WEST SACRAMENTO – For years, a sports commentator named Jim Healy ruled the radio in Southern California with a sports talk show liberally spiced with audio “drops” that ear-wormed their way into his listeners’ consciousness by frequent repetition.
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One of his most popular – and most frequently used – clips was a profanity-laced rant by Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda following a game in the early 1980s.
“This (bleeping) job ain’t that (bleeping) easy,” Lasorda declared.
It still isn’t. But a manager’s job has changed dramatically in the years since Lasorda reached 1,000 wins as a manager in August 1988.
Dave Roberts reached his 1,000 wins in an era when managers are no longer measured so much by their tactical acumen during games. Analytics have downplayed strategic moves like putting on the hit-and-run, squeeze bunts or basestealing. The universal DH and shortened benches (with larger pitching staffs) have minimized pinch-hitting decisions with those moves often made by rote based on the opposing pitcher’s handedness. Managing a pitching staff might be the most obvious strategic decisions a manager has to make these days – and even those are made within the parameters provided by analytic data.
Instead, managers might make their greatest impact now as managers of people, the disparate personalities that make up an MLB clubhouse. The responses of Roberts’ charges as he reached 1,000 wins in fewer games than any previous MLB manager emphasized that aspect of the job.
“It’s not about the ability of managing the game out there. Because I mean, this team has a lot of talent, and it’s about how you manage the personalities in here,” said veteran infielder Miguel Rojas, who hopes to be a manager himself some day. “You’re not managing any team. You’re managing one of the best teams that’s been ever assembled, so you have more pressure on top of your shoulders, because you’re supposed to win. So if you don’t win, you’re not a good manager, right?
“At the end of the day, it’s about the environment that we have in this clubhouse, and that’s what separates Doc from the rest of the managers that I’ve had.”
Those who minimize Roberts’ achievement use the Dodgers’ talent level as the centerpiece of their argument. Any manager could win 1,000 games with teams as good as the Dodgers have fielded over his 11 seasons, the criticism goes.
Mookie Betts disagrees.
“I would definitely say it’s probably the reverse. It makes it harder,” Betts said. “It’s probably easy to write in a lineup, for sure. But to manage so many personalities, injuries, guys coming up, guys going down – it’s a lot. Especially losing, we went through our stretches where we weren’t playing well. And then it’s the other way, like, ‘Oh, you got this roster, and you’re still losing X, Y, and Z.’ But he just kind of handled it. Handled it with grace. And still come out on top.
“So, yeah, it’s probably easy to write it right in the lineup. But to manage it for 162-plus is really hard to do.”
Roberts acknowledges the talent advantage he has been given as Dodgers manager. When the team saluted him with a champagne toast following Tuesday’s 9-3 victory over the Athletics in Sacramento, he said, “What makes a good coach? Good players.”
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Getting those players to be as good as they can be has always been a manager’s prime directive. And Roberts’ “ability to keep things light throughout the course of the season” is his greatest strength as a manager, Tommy Edman said.
“A hundred and sixty-two games can be a grind, a lot of ups and downs, and he does such a good job of balancing that, making everyone and allowing everyone to feel comfortable, and just allowing everyone to perform as best as they can,” Edman said. “That’s the big thing, he’s just a really easy guy to communicate with and an easy guy to play for.”
As the winning pitcher in Roberts’ 1,000th victory, Justin Wrobleski said he was aware of the impending milestone and wanted to get the win because of how much Roberts has meant “for my career and my development.”
“I think I knew how he was going to be beforehand just because I met him and talked to him a couple times (before Wrobleski made the big-league roster) and had been privy to how he acts and how he is as a manager,” Wrobleski said. “He’s definitely exceeded my expectations for the kind of manager you would want. He’s got your back all the time. It’s one of those things where he’s super easy to play for, you can talk to him about stuff. I’m just super happy for him.”
Betts took it a step further, saying he sees Roberts “more as like a baseball dad, to be honest.”
“He’s so much more than just a manager,” Betts said.
When his players’ comments are relayed to Roberts, he points to that as the true measure of his success as manager.
“If Miggy or Freddie or Mookie can talk about the culture and how I’ve impacted their lives, that’s the win,” Roberts said. “I’m not chasing wins. I’m chasing having great relationships with my players. So, yeah, the result, the fallout is a lot of wins.”
There are likely to be many more wins to come in Roberts career. But he might not be appreciated until the numbers stop piling up, Rojas said.
“People will take it into account after he will be done, because right now they live in the moment of judging the decisions of every single game, and on the everyday basis, and that’s normal,” Rojas said. “I mean, when the team wins, it’s going to be the team, and when the team loses, it’s going to be the manager a lot of the times.
“It’s part of the job. He’s getting paid for that. He’s getting paid to put his face out there every single day. After the game, he has to answer the tough questions and the good questions as well, so I don’t think he’s bothered by that. I think people will realize when he retires, and when he doesn’t want to manage anymore, how good of a manager he was for one of the best teams of this generation.”
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