Dodgers postgame: Shohei Ohtani playing outfield? Dave Roberts leaves possibility open to pitch more

Dodgers postgame: Shohei Ohtani playing outfield? Dave Roberts leaves possibility open to pitch more

[Music] Dave, coming into this one, you talked a lot about just how this was going to be a good test for Chevro, and he of course was excellent, but how has this series proven just to be more of a test for the bullpen and some of their struggles and what they’re kind of going through right now with this very talented team? Um, yeah. Uh, they clearly, you know, they’re lacking confidence. Um, I think that it’s uh, you know, it’s kind of they all want to pitch well. They all want the opportunities and, um, you know, they’re just kind of, uh, they’re not making good pitches when they need to and a little careful uh, at times. And, um, so I think for me, I believe in the talent. Um but right now they’re just kind of uh you know just don’t have the confidence that uh they need to have um to to be consistent. And so when you’re facing a team like this that’s you know won a division that’s going to grind at bats um you’ve got to continue to make good pitches and um when you don’t they’re going to capitalize. Has just the I guess the long game experience of some of these inconsistencies just made that a little bit challenging for the group with their confidence and do you think it’s something that considering what now 12 games up in the regular season they can find a way to kind of turn things around as a group? Yeah, I I I absolutely think they can. Um there’s a lot of guys that have experience. Um there’s some guys that have had nice years that are young players. Um so I do believe that there’s time. Um, I I think for me it’s trying to, you know, get these guys to understand that what’s done in the past, uh, has to be behind them and they’ve got to have a short memory. And I think that’s the thing that they’re having a hard time, you know, getting past the short memory of today’s a new day, it’s a new opportunity, and go out there and and, you know, impose your will. um be aggressive and not be afraid to fail. And and I think that that’s where we got to get the guys to. Um I I think as as a unit um and so, you know, there’s no roles. It’s just kind of when the phone rings and that’s their mantra, be ready to pitch. And so that hasn’t changed. And so when when they get the opportunity, just feel good about it and and go out there and compete. What was the conversation with show by the dugout railing there in the fifth and how did you make the decision? Well, he wasn’t going to go back out. Um, we haven’t um we haven’t we’ve been very steadfast in every situation as far as inning for his usage from one inning to two innings to three to four to five. We haven’t deviated from that. Um, so I was trying to get his pulse on for going forward where he’s at continuing to go to the six inning. And he says, “You’re okay.” And so that was that was good. Um, but I’m not going to have a, you know, plan for five innings and then he pitches well and say, “Hey, now you’re going to go six innings.” And then, you know, he’s too important. And if something does happen, then that’s on me for changing. And we haven’t done that all year. So I’m not going to do that right now. So yeah, I would have loved to have had him go out there, but if the conversation was if he’s efficient, he can go to the sixth inning, that’s a different conversation, but it was a hard five innings. And that’s just the way it goes. And guys do their jobs just to make sure the the conversation was not so much about gathering for that start, for the future for the future. Yeah, that’s what I my decision was already going to be done. So, I’m trying to get a gauge on him going out there and he’s open to whatever. But, if I don’t have that conversation, this is a different um situation. It’s been different this whole year. And so, he’s two players in one. And for me to try to do something and deviate and if something happens, then we lose two players. And so, if the conversation isn’t had, I’m not going to do it. We haven’t done it all year. So, I’m not going to do it um tonight. Does a night like this when you start to look ahead to October kind of raise you know you guys figure out how far you want to push them then kind of yeah I mean if there’s conversations that of the powers that be at and show included if everyone’s in the conversation saying hey we’ll push him that’s a different conversation um but you know what I knew going in is that he was going to be 5 minutes so that’s where it stops how much you know right so today was basically that’s like a health decision right it’s not so much of a baseball decision now. Well, his his thing is going to be a health decision the whole way until we get to next year as is. I mean, well, it’s actually going to be a health decision going forward. But, you know, say it’s October now that you guys have conversations about can you go six, right? It puts the health maybe a little bit more at risk. There is some risk involved there. How much is his say going to factor into whatever you guys kind of like ultimately decide doing there? it it would definitely um you know certainly has weight um but I think that that’s something that is is good for all of us to talk about beforehand and then evaluate stress of innings and you know up downs he did a three plus 10 days ago and then now to say that he’s just going to go six innings like that those are things that plus the conversation wasn’t had so um yeah as you get to the postseason then you know it’s a different conversation for sure obviously you’ve been a player, right? You understand kind of window, right, about windows and stuff, they it can close pretty quickly on you know, I mean, if he’s kind of adamant about, you know, what I I want to take this shot now. Um, again, right, I mean, knowing kind of like where the player’s kind of mindset is, like how I guess sympathetic would be to I would be I would be sympathetic when you get into the when you’re in the postseason, I would be more sympathetic. Um, but you also have to understand that the player is always going to feel that they can do it. Um, and this again, this is his first year off Tommy John. We’ve been very diligent in how we managed him. And I think because of that, we’re in a very good spot today. And so, you can look back at all of his outings and said, could I have pushed him in without the conversation? Maybe. But, you know, we we’re in this spot today because I think we’ve been very diligent. So, the conversation is had to go deeper in October for him. Isn’t there also the caveat that he hasn’t done that in the regular season yet? He can win that. Yeah, but it’s talking you’re talking about six innings. That’s I want to get the gauge. You’re not talking about seven or eight innings. You’re talking about six innings potentially. So, if you hadn’t done it, then you’d still be okay with Yeah. Cuz I think that, you know, we’ve done the five and, you know, I think Yeah. with the bullpen. How difficult has it been? Especially as you’ve kind of leaned on guys who’ve been better recently just to see them start to struggle a bit like Justin Spite Jack last night. Like how much has that kind of added to the difficulty in trying to manage that group? Yeah, I mean the the the the group is is sort of going through it right now and they’ve got to kind of find a way to remain confident and like I said just kind of let go of, you know, the recent baggage cuz at times each one of these guys has been fantastic and so I know that the moment is not getting too big for them and they’ve got to just kind of focus and make pitches and that’s just kind of what it boils down to. And then you got to get some confidence and and keep going. But right now, you see it, you know, um, you know, Blake had five pitches and two outs and then he gives up, uh, you know, a double and then, you know, he goes three and 0 and a contact guy and then he got the nine hitter up. So, I figured I’d take a chance with the nine hitter and, you know, he makes a bad pitch to him. So, it’s like, you know, he’s still like trying it, you know, but I think that he’s still got to go out there and impose his will and make good pitches. David, did today given the both the opponent and the performance kind of teach you anything about the viability of the time as a pitcher playoffs? I’m not talking about length here. I’m just talking about his effectiveness. Yeah, it did. It did. And I I had a really good feeling, I think we all did, that he was going to pitch well tonight. And I thought uh he and Ben did a great job together. I thought the fast ball command glove side was fantastic. Um the sweeper was great. You know, they were obviously not getting many good swings off of me. He was he was dominant. He was dominant. I’m sorry. Going back to the thing real quick. When you guys have these discussions, I assume it’s you like Andrew, front office people, uh the Asian now Dr. Alatra, I assume, right? He’s like the actual like medical guy there. This is this is a you know, it’s a plan that we’ve all talked about and laid out. Does this really kind of go beyond the do I mean if the doctor says five is it? I mean, is isn’t that kind of the end of the conversation or is there any kind of wiggle room? Absolutely. I mean, but I think when you get to the playoffs, I think that, you know, again, this is a this is a conversation that we’ve all had and we’ve done it um all year. So, it’s you know, I I’m not going to I’m not going to go against what we what we did. I mean, that’s just kind of what we talked about. So have told us that uh there’s a possibility he could play the outfield in the postseason. What about his view about you know he’s a great teammate. He wants to help us win the championship. So I’m all about it. So I don’t know if it’s going to happen. He hasn’t played the outfield but I appreciate the fact that he’s open to whatever we need. So I don’t know how that looks. So I don’t He has taken a fly ball all year. Would that theoretically be a way to like keep him in as a relief option? Yeah, that that is a way. That is a way. But again, um I don’t think anything should be off the table. But um yeah, we got to we’ll see. We’ll see. But that’s great that he said that. Thanks, guys.

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained removing Shohei Ohtani after five no-hit innings, the discussions needed in order to potentially pitch more in the playoffs and if playing the outfield is going to be an option.
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