Dodgers notes: Dave Roberts, Charley Steiner, Todd Boehly

MLB’s lockout and work stoppage has meant Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has more time to watch his son Cole, a junior shortstop and second baseman for Loyola Marymount.

Jack Harris at the Los Angeles Times profiled both after watching an LMU game with Roberts, who said:

“Something for me I’ve tried to focus on, and I’ve mentioned it at different times, is just being present in whatever we’re doing. When I’m managing the Dodgers, that’s where I need to be present. But right now, I’m in a situation where I can’t do my job. So the best way to put one foot in front of the other is to be present and watch my son’s ballgames.”

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Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly, who also has ownership stakes in the Lakers and Sparks in Los Angeles, is reportedly part of a group interested in purchasing Chelsea in the Premier League, per James Olley at ESPN FC.

Charley Steiner was part of the 2022 class inducted into the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame on Friday.

A key rift between players and owners is the competitive balance tax. Per Evan Drellich at The Athletic, owners of the Angels, Diamondbacks, Reds, and Tigers opposed that the league’s latest offer would even raise the CBT threshold to $220 million, up only $10 million (4.8 percent) over 2021.

Dan Szymborski at FanGraphs used ZiPS to figure out the change in championship odds if the postseason expands from 10 to 12 teams. Among his conclusions, “I originally expected. Division winners take a hit, but a team like the Dodgers, with a high projected chance of sitting out the Wild Card round, sees the least damage.”

Many MLB executives would like to do away with the Rule 5 Draft this year, per Ken Rosenthal and Jayson Stark at The Athletic. Kiley McDaniel at ESPN provides some more context, noting the lockout “could have far-reaching implications on the trade and free-agent markets, potentially slowing them because teams have clamped down on scouting of minor leaguers currently in spring training camps due to uncertainty over the Rule 5 draft.”

With major league spring training already delayed and the first week of regular season games canceled, this will be a third straight year that many minor leaguers won’t have a normal season, especially (this year) those on 40-man rosters. Jarrett Seidler at Baseball Prospectus breaks it down: “Their lost 2020 season was an urgent matter of public health. This debacle is entirely a choice foisted upon them by ownership.”

The start of spring training games has been delayed four different times — from the original February 26 start date, that soon morphed into March 5, then March 8, and along with the delay of the regular season came pushing spring games back to no sooner than March 12. On Friday, MLB pushed back the earliest possible start date to March 18. As one might expect, the Cactus League, which oversees 10 ballparks used by 15 MLB teams in and around Phoenix, is frustrated: