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While it was already known that Dave Roberts would return to manage the Dodgers in 2019, his long-term future was a bit uncertain. Today, the Dodgers finally listened to Dustin and made it official.
The Los Angeles Dodgers today announced that Dave Roberts has agreed to a four-year contract to manage club through 2022. The announcement was made by Dodger President, Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) December 3, 2018
The Dodgers picked up Roberts’ option for 2019, and finally reached an agreement on a long-term deal. Despite the bad taste in some people’s mouths after a second consecutive World Series loss, Roberts is now under contract until the 2022 season. Roberts received the National League Manager Of The Year Award in 2016, his first season as the Dodgers’ skipper. The team has made the World Series in consecutive years under Roberts, and he could become the first Dodger manager to last five or more seasons since Tommy Lasorda.
The last man to manage the Dodgers for more than five seasons? Tommy Lasorda. With his four-year extension, Dave Roberts appears on that track. Both took the Dodgers to WS appearances (both losses) in two of their first three seasons at the helm.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) December 3, 2018
“Keeping Doc as our leader on the field was a top priority this offseason and now that we’ve accomplished that we are excited to collectively shift all of our focus to doing all we can to bring a World Championship to our passionate fans,” said President Of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman in a press release.
The Dodgers are 287-200 in Roberts’ three seasons at the helm. He’s not a perfect manager tactically, but has appeared to be well-liked by most in the organization.
“When I was hired to lead this team three years ago, I said at the time that managing the Dodgers is truly the opportunity of a lifetime and I feel the exact same way today,” said Roberts in a press release. “We’ve worked hard to develop a team and culture that will put us in position to win the World Series every season, but we still have yet to achieve our ultimate goal and that is what drives me each day. I want to thank Andrew, Stan Kasten and our outstanding ownership group for believing in me and keeping me in Dodger Blue, a uniform I’m so proud to wear.”
While Roberts will be back in Dodger Blue, a number of assistants will not be. Last Wednesday, the Dodgers named their official coaching staff for the 2019 season. Rick Honeycutt (pitching coach), Bob Geren (bench coach), George Lombard (first base coach), Mark Prior (bullpen coach) and Brant Brown (hitting strategist) will all return in their respective roles. Dino Ebel will be the Dodgers’ new third base coach after spending the past 14 seasons as the Angels’ third base coach. Robert Van Scoyoc replaces Turner Ward as the Dodgers’ hitting coach/Yasiel Puig‘s bestie. Aaron Bates joins the team as an assistant hitting coach, and Chris Gimenez is the new game planning coach after announcing his retirement in great way.
Shoutout to the Dodgers’ new game planning coach for announcing his retirement with this tweet https://t.co/hG96VCmvfT
— Pedro Moura (@pedromoura) November 28, 2018
It’s been a quiet start to the offseason so far, but the Dodgers have locked up their two most important free agents between Roberts and Clayton Kershaw. They’ll each be in Dodger Blue for the foreseeable future, and it’s tough to complain about that.
With the Winter Meetings starting on Sunday, it could finally be time to see some moves being made by teams not run by Jerry Dipoto.
