Any professional sports team negativity gets highlighted immediately by media and sports fans. When you are apart of an organization like the Dodgers, those claims get even more heightened thanks to the strong fan base and the pedigree of greatness in Los Angeles.
This becomes one of the reasons fans were calling for Dave Roberts head after what looked to be a dream season ended in a heartbreak to the NL West rivals San Diego Padres. Roberts was called out for not making the proper adjustments despite the talent all over the team and fans were waiting to hear the news of Roberts getting fired.
Of course, this was far from the case with the Dodgers front office. It got so bad that Dodgers CEO Stan Kasten had enough with the circulating news from fans (via Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times).
“Everyone who is a sports fans think they could a) run a bar and b) be a manager, and it’s just not true,” he said. “It’s hard, man, it is hard. Every time they don’t win, they think of something we could have done better, and they may be right at various times … [but] we’re talking about the [manager] that maybe right now has the greatest lifetime record ever?”
Kasten was not afraid to double down on his claims to protect his manager.
“By the way, this is a much harder job than Xs and O’s. … There’s so much more to it, and Dave manages all of those things as well as anyone you’ve ever seen,” Kasten said.
Kasten has a point after all, the game of baseball isn't easy to control and at the end of the day Roberts can't control his team scoring points with runners in scoring position. Luckily for the fans, the tough job is for the people of the organization and they get to enjoy being on the sidelines with their opinions.
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