Source: Dodgers, Roberts agree on 4-year deal
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Alden Gonzalez
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Dave Roberts and the Los Angeles Dodgers are in agreement on a four-year extension that will set a record for average annual value on a manager’s contract, a source told ESPN on Monday.
The new deal, which runs from 2026 to 2029, will pay Roberts $32.4 million, carrying an $8.1 million average annual value that will narrowly edge out the yearly rate on Craig Counsell’s five-year, $40 million contract with the Chicago Cubs. Roberts, 52, will manage the 2025 season under his current contract, which was entering its final year.
A new deal was considered a foregone conclusion after the Dodgers secured their second championship in five years last fall. Serious negotiations began sometime around February; significant progress was made last week; and an announcement could come before the Dodgers fly to Japan to begin their season March 18. The 2025 season will mark Roberts’ 10th with the Dodgers.
“I can’t talk so much about it, but I do think that there’s finally some closure,” Roberts said after Monday’s Cactus League game. “I’m excited. Obviously this is the place I want to be. I’m sure I’ll go into it more. Hopefully there’s an announcement coming soon; I’m waiting. But this is the place I’ve always wanted to be. I just love what we’re doing.”
A cult hero in Boston for the stolen base that helped trigger an unprecedented comeback in the 2004 American League Championship Series, Roberts carved out a 10-year career as a major league outfielder, then spent five years on the San Diego Padres‘ coaching staff. The Dodgers hired Roberts to replace Don Mattingly in November 2015, making him the franchise’s first minority manager.
Since then, Roberts has guided the Dodgers to four National League pennants, eight division titles and a .627 regular-season winning percentage, the highest for someone who has managed at least 250 games. From 2016 to 2024, the Dodgers won 907 regular-season and postseason games. Only the Houston Astros (862) and the New York Yankees (807) even surpassed 800.
The Dodgers won at least 100 regular-season games in five of six full seasons from 2017 to 2023 and finished the 60-game 2020 campaign with a .717 winning percentage. The only year the Dodgers have not won the NL West under Roberts, in 2021, they finished with 106 victories — fewer by one than a San Francisco Giants team they later eliminated in the playoffs. And yet Roberts has only one Manager of the Year Award to his name, a sign of the harsh realities of his job.
For years, the Dodgers’ triumphs have been widely credited to an ownership group with deep pockets and a baseball operations department that is among the most astute in the industry. Roberts, meanwhile, had been left to shoulder the blame for repeated postseason disappointments. That was never more true than in 2019, when another 106-win Dodgers team lost in the NL Division Series to the Washington Nationals after Roberts rode Clayton Kershaw a little too long in a decisive Game 5.
But Roberts went on to manage the Dodgers through an unorthodox 2020 postseason that was staged in a bubble and did not include any days off within series, claiming the franchise’s first title in 32 years and buying himself more time. More October disappointment followed thereafter. The Dodgers were outlasted by the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS in 2021, then were defeated by inferior division rivals in the NLDS in 2022 and 2023, first the Padres and then the Arizona Diamondbacks.
A similar fate seemed to await the Dodgers in 2024. They found themselves a game away from elimination by the Padres in the NLDS, having to win in San Diego to keep their season afloat. A third consecutive early exit, immediately following a first-round bye, would have probably cost Roberts his job. But he managed through a bullpen game in Game 4, then rode more dominant pitching in Game 5 to advance. The Dodgers then breezed past the New York Mets and Yankees to secure their first full-season championship since 1988.
The 2024 season ultimately highlighted Roberts’ best traits. His even-keel demeanor helped the team navigate the betting scandal surrounding Shohei Ohtani‘s then-interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, early in the year. His trademark positivity kept the team’s spirits high when injuries plagued star players such as Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow throughout the summer. And in the fall, while dealing with an extremely compromised starting rotation, Roberts seemed to press all the right buttons.
He navigated through bullpen games on four occasions, most notably to save the season against the Padres and to win the pennant against the Mets. And in Game 5 of the World Series, when starting pitcher Jack Flaherty didn’t pitch past the second inning, Roberts rode a beleaguered group of relief pitchers while the Dodgers made a spirited comeback and entrusted another starter, Walker Buehler, to record the final three outs.
With the win, Roberts put himself alongside Walter Alston and Tommy Lasorda as the only Dodgers managers to win multiple rings. It more than likely secured his place in the Hall of Fame. But what he was most proud of was that the trust he had always extended to his players had been reciprocated.
“That’s everything,” Roberts told ESPN shortly after securing the championship. “I believe in them. And this is the first team that I felt really like the trust went both ways. And that regardless of whatever decision I made, they were going to support me 100 percent.”
The New York Post was first to report Roberts’ extension.
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Max Olson
FRISCO, Texas — A dynamic new quarterback, a new offensive system and two projected first-round picks up front have Utah coach Kyle Whittingham feeling enthusiastic about the Utes’ chances of bouncing back from a disastrous debut season in the Big 12.
Utah was voted No. 1 in the Big 12 preseason poll last year after joining from the Pac-12, but a brutal run of injuries and inconsistency resulted in a seven-game conference losing streak and a 5-7 finish — the program’s first losing season since 2013.
After weeks of contemplation about his future and what was best for the program, Whittingham, the third-longest-tenured head coach in FBS, decided in December to return for his 21st season with the Utes.
“The bottom line and the final analysis was I couldn’t step away on that note,” Whittingham told ESPN at Big 12 media days Wednesday. “It was too frustrating, too disappointing. As much as college football has changed with all the other factors that might pull you away, that was the overriding reason: That’s not us, that’s not who we are. It just left a bad taste in my mouth. I did not want to miss the opportunity to try to get that taste out.”
“The bottom line and the final analysis was I couldn’t step away on that note. It was too frustrating, too disappointing. … That’s not us. That’s not who we are. It just left a bad taste in my mouth. I did not want to miss the opportunity to try to get that taste out.”
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham on going 5-7 in 2024
Whittingham and Utes defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley conducted a national search for a new offensive coordinator and quickly zeroed in on New Mexico‘s Jason Beck. Then they managed to land Devon Dampier, Beck’s first-team All-Mountain West quarterback, via the transfer portal.
After finishing 11th nationally in total offense with 3,934 yards and 31 total touchdowns and putting up the fourth-most rushing yards (1,166) among all FBS starters, Dampier followed his coach to Salt Lake City and immediately asserted himself as a difference-maker for a program that had to start four different QBs in 2024.
“He’s a terrific athlete,” Whittingham said. “He’s a guy that, if spring is any indication, he’s an exciting player, and we can’t wait to watch him this season. … He’s got that ‘it’ factor. He’s a leader. Needless to say, very excited to see what he does for us.”
They’ve surrounded Dampier with 21 more newcomers via the transfer portal and will protect him with two returning starters at tackle in Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu, who are projected first-round NFL draft picks by ESPN’s Matt Miller.
“We feel they’re the best tandem in the country,” Whittingham said. “The offensive line in general, I feel, it’s the best since I’ve been there. And that’s quite a statement. We’ve had some really good offensive lines. We’ve got two first-rounders and three seniors inside that have played a lot of good football for us. That better be a strength of ours, and that’s what we’re counting on.”
Whittingham has previously said he did not want to coach past the age of 65. Now that he’s 65, he acknowledges that he might’ve arrived at a different decision about his future had the Utes ended up winning the Big 12 in 2024. He is reenergized about getting them back into contention, but he’s not ready to say whether this season might be his last.
“The best answer I can give you is, right now, I’m excited and passionate about going to work every single day,” Whittingham said. “As soon as that changes, I’ll know it’s time. I’m just counting on knowing when the time is right. I can’t tell you exactly what the circumstances will be other than losing the fire in the belly.”
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Jesse Rogers
The automated ball-strike system is coming to the All-Star Game next week in Atlanta.
MLB officials added the feature to the annual exhibition game knowing it could be a precursor to becoming a permanent part of the major leagues as soon as next year.
The same process used this past spring training will be used for the Midsummer Classic: Each team will be given two challenges with the ability to retain them if successful. Only a pitcher, catcher or hitter can ask for a challenge and it has to happen almost immediately after the pitch. The player will tap his hat or helmet indicating to the umpire he wants to challenge while any help from the dugout or other players on the field is not allowed.
MLB officials say 72% of fans who were polled during spring training said the impact of ABS on their experience at the game was a “positive” one. Sixty-nine percent said they’d like it part of the game moving forward. Just 10% expressed negativity toward it.
MLB’s competition committee will meet later this summer to determine if ABS will be instituted next season after the league tested the robotic system throughout the minor leagues and spring training in recent years. Like almost any rule change, there were mixed reviews from players about using ABS but nearly all parties agree on one point: They prefer a challenge system as opposed to the technology calling every pitch.
As was the case in spring training, once a review is initiated, an animated replay of the pitch will be shown on the scoreboard and the home plate umpire will either uphold the call or overturn it. ABS uses Hawk-Eye system technology which tracks the pitch trajectory and location in relation to the strike zone, providing an instant assessment which can be relayed to the home plate umpire.
The All-Star Game will be played at Truist Park in Atlanta on Tuesday.
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