Dave Roberts Told to Learn From Yankees Skipper After Publicly Throwing Dodgers Veteran Under the Bus

After sweeping the Padres, the Dodgers were pretty confident. But that feeling vanished after a walk-off  4-3 loss to the Rockies, one of the worst-performing teams in baseball right now with a 36-89 record. The team was quite frustrated as they lost their 9-game lead after a recent sweep against the Angels. So, after this recent loss, veteran outfielder Teoscar Hernández‘s defensive blunder caught all the attention.

At the bottom of the third inning, he hesitated to dive over Brenton Doyle’s fly ball, and he then threw to third base instead of second. This decision allowed Colorado to get two runners in scoring position and helped the Rockies to tie the game. Then again, in the bottom of the ninth, a misplay by Hernández cost the Dodgers the game when he failed to catch a shallow ball of Ezequiel Tovar at right. Just after that, a walk-off hit from Warming Bernabel was the final nail in the coffin.

After that, Dave Roberts shared his thoughts on that: “He’s got to get better out there.” He also added, “There’s just no way to put it. I know there’s effort — it’s not a lack of effort. But the thing is, we’ve just got to get better. We do. I don’t know what else to say.” Robert’s words were tough and sharp this time. These comments from the manager set the stage for an intense debate.

The hosts of the Talkin’ Baseball podcast felt Roberts made a serious mistake, as one host commented, “If you watch the rest of his clip, I think he realized like, ‘Oh, I shouldn’t have said that.’ Cuz he kind of like stuttered and then tried to say ‘we have to get better, we have to do that,’ which is what you’re supposed to say.” They pointed, “Go find me a season where Teoscar Hernández has been like a plus defender…that’s not his calling card and you know that.”

Chris Rose, a co-host of the podcast, drew a comparison with the approach of Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone. “Let’s remember, within the last three weeks, we have had the discussion about whether or not Aaron Boone has been too soft on Anthony Volpe,” Rose said. “He will never criticize him publicly…So the fact that he took out a veteran publicly…that is a veteran-laden clubhouse. That is a championship clubhouse. You have to imagine that players heard it and they’re like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, skip. Come on, now.'”

The Podcaster has its points, as we know that in the recent season, Volpe notably struggled with defenses, with around 13 errors. And manager Boone always shields his young shortstop, saying, “We’re talking about a few extra errors. That’s the separator when he wins a Gold Glove and when he’s not.” He even said, “He’s still a top shortstop,” at one point, after so many mistakes, and was brutally criticized for that.

And Hernandez was never a plus defender after all, with -43 OAA in his 10-year career.  This season alone has seen -9 OAA, and he ranked 209th in MLB. And it’s alarming for a right fielder of a championship-caliber team. Then what now?

A defensive dilemma: The numbers don’t lie

There are reports that after such defensive mistakes, shortstop Mookie Betts had a closed-door meeting with manager Dave Roberts and Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. Betts, who has a +1 OAA and ranked 61st, can take the position of Hernandez in the coming days. Betts already did something like that last year when he became a full-time shortstop after Gavin Lux’s struggles last year.

Despite that Dodgers still need Teo’s bat, which smashed 20 homers and 74 RBI in the current season. As the manager has said, “He’s going to be in the lineup. When you have a plus-game (a comfortable lead), I think I’m doing a good job of trying to get him…..”

The Dodgers need to find a way to balance Hernández’s powerful bat with his glove, where they already lost a 9-game lead in the division in a tight playoff race. Or their championship dreams could slip away.