to a four-year deal that features an unprecedented $8.1-million annual wage, based on an individual with information of the scenario however not licensed to talk publicly.
The contract didn’t exceed the five-year, $40-million deal the Chicago Cubs gave Craig Counsell final yr to lure the previous Brewers supervisor away from Milwaukee, with the entire worth of Roberts’ deal coming in at $32.4 million.
However it does symbolize a considerably enhanced dedication from the group to Roberts, who will prime Counsell’s $8-million yearly wage and bypass the power to check the waters of managerial free company subsequent offseason, when his earlier take care of the Dodgers — which was because of pay him $4 million this season — was set to run out.
Regardless of main the group to its first championship in a era in 2020, when the Dodgers ended a 32-year World Collection drought in that season’s pandemic-shortened marketing campaign, Roberts started final season on one thing of a sizzling seat. The group had did not repeat its title in 2021, when a 106-win membership flamed out within the NL Championship Collection. The subsequent two years had been abject disappointments, with the group getting upset in back-to-back NL Division Collection eliminations.
Final October, the Dodgers had been on the verge of a 3rd straight early exit, going through elimination simply 4 video games into the postseason throughout an NLDS showdown towards the rival San Diego Padres. On the time, there was a lot hypothesis that Roberts’ job may need been on the road.
Then, the 52-year-old skipper did a few of his greatest work in a Dodgers uniform, serving to lead an injury-ravaged roster previous the Padres earlier than rolling to a different championship with defeats of the New York Mets within the NLCS and New York Yankees within the World Collection.
Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts, left, talks with Brandon McDaniel, the Dodgers’ Main League Improvement Integration coach, previous to Sunday’s sport.
(Ross D. Franklin / Related Press)
All alongside, gamers credited his calming affect as a key driver behind their October march. Because the Dodgers superior deeper into the postseason, many pointed again to a mid-September clubhouse assembly Roberts referred to as in Atlanta — when the group was reeling from the lack of ace pitcher Tyler Glasnow to a season-ending elbow harm — as an important turning level of their run to a championship.
“He manages this club based on the guys in this room,” third baseman Max Muncy mentioned final October. “He doesn’t do it off a spreadsheet. He doesn’t do it off what someone tells him. He walks around and he has conversations with everybody.”
Roberts’ resume now speaks for itself: He’s considered one of simply 5 managers in MLB historical past with 5 100-plus-win seasons, to go together with an NL supervisor of the yr award in 2016. His 56 postseason victories rank sixth all time, and path Bruce Bochy of the Texas Rangers by only one for the lead amongst lively skippers. Nobody with at the very least 1,000 video games of managerial expertise has topped his .627 profession successful share (his win-loss ledger reads 851-507). And, given the roster expertise that might be at his disposal over the period of his new deal, he seems to be on a possible Corridor of Fame path, on monitor to hitch Walter Alston and Tommy Lasorda as doubtlessly the third Dodgers supervisor to be inducted into Cooperstown.
Towards that backdrop, Roberts and the Dodgers started negotiating a brand new deal shortly earlier than the beginning of spring coaching. Whereas Roberts was broadly anticipated to rival Counsell’s record-setting contract from final offseason, it took till Monday for the edges to lastly discover center floor on a deal that can maintain him with the membership by way of the 2028 season.
Along with his outdated deal up on the finish of this season, there was the potential for Roberts to check the market, the place he would have undoubtedly been a highly-coveted commodity throughout the league. However all alongside, he made clear that his purpose was to stay in Los Angeles long-term, repeatedly reiterating this spring that he was hopeful of getting a brand new deal finished earlier than the top of camp. Dodgers brass felt equally, crediting Roberts’ steadying hand as a key issue behind final yr’s World Collection run.
“I think there were times during the year, with some of the injuries we had, where it was a little bit deflating,” group president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman mentioned. “And I think Doc did a great job of getting in front of that and pumping some enthusiasm and optimism into the group.”
Thus, the edges lastly discovered some center floor in negotiations, and struck a deal to maintain Roberts in Los Angeles for the foreseeable future — guaranteeing that, one decade right into a adorned partnership, neither he nor the group might be splitting up any time quickly.
