It’s been a busy offseason in Los Angeles this winter as the reigning World Series champions have worked hard to improve their roster, bringing in high-profile free agents like Blake Snell and Tanner Scott while also securing the services of 23-year-old phenom Roki Sasaki in international free agency. Frustrations from fans around the game led MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to speak out against the assertion from some fans that the Dodgers and their aggressive spending are “ruining” baseball.
For all the work the Dodgers have gotten done this winter, however, one major piece of the puzzle remains uncompleted: an extension for longtime manager Dave Roberts. Roberts’ contract expires after the 2025 season, and the club’s front office officials have made clear that they intend to keep their veteran skipper around beyond the end of his current contract. In an appearance on the Baseball Tonight podcast with ESPN’s Buster Olney, Roberts revealed that the sides have “just started talking” about an extension, and while his primary focus is on the start of Spring Training he suggested he’s hopeful a deal will get done.
“Hopefully, everything takes care of itself,” Roberts said on the podcast. “But it’s about value. And I love this organization, but yeah, you want to feel your value. Absolutely.”
It’s hard to deny Roberts’s value to the organization. He’s been at the helm for two World Series championships since taking over as skipper prior to the 2016 season, and his Dodgers have made two additional trips to the World Series in 2017 and 2018. Meanwhile, they’ve been dominant in the regular season for his entire tenure with the club: since Roberts took over as manager in L.A. the club has posted an incredible 851-705 record. His .627 career winning percentage as a big league manager (which also includes a one-game stint as skipper of the Padres in 2015) is the best of anyone with at least 1000 MLB games managed, and he’s finished in the top 5 of NL Manager of the Year award voting seven times throughout his career including a win in 2016 as well as second place finishes in both 2017 and 2022.
That Roberts wants to “feel [his] value” when it comes to his next contract is hardly a surprise given that resume, and there’s been an upward trend in salaries for managers around the game recently. Last offseason, longtime Brewers skipper Craig Counsell headed into free agency after not signing a contract extension prior to or during the 2023 season. Once a free agent, Counsell was courted by a number of clubs before ultimately landing with the Cubs on a deal that guaranteed him a record-setting $40MM over five years.
The deal made Counsell the highest-paid manager in the game, and set the stage for well-regarded Red Sox manager Alex Cora to enter the 2024 season without an extension in hand. Cora ultimately extended with the club on a three-year deal that guaranteed him roughly $21.75MM back in July, a deal that seemingly solidified the market for the game’s top managers in the $7-8MM range annually. Roberts is more decorated than either Cora or Counsell as a manager, and while no specifics surrounding the negotiations have been reported at this point it would seem reasonable to expect Roberts to be seeking a deal that at least falls into that range.
While its theoretically possible that Roberts could follow in Cora’s or even Counsell’s footsteps and hold off on signing an extension until later in the 2024 season or even until he reaches free agency this winter, given the Dodgers’ comfort with high-dollar expenditures and comments on both sides of the negotiation suggesting that Roberts staying in the fold is the preferred outcome, it seems more likely that the sides will be able to iron out a deal, perhaps even before the club heads to Tokyo to kick off the 2025 season against the Cubs next month.
Ok
Manny tossed the ball. No intent behind it.
I absolutely agree that Manny had no intent, but Dave Roberts is shrewd and I believe he made a fuss over it to take heat off of his players. I think he knew it was nothing but put the incident into the limelight to draw the attention onto him.
Maybe in the initial moments he thought otherwise, but he knew after reviewing it that it was nothing. But Dave carried on with it to make himself the lightning rod and to fire up the faithful.
If I were the Dodgers, I would give Roberts three years at $8 million per year. No reason to give more than three years, Roberts is not going to turn it down to manage a lesser roster. Especially because his best attribute is keeping so many stars happy more than being a brilliant tactician.
Love Robert’s leadership. What an amazing franchise. Great time to be a Dodgers fan.
Well, to be fair, just about anybody could go deep in the postseason with that roster. Kind of the same situation with Aaron Boone. He’s not that great of manager by any means, but he rides the coattails of a relatively loaded roster.
As a Giants’ fan, I’d much prefer Roberts managing in SF than Boone.
@Jean Matrac
Bite your tongue.
Roberts is a terrible manager. HIs loaded team wins in spite of his incompetence..
Only Aaron Boone is worse.
another know nothing pronouncement. refreshing.
I would agree you up until last year. Despite the roster being deep, the actual playoff squad was profoundly depleted, and Roberts managed the pitching quite skillfully. For example, he deployed his bullpen in such a way that the Yankee batters had relatively limited exposure to each pitcher despite the Dodgers’ heavy reliance on the bullpen.
I don’t think he’s the best manager in baseball by a long shot, but I think he earned his extension this past October.
Roberts could possibly be the best clubhouse manager in baseball. He knows how to connect to players and get everyone on the same page.
Even with a ragtag starting rotation and all the bullpen games? The facts are the Yankees choked!
Damn – Cora totally agrees. A monkey could have managed the 2018 Sox to a title
Robert’s should jump at the chance to continue to manage in LA. He’s not going to get the financial, personnel, or executive support anywhere near this level anywhere else (except the Yankees).
Feeling his “value” may not be as valuable as managing a juggernaut team every year. Plus, I have a feeling he’s not quite as important as he thinks he is.
He’s a pretty humble dude, so maybe your last sentence is an unknowable point.
It is fairly evident that of the tools in his toolbox, his communication with his players is to the gold standard ithat other coaches across the pro sports world emulate.
Your assessment is accurate YC.
I’m a Dodger fan. When Doc was hired and in his first few seasons, I thought he was a perfect choice. He worked hard in the clubhouse to gain the trust of every player on the roster. He took the time to get to know players individually. His comments to the media were positive, but understandably prioritized protecting his relationships with his players.
Over time, it appears that he has grown quite fond of being in front of a microphone. He seems to work very hard cultivating great relationships with the media..
I’m not so sure his players feel he values relationships in the clubhouse as much as he did in his early years. On many occasions, he has revealed information to the press that was unnecessary and more importantly, compromised the privacy/confidence of his players. In Clayton’s book you see clear evidence of lack of trust between manager and player over indiscreet comments made to the media.
I still think he does a fine job overall managing his clubhouse. It’s not an easy job.
He has never been strong as an in game tactician. As you say, he has a loaded roster. Most of the time his decisions look fine; but, it is not uncommon for him to run out of players early in the game.
norcalblue? What were these indiscreet comments Doc made concerning Mr. Kershaw ? And any compromised comments you might allow us to view. Please.
@cecil….From book on Kershaw by Andy McCullough.
I disagree with NorCal’s description of “many occasions” where Doc share negative takes on players. But that’s just from from my experiences. I’m not a big press conference follower as there is usually little of substance to sports-related pressers.
@norcalblue: Doc’s got a big personality and is good in front of the mike. And, I believe, part of a manager’s job is to cultivate a relationship with the media as it pays off particularly during tough times. As far as being a good tactician, I point to the 2024 season as his best effort given the injuries to the pitching staff and his strategic use of the bullpen. No team had the challenges with its rotation and bullpen as the Dodgers last year. His managing throughout the postseason was nothing short of brilliant. During the season did some of his decisions misfire? Sure, but that happens to all managers over a 162 game schedule. He’s the entire package and deserves to be compensated accordingly. The Dodgers value his work and the FO will reward him accordingly.
I find his press conferences to often be a little irritating. He has the annoying habit of prefacing every statement with “I think.” Andy Friedman has the same bad speaking pattern. Add to this lots of ya-knows and I means, and guys this and guys that, and you get the vocal equivalent of fingernails on the blackboard.
Sorry, you won’t be able to un-hear this now. Media communications could be a strength for him, but it would require some vocal coaching. Based on what I hear in the broadcast booths these days, nobody gets any.
Ask the Mets how that worked out a couple of years ago!
Only issue is that, should Roberts go 90-72 the Dodger “fans” will want his head for dinner. They’re expecting no less than 104-58 for the next five seasons.
Ewww. What a repulsive idea.
A managers job is much easier when the front office is committed to winning. Especially at the insane levels they’ve been at this off season. Roberts should ask for his value, but also remember this might be the best managerial job in the game. Goal is to just stay
I beg to seriously differ. A front office committed to winning expects to win. I wonder if the goal you have in your job is just to stay.
Pretty sure he was commenting on Roberts job status, not his goals for the team…
I’m pretty sure I was responding to the argument that a manager of a super team is somehow under less pressure to perform.
BlueSkies, you’re not wrong about the pressure of managing a super team.
However my post was about Robert’s goal in his contract negotiations. Jim got it…
I respectfully disagree with this argument as well. His goal is more than just to stay, it is to be compensated in a way that reflects his contributions to this team, both in salary and contract length. I believe he will get both.
Many many times teams with too many superstars fail. Mets, Yankees, Padres…Etc!
tell that to an inflated ego
They’ll work it out before camp opens. No chance they will let contract talks drag into the season.
For baseball managers sakes, I hope Roberts gets rewarded with a record contract. How the heck does the highest paid baseball manager make 8m while the highest paid football coach makes 20m?
I have always found it odd that the MLB managers make less than 2nd or even 3rd tier players on a team.
Average 100+ wins for damn near a decade should warrant a nice raise as he clearly gets the most out of players.
12m/yr for 4 or 5 years. It’s not cheap to live in San Diego.
He’ll get some bucks for sure, but I expect he’s also looking for job security, three years at least. Maybe five. He’s currently the second-longest serving manager in MLB, but in terms of the postwar Dodgers still only third on the tenure list after Alston and Lasorda. It has to be a point of pride have the opportunity to rack up years with the team even close to those legendary Dodgers managers. It’s the kind of distinction that gets managers into the HOF.
Roberts is already a shoe-in for the HOF.
If his career ended now, after ten seasons? I don’t know if that’s enough to make him a shoe-in. He’s won Manager of the Year only once in those years. He’s managed only half as many games as Lasorda and around a third as many as Alston. Seems like he has to get some more seasons under his belt to be that lead pipe cinch.
I think he’s in because 2-time World Series Winner and a career winning percentage over 10 years that has to rank near or at the very top, elite level wp.
@padrepapi
“How the heck does the highest paid baseball manager make 8m while the highest paid football coach makes 20m?
You’re kidding, right?
Football is 80% coaching. Do you think the Bills would have lost to the Chiefs if the coaching staff was reversed?
How the heck does the highest paid baseball manager make 8m while the highest paid football coach makes 20m?
===========================
Strategy in FB is immensely more complicated. In FB, you probably have 50 offensive plays and 50 defensive alignments. Practices count. BB strategy is about keeping your BP fresh and managing the media.
Meh… Even Pedro Grifol would have a playoff birth with his roster
So your theory is that the Dodgers are playing just to make the postseason?
No but that s usually the extent of it.
Well you seem to answer everyone. Nobody needs to hear you how great the Dodgers are because they won their first tea World Series since 1988.
@mets
NY Mets – 1986
shhhhhh….
I’m not acting like the Mets walk on water and have to correct everyone about how great my team is every time I post.
@mets
I have never seen you post a single positive comment about anything on these boards. Ever.
Sure I have. You must only read Dodger stories. Have you posted anything positive about anyone other then the Dodgers?
Well with your wide ranging interest in other teams stories you must know the answer to that. Once again you’re talking without knowing.
I do read almost every team story. I’m a baseball fan.
@metsin4….Your handle says it all-it hints that you’re not exactly playing with a full deck.
Why they beat the Phillies in 4? What kind of handle is yours? Is that what a full deck handle looks like?
Pardon the ad hominem comment, but metsin4 seems like he’s reached trolling level 1.
You have some levels to go before getting to beisbolista’s or ghost robot’s troll levels though.
note: older trolls from this site who haven’t been around in a few years
There’s no troll like an old troll.
Grifol couldn’t manage an Arby’s.
Nah fire this dude and give me a shot. I wouldn’t ask for much, maybe a milly per year. When you have a $2B payroll Clyde from the 1978 box office smash Every Which Way…would assure you 100 wins and a deep run in October. Let’s be real
Right turn Clyde.
Glad to know you have Clyde like managerial skills.
The career loss total is wrong. I think it is 501.
No. I’m pretty sure that during the games he wasn’t managing, the team lost 200 of them. /snarkiness
His managerial record is 851-506 with the Dodgers. That is how it works out to be a 0.627 record.
Roberts seems like a nice guy that the players love but as a fan you’re still hoping he doesn’t make a dumb move that backfires.
Worked his way through the playoffs admirably last year. I still cringe when I think of Boone bringing in Cortes instead of Hill. Just made no sense. Dave avoided all of those cringe opportunities.
He’s got nothing on the all-time great, Connie Mack.
Connie Mack lost more games than he won as a manager. The impressive total of wins is only because he managed for 53 years. You can do that when you’re a part owner of the team that you managed for 50 of those years.
Greatest manager of all time in any human sport in the history of sports on earth and the universe.
With a .486 W/L %? Okay.
Yes, sir. Greatest manager..
Broke up 2 championship teams to save himself money, rather than selling the team.Last few years managed while dementia crept in. Must have been terrible to be an Athletics fan for much of his 50 years of managing.
@paule
I’m sorry you’re feeling a bit salty today…
John Wooden
Demand 10m a year or you’ll bail for the Rockies make them pay you Roberts
How much money deferred?
The Dodgers should be on the list of terrorist organisations, they are killing America’s pastime.
No rules are being broken, unlike the cheating Asstros!
Quite literally the easiest job in sports
The travel and time away from home and family can be tough.
A job with zero expectations is what is easiest—Pittsburgh, Colorado, Miami, etc.
Dave and Dodgers get along just fine. He’s probably getting a nice payday and a five-year extension. Probably wins another championship in those five years if we’re being honest.
$50M/5 yrs is what’s he’s gonna get. That’s how the Dodgers roll.
It shouldn’t need to be that high – where is he going? Who is going to pay anything close to 8m+ a year? If they do its only because.money means nothing to the dodgers.
Greg Counsel. Alex Cora. Read the article.
Craig, read the article.
a rose by any other name will get 8 mill. it’s my accent.
$40M/5 years is good!
Roberts doesn’t get credit he deserves cause he manages allstar team. He is a good mngr n has come along way w/knowing how to use pitching staff from his early yrs. Think Prior helped w/that. Friedman also won’t get credit for putting together super team. Supposed to win. All the money they spent, they better win. Go Dodgers !
Let’s see how good he would be in Cleveland or Pittsburgh. I could win managing Roberts’ all-star team. LA doesn’t win titles, they buy them. Least level playing field in sports.
Your grapes are sour!
2018 & 2017 had better rosters and roberts still lost the World Series managing the dodgers
hm, seems like something happened in 2017 but I can’t quite remember what it was.
2017 and 2018 the Dodgers lost in WS to two teams that were both caught cheating.
They say in sports to win a championship is to overcome adversity. Clearly the dodgers did not.
Citizen
why don’t you find a team to root for? Your negativity is boring. And muted.
By that definition they clearly did twice—they won championships with inferior teams.
Idk about the Covid shortened season in the bubble playoffs . I would give credit to the 2024 dodgers ws win. Overcame adversity when they lost a number of starting pitchers to injury. Bruce Bochy kind of series win.
The 2020 season in itself was one filled with adversity.
Citizen1, Every team faced the same short season, expanded playoffs situation in 2020. Surviving the earlier rounds are always a landmine for favored teams every year. The failure rate of favored teams is high in best of 5 series’. Add an extra round, like in 2020, and the odds of being bumped by a lesser talented team is increased.
Fans that won’t give credit to LA for 2020, would be singing a different tune had their team won in 2020.
33 million 6million up front 20 on the contract with 7 mill deferent in an 8 year extension.
Sounds about right
Just confirmed that Dave Roberts will defer all his money until 2099 and will actually pay the Dodgers a reverse signing bonus of $25M
Manager for life, all monies deferred indefinitely
there is nothing funnier or more creative than a deferral joke.
Only rivaled by a lame trash can joke
Gonna get paid handsomely to pilot LA juggernaut. Plus he’s got best seat in the house.
So this is coming from a Red Sox fan who loves Roberts: but how do Dodger fans feel about him? I feel like he has kind of under performed as a manager. Which is crazy to say, I know.
@Joemo
I think Roberts does a great job handling his men and did well winning the trophy last year while dealing with a boatload of injuries. Dismissing what he does because he has a team with a wealth of talent underestimates how hard it is to do the job. He’s not perfect. No one is. But as a life long Dodger fan I am grateful he is their manager.
Lots of folks here are underestimating the skills and effort it takes to manage accomplished egos and keep them all cohesive while communicating effectively with the media.
I think most fans don’t understand that 90% of a manager’s job involves work they never see.
Ah the pressure of having to win it all or your season is a flop ( especially with this team) Good luck Dave..
I absolutely love the Dodgers. My parents brought me to games starting when I was just a little tyke – so this love was distilled into me very early. As a kid, I totally remember seeing older people listen to their radios while at a game, and I just didn’t get it. But as I grew older, I then understood the Magic of Vin Scully. In no way could I explain his absolute majestic ability to someone who didn’t grow up listening to him. It didn’t matter if the Dodgers were getting blown out, or winning by a thread – you always tuned in. Anyway…
Dave has blown a lot of big games (I’m talking World Series here). And if the Dodgers lost to the Yankees last year, I truly believe that he would have been fired. A lot of us Dodger fans grew tired of his ineptness. That said, I think he is tremendous at managing players, and that his truly respect him. In the end, I really believe that the best managers are the ones who make the fewest mistakes (sounds obvious). I mean, how many times have you seen a manager blow again vs a time when a manager has won a game from his play calling? I’ve rarely thought to myself, “Dave won this game.” But so many times I’ve seen him blow them. All said, the Dodgers are the current champs, and because of that, I’ll still ride with Roberts.
Managers in the analytics era don’t win or lose games in quite the way you describe. Game planning is extensive and data-driven, and the manager is only one cog in that wheel. Managers go into games with practically every possible game scenario mapped out and they make their in-game decisions based on probability analysis supplied by their FO. Does a manager still need to be able to read their players? Sure. But even when a manager makes what turned to be a “bad” decision in a game, you can be sure it was supported by data, not gut feelings.
Well, yeah. Like pulling Snell in game 6 of the 2020 World Series when he was cruising.
3/27 with a club option at 10 for a 4th with a 5 million bonus and 4 million each year deferred……..how did I do?
I’m not a fan of the Dodgers but have to say Dave Roberts is a greater manager of players than in-game strategy. When the Dodgers look to replace him, I could see Justin Turner at the helm and the results would be similar or better.
Closet Dodgers fan
I don’t follow the dodgers and I have no interest in Roberts, but I found this interesting.
youtube.com/watch?v=kdZE-VXJg2M
High quality journalism from a high quality poster following a cheating team. Perfect.
So you do understand the Dodgers were cheating too then ?
Judging by his success, Roberts must be a really nice and personable man and a pleasure to play for. Cuz he’s a lousy manager strategy-wise. A monkey could manage this 2025 roster to the World Series, so the pressure is on.
I managed my boys’ Little League team many moons ago, and I am available for only 6 million/year. 😉