Adjectives that come to mind about Dave Roberts in the media are measured, reasoned, and thoughtful. Maybe a bit verbose or circular, especially when it comes to injury updates.<\/p>\n
The point is that it\u2019s rare when Roberts calls out a player, and it\u2019s usually a doozy when it happens. The anger of the quiet person often booms the loudest. When Bob Nightengale of USA Today dropped \u201c\u2019Couldn\u2019t be more lazy.\u2019 Dodgers fire back at MLB payroll crybabies<\/a>,\u201d one could be forgiven for wondering if the headline was merely clickbait for diplomatic double-talk that did not say anything.<\/p>\n Those fears were dispelled instantly, immediately, and thoroughly. On Wednesday, Dave Roberts was there to take names and chew bubblegum; unfortunately for the targets of his vitriol, he was out of bubblegum:<\/p>\n \u201dMy honest opinion is the majority of takes about the Dodgers couldn\u2019t be more lazy\u2026that it\u2019s just about the payroll. It\u2019s about the draft. It\u2019s about layering on where we pick in the draft annually. The player development. How we acquire international talent. How we perform consistently at the major-league level.<\/p>\n \u201cI actually think it\u2019s a competitive advantage in the sense that people feel that way, and not look at themselves in the mirror and see how they can operate things better. So that\u2019s beneficial for us.\u201d<\/p>\n As if to dispel the notion that Roberts had made an accidental remark, he kept talking:<\/p>\n \u201dHaving the payroll and the depth that gives you [is] certainly is a benefit. No one\u2019s debating that. But I do think that the players we acquire, how we play the game every night, getting younger players to assimilate in a star-studded clubhouse, that\u2019s important. That\u2019s hard to quantify, but that\u2019s of value.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at the World Series the last couple of years, there\u2019s a lot of home-grown guys making league minimum that have been on postseason rosters.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, for good measure, Roberts floated the idea of the Dodgers acquiring Detroit Tigers\u2019 ace Tarik Skubal at the deadline.<\/p>\n \u201cThey would go ballistic,\u201d Roberts said laughing. \u201cBut we would have the prospect capital to do [acquire Skubal]. We are one of the teams that could do that with the Tigers.\u201d<\/p>\n One wonders who \u201cthey\u201d are. Whether it\u2019s the rest of the league or the critics of the Dodgers, Dave Roberts was not having it on June 3.<\/p>\n The players aren\u2019t having it either<\/p>\n And lest anyone think it was just Roberts blowing off steam, Miguel Rojas added some justified rhetorical heat, stating it\u2019s not just spending fueling the Dodgers\u2019 success, and the organization\u2019s roster construction is often overlooked:<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day,\u201d 2025 World Series hero Miguel Rojas said, \u201cit\u2019s not about wasting money or spending money to buy the best players because that\u2019s not going to guarantee you anything. You can see it. There are another five or six clubs close to us in payroll, and they haven\u2019t accomplished it. That\u2019s why people aren\u2019t talking about them, because they haven\u2019t won. People just talk about us\u2026<\/p>\n \u2026The way they constructed the roster in this organization deserves a lot of credit,\u201d Rojas said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just buying the players and spending money on players, it\u2019s having Plan B\u2019s and C\u2019s behind them, and that\u2019s where I feel the organization is not getting enough credit for building a full team that is capable of sustaining so many injuries throughout the season and having guys ready when they get called up.\u201d<\/p>\n Emmet Sheehan also went on the record, praising the Dodgers\u2019 development system:<\/p>\n \u201cOur development system is what gets overlooked,\u201d Sheehan says, \u201chow much time and money they put into finding the right people in the minor leagues to make people better. When I got drafted, I didn\u2019t realize how lucky I was coming to an organization like this. Obviously, they put a lot of money into the team here, which is awesome, but there are a lot of guys that contribute way more than people realize, guys stepping up when we\u2019ve had injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n Even Jack Dreyer chimed in, praising how the Dodgers helped him develop as a bullpen stalwart:<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things that the Dodgers do better than anybody else,\u201d Dreyer said, \u201cis that as soon as you get into that organization, they\u2019re doing everything they can to develop you to maximize your potential. When I first got to the Dodgers organization, I had a long way to go before I had a chance at anything. I think they saw something that even I didn\u2019t see in myself, but they kept fine-tuning, and tweaking, and revamping different things until I got to this point. Every single guy who\u2019s in the Dodger organization is very lucky with all of the resources the Dodgers provide, so I\u2019m very thankful I signed here.\u201d<\/p>\n For regulars at True Blue LA, Roberts and the other quoted players are merely parroting arguments that have been expertly and diligently proffered in these parts for years.<\/p>\n Is it nice to have the indirect inference that various Dodgers players and staff read True Blue LA? Sure. Are we going to belabor what we have previously argued in a bit of self-congratulatory puffery? A little. Pride counts for something around these parts.<\/p>\n After all, the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants are seemingly hellbent on disproving the notion that spending necessarily equates to winning. The Mets look like an unexpected rebuild that has gone horribly wrong, whereas the Giants have somehow doubled down on a posture of masterly inactivity, resulting in one of the worst records in the league with a gaggle of immovable contracts.<\/p>\n The incompetence is almost impressive in its depth and scope.<\/p>\n The Commissioner\u2019s Changing Tune<\/p>\n Contrast the fire coming out of the Dodgers with Commissioner Rob Manfred\u2019s first public remarks since labor talks started, and one has quite the contrast. Watching the Commissioner act as a sock puppet for the owners is not particularly new or generally interesting. But occasionally the act has unintended consequences for those who have been paying attention.<\/p>\n On June 3<\/a>, the Commissioner held his first press conference since MLBPA and MLB began their labor negotiations. ESPN\u2019s Jorge Castillo reported that once again<\/a>, the Commissioner repeated the talking point that the Dodgers were to blame for the perceived inequity in the sport:<\/p>\n \u201cI think that the Dodgers understand there is a need to update the overall economic model in the industry and that the upside associated with that, in terms of growing the industry, growing the popularity of the sport, is big for large markets, small markets, owners and players in every way,\u201d Manfred said. \u201cThat upside is bigger than any issue that separates us in the bargaining table.\u201d<\/p>\n