Red Sox hero Dave Roberts hired as Los Angeles Dodgers manager
By Sean Penney
Dave Roberts’ postseason heroics helped the Boston Red Sox win a World Series. Now he’ll try to win one as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have a new manager, one who should be familiar to Red Sox fans.
USAToday’s Bob Nightengale reports that the Dodgers have reached an agreement to hire Dave Roberts, with a press conference expected to confirm the decision sometime after the holiday.
Roberts has spent the last two years as the bench coach for the San Diego Padres. He is known to be soft-spoken, yet firm, and is well respected throughout the baseball community.
Welcome back, Dave! Dave Roberts has been named the 10th manager in Los Angeles Dodger history. #Dodgers pic.twitter.com/Ru3Bb58C51
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) November 23, 2015
The 10-year veteran spent time with five different teams before retiring from his playing career in 2008. He spent two and a half seasons with the Dodgers before being traded to the Red Sox mid-way through the 2004 season.
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His time in Boston was brief, but memorable. The clutch stolen base that Roberts swiped in Game 4 of the 2004 American League Championship Series was a key play that ignited the greatest comeback in sports history, when the Red Sox dug themselves out of an 0-3 hole to defeat the New York Yankees. The speedy Roberts was used only as a pinch-runner throughout Boston’s postseason run, but “The Steal” will forever make him a legend in the pantheons of Boston sports history.
Roberts will now manage a team that is the current home of some other former Red Sox hitters, including Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford, both of whom were part of the infamous salary dump of 2012. That trade with the Dodgers freed up enough salary for the Red Sox to make several key roster moves that were partially responsible for the team winning another World Series in 2013.
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The Roberts steal was a significant factor in a playoff run that ended with a Championship in 2004. If the Dodgers are to ever meet the Red Sox in a World Series with Roberts at the helm, Boston will have to hope that Roberts doesn’t steal their chance at another title from them.