As noted by MLBTradeRumors, this will be Roberts’ first managerial job at any level of pro baseball, aside from one game last summer as a fill-in for the Padres after Bud Black was sacked.
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He is the first Dodgers manager hired by Andrew Friedman, who became the team’s president of baseball operations a year ago. Mattingly led the Dodgers to three consecutive NL West titles, but Roberts’ charge will be to make an impact deep into October, something his predecessor couldn’t do.
“We could not have been more impressed with [Roberts] through this process”.
“He is a “baseball man” and “people person” in the truest sense of those words”, Friedman said.
The Dodgers had the highest payroll in baseball last season, but it’s unknown whether they will spend what is necessary to re-sign Zack Greinke, an All-Star pitcher who is a free agent. That’s fine, but Roberts will need to serve two sets of masters, his players and superiors.
Roberts had previously spent time with the San Diego Padres where he started in 2011.
According to multiple news outlets and social network messages, Dave Roberts has been chosen as the new manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers after initially being considered a longshot for the position.
Stealing a total of 109 bases, Roberts is UCLA’s all-time leader in career steals. Roberts pinch ran in the ninth inning, stole second base and later scored a run that sent the game into extra innings.
That background should serve him well in gaining credibility with a mostly veteran team that has won the last three division crowns but has repeatedly fallen short in the playoffs, unable to end a World Series drought that stretches back to 1989.
But there have been reports indicating Dodgers players expressed to management a preference for Roberts over Kapler.
Roberts played for the Dodgers from 2002-04 during his 10-year big league career, which ended in 2008. Though the Dodgers front office hired Kapler as director of the player development past year, and continue to think highly of him, Kapler has no experience coaching in a major league dugout, a scenario some Dodger players were uncomfortable with.
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Another thing: The Dodgers’ front office, like many front offices, wants their manager to be part of a collaborative effort. He is probably best-known for his steal for them in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series that year. Roberts did not play as the Red Sox swept St. Louis for their first championship since 1918, but he will always be beloved in Boston because of that one play. He’s now the skipper of the Miami Marlins. That year, the Red Sox were down three games to none in the series, and the score was 4-3 in favor of rival New York Yankees.
