In day two of the Winter Meetings in Orlando, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts sat down with the media to discuss several topics, one of which concerned the approach to free agency.
After coming off another World Series victory, Roberts and the front office are feeling confident in the pieces the club possesses.
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“You know, I think I was actually just talking to Andrew [Friedman] and Gomer recently,” Roberts said. “And we’re very confident with where the roster is at right now on the pitching side, the positional player side.”
“Obviously, there’s opportunities and potential opportunities to upgrade the roster and we’re always kind of looking to do that but there’s really no big splash we feel needs to be made because this team is still focused and you know there’s some talk about a three -peat so this is a focused team.”
Reports have circulated about the Dodgers’ need to bolster the bullpen, especially with late-inning relievers. The front office attempted to address that by adding Tanner Scott last season, but the signing has not worked out as expected up to this point, which Roberts acknowledged.
“I think if you’re talking about you know you know a place of where we could improve. I still feel that, you know, last year was an outlier year for Tanner Scott, not to say that he needs to be a dedicated closer, but I feel that he’s going to be much improved next year.”
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“There are some things physically that he was dealing with, some that were talked about, some that weren’t. But yeah, I think that getting a high leverage reliever is never a bad thing.”
Los Angeles signed Scott to a four-year, $72 million deal. Despite logging a career-high 23 saves, he also gave up 30 earned runs and a career-high 10 blown saves. Scott did not pitch for the Dodgers in the postseason.
In Roberts’ view, Scott was dealing with adversity he did not disclose, and he still believes in what the 31-year-old can provide.
“I just think that there were just some things that he kept under wraps about his body,” Roberts said. “And I think that the transition to LA and he just kind of thinks just anything that could go wrong went wrong. I just feel he’s just; he works his tail off. He’s too talented. And his track record was nothing like last year.”
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“So, I just think it was an outlier of a season. There was some stuff that he just, honestly, something he never felt right all year. And there were moments where It looked right, he felt okay, but he just never felt comfortable. But he’s never gonna use that as an excuse though. And to have a regular offseason to kind of prepare for ‘26, he’s gonna be on a mission next year.”
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