At some point – hopefully soon – Dave Roberts’ work-life balance will tilt back to being the manager of the Dodgers. In the meantime, though, he has tried to make the most of the free time created by Major League Baseball’s lockout.

“I did finally say ‘Screw it. I’m going to enjoy my life’ instead of going into a hole and punching a clock and doing my job and that’s it. I’m going to enjoy my life and get out there,” Roberts said Thursday.

“I always talk to people about being present. Shoot – I’d better practice what I preach. So that’s what I’ve been doing.”

To that end, he has done some traveling and played some golf. He attended both the NFC championship game and the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium. He has watched his son, Cole, play baseball for Loyola Marymount four times and with plans to watch LMU go against Creighton – “that’s north of what my expectation was going into this season so that’s a silver lining.” And he has celebrated his daughter’s acceptance to Stanford. (Emme is currently a high school senior.)

More recently, Roberts has been in talks regarding a contract extension with the Dodgers. Roberts is currently in the final year of a four-year contract extension agreed to in December 2018 that paid him $6.5 million last season.

“We’ve begun talks. We’re talking as we speak,” he said. “I just hope that we can come to an agreement.”

Roberts is planning to head to Arizona next week for the opening of minor-league camps (players not on 40-man major-league rosters are not affected by the lockout). Roberts won’t get involved in workouts but just wants to “see what’s what – put some eyes on these guys from afar.”

In the meantime, he sketches out potential lineups “in pencil,” knowing that things could change very quickly whenever the lockout ends. The rush to prepare for a season is likely to be intense, the usually languid days of spring lopped off by the labor fight.

“I just don’t see how we can get ready for a major-league season in under three weeks, number one,” Roberts said of the prospect of hitting the ground running. “Now you’re trying to look at all these players that don’t have jobs right now and to sign guys (free agents) to fill out rosters and … for trades to go through, to assimilate with a new ballclub – all this stuff takes time. And obviously, when you trade for a pitcher, that’s going to take time to build them up because you want to put eyes on them. When are they going to be able to pitch valuable innings for you once the season does start? These are questions that are going to have to be answered at some point.”

The lockout has also left Roberts blind to how his players are doing this winter. That is particularly troublesome with injured players like first baseman Max Muncy (who tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow on the last day of the regular season), free agent pitcher Clayton Kershaw and Tommy John rehabbing pitcher Dustin May.

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“Unfortunately I haven’t been able to do that,” Roberts said of not being able to reach out to with any players. “Which has been – disappointing, I guess is the kind word. I haven’t seen any of those guys. I miss them.”

Roberts might be understating the case when he refers to himself as an “eternal optimist.” But he acknowledges the apparent lack of progress in the talks between owners and players and the increasing likelihood of a regular season impacted by the impasse has made it difficult even for him to maintain that stance.

“I want to get back to baseball,” he said. “That’s the thing – I understand all the stuff that’s going on and you do too. The business. I don’t know and you don’t know all that goes into it and it’s not our money that they’re talking about. But the fundamental part of our interest in this is our love for the game. I just want to get back to the love of the game and what’s in the best interests of this game. That’s what I think people are losing sight of – on both sides. I really feel that.

“I want to watch bullpens. I want to get out on the field and watch guys work. I want normalcy.”