Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts provided an update on a few roster decisions heading into their World Series matchup against the Toronto Blue Jays.<\/p>\n
The most notable absence from the defending champions’ roster<\/a> going into the Fall Classic was left-handed reliever Alex Vesia. The team announced that he is away from the team dealing with a personal matter, <\/a>and Roberts provided the latest ahead of Game 1. <\/p>\n More news: Dodgers Overwhelmingly Predicted to Win World Series Over Blue Jays by Insiders<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI think we exhausted a couple different options, but just considering obviously what he\u2019s going through and baseball\u2019s certainly on the back-burner, so I just think that\u2019s the right process that we as an organization (thought) was probably the best way to handle it,” Roberts said<\/a> of not placing him on the Family Medical Emergency List.<\/p>\n “We have a lot of viable options (to replace him) and I don\u2019t know what situation will present itself but I trust all the guys, I really do. And guys are gonna have to step up, but Alex is certainly gonna be missed.”<\/p>\n President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman noted that the decision to hold Vesia off the roster was to help support the southpaw and his family. <\/p>\n \u201cYeah I mean we just didn\u2019t want to have any potential for any kind of pressure,” Friedman said<\/a>. “This is so much bigger than baseball and for us it was doing whatever small part we could to just, 100 percent be supportive.\u201d<\/p>\n Vesia isn’t the only top arm that was left off the World Series roster as Tanner Scott is absent as well. Scott is dealing with a lower-body abscess procedure that was the reason he was removed from the NLDS roster.<\/p>\n Although he didn’t have the most productive regular season, Roberts noted that he was left off the roster mostly because of medical reasons. <\/p>\n