"We're extremely excited to bring Dave Roberts on board as the next manager of the Dodgers." With that simple statement, president of baseball operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers Andrew Friedman announced the hiring of Dave Roberts. Roberts is a former player for the Dodgers in the early 2000's but has no managerial experience at any level of professional baseball.
The two finalists, Gabe Kapler and Roberts, were a surprise because I believed that the Dodgers would go after someone with more experience. I also believed that Kapler had the advantage because of his relationship with Friedman but Roberts knocked it out of the park during his interview and a managerial career was born.
Friday, November 27, 2015
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Crashing To Earth
It has taken me more than a month to be able to write about the Dodgers again. The New York Mets were a bad matchup for the Dodgers because of their young power arms. The Dodgers hung tough but their just wasn't enough hitting. The series loss to the Mets ended up costing Don Mattingly his job.
Three National League West titles in a row (for the first time in Dodgers history) were not enough so the Dodgers and Mattingly had a "mutual parting of the ways." That allows both sides to save face and I guess it beats "Mattingly did not meet expectations", "we have a $300 million payroll and can't get out of the first round", and "what the **** was he thinking" when he made that move. Mattingly could just not get them over the hump.
Mattingly had the talent in place but injuries derailed the Dodgers season early on as two of their starting pitchers were out for the season by May, Yasiel Puig missed half the season because of hamstring problems, the bullpen was a shambles because of misuse, overuse, and not enough quality arms. The Dodgers rode Greinke and Kershaw as long as they could but it was not enough. I always thought Mattingly was at his best when he had to cobble together a lineup or a pitching staff but not this season.
The Dodgers had a $300 million payroll and the current Dodgers ownership would settle for nothing less than a World Series title. Mattingly barely got them out of the first round in three playoff appearances. Mattingly is still a hot commodity in managerial circles and had no problems finding another job as the Miami Marlins snapped him up after about two weeks.
The Los Angeles Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman wants to put his stamp on the Dodgers with the new manager and it is down to two men, Gabe Kapler, who is already in the Dodgers organization, and Dave Roberts, currently with the San Diego Padres and who broke in with the Dodgers as a player. Kapler is Friedman's guy so my money would be on Kapler getting the job. Kapler is the only one that has any managerial experience as he managed one season of Class A baseball
Three National League West titles in a row (for the first time in Dodgers history) were not enough so the Dodgers and Mattingly had a "mutual parting of the ways." That allows both sides to save face and I guess it beats "Mattingly did not meet expectations", "we have a $300 million payroll and can't get out of the first round", and "what the **** was he thinking" when he made that move. Mattingly could just not get them over the hump.
Mattingly had the talent in place but injuries derailed the Dodgers season early on as two of their starting pitchers were out for the season by May, Yasiel Puig missed half the season because of hamstring problems, the bullpen was a shambles because of misuse, overuse, and not enough quality arms. The Dodgers rode Greinke and Kershaw as long as they could but it was not enough. I always thought Mattingly was at his best when he had to cobble together a lineup or a pitching staff but not this season.
The Dodgers had a $300 million payroll and the current Dodgers ownership would settle for nothing less than a World Series title. Mattingly barely got them out of the first round in three playoff appearances. Mattingly is still a hot commodity in managerial circles and had no problems finding another job as the Miami Marlins snapped him up after about two weeks.
The Los Angeles Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman wants to put his stamp on the Dodgers with the new manager and it is down to two men, Gabe Kapler, who is already in the Dodgers organization, and Dave Roberts, currently with the San Diego Padres and who broke in with the Dodgers as a player. Kapler is Friedman's guy so my money would be on Kapler getting the job. Kapler is the only one that has any managerial experience as he managed one season of Class A baseball
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