Has Dave Roberts's “Shelf Live” Expired?

What David said.

It’s the players. Win or lose, it’s the players.

Replacing a manager that has the best winning record in the history of the franchise is knee jerk and not how the Dodgers organization operates. Arm chair Monday morning quarterbacks always have better ideas but obviously nobody’s listening to them so complain all you want, but you might want to consider how silly you often sound. I include myself in that group. Looking back I’ve said some stupid sh*t over the years. But I think I’m right about this.

This Dodgers squad, as it is currently constructed, is not as good as last year’s team. It just isn’t. But the teams of the recent past have started slowly before and finished well.

So what, if anything, should the Dodgers do? The bullpen, last year with a collective ERA under 3, currently has an ERA close to 5. I think all we can do is keep throwing them out there and hope they get it together. The starting rotation, minus who we lost to FA and who is injured, is just not what it usta was. I don’t know what the fix is, but I’m sure it’s being worked on. The offense, now minus who we lost and now another starter in CT3, has been sketchy so far, but look like they can score enough if pitching gets their sh*t together.

I suggest we have patience and stop asking to fire Roberts, that just ain’t gonna happen.

I wonder what Feduccia is thinking? We need a catcher, he did well in Spring Training and is currently OPSn over 1.000 at AAA and we drag the bottom for a guy named Wynns.

10% is always a good measure in statistics. At this point in time nothing shows this team can compete. I will watch some games as usual, but it is obviously a 500 team. See you all in 2024, God willing, with a better team.

Roberts is not the problem with the 2023 Dodgers. Injuries to Lux ,Gonsolin and Pepiot caused the lack of depth to the present roster. If everyone was healthy, Taylor and Rojas would be utility players against lefthanders . Peralta would not have been signed for 6.5 million which is a redundant player to Heyward. AF has to perform some magic to acquire a player from within or outside the organization to replace Taylor. My guess is Williams at Oklahoma City which will require a 40 man roster move. As it stands today ,this team will not win more than 90 to 93 wins and finish second in the division. I believe this is a transition year for the Dodgers.

This is my subject. Dave is the problem. 1. He will not adjust. HR or go home. CT3 in the 4 hole last night. 2. He cannot manage a pitching staff. He takes pitchers out too early or too late. 3. Given equal talent he will lose. Given better talent he will win regular season games in spite of him. 4. He does not know how to manage play off games. He makes dumb decisions. Dumb decisions during regular season, he gets away with it. Dumb decisions in play off games he gets beat. Cannot get a team ready. Last year against San Diego. He is a good guy, but that is as far as it goes.

I said it before the season and I say it today: This season we will find out a lot about DR managing skills.

This years team is far from the loaded rosters of past years. The division is stronger too with the up and coming D-Backs and a loaded Padres club.

This Dodgers roster is no juggernaut. Not on offense and so far even the pitching which I thought would be our ticket to the postseason looks vulnerable. Lets see how Roberts does when he doesn´t have an All star at just about every position and a pitching staff not as dominant as usual .

Having said this I find it an interesting question if I would judge DR differently had the Astros not stolen that 2017 title. Will have to think about it .

Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For all those guys who wanted the Dodgers to go all in on Soto last year, the guy is hitting under .200 so far. Pads can’t wait to get Tatis back. Gabe Kapler has lost some of his mojo. He was terrible when he managed the Phillies and last year’s Giants and this year’s bunch look pretty bad.

I have never felt that Roberts was a great in game strategist. But he excels at being a player’s manager. His strength is in his communication skills. And that he does better than most any manager in the majors. He has made mistakes, which manager hasn’t? His players love the guy, fans, not so much. There is no denying his teams success on the field in the regular season. He has taken the team to three World Series.

Some will argue, and logically so, that he has had extremely talented teams all of those years. But as we have seen time and time again, the best team does not win all the time. The Giants won two World Series as the Wild Card. In 21 they were the best team in the majors and did not make it out of the NLDS. The Dodgers were far and away the best team in 22. Same outcome. It is as Mark said, not that easy.

It is very easy to look back and nitpick times when Roberts made a decision that seemingly cost the team the game, and ultimately, the Series. Pulling Hill when he was totally dominating the Red Sox was one. But there were conflicting reports that Hill had indicated he had nothing left in the tank. Makes no difference, the bullpen did not do the job and they lost the game. I never blame Roberts for the players lack of performance. I might blame him for using that particular guy. But he has information I am not privy to.

Last night, in my humble opinion, he left Vesia in one batter too many and put Bickford into a bad situation which immediately paid dividends to the Mets when Bickford balked home the tying run. Vesia also in my opinion, should have never been sent back out to pitch after he got the last out the inning before. Especially with a RH bat coming up.

But I have seen that from all managers. Alston to me, cost the Dodgers a World Series appearance. In the 62 playoffs he sent Ed Roebuck, who was obviously out of gas, back out for a third inning of relief work with a 2 run lead in the 9th. The Giants scored four and won. Lasorda pitched to Jack Clark, and got burned. He also got pretty much torched by the fans for it. Fans are going to always blame the manager. Especially when a team starts like this or loses close games the fans think they should have won. But in the final analysis,, it is always on the players to get the job done.

I saw the game two days ago with all those horrible called strikes. But I blame Roberts for that loss because he should have told Freddy et al not to strike out with RISP. I am sure another manager would have made hitters come through

Pretty sure the Padres are happy with Bob Melvin. I’d say the Giants would be the more realistic team to swoop in and nab Doc.