Dodgers camp is boring –– in a good way

PHOENIX — In the hypothetical scenario presented to him, Dave Roberts wasn’t the manager of the Dodgers. 

He was a reporter assigned to cover the team, and he had an itch to stir things up.

What would he write about?

“It’d be hard to stir things up in this camp,” Roberts said.

Didn’t Roberts want to inject some excitement into spring training by, say, suggesting that Roki Sasaki could be demoted to the minor leagues?

Roberts cracked up.

“That ain’t going to happen,” he said.

Welcome to the Most Boring Spring Training Camp in the major leagues. 

There are no controversies, no serious concerns. The lineup is basically set. There is only one starting position up for grabs, and that’s to be the left-handed-hitting half of a platoon at second base until Tommy Edman recovers from ankle surgery.

The Dodgers are built to withstand the loss of any player in the regular season, which explains why Roberts is nonchalant when speaking about how Blake Snell is still just playing catch.

The team is slow-playing Snell this spring, knowing it has a rotation that also includes three other Cy Young-caliber starters: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow. They have enough starting pitching depth in the likes of Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan, Gavin Stone, Justin Wrobleski and River Ryan to reach the postseason. The real season starts in October, and all the Dodgers care about is that Snell is healthy by then.

Mookie Betts? He’s also being slow-played so that he can recover from a grueling World Series run. He won’t appear in his first Cactus League game until Sunday or perhaps early next week, but so what? The Dodgers have the luxury of playing the long game.

There are some questions about the degree to which Betts, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez can fight off the effects of age. But any of them returning to peak form feels more like a luxury than a necessity in the wake of the addition of 29-year-old All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker.

The other high-profile acquisition, closer Edwin Diaz, has introduced a feeling of stability to what was the team’s greatest weakness last year, the bullpen. The group looks as if it would be a strength, as Diaz’s presence in the ninth inning will allow Roberts to deploy the other relievers in favorable situations.

Speaking of Roberts, the once-polarizing manager is now a three-time World Series champion who is in the first season of a four-year extension he signed last year. Roberts is enjoying whatever the opposite of the hot seat is.

The Dodgers are stable, and they’re really good. 

About the only developing story is about Sasaki, the second-year fireballer from Japan. Regardless of what he does, Sasaki won’t elevate or sink the Dodgers. His ongoing saga is fascinating because he’s a generational talent, not because of how he will affect the team in the short term.

The Dodgers have a $400 million payroll, and that has bought them enormous margins for error. Another way to look at their situation is that a lot has to go wrong for them to not win the National League West.

“I like it in the sense that it’s peaceful, but it’s very intentional,” Roberts said. “I think if you watch our guys work through the day, it’s very thoughtful and intense and yet very fun. I think that’s sustainable.”

The Dodgers had to move up and shorten spring training in each of the last two years because of season-opening trips to Japan and South Korea. Yamamoto, Diaz, Will Smith and Hyeseong Kim will depart soon to join their respective national teams for the World Baseball Classic. Ohtani has already left.

Ohtani’s exit dramatically reduced the number of reporters in camp, as many of the Japanese journalists who were here followed the two-way player to Japan. Then again, it’s not as if any players are looking for extra space to horse around.

“Guys are focused on getting ready,” Roberts said. “Guys are smart. They don’t want distractions. We don’t need them.”

As for stirring anything up, Roberts said, “Good luck with that.”