Manager Dave Roberts, Andrew Friedman to return to Dodgers

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman will be back next season.

Roberts led the team to its seventh straight NL West title and a franchise-record 106 wins — second-most in the majors — but he's been criticized for his pitching decisions in losing Game 5 of the NL Division Series to Washington. His in-game tactics during the team's losses in the 2017 and '18 World Series drew some disapproval, too.

Friedman said Monday he was surprised by speculation about Roberts' status. The manager signed a contract extension through the 2022 season last November.

"When the season ends as abruptly as it did, and it's one of the more painful losses that I can remember, the whole thing is focusing on how we get to winning those 11 games in October," Friedman said. "In our mind Dave is absolutely a part of that."

Friedman said he expects his own extension to be finalized in the next few days. His $35 million, five-year deal expires at the end of this month.

Friedman defended Roberts' performance in his four years with the team, including NL pennants in 2017 and '18.

"By and large, the body of work is really strong," he said. "By and large, the reason why things are done are really sound and something that I feel like our (staff) guys have a really good feel and pulse on."

In other matters:

— Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, 65, will transition to a special assistant role next season, which would be his 15th with the Dodgers.

— Kenley Jansen, coming off the worst season of his career, likely will continue as the team's closer next year. "There were decent chunks of time this year when everything synced up and his stuff was objectively better, and other times he struggled more," Friedman said. "I think...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Manager-Dave-Roberts-Andrew-Friedman-to-return-14521333.php