No matter what else may or may not transpire for the Los Angeles Dodgers during the offseason, their dugout will look drastically different in 2016 than it did last season.
Dave Roberts is now manager, taking over for Don Mattingly, who was the club’s skipper from 2011-15.
With Roberts comes an overhauled coaching staff that features several new names. Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt and Steve Yeager represent the only connections to Mattingly’s group.
And perhaps most notably, the Dodgers won’t have Zack Greinke backing Clayton Kershaw to form a two-headed monster at the top of their rotation.
While Los Angeles placed a priority on re-signing Greinke, they reportedly were not willing to guarantee a sixth year as part of a new contract and he signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Turner said he’ll miss being able to speak with Greinke on the pitcher’s off-days, but added the Dodgers can still succeed despite losing the right-hander, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“Obviously, not only [will I miss] his pitching, but he was one of my favorite teammates to sit and talk to on the bench on days he wasn’t pitching,” said Turner. “Unfortunately, he ended up going somewhere else. At the same time, it’s part of the game and he’s only one player. We’ve seen the last few years that it doesn’t matter how great one guy is, it takes a collective 25 guys to win in the playoffs. Hopefully we can add a lot more balance to our team and be able to sustain a nice long run in the playoffs.”
While Greinke’s tenure with the Dodgers came to an end after three seasons, Turner is entering his third with the club. He underwent microfracture left knee surgery on Oct. 21, but is expected to recover in time for Spring Training.
Turner was one of six Dodgers tendered a contract earlier this month. He hit .294/.370/.491 with 16 home runs, 26 doubles, 60 RBIs, and a .371 wOBA and 141 wRC+ while spending much of last season as the Dodgers’ No. 3 hitter in the lineup.
Moreover, Turner appeared in a career-high 126 games and his presence dissuaded Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman from trading for Todd Frazier, who instead went from the Cincinnati Reds to the Chicago White Sox in a three-team trade Los Angeles was part of.
