Dave Roberts

Quake Griffin · Post #1 » by **Quake Griffin** » Mon Nov 23, 2015 5:09 am

Welcome our new manager guys.

Kilroy said it'd be best for new threads to be made for the forum instead of keeping it in one forum.

Let's discuss our new manager.
I'm excited for this guy.

Quake Griffin · Post #2 » by **Quake Griffin** » Mon Nov 23, 2015 6:23 am

Wonder what this means for Zack Greinke and Yasiel Puig respectively.

Ranma · Post #3 » by **Ranma** » Mon Nov 23, 2015 6:45 am

I don't see any effect with Greinke's free agency decision unless Roberts does some recruiting. The hiring of Dave Roberts buys Puig one more chance unless they can find a really good trade for him this winter. Roberts will see if he can get through to Puig, but the language barrier may be a problem and his teammates, inlcuding Adrian Gonzalez, don't seem inclined to be as patient with him any more. Personally, while I think Yasiel will rebound a bit this upcoming season, I don't think he'll ever conform enough to the clubhouse's liking.

I like that Roberts is highly thought of with very good communications skills and respected as his own man and one of integrity. Being a positive influence should help the Dodgers' clubhouse overall. He's also considered to be under-rated in handling pitching and I would have to think that he'll put more emphasis on improving base-running and stealing.

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Quake Griffin · Post #4 » by **Quake Griffin** » Tue Nov 24, 2015 7:56 am

What next you say Ned?
Bench coach?

Are we positive Wallach is bolting for Miami?

People want experience?
Gardenhire?
Geren?

Post #5 » by **Kilroy** » Tue Nov 24, 2015 11:04 pm

I'm curious what effect having a 'players' manager' will have on this team, both in recruiting as well as reaching their playing potential.
It could usher the Dodgers into a new era, or it could cause further turmoil... I'm pretty optimistic though.

Ranma · Post #6 » by **Ranma** » Wed Nov 25, 2015 4:34 am

Stan Kasten stated that hiring Dave Roberts was a collaborative process with the front office and ownership. He acknowledged that Friedman's opinion probably mattered the most, but described the hiring decision as a collective choice. Commended Friedman, Zaidi, and Byrnes for their due diligence in the managerial search, but his point that the result was not something (or someone) they would have imagined at the start of the process leads me to believe that Kapler was basically going to be anointed as the Dodgers' skipper until ownership told the front office to expand their search field.

I'd like to have Wallach come back as our bench coach, but you have to think Mattingly's statement wouldn't have been made if there wasn't a strong likelihood of him joining him in Miami unless Donnie was doing Wallach a solid in providing leverage in negotiations for his return. Still, Wallach was Roberts' hitting coach when he was a Dodger player, so maybe Dave can do some convincing. Another guy I would love to see on Roberts' coaching staff would be Orel Hershiser.

Other than that, about the only guy left from last season's coaching staff who hasn't been committed to going elsewhere outside of Rick Honeycutt is Lorenzo Bundy, but he was the knucklehead 3B coach before being displaced to outfield coach by Ron Roenicke. The Molly Knight article below notes that with the rise of front office input in on-field managerial decisions, the Dodger players feel like the pitching coach makes more of an impact than the manager does. I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that Honeycutt was secured early.

I don't like the sound of the front office filling out our coaching staff as I'd rather see what kind of support staff Roberts and/or Kasten can put together with their respective experience and connections around the league.

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Molly Knight, Vice Sports (11/23/15)

Then again, the manager job isn't what it used to be. Whether Roberts succeeds or not, it's important to remember that we have entered an era where major league skippers are part middle manager and part team spokesman, with negligible impact on a club's win/loss record. The Dodgers pitching coach, Rick Honeycutt, is widely believed by players to have more impact on the team than any other coach or manager. The club signed him to a multi-year extension weeks ago; he was the only coach the Dodgers retained from last season.

The Dave Roberts Dodgers Era Begins Now

Quake Griffin · Post #7 » by **Quake Griffin** » Tue Dec 1, 2015 6:37 am

When is the damn presser?

It's the Monday after Turkey Day

Ranma · Post #8 » by **Ranma** » Tue Dec 1, 2015 6:44 am

Quake Griffin wrote:When is the damn presser?

It's the Monday after Turkey Day

I thought it was today too, but apparently, they decided to make it tomorrow morning instead.

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Quake Griffin · Post #9 » by **Quake Griffin** » Tue Dec 1, 2015 9:13 pm

Like the guy already.

can't finish watching the presser, gotta catch a flight.
smfh.

Ranma · Post #10 » by **Ranma** » Tue Dec 1, 2015 10:57 pm

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Ranma · Post #11 » by **Ranma** » Wed Dec 2, 2015 1:59 am

In addition to Rick Honeycutt as pitching coach and possibly Gabe Kapler as 1B coach, Ken Gurnick is reporting that Bob Geren is the favorite to be the bench coach. While he was derided by his players as a bad manager with severely lacking communications skills, he's considered a good bench coach who is adept at translating big-data analytics into on-field strategy. Here's the ESPN profile of him during the Dodgers' managerial search:

Mark Saxon, ESPN.com (10/29/15)

None of that rules Geren out for the job. He still has a close relationship with Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi. He still is widely viewed as a successful bench coach on the National League champions and a strong conduit for advanced information from the front office to the clubhouse and dugout.
...

Geren and Mattingly were teammates on the Yankees from 1988 to 1991. Mattingly was a superstar. Geren was a light-hitting backup catcher.

Unlike his predecessor in Oakland, what undid Geren was his relationships with players, not the front office. The best man at general manager Billy Beane’s wedding, Geren took over for Ken Macha in November 2006. In four-and-a-half seasons with the A’s, Geren’s teams had a .470 winning percentage and never reached the playoffs.

Dodgers Managerial Candidate Profile: Bob Geren

Ken Gurnick, MLB.com (12/1/15)

Now Roberts gets to work. A coaching staff is expected to be announced later this week. Although Friedman said Roberts is driving that process, Roberts conceded he is "leaning" on the front office, which apparently decided to bring back well-regarded pitching coach Rick Honeycutt even before hiring Roberts.

Mets bench coach Bob Geren -- one of the managerial candidates with strong ties to Zaidi from their time together in Oakland -- is considered the favorite to be Roberts' bench coach.

Friedman said it will be important to have someone in that role with managerial or bench-coach experience (Geren has both) to support Roberts. Gabe Kapler, the other finalist as farm director this year, is "definitely in the mix" for a coaching job, Roberts said.

'Full Circle' for Roberts as Dodgers Manager

Ranma · Post #12 » by **Ranma** » Wed Dec 2, 2015 5:30 am

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Quake Griffin · Post #13 » by **Quake Griffin** » Wed Dec 2, 2015 3:11 pm

Team Stream app just sent me a notification saying Kapler will be on Roberts' staff.

Quake Griffin · Post #14 » by **Quake Griffin** » Wed Dec 2, 2015 6:19 pm

Quake Griffin wrote:What next you say Ned?
Bench coach?

Are we positive Wallach is bolting for Miami?

People want experience?
Gardenhire?
Geren?

Good call Quake

Ranma · Post #15 » by **Ranma** » Wed Dec 2, 2015 8:02 pm

Good call, Quake. I'm not thrilled with the staff Roberts is putting together. Geren at least has proven capable of being a good bench coach. We would be better off with Kapler staying in his role in player development; it just seems too soon to take him off the post after one season to put him in the clubhouse as manager-in-training. Turner Ward was just let go by the Diamondbacks, but their team seems to be doing well from a hitting perspective. Was it more personnel or instruction? I suspect it's the former.

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Quake Griffin · Post #16 » by **Quake Griffin** » Wed Dec 2, 2015 8:10 pm

btw, my internet must be jacked up, I usually wont post something if I see you post it already. For some reason I didn't see you post it already.

Why don't you like the staff? Is it Kapler leaving his post too early or you want other people as Bench Coach, 1B coach etc. etc?

Ranma · Post #17 » by **Ranma** » Wed Dec 2, 2015 9:40 pm

Other than Orel Hershiser and maybe Mark Grace, I don't really have anyone in mind. Having said that, Roberts said that he wanted teachers, leaders, and people who will challenge him to be better. While I'm not entirely familiar with everyone they're purportedly adding, it doesn't sound like the collective group epitomizes that.

First, Geren was harshly criticized by players he managed as lacking in communications skills and leadership, which obviously doesn't make for a good teacher either. Second, like Mattingly upon Joe Torre's departure, it seems like we're handing Kapler a coaching position in the dugout more as an obligation than for anything he's accomplished. It seems to benefit Gabe more to go through his desired manager-in-training than it does in helping the team, especially when Roberts is lacking in experience and could use someone with a more proven resume. And third, Turner was let go by the Diamondbacks, a team that is thought to be offensively capable in the batter's box. It makes you wonder why a team with no apparent problems with hitting would release its hitting coach. Even if Arizona thinks its personnel should be fine without him, why give other teams the opportunity to get their hands on someone with knowledge of their approach if he's capable? If they think they can do better than him or were hitting well in spite of him, that opens up a different can of worms. In either case, it raises an eyebrow of suspicion.

On the bright side, we're keeping Honeycutt around for a couple of more seasons. Geren still looks like a good and experienced bench coach comfortable with incorporating analytics. Kapler is lauded by the organization for his leadership, teaching ability through excellent communication skills, and thinking outside the box. Regardless of the circumstances of his departure, Ward was the hitting coach of an offensively adept team albeit one that operates in a hitter-friendly environment.

Some would argue that the coaches and maybe even managers are overrated in this day and age of big data, but I don't subscribe to such a fad notion, especially in light of the results after Roenicke replaced Bundy as 3B coach. Roberts and Honeycutt are obviously encouraging presences in the dugout, but Geren and Turner seem like okay additions much like Josh Byrnes is to the Friedman and Zaidi front office. I'm more bothered by Kapler's addition than anything else given the circumstances, but the addition to Roberts' support staff just doesn't seem inspired.

Also, given the short order of the reported hirings a day after Roberts' introductory press conference, it leads me to believe that most, if not all, of the coaches are names the front office already had in mind. I really wanted to see Roberts reach out to those people he thinks would be good for a coaching staff given his network of connections from years of playing and coaching with different organizations. Given the week delay due to the holidays, Roberts and the front office probably exchanged notes, but this still seems to be driven more by the front office than Roberts himself, which is disappointing.

Ranma · Post #18 » by **Ranma** » Wed Dec 2, 2015 9:57 pm

Quake Griffin wrote:btw, my internet must be jacked up, I usually wont post something if I see you post it already. For some reason I didn't see you post it already.

No worries. I try to do the same thing. I'll even go back and edit my posts to remove the repeated info when it's posted by someone else at the same time during times of high activity. I usually do that when mkwest and I double up in the Clippers game-day threads. In the end, we're sharing information for the benefit of all, so it's all good. I appreciate how considerate you are, though. Seriously.

Ranma · Post #19 » by **Ranma** » Wed Dec 2, 2015 11:04 pm

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Ranma · Post #20 » by **Ranma** » Thu Dec 3, 2015 5:57 am

I'm going to retract most of my misgivings on the coaching staff additions so far, particularly Turner Ward as hitting coach. I was under the impression that they let him go, which is technically true but rather misrepresentative. The D-Backs wanted him back but Ward was not happy with the contract they offered him. Given how successful Arizona has been with him as hitting coach, I'm now happy with the hiring of Turner Ward. Yeah, I'm fickle like that.

I still wish Roberts could have reached out to his network of coaches and ex-players to see who he thought might be good candidates, but given how late it is before the winter meetings, that doesn't seem practical now. I'm still a little uneasy about Geren and Kapler getting opportunities given their relationship with Zaidi and Friedman, respectively, but right now I only wish Kapler would have returned to his position as director of player development.

I'm fine with Geren as the bench coach given his previous success in that position and hopeful that Kapler's leadership, communicative teaching, and outside-of-the-box thinking will help Roberts in his first season as the Dodgers' skipper. After all, I only had a couple of names in mind and I wasn't really pushing for either.

Nick Piecoro, AZCentral.com (11/11/15)

Manager Chip Hale said an emotional Ward called on Monday night to inform him of his decision.

“From what I understand, it’s strictly a baseball decision,” Hale said. “He’s still going to be in the game. I think he might have a better opportunity somewhere else.”

Hale was asked where he expects Ward to land.

“To be honest with you, I didn’t get into it,” Hale said. “When he called, it was a very emotional thing for him. He loves our club and our coaches and team but felt like these opportunities that are presenting themselves are something he wants to explore.”
...

Ward spent the past three seasons on the Diamondbacks’ big-league coaching staff, the past two as the primary hitting coach. The club thrived at the plate this season, ranking second in the league in runs scored, second in slugging and third in on-base and OPS.

Hitting Coach Turner Ward Leaving Diamondbacks

Bill Plunkett, Orange County Register (12/2/15)

Ward, meanwhile, has been the Diamondbacks' hitting coach the past three seasons but was unhappy with the contract he was offered for 2016 and left the team. Under the former outfielder’s tutelage in 2015, the Diamondbacks ranked second in the National League in runs and slugging percentage, third in batting average, on-base percentage and OPS.

Ward, 50, might be most familiar to Dodgers fans from an on-field brawl between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks in June 2013. Ward was ejected despite being on the receiving end of a punch from Dodgers reliever J.P. Howell who then drove Ward into a railing and bent him over it into a camera pit. Howell was suspended two games for his part in the brawl.

Bob Geren, Turner Ward Expected to Join Dodgers' Coaching Staff