Has Dave Roberts's “Shelf Live” Expired?

I am as skeptical as anyone but can’t believe the splenic comments over the past few days. Mark has come close to shutting this place down several times but has kept it up as a service to Dodger fans. He engages in name calling or put downs once in a while, but doesn’t deserve the vitriol that he has received over the past few days.

The Dodgers have gotten off to a slow start this year, so everyone wants to fire Andrew Friedman or Dave Roberts. We shouldn’t forget that the Dodgers have won more games in the last 3 full seasons than any team in major league history – so they didn’t win the Series. There are more rounds of playoffs making it a bit more random to win than it used to be. Dusty Baker’s Astros won it last year – and Dusty had never won the Series before. Was he a bad manager before? Is he a good one now?

I agree that Roberts is not the best game strategist, but that’s not what he’s called upon to do now. He does what the front office wants him to do and does it well from all accounts.

The Dodgers can’t sign every big star free agent, nor do they want to. They have to grow their own and give them a chance to see if they can do the job. This will sometimes lead to a down year once in a while. In the long run though it leads to long term success. The Dodgers have won and grown their own for several seasons now. How many other teams can say the same?

I have looked at this year as transitional. I don’t expect them to win the division. I do expect them to play better than they have played. I am not satisfied with the old vets that they have signed as gap fillers (Peralta, Heyward, Rojas) and the lineup that they run out is not always competitive. I was certain before the season that infield defense and outfield offense would be issues and I am not surprised that they are now.

I am surprised that the starting pitching is not better and the bullpen is a disaster right now. I have heard of bullpen volatility but am surprised that 5 of 9 relievers have ERAs over 4, and 3 of 9 have ERAs 6 or higher. Some of this will sort itself out as the season goes on – guys will improve over the season, and other will be replaced. I expect that the pitching will improve but that infield defense and the length of the lineup will continue to be issues.

Many of these things will likely be corrected before next season – I don’t know about this year.

The Dodgers won the Series in ’55, returned (to lose) in ’56, and were bad in ’57 and ’58 – would you have fired Walter Alston then? He got them to the Series 4 more times in 8 years and won it three times. A bad start to ’23 and we are already calling for Roberts’ head after winning 111 games last year?

Everyone calm down. Stop the name calling. We are all Dodger fans here. We should be on the same side. We can disagree without being A**holes.

Good candidates to be the Dodgers Manager one they know the game pretty well and could motivate a clubhouse and the guys play hard for there manager. 1). Chase Utley long time player knows the game the players would play for him. 2) Justin Turner I know he’s not done playing but as soon as he retires I wouldn’t mind seeing him run the clubhouse. 3) Will Clark hitting coach of the Giants he tells his players to run to first base and if they don’t guess what they sit on the bench. Who he is and in charge. He would a manager the guys play for and respect the guys play tough for him and know he knows his stuff. There’s some names. But we all know Roberts is fine. He won’t be let go because he just does what the computer tells him to do from up above and relayed down to the dugout. That’s why these older managers like Melvin Showalter Baker Bochy are still around. There teams win because of baseball IQ and not listening to the people upstairs.

Heyward was the one auditioning for a spot on the team in spring training not Outman. I’ve seen it many times in spring training. When there is a non roster player that the Dodgers are considering for a spot on the roster, that guy gets a lot of at bats leading off in spring training, so the powers that be can take a good look at that guy. Take a look at who hit leadoff the most in spring training, it was none other than Heyward by far.

And don’t come back at me with the Freddie Freeman pulled strings for Heyward crap and so Heyward was always going to get a spot on the team. When Lux went down to injury the door opened for Heyward not Outman to make the team. Peralta was signed to be the LF against RHP and Thompson or Taylor the LF against LHP with the other one as plan B. Outman was always going to get his shot on the team.

Before Lux went down to injury Thompson was on the bubble and Heyward was breathing down his back.

Well Mark, great click bait Post today. My hat’s off to you.

How have you been feeling lately? Managing a business, dealing with back issues, and maybe having some subconscious worry about A-Fib is exhausting.

May your day be bright,

Your mood be light,

And your heart be filled with delight.

Someone brought up the bullpen. The thing with the bullpen is that Doc doesn’t know how to use it early in the season, but as time goes on, he starts to learn things that were obvious all along and then the bullpen finishes strong. This isn’t to say he doesn’t make mistakes late in the season and the playoffs because he sure does.

This isn’t a Doc hater post by the way. I gave him credit for learning as time goes on and the bullpen finishing strong.

Kershaw day.

Lets get a W.

Oh, and 2020, I think Doc did a masterful job that season, which culminated in a wire to wire World Series Championship…..

We’ve seen the story of us dominating the division and league from beginning to end and we’ve seen that gets us nowhere come October.

So may as well make it more interesting now in 2023.

But, in the meantime, Go Lakers and Go Kings Go!

THIS team will go on a winning run streak before the ASG, Haven’t you seen it many times before? At this moment the Dodgers are not playing up to their potentials. Last night Mookie was on base for Freeman’s HR which is a sign of change for the better and it will click. There’s been spells when Dodgers suck every season and sure that makes for discomfort but what you see will be different from what you get. These guys are better will soon feed off one another. What kind of a streak will it take feel not all is lost? because that’s coming.

I don’t blame Roberts for theDodgers failing, but perhaps it’s time to discuss AF and his shortcomings in the current development of the 2023 Dodgers roster. Without a lot of research and just based on memory lets talk about some of the questionable acquisitions by AF that put the Dodgers in an apparent salary crunch . After all, we are the freaking Dodgers and we’re supposed to be “pigs” when it comes to spending money and acquiring talent. I think he said that, or something damn near.

In no particular order…..

1. Offering Brett Anderson a QO that saddled the team with a nearly $16 million one year salary. Questionable move.

2. Signing Tommy Kahnle for nearly $5 million for 12 innings of work. WTH?

3. Traded Yordan Alveraz for Josh Fields. What was he thinking?

4. Actually traded for Logan Forsyth who couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat.

5. Traded Oneal Cruz for 2 1/2 months of Tony Watson.

6. Acquired Curtis Granderson for a playoff push and gave him a starting OF gig for the post season.

7. Acquired Brain Dozier who did nothing for the Dodgers.

8. Let Dodger signed and developed Corey Seager walk in FA, but signed CT3 to a 4-year $ 60 million contract

9. Acquired Danny Duffy and extended him for 2022 for $3 million with zero innings pitched.

10. Paid Jimmy Nelson $2.7 million for 29 innings pitched in 2020-2021 and a mind-boggling $700,000 guaranteed even when he couldn’t pitch in 2022. Signed him to a one year 2023 contract for $1.1 Million and is not on the active roster.

11. Signed Blake Treinen for 2023 at $8 million after needing major shoulder surgery and his future as a RP is highly suspect.

12. Signed David Peralta for one year at $6.5 coming off back surgery and seemingly being the same player as Jason Heyward.

13. Acquired Joey Gallo who was a mirror image of Bellinger.

14. One player that is highly touted by some as an OF savior for us is Andy Pages. Don’t forget AF offered him up in a trade with Joc Pederson to the Angels for Luis Rengifo. The deal fell through because of an impatient Arte Moreno but the guy who is touted as a can’t miss minor leaguer was nearly an Angel for Rengifo. WTH?

I’m not saying he hasn’t done some good things with minor league development etc. and some decent trades at the deadline (Machado, Darvish, and TT and Scherzer) but some of the poorly managed salary allocation, coupled with the CBT tax implications, has forced the Dodgers into what appears to be small market mode. Yes, we have a large salary team driven mostly by the big contracts for Mookie, FF, Kershaw and Bauer. Perhaps the margins could have been better spent without the large contracts to those listed above who have played little and perhaps some I have forgotten about.

With all the “hand-wringing” over Doc, perhaps the next post should be a discussion about AF with a critical discussion about whether or not he’s all that great as many at LADT think he is. Just saying.

Bill Nelson: I will only give you 1 example of how ridiculous your “anyone could have won with this team” comment is. The Big Red machine was managed by Sparky Anderson, a Hall of Fame manager. That team had 4 Hall of Fame players (and 5 if you include Pete Rose). Pretty damn strong roster. And yet, his winning percentage was .597, considerably less than Doc’s.

In a previous post, I also included the the same data for other Managers who had great rosters again all with lower winning percentages than Doc. The facts speak loud and clear, but people like you don’t want to be influenced by facts.

I get so sick and tired of the emotional outbreaks by people on this site against both Doc and AF, who have done nothing but given us an incredible winning record. Unfortunately I know nothing will change with anyone who has an attitude like yours.

Oh well????????

Cody Bellinger went 5 for 5 against the A’s last night. Now hitting .310 .395 in last 11 games

What’s your opinion? Cody needed a change of scenery? Cody’s shoulder is completely healed? Our hitting coaches SUCK and the Cubs’ hitting coaches figured out what was wrong with his swing and corrected it?

Not this year. Our luck with picking up older declining players- hoping they can find the fountain of youth in LA -has been all used up.

All these everyday players we picked up won’t help us much…maybe a little. You know who I’m talking about too- Perralta, Hayward, Rojas, JD Martinez, and i might as well throw in a pitcher too-Thor…..we would have been better off using their money to pay for one solid “younger” stud. Fill in the roster with youth and watch them grow before our eyes instead of playing the above named Fear-Not Foursome + One. They couldn’t do any worse.

Have I given up on this year? Hardly….they haven’t even played 20 games. Baseball is a marathon not a sprint. Lots could happen. A healthy Gonsolin sure would help too.

By the way, I realize I’ve jumped into the comment section out of nowhere, so thanks for letting me in.

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I will try, but will fail, to ask this question at every 10% interval of the season leading to trade deadline. Or this will become irrelevant if the team’s play changes significantly.

Hypothetical:

IF the Dodgers suffer more injuries and inconsistencies.

AND IF the Dodgers are at or around .500

Do they Dodgers SELL instead of buy to get under the Threshold?

So far, I have not heard anyone articulate what makes Roberst bad… except that he’s a clown. So far, I see no substance. Give me a logical argument, not an emotional and hysterical opinion. By dictionary: (n.) a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge; and as the famous quote goes: “Opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one and most of them stink!”

I am no fan of Roberts but he has been handed a pretty weak roster at many positions. My criticism of him is, he has too much blind loyalty to most of his players. I think in many cases he sticks with someone in game situations and in continual lineup spots too long. I think he does not manage a pitching staff very well, especially a bullpen. Ultimately it is the players that are underperforming but he does make quite a few mistakes in their lineup/ usage positions.

Players win games and championships and managers lose them. Same ole same ole. Always need someone to blame. Dodger record isn’t good because most of the players aren’t playing well.

Yes Lux’s injury has hurt the Dodgers. Ironically, that injury opened up a spot for Outman. So it was not a complete loss for the Dodgers.

“Roberts either keeps his pitchers in too long or pulls them too soon”. That’s classic 20-20 hind sight. Bullpen screws up, well Roberts should have kept the other pitcher in; starting pitcher screws up, well Roberts should have taken him out. Classic 20-20.

Is Roberts the best overall manager of all time. Probably not. But his record speaks for itself.

Alston and Lasorda were not GIFTED the most talented team in the league for all of his 8 years (except this one) Lasorda in his 90’s would have gotten more championships than Roberts. Now that he has to do more than watch they are below 500! Time to go!!!

No, it shouldn’t be just the players. A good strong, experienced, strategic manager should be sought. And you think we have that with Roberts the Clown?!?!?!?!?!? Who in their right mind would hire a guy to manage with no experience? (And boy, does it show). Oh, of course, Friedbrain! Who would not spend any money during the off season and acted like the owners were paupers? Friedbrain!