5 offseason moves the Dodgers should make

Dave Roberts might need to go

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts made some head-scratching moves in Game 5 of the NLDS, first deciding to send Clayton Kershaw to the mound to face Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto. Had it been 2015 that likely would have been the right move, but in 2019 and especially in the postseason, Kershaw is a shell of his former self. Kershaw allowed back-to-back homers to Rendon and Soto, tying the game up at three runs apiece.

Then Roberts decided to let Joe Kelly, who had also struggled in the postseason, to throw the 9th and 10th inning while closer Kenley Jansen, Pedro Baez, and Dustin Mays were all available. Kelly gives up the grand-slam to Howie Kendrick and the Dodgers are now watching the rest of the postseason from their couches. Now, you can’t put all of the blame on Roberts, both Kershaw and Kelly didn’t perform when they needed too, but Roberts stood pat on both of those decisions after the game in his comments. Per Jeff Passan of ESPN, the Dodgers manager had this to say about Kershaw:

"“I felt good about Clayton right there. Eaton, and when you got Rendon and Soto, so I felt that I liked Clayton. He threw, I don’t know what it was, a couple pitches, and we had Clayton ready for whatever today. So for Maeda to go through Soto, Kenta in this role, we really liked him against the right-hander. And the success that Clayton’s had against Soto with the two-run lead, I’ll take Clayton any day in that situation.”"

He mentions wanting to use Kelly because he was their “most rested” reliever, but as Passan pointed out in the article, Kelly had been pulled from his last outing because he walked three bats, allowed two runs to score, and didn’t record a single out. Roberts has had a few moments like this, seemingly relying on the player and their track record instead of what that player is at the current moment.

That’s kind of been the “Dodger Way” over the last few seasons, sticking with this current group hoping to finally get their first title in since 1988. It’s clear that the Dodgers have talent, you don’t win over 100 games by accident, and they’ve won the NL West seven consecutive years in a row. This team has and will continue to be one of the best clubs in baseball, with plenty more top talent coming down the pipeline. It’s hard to say Roberts is the culprit for the Dodgers failures, but his decision-making costs LA Game 5 and it at the very least complicates his future.

But what makes things tricky now is that Roberts was just inked a four-year extension that has him managing the Dodgers through 2022. But even with all the collapse in Game 5, Roberts is still well respected in the Dodger clubhouse and despite getting outmanaged by Dave Martinez and a flawed National roster, he fits the profile of the type of manager the Dodgers would want to replace him with.