Dodgers Team News

Dodgers News: Dave Roberts Named Finalist for NL Manager of the Year Award

First, Trea Turner’s agency drops a video about his elite defense and how he’s slump-proof. Then Dave Roberts is named a finalist for Manager of the Year. It’s like Monday was designed to elicit derisive laughter from bitter Dodgers fans.

But like it or not, Roberts was, in fact, named a finalist for Manager of the Year, which means he’s one of the top three vote-getters in the league along with Buck Showalter of the Mets and Brian Snitker of the Braves.



It’s worth noting, of course, that like all postseason awards, the Manager of the Year is based on the regular season. Votes are cast before the postseason even begins, so what we’re looking at is two guys who managed their teams to 101 wins and a guy who managed his team to 111 wins.

Showalter has a sterling reputation as a manager. But he also piloted a team that saw a 10.5 game lead in the NL East disappear over the final four months of the season and end up in second place behind the Atlanta Braves. He’s also the proud owner of arguably the worst managerial move in baseball history, bringing in Ubaldo Jimenez and his 5.44 ERA instead of Zack Britton and his 0.54 ERA to pitch the 11th inning of the 2016 AL Wild Card Game. Oh, and his team had the highest payroll in baseball this year. Showalter is a three-time Manager of the Year, but he’s not scheduled to win it again for two more years (his three wins came in 1994, 2004, and 2014).

Snitker’s Braves won the World Series in 2021 and battled back to win the NL East again in 2022, so it’s not surprising that he’s a finalist again. Snitker won the award in 2018 and has finished in the top four each of the last three years.

Roberts won the Manager of the Year Award in 2016, his first year with the Dodgers, and while he’s gotten votes every year, this is the first time since 2017 he has finished in the top three. Roberts is 653-380 in the regular season in seven years as L.A. manager, and despite the reputation, he’s also 45-36 in the postseason.

Here’s the thing: This is a regular-season award, and it would be crazy for anyone other than Roberts to get it. He had exactly two starting pitchers stay healthy all year, several former stars slumped offensively for most or all of the year (Cody Bellinger, Chris Taylor, Max Muncy), and he led his team to 111 wins. No one really knows how to quantify what makes a manager great, but 111 wins is a pretty solid indicator.

By the way, 2001 Mariners manager Lou Piniella (116 wins) and 1998 Yankees manager Joe Torre (114 wins) both won the Manager of the Year Award those years. Frank Chance probably would have won it in 1906 for the 116-win Cubs, too, if the award had existed back then.

Roberts will win this award.

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Jeff Snider

Jeff was born into a Dodgers family in Southern California and is now raising a Dodgers family of his own in Utah. During his previous career as an executive at a technology company, he began writing about baseball in his spare time. After leaving corporate America in 2014, he started doing it professionally. Jeff wrote and edited for Baseball Essential for years before joining Dodgers Nation. He's also the co-host of the Locked On Dodgers podcast, a daily podcast that brings the smart fan's perspective on our Boys in Blue. Jeff has a degree in English from Brigham Young University. Favorite Player: Clayton Kershaw Favorite Moment: Kirk Gibson's homer will always have a place, but Kershaw's homer on Opening Day 2013 might be the winner.

9 Comments

  1. What a joke. Players win in spite of Dave. Pitching foibles are not worthy of the award.

  2. Just think, Dodgers could of had Dusty Baker, Bob Melvin, Now Bochy returns. The Dodgers are a prime example of how affirmative and action work in any situation. National League west was a weak division this year. Dr is a cheerleader not a qualified manager. Maybe he can follow in Mattingly’s foot steps and fade away somewhere like Miami.

  3. Rob Thomson should be on here. He would’ve won. All three managers left the postseason early.

  4. Phillies’ Thompson doesn’t make finals?? But Dandy Dave in? Who are the persons that do this voting ? Not real baseball people.

  5. Yeah, give Roberts a medal for having the best record in baseball during the regular season. And then have him manage the team in the post season and fail big time with his managing, and the players choking to our arch rivals in San Diego. No thank you. I would applaud a change of our manager! I am tired of the failures in the post season.

  6. None of the 3 managers should win it. If Dave Roberts wins it, that’ll be very disrespectful for Dodger fans.. The manager of the Phillies should of been there and win it.

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