Dodgers News: MLB Analyst Praises Dave Roberts Ability to Navigate Analytical Baseball World

Dave Roberts is already one of the winningest managers in MLB history.

Roberts has a winning percentage that ranks top five in MLB history. Since he took over the Dodgers in 2016, no team has won more games, and it’s not even that close. Also, the Dodgers have made the postseason every season Roberts has been at the helm, and, of course, won the World Series in 2020.

Despite all the winning, Roberts has always been at the center of tons of criticism. To be fair, this Dodgers team should have more than one World Series win, and last year’s NLDS loss to the San Diego Padres only amplified the Dodgers’ postseason problems. However, Roberts remains one of the premier managers in the game of baseball, someone the Dodgers are very lucky to have.

With all that being said, many fans of the Dodgers like to question what Roberts really does. For example, how many decisions come from Roberts, and how many are coming from the Dodgers’ analytical-based front office? Also, is Roberts really making the decisions, or is he more of just a puppet that the front office gets to deploy?

While these questions weren’t fully answered by ESPN’s Doug Glanville in a recent conversation with DodgersNation.com’s Doug McKain, he did shine some light on the incredible work Roberts is doing, making it clear that he deserves the praise that comes with all the Dodgers’ success.

“You have ways that you have to deal with personnel and all the information you have to synthesize now that comes in with data and the front offices and who’s really making the lineup kind of scenario. He navigates that very well, and certainly his track record shows the consistency of success,” Glanville said.

“I feel like I learn a lot talking to him because he studies and he has responses, but he’s also open to, ‘okay, this is new in the analytics department, let me try to work with this.’ And that’s a good sign when you’re getting to be more of a veteran manager, that you’re still able to still take in information, and also appreciate veteran players that can help get that information to you. Like Freddie Freeman, Jason Hewyard, they’re like coaches. J.D. Martinez, he just brings them onto his staff so to speak and lets them lead.”

Roberts is not only open to the analytics of the game and learning how to incorporate that aspect, but as Glanville points out, he’s also happy to let his veteran leaders somewhat coach and lead the team, too.

Some managers would have an ego that would prevent them from listening to others, especially when those “others” are his own players. But Roberts is far from that guy, someone who loves taking the advice of just about anyone as he continues to grow as a manager.

Whether you like Roberts or not, he’s truly the perfect man for this Dodgers job. Yes, maybe you’d love to see a little more fight out of him when the umpires are making bad calls. And yes, maybe you want to see him leave a starting pitcher in a little bit longer (although that’s probably not his call), but he is the perfect man to lead this Dodgers team.

The players love him, the front office loves him and all he’s done since coming to the Dodgers is win at a historic pace. And while he didn’t want to guarantee anything this year, he knows this Dodgers team is more than capable of bringing another World Series to Los Angeles.

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