The Los Angeles Dodgers are close to locking up an instrumental figure in their 2024 World Series championship who’s eligible for free agency at the end of the season.
Manager Dave Roberts told reporters Friday in Phoenix that he and the Dodgers are “at the one-yard line” negotiating a deal that will keep Roberts in Los Angeles beyond the 2025 season.
“Things are looking good,” Roberts told reporters, including Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times. “I’m optimistic. This is where I want to be, so I’m excited that things are getting done.”
According to Harris, Roberts and the Dodgers were believed to have been discussing a four-year contract structure earlier this spring.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that the deal is expected to be done by Wednesday when the team travels to Japan for their season-opening Tokyo Series against the Chicago Cubs.
Once completed, the deal is expected to make Robert the highest-paid manager in Major League Baseball. Cubs manager Craig Counsell is the current record-holder, at five years and $40 million.
Coincidentally, Roberts and Counsell will be in opposite dugouts when the 2025 regular season begins on March 18 in Tokyo.
Roberts secured his legacy after winning his second World Series in four years, when the Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees in a five-game series last October. They have since revamped their roster, investing nearly half a billion dollars this winter in hopes of becoming baseball’s first repeat champions in 25 years.
Extending their manager before his contract expires is the last bit of business for a Dodgers front office that earlier signed free agents Roki Sasaki, Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates, Teoscar Hernández, Kiké Hernández, Michael Conforto and Clayton Kershaw since the 2024 season ended.
Roberts’ .627 regular season winning percentage is not only the highest among active managers, but it’s also the best in American or National League history. Although his postseason resumé was a frequent target for critics, the Dodgers have now won two championships in Roberts’ 10 seasons as manager.
Roberts, 52, is 851-506 in the regular season in his career since the Dodgers hired him prior to the 2016 season. He has won eight National League West titles in his nine-year career in Los Angeles.
