Dodgers: Dave Roberts Tries to Explain Matt Beaty Not Getting Starts
Sunday afternoon was a great time for Dodgers fans. Their guys came out swinging the bats and put an end to a losing skid against the Brewers. It was also their chance to see Matt Beaty shine, a guy that we all know can hit at any level.
Beaty didn’t just hit, he had a career day. With 7 runs driven in and 4 hits, Beaty was a big part of the reason the Dodgers hung up 16 runs on Milwaukee. So when Beaty’s name didn’t appear in the original Monday lineup against the Cubs, fans had questions.
That game was obviously delayed, but Beaty once again was not in the lineup Tuesday morning. The latest lineup announcement for game 2 of the doubleheader once again does not have him getting a start. This was Doc’s explanation yesterday for why he wasn’t getting the nod.
Matt had a heck of a day and it was great. But I think that the thing for our club and for Matt to impact our club is to get periodic starts to keep him sharp and to be that valuable bat off of the bench…the plan is to get Matty in there tomorrow.
Dave Roberts did not start Beaty on Tuesday either. He also did not go to him in a pinch-hit role in the first game with the Dodgers threatening to score. Instead, he went with the struggling Edwin Rios who rolled over a slow groundball to first.
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It makes very little sense that the Dodgers would keep running Edwin Rios out there when you have a hot hand like Matt Beaty. And that’s not to say that Matt won’t come back to earth at some point. He’s obviously not going to reach base at a 500 clip, but he’s doing it right now.
These decisions are hurting the team right now. Rios does need some time to work things out, but not at the cost of losing the hot hand.
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Is he nuts? Offense is struggling and your hottest hitter is on the bench for both games? Find some position for him to play and Rios has no business playing. Rios batting 0 for a thousand w/ 1000 K’s, and he’s in the line-up? He’s totally lost w/ a long and slow windmill swing, like some of the other guys. Right now you need guys w/ the short compact swing and 2 strike approach to generate hits and move the line-up. Put in the HOT guys while they’re hot before they cool down from lack of AB’s.
Those stats aren’t fair towards Rios. He doesn’t just strike out. He also hits into a double play occasionally.
Absolutely!
There is no rational explanation. How do you sit Beatty and keep running Rios out there?
Dodgers Front Office hasn’t caught on yet that this team is not very good. They’re still arrogant.
Tim, I have said the same thing about this team before the season began.u Eventually there will be mounting pressure to send Rios to minors before its too late.
At this point, all I can figure is that Roberts wants to win another Manager of the Year award and is determined to make the Dodgers look as mediocre as possible, then when they go on a big run later in the season, it will look like management turned it around?
Somebody send out a search party for Matt Beatty & Keibert Ruiz. The only explanation for Barnes pinch hitting in 9th is that somebody kidnapped those two?
Literally every other manager would’ve had Beaty pinch hit there
I wish somebody would kidnap Roberts. He along with a pathetic offense are responsible for being swep inthe double header against Cubs yesterday.
Well, Rios is running away with the all time lowest batting average by a qualifying player and he only needs about 400 at bats to get there. That’s the only reason I can see for him still being in the lineup. Maybe Roberts is intentionally making the Dodgers look mediocre so when they get into gear later in the season it will look like management had something to do with it?
Rainbirdmuse. It just might be too late for Dodgers and Roberts to recover from this current downslide if this continues for a couple months longer.
To misquote Yogi, it’s getting late early.
I’ve heard of some inept reasons for Robert’s decisions, but this one for not starting Beaty over Rios is absolutely one that tops them all! And kudos for Brook for telling it like it is with these decisions hurting this club right now. UNBELIEVABLE!!!
Or maybe Rios has compromising photos of Roberts?
Roberts wastes his hottest hitter Beatty, who inexplicably isn’t in starting lineup, when he got out managed in the sixth inning? This is getting ridiculous
And Beaty’s look in the dugout says it all on his face.
Time for Roberts to be Fired!
AMEN!!! And Rios needs to be sent down NOW! Like this article says, almost EVERY other player doing what Rios is doing would have already been dispatched for the rest of the season!
We can always go on a correction course. I’m game anyone else. I am not ready to fire him I want correction
Agreed, Robin. Roberts is being outmanaged every game. The other day in extra innings he had Mookie try to steal 2nd, with one out and runner on 3rd, with Seager hitting, and that was the end of that rally. We then lost by a run in the other half of the same inning. Regarding Beaty, they sent him down a couple of weeks ago, so he could get his hitting going, then bring him back up, see him perform big in a blow-out, then sit him at critical times when you really needed a hit. Roberts seems to be trying to see how badly he can screw it up, and if so, it is working.
If, Cody is being sent down to the minors to get his stoke back, why is Rios not getting the same treatment? Probably, Walter Alston is rolling in his grave! It is good thing, it’s long season.
What a clown. We have injuries, the team is struggling offensively and Beaty just got hot yet that’s still not enough for bozo to have him start. RIGHT NOW is the time to get him at bats. What are they waiting for? This slump is being prolonged because of refusal to put the best team at the MOMENT out there while we get healthy
Roberts is a fool; twice in the last week he lost games by having Kershaw hit rather than bunt. He does not seem to realize when you are home team 1 run wins in extra innings.
I agree with all the comments above, Roberts is absolutely inept. I coached in the minor’s for two different managers and we would never, ever (unless someone was hurt) sit down a guy that was hot. Keep him in the lineup until he cools off. Players feel the same way, they don’t want to come out, they relish playing every day while they are hot because they know it won’t last forever. Team mates also want to see the guys swinging the hot bat to be in the lineup because obviously it contributes to wins. Now as for Rios, don’t even bother, put him on wavers and if someone is foolish enough to pick him up then that is their problem. I submitted a comment a few weeks ago addressing Seager’s terrible approach at shortstop, he really is in the bottom third of all shortstops in the big leagues defensively, he is a liability. He has no range, trends to field almost everything one handed, does not get behind the ball, and short hops his throws to first because he does not use his legs, he just uses his arm for throws. I was an infield instructor and when guys lacked the proper fielding approach like Seager does, you spent countless hours in early work hitting them fungos until they “get it.” I would really like to see the front office work a trade with Kansas City and acquire Bobby Witt Jr. This guy is going to be a dandy, eventually one of the best shortstops in baseball, he is young, can run and hit and can field his position, a genuine five tool player. Make that trade and let Seager play out his option.
Dave Roberts is a nice guy.?….and nice guys finish LAST. He’s always shown very questionable to terrible decision making
where is kika dodgers need him a lot more than muncy,rios, and lux letting kika go was a big screw up.
, for gods sake do something w/these guys, get them ,along w/ dr off the team, and things will improve.
And why I’m at it how about another cy pitcher that can go 7.
Hi and i think the Dodgers front office are a bunch of idiots for not Signing Kiki Hernandez Joc Petersen to me you always keep the same team together that got you the World Series ring then on the third year make changes and if any changes that needed to be made it was there pitching staff especially the bullpen and the runner at second base in extra innings sucks and the second game of the doubleheader also sucks and if you’re going to implement the DH in the National League the hitter that hits for the picture if you’re going to take that picture out then that same Hitter should be taken out as well you people already screwed up baseball so why not screw it up some moreFrom a disgruntled baseball fan
This team is very very very stupid because of Roberts in the front end management refusing to play the hot hands when they’ve been losing repeatedly like this. Sitting Beaty those two games plus trotting Rios out there is totally inexcusable at this point.
Don’t they know that there is such a thing as a hot streak, and that by sending a player right after he has had really good at bats lately, that he may be cooled off by the time you start playing him again? And os Roberts and management OK with losing again and again and again and again until the the usual bats wake up? If they are, then Roberts as well as certain top level management should be fired immediately.
Hitting is all about confidence, and you do everything possible to create more confidence in hitters, as in playing the guy that is hot. It is like a feedback loop when a hitter is hot like Beatty has been. It just builds and builds, and sitting a hot guy down is the last thing you want to do. Muncy is struggling, why not use Beatty there at first, and ‘rest’ Muncy. Roberts seems to do the same thing to Mookie, Mookie has a good game, the next day his is sitting down again. That is not helping the mental approach and confidence of a hitter. Feed that confidence, feed that ego, play the guy that is hot, and sit someone who is not.
Amen, Johnnie K!
You sound like an old coach of mine from back in the 20th century day.
I’ll take that as a compliment, John F, but it is true. Hitting is all about confidence, and that works both ways. When you are hot, you think you can hit everything, and can’t wait for the guy on that little hill to throw the thing so you can barrel it again, and when you are ‘not’, you dread going back up there again. It is so mental that the hitter must just focus on ‘See the ball, Hit the ball’, as an old coach of mine used to say. You have to make it simple when you step into hit. Simple, and repetition, doing the same thing again and again, until it is automatic. But the positive attitude must be cultivated by coaches, it is very, very important.
DR IS THE PROBLEM,UNTIL THE FRONT OFFICE WAKES UP AND FIRES DR THE SAME OLD CRAP WILL HAPPEN