Extensions for managers should be completed before spring training and if there is a skipper who should be rewarded with an extension, it is Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Dodgers have been dishing out contracts all offseason combining for just more than $375 million.
This includes significant commitments, such as $182 million for Blake Snell, $72 million for Tanner Scott, $66 million for Teoscar Hernández, $22 million for Blake Treinen, $17 million for Michael Conforto, $12.5 million for Hyeseong Kim, and over $6.5 million for Roki Sasaki.
This doesn’t include Kirby Yates, who has reportedly agreed to a deal but the Dodgers have to clear a spot on the 40-man roster before signing him.
With the roster essentially complete, the Dodgers need to extend Roberts — and Jim Bowden of The Athletic believes that new contract will be record-shattering.
“In my opinion, he needs to be paid more than the $66 million that Hernández got and the $72 million that Scott received,” Bowden wrote. “A 10-year contract in the $80 million range would be appropriate, and if the Dodgers want to defer a big chunk of it, as they’re known to do, that would only help Roberts in his post-managing days.”
As the manager of the Dodgers, Roberts has an impressive 851-506 record, with eight first-place finishes in nine years.
His teams have won 100 or more games in five seasons and secured 90 or more wins in every season except for the shortened 2020 campaign, where the Dodgers went 43-17.
With a regular-season winning percentage of .627, Roberts has led the team to two World Series titles, making him a strong candidate for the Hall of Fame.
Signed through the end of 2025, Roberts is poised for a record-breaking contract extension.
Craig Counsell’s five-year, $40 million deal with the Chicago Cubs set a new standard for managers in 2023, and per Bowden, Roberts’ next contract is expected to surpass it significantly.
