Dodgers News: Mattingly Says Contributions From Entire Roster Needed
When president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi took over in the Los Angeles Dodgers front office during the offseason, a point of emphasis appeared to be ridding the clubhouse of less-than-stellar attitudes and installing more veteran leadership with the likes of Howie Kendrick and Jimmy Rollins.
They duo also focused on adding depth not only to the 25-man roster, but also throughout the farm system. The luxury of having depth made for some tough decisions when it came time for the Dodgers to set the active roster for Opening Day.
The Dodgers have already needed to rely on the improved length of their roster and manager Don Mattingly recently acknowledged it will be the case for the entirety of the season. “When you talk about your roster — how many guys you need pitching-wise, bench-wise — we’re going to need contributions from all over,” he said.
Some of that depth was on display Monday night when the Dodgers used five pitchers and three pinch hitters to beat the Seattle Mariners, 6-5 in extra innings. Mattingly liked what he saw out of his bench Monday night, and said he would be looking for more of those contributions.
“We want to be a team that’s more fight and scratch, each guy passing the baton. We saw that tonight.”
David Huff was called on for a spot-start in Tuesday’s game, though struggled through four innings. One night after Alex Guerrero hit a walk-off single in the 10th inning, he came off the bench and hit a two-run home run.
As the Dodgers learned last season, just when you think there’s enough healthy players, you’re given a reality check. While the situation doesn’t appear to be serious, Yasiel Puig is the latest ailing Dodger, as he sat out Tuesday with a tight hamstring.
Dodgers Utility Man Justin Turner
