Ahead of the Dodgers’ first official workout on Tuesday, manager Dave Roberts delivered his annual opening address to the team.
Included during the presentation was asking newcomers Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz why they chose the Dodgers. Well, besides the record-setting contracts both signed.
From Alden González at ESPN:
Their message, Roberts said, centered on the team’s attention to detail, the professionalism with which they play and the way staffers take care of players’ families.
…
“I think one of our most overarching goals is to be a destination spot,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “Most important, where our own guys don’t want to leave. But where players from other teams are looking longingly, like, ‘Oh, I want to be on the Dodgers’ — that’s our goal. Because we feel like if we’re able to maintain our really talented players, we’re able to get really talented players from other teams, that obviously will help in our ultimate quest to win World Series.”
Roberts on Tuesday also was a guest on the ESPN Baseball Tonight podcast with Buster Olney, talking about Tucker and Díaz, among other things.
Christian Zazueta last season won the Branch Rickey Award as the Dodgers minor league pitcher of the year, and figures to open his age-21 season with High-A Great Lakes. The right-hander was listed as one of 10 prospects to watch on the backfields this spring in Arizona by Baseball America.
“Zazueta’s fastball has taken a significant step forward alongside his physical development. The heater now sits around 93 mph and climbed as high as 98 in 2025,” wrote Jesús Cano. “The pitch excels because of his lower release height and excellent extension, allowing it to jump on hitters and generate more impact than the radar gun alone might suggest.”
Old friend alert
Former Dodgers general manager and current Colorado Rockies president of baseball operations talked with Renee Dechert at Purple Row about ‘Moneyball,’ which captured his time with the Oakland A’s under Billy Beane.
The whole interview is worth reading, but I particularly enjoyed this answer from DePodesta on on-base percentage, and how it was portrayed in the book (and movie):
It’s funny. There were a lot of things we were doing at that point that went beyond on-base, but it was in our conversations with Michael is probably the best way to express, at least directionally, what it is that we really were doing. We were trying to find value in the game. And at that point in the game, on-base was something that was probably a little undervalued. Now, in the last 20 years, there have been times where it’s been overvalued, and sort of gone through cycles.
Read the full article here