Dave Roberts MOTY
Dave deserves the Manager of the Year award. A lot of the voters will give it to Joe Maddon and he is deserving of it, but I think what Dave has done and accomplished this season puts him on top. A list of a few things he's accomplished/survived during the season:
- Kept the team even keel after putting 28 players on the DL.
- Turned around an abysmal bullpen and offense during the first two months of the season.
- Went 49-30 since Kershaw was put on the DL.
- Made the tough decisions for the good of the team (see Stripling's no hitter and Hill's perfect game).
- NL West Champion!
Dave has brought a starkly different culture to the clubhouse compared to Mattingly. This team has a lot more grit and determination compared to the previous three years. I think the Dodgers have more comeback wins this season compared to last.
The team chemistry is different too. You can tell the guys are having a lot more fun and have each other's backs. All told, Dave deserved MOTY. Looking forward to see how the Post Season plays out.
Posted Sep 26, 2016, 6:27 PM UTC
6517
Dave Roberts has exceeded every expectation of mine. The one reason I was worried about losing Donnie was his ability to keep everyone calm during really rough patches in 2014 and 2015. Dave has done the exact same thing this year with the injuries and being down 8 games to the Giants. But he's done it with better bullpen management. To top it all off, he's super fun and energetic. Don't think we can really ask for more in a manager.
Regarding awards. Unfortunately, I think the Cubs are the favorites for MVP, MOTY, EOTY because they've been so good all year. Bryant probably deserves MVP, but I think Roberts and Friedman should be ahead of Maddon and Epstein for MOTY & EOTY. Maddon didn't have near the adversity as Roberts and had a freaking juggernaut of a team on every single aspect of the game. I think Epstein has done an incredible job, but he rebuilt the old fashioned way. Suck for a while, acquire and develop prospects, supplement with vets through FA and trades. What Friedman has done will never be appreciated. He has arguably rebuilt this team while contending. We still have a great system despite graduating absolute stud prospects, we have money coming off of the books, and we're positioned to be elite for a freaking decade.
That's exactly what Friedman and Co. has done; except w/o the sucking for a while. Lol. Our FO acquired and developed prospects (Trayce, Brock, Stripling etc.), and vets to guide the young guys (Utley, Howie, Chooch, etc.).
IMO, this year's Dodgers is similar to last year's Cubs. And much like this year's Cubs, I think the Dodgers will be even better next year as the young guys gets more experience. Both clubs are set up for long term success.
I wouldn't be surprised if Seager becomes MVP next year with Kershaw getting the Cy Young while cruising to the best record in baseball.
The important part of the team sucking is that they can get better draft picks that way. Baez, Bryant, and Schwarber were all top 10 picks by the Cubs, picks they wouldn't have had if they didn't suck so much.
The Dodgers didn't have the... luxury? of sucking to get good draft picks. That's the big difference between Epstein and Friedman.
I can't wait for a whole season of Trayce Thomson. He had a very good start, but then got injured
After Kershaw, I think the most impactful injury we had all year was Thompson. After he got hurt we were sorely lacking in the righthanded power hitting department.
I think Toles became the replacement for Trayce in a way. I would still like to keep Trayce though and not trade him just yet
It seems paradoxical to give MOTY and EOTY to the same organization in the same year. The Cubs are in such a strong position this year because of the decisions Epstein has made over the past few years. It has made Maddon's job a lot easier to have so many good, versatile players at his disposal. Seems like a strong case for giving Epstein EOTY. By the same token, Friedman's strategy has involved signing many injury prone players with a high upside and low relative cost, and hope that eventually talent wins out. But it puts his manager in a tough position. But Roberts has excelled, which is a very strong indicator that he should be manager of the year.
It just seems weird to give both awards to the same organization, since the one award almost goes against the other. If the Front Office has done such an amazing job, how are we so sure the manager had such a big influence?