On October 14th, 2014, the Dodgers announced the hiring of Andrew Friedman. Former Tampa Bay GM and Vice President of baseball operations as President of baseball operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers. His contract was for 5 years and 35 million dollars. Friedman was born in Houston Texas and attended Tulane University on a baseball scholarship.
His college career was derailed by a couple of injuries. He earned a B.A. in management from Tulane’s Freeman’s School of Business in 1999. He then went to work for Bear Stearns as an analyst until 2002. He then went to work for MidMark Capital, a private equity firm from 2002 to 2004. Friedman had met Stuart Stenberg who was the new owner of the TB Rays. They decided they had similar ideas and in 2004, Friedman went to work for the Rays as director of baseball development. He was in that job for a little over a year and then promoted to executive Vice President of baseball operations and General Manager after the 2005 season succeeding Chuck LaMar who was fired after 8 losing seasons, which was the entire existence of the team at that point.
Friedman was 28. He gradually rebuilt the team and in 2008 the team made the playoffs for the first time and got to the World Series. He was named executive of the year.
The Rays made the playoffs in 2010, 2011 and 2013. Some of the players they drafted and signed were traded for prospects when they got to the point, they were going to be making BIG BUCKS.
I myself at the time thought Ned Colletti was doing a pretty good job. Except for a couple of disastrous free agent signings, Andruw Jones, Jason Schmidt, he had done a decent job acquiring talent for a really bad owner. He brought a lot of excitement to LA with the trades that brought Manny Ramirez, and Hanley Ramirez to the Dodgers. The farm system was beginning to produce some players with a lot of potential again after a long slumber.
He always tried to improve the club anyway he could. They were like many Dodger teams getting to the playoffs, but no closer. An untimely injury to Hanley Ramirez in 2013 derailed one of Colletti’s better clubs, and the injury to Matt Kemp in 2012 that put him out for an extended period of time, and also impacted his 2013 season did not help.
He made “The Trade” when new ownership wanted to bring in some star power in the form of Adrian Gonzalez, and although saddled with Crawford’s bad contract and an injured Josh Beckett, Nick Punto became a fan favorite, and Crawford, when healthy was productive. Beckett even managed to toss a no hitter in 2014.
But back to AF as I shall call him since spelling his name every time is a chore. AF did not take much time to start building the front office in his own image. He hired Josh Byrnes, and then Farhan Zaidi to be the GM. Giving the Dodgers 4 men in the FO with GM experience including Stan Kasten the president. Zaidi had been an assistant GM in SF.
AF spent little time before he began to retool the roster also. On Nov 3rd he made his first player move grabbing Ryan Jackson off waivers from the Padres. Through his first year on the job, this would be a continual thing with him. Grabbing the flotsam of other teams off the waiver wire strictly it seemed to me as roster fodder.
His first trade came on the 17th of November, Kyle Jensen from the Marlins for a minor leaguer. On the 20th, he made the first trade where he actually got some MLB ready talent back. Bill Harris and Jose Dominguez, who many Dodgers fans thought was going to be a superstar reliever to the Rays for Joel Peralta and Adam Liberatore. He also picked up Mike Bolsinger from the D-Backs the same day.
He let Ramirez, Chad Billingsly and numerous less known players walk away as free agents. He traded for Juan Nicasio, signed Brandon McCarthy in December. On the 11th he traded popular 2nd baseman Dee Gordon, Dan Haren and Miguel Rojas to the Marlins for Kike’, Austin Barnes, Chris Hatcher and Andrew Heaney. He immediately turned Heaney to the Angels for Howie Kendrick.
On the 19th he made another huge trade sending another popular fan favorite Matt Kemp and Fed-Ex to the Padres for Yasmani Grandal, Zach Eflin and Joe Weiland. Elfin was then spun to the Phillies for Jimmy Rollins. On the 31st, he signed Brett Anderson to a 1 year free agent deal. I like most Dodger fans was stunned by all this activity as we were not used to seeing so much turnover of a Dodger roster. Rarely had they made 1 major trade at the winter meetings. 2 was unheard of.
By the time spring training rolled around, AF had signed a bunch more roster fodder type players. And there was rarely a month between January and April when there were not at least 10 roster moves. This continued through most of the regular season. He made a trade on July 30, a 3 team blockbuster involving the Marlins and Braves. LA got 7 players in the deal and sent only Paco Rodriguez off of the MLB roster to Atlanta, but they unloaded what would be one of AF’s worst free agents, who by the way had been with the organization for all of 2 months, Hector Olivera, and some minor leaguers. They then sent Michael Morse, one of the players from Miami to the Pirates for outfielder Jose Tabata. In August he acquired Chase Utley, who would change the game on a slide in the playoffs against the Mets.
So it went. They won the division for the 3rd season in a row. They faced the Mets in the NLDS. With their 2 aces in a 5 game series it was hoped they would advance to the NLCS and maybe further. The games were tight except game 3 where the Mets climbed all over Anderson in New York. Kershaw, who lost game one 3-1 against deGrom, won game four 3-1 beating Steven Matz. Game 5 was a great pitched game. Greinke was very tough and so was deGrom. Then in the 6th, Zack gave up a tie breaking homer to Daniel Murphy. The Dodgers did nothing against the Mets pen, and they were out of the playoffs again.
So, AF’s first year at the helm was in the books. And naturally fans had their opinions of his performance. Granted, the man in charge does not play the game, but fans feel they are as responsible for the results as players are. I had heard many times on many sports outlets and blogs what a genius AF was. My own opinion at the time, was who are you kidding? McCarthy went down before June rolled around, Anderson was mediocre at best, so basically the pitching was Kersh and Greinke. And at the deadline almost all of us were begging him to trade for a quality arm. What did we get? Mat Latos, and Alex Wood.
The silver lining in all of this, especially for AF was that he did not trade any of the Dodgers top farm hands. And Logan White’s farm was starting to send some good players to the bigs. Probably the most important part of that season was the draft in June. They drafted Walker Buehler, and Josh Sborz on day 1. Got Willie Calhoun and Edwin Rios on day 2, and Matt Beaty and Kyle Garlick on day 3. Considering where all those guys are now, that is not a bad day at the office. But of course we questioned the drafting of Buehler who immediately had to have arm surgery.
Over these past 5 years, I for one have questioned many of his free agent signings. Also a trade or more. But he has kept adding talent and not really giving away his most prized prospects. His people in the minors are doing a great job getting the kids ready for the big leagues. I also think his Cuban signings have left a lot to be desired. He has his own pick for a manager now and one of the reasons Roberts is still the skipper even with his questionable moves in some playoff games, is because he and AF are totally on the same page.
But to me, there was always something missing. Yeah, he signed his own free agents, Turner, Jansen, Kershaw, no one really believed Kersh would walk, did they? But that A lister never was signed. They let Greinke walk, naturally they were no going to match that deal. Tried for some of the bigger names, who always seemed to sign somewhere else. Like Harper to the Phils. But I think even that was a halfhearted effort. You knew Harper was going for the biggest contract he could get, not the highest average salary.
He did make deadline deals for Manny Machado and Yu Darvish. Manny was decent, but nowhere near the player he was in Baltimore. He still as a member of the Padres is not playing to that level, so not re-signing him was a great move. Darvish, well he was injured, same as Hill when he came over. And he had a couple of pretty good games where he looked like the pitcher he was in Texas, but then the total meltdown in the Series and he was gone.
It has now been over 30 years since their last World Series win. And they won with a team that was loaded with role players and one super pitcher. The hitting star for them was not the league MVP, nope, it was Mickey Hatcher. He hit one homer all year and then 2 against the A’s. And this last winter, AF finally made the trade all Dodger fans were waiting for. He brought a superstar to LA. The Mookie Betts deal, although it seemed at one point that it was going to fall through, must have exhausted him. He worked for over a week to get the right mix going to Boston to bring Betts. Who everyone felt would be a one year rental. And he brought David Price with him. And if you look at the deal, with Alex Verdugo, Jeter Downs, and Connor Wong going to Boston, Betts, Price and cash coming back to LA, you would have to say he fleeced the Sox. Verdugo is a good young player who is going to be very good for the Sox, but no Betts. Downs is probably going to replace Dustin Pedroia at some point. Wong is a fringe player.
And AF ended up getting to keep another piece who would have gone to Boston, but they did not like his medical report, Brusdar Graterol.
So, what does this all mean. Well, the Dodgers are loaded with talent. They have plenty of multi positional players both on their roster and in the minors. AF saved fans a lot of angst this winter when they went ahead and got Betts to sign an extension which will keep him in LA for most likely the rest of his career.
Now, I for the most part, have questioned a lot of his moves. I did not like the constant trolling of the waiver wire the first couple of years like he was looking for a prize in a cracker jack box. I hated the Kemp and Gordon trades, and was pretty vocal about it. I did not believe Grandal was worth Matt Kemp, and I did not care that they were calling Kemp a clubhouse cancer. I kept seeing the 2011 Kemp, and the guy who was mashing prior to his crashing into the wall at Coors.
Most GM’s hesitate before trading the teams popular guys. I will say this, AF does not leap into deals. He is not pressured to make trades. He really evaluates before he moves. Naturally he is human like all of us and makes mistakes like we all do. But my mistakes do not infuriate a fan base. So he has to deal with the back lash. He seems to me a pretty laid back guy when you get down to it. He is what this ownership wanted and went after. No matter how many moves he might make that I disagree with, nor the bad trade now and then…Tyler White anyone? None of that will change the fact that he, and Roberts are going to be here for a while. Is he a baseball genius? I do not think so. I think he is very educated and astute and really into saber metrics. But a baseball genius? No. I reserve that for someone like Branch Rickey who changed the game in so many ways and made so many innovations that became a huge part of the game. He was a genius. AF is a product of the computer age. All of the WAR and other stats would not be here if not for the advanced technology of today.
Discussion (99)
Disagree, not disagreeable
The trade with San Diego for Grandal was a total winner. The trade for Betts a total winner. AF should be arrested for grand larceny in dumping all those contracts on Reds for Gray and Downs. He dumped Olivera on the Braves
No question that Friedman is incredibly good, probably the best in baseball. I’m glad he’s running the Dodgers. I wish he would have moved earlier to extend Zack Greinke. That loss probably cost the Dodgers a World Series, maybe two. Some of initial international signings didn’t make a lot of sense, but he’s done well in the draft, certainly is very good when it comes to trades. The Mookie signing was stunning, one of the few good things that have happened in 2020.
Moving forward, AF will need to sign both Cody Bellinger and Cory Seager. No one is quite certain what the Dodgers financial ceiling is, but keeping the top players who have come up through the system is a top priority.
Eventually he will be measured by championships won.
Lakers up 30 points over Portland in the 4th quarter…..Looks like Lillard suffered a dislocated finger…ouch.
I wrote this because I wanted to do something different than a piece on the history of the game, and Dodger history in particular. So I really went out of my comfort zone to do so. I was skeptical when they hired AF. I knew little to less than nothing about him personally and professionally. I knew what some writers and blogs said and that was about it. I knew he had been the GM in Tampa, and I knew the Rays had drafted well and finally started winning. Going to the series in 08. I also knew they had a habit of getting rid of their star players when they got close to getting big money. I also knew that at the time, the Dodgers were starting to win. I knew that under Mattingly the team had improved it’s record every year from 11 to 14. And they had won 2 straight division titles. Which to most Dodger fans was a huge improvement. I also knew that the new ownership was committed to making LA a winner again. I thought Colletti was doing a decent job and he had owners that were willing to spend some money to improve the team. The farm had started producing, and more than anything else, the team was FUN to watch again. Winning does that. But I think also in the back of my mind I had a strong feeling that at some point they were going to want their own people in the front office and in the managers chair. I was not really surprised they picked Friedman. He was everyone’s wunderkind. I was surprised AF kept Mattingly on for the 2015 season. They actually lost a couple more games than they did in 14, but won the division by 2 more games. But, same result in the playoffs. And then DM was let go by mutual agreement. AF could not get Maddon because he had gone to the Cubs, so he tossed around a lot of names and settled on Doc. But as someone said earlier in this post, some of the moves AF made that year were head scratchers. I was not on board with any of the free agent pitchers he brought in, Giving McCarthy a 4 year deal for 48 million seemed like a huge waste of money, and it was. It was to me as bad as the contract Colletti gave Jason Schmidt. Neither one gave the Dodgers much bang for the buck. They got 3 wins out of Schmidt, and 11 from McCarthy. Anderson almost matched that in his one healthy season as a Dodger as he went 10-10. The constant looking for a gem in a pile of rocks philosophy was maddening. Kazmir the next season was not so great either. But he made a few that paid off, Taylor his first full season on the team had a very good year. It took two years, but in 2017 Alex Wood had a career year and led the league in winning percentage. And as we all know, he never signed or traded for that big ticket player. Then he got Darvish in 17, who had a couple of good games. And then Machado in 18. He signed his own free agents and all of them gave the Dodgers a home town discount. Turner, Jansen and Kersh all could have gotten 6 figure deals had they left. I always felt the team was 2 players away from winning the big one. A position player who was consistent and a leader in the clubhouse, and another starting pitcher like Greinke who would be the second ace. Over these years they have usually had a solid 1-2 punch. But not a 1-2-3 punch like they did back in the 60’s when Big D, Sandy and Osteen were there. Even Podres was a solid # 3. There was a poll on MLB.com today naming the top 10 starters in baseball, and some honorable mentions. There is not a single Dodger starter on that list. There are 3 exe Dodgers on the list and the honorable mentions. Darvish is rated # 4, right behind a guy I would target, Lance Lynn, and on the honorable mention list are Frankie Montas and Greinke. I still have not changed that way of thinking. Betts is the best player AF has acquired, hands down. But he is going to need the rest of the team to pull it’s weight. In Boston he had some great team mates to help him. The Dodgers do not have the same star power they had in Boston. They have solid MLB players. But only a couple rate the star tag. If they are going to win it all in this truncated season, it is my firm belief AF is going to have to make a trade for a starter who is going to go deep into games, The bullpen is solid, the offense has yet to hit on all cylinders. The starters save Kershaw, and Stripling once, have not gone deep into games. I think you take the reins off of Gonsolin and put him in the rotation. I trust him much more than I do the more experienced Wood. I like May in the rotation too. I am not so sold however on the very erratic Urias. We will see in the next week or so if anyone decides to deal, and whether AF is ready to pull the trigger on something I think they need to do to get over the hump.
Well he also hung a center cut curve to Lewis but fortunately he only smacked it for a single. But when he’s throwing his curve and slider tor strikes he’s an ace again! Awesome tonight!
Kersh alone in 2nd place for career K’s behind Don Sutton. Congrats!
36 pitches thru 3 for Kersh! It would be AWESOME if he could give the bullpen a rest today after Urias threw 36 pitches in the 1st inning alone yesterday!
Per Baseball America:
RHP Morgan Cooper had his second shoulder surgery in as many years last August. He is currently throwing bullpen sessions in his home state of Texas and has not had any setbacks. RHP Yaisel Sierra is throwing bullpens and progressing on schedule in his recovery from shoulder inflammation. RHP Braydon Fisher had Tommy John surgery last year and is on track in his rehab progression. He will be ready for the start of next season barring any setbacks.
DODGERS RECALL RHP JOSH SBORZ
RHP PEDRO BÁEZ PLACED ON IL
LOS ANGELES– The Los Angeles Dodgers have recalled right-handed pitcher Josh Sborz and have placed right-handed pitcher Pedro Báez on the 10-day injured list with a right groin strain.
Sborz, 26, will be recalled for the second time this season and has not appeared in a game in 2020. Last season, he made his Major League debut, appearing in seven games, allowing eight runs in 9.0 innings. In five minor league seasons with the Dodgers, he is a combined 24-20 with a 3.53 ERA (144 ER/367.1 IP) and 370 strikeouts. He was originally drafted by the Dodgers in the second round of the 2015 First Year Player Draft out of the University of Virginia.
Báez, 32, will be placed on the injured the list for the first time this season and the fourth time in his career. In 11 games this season, he has posted a 0-0 record with a 3.97 ERA (5 ER/11.1 IP) and eight strikeouts. In seven seasons with the Dodgers, he is a combined 21-15 with a 3.06 ERA (119 ER/350.1 IP) and 364 strikeouts. He originally signed with the Dodgers as an international free agent on January 22, 2007.
Another fine post Michael – did the job and got people thinking. You are doing a fine job.
AF has done well of course, but I really think he made a big mistake in not getting rid of Puig much earlier, and importantly, while he had real value.
Things may have panned out differently With more togetherness..
I’d bet if he could revisit things, Puig would be gone immediately.
Looks like Thom Brennamans broadcasting career might be over. The Reds and Fox have both removed him from the booth after a homophobic slur. Astros pounding the Rockies again. How far the Rocks have fallen the last two weeks. Christian Arroyo, who used to be one of the Giants top prospects DFA’d by the Red Sox today. And the Giants called up their top prospect, catcher Joey Bart.
I cannot offer much more about AF than what has already been elaborated on, especially with the outstanding analysis by Dodgerrick. I do not know how you measure baseball genius. For me, the most important metric to measure baseball success is a WS Championship, which AF has not yet been able to accomplish. I too believe that the Dodgers would have won in 2017 without the cheating, but the bottom line is that it was not done on the field. Perhaps had the position players actually hit during the series, we would not be talking about the cheaters.
Minimum 15 PAs
Austin Barnes – .174/.200/.217/.417
Cody Bellinger – .143/.172/.393/.565 (17 Ks, 29PA)
Logan Forsythe – .278/.409/.333/.742
Kike’ Hernandez – .231/.375/.231/.606
Joc Pederson – .333/.400/.944/1.344
Yasiel Puig – .148/.179/.370/.549
Corey Seager – .222/.290/.370/.661
Chris Taylor – .222/.344/.407/.751
Justin Turner – .160/.323/.360/.683
Others:
Charlie Culberson (5 PA) – .600/.600/1.200/1.800
Andre Ethier (6 PA) – .400/.500/.400/.900
Chase Utley (7 PA) – .000/.143/.000/.143
Yasmani Grandal (3 PA) – .000/.000/.000/.000
Joc and Logan Forsythe were the only two “regulars” that had a BA greater than .250. Of the nine “regulars”, 5 had a BA greater than .200, while four others had sub-Mendoza line BA.
I am confident and comfortable that AF will let Joc walk after the season. But based on post season numbers, Joc will be more reliable than Belli in the post season. So while he may not be hitting now, I would not trade him.
Before AF can genuinely be considered a genius, he needs to be able to hold up the trophy at the end of the season. A couple years back I wrote a column as to how AF is unsurpassed in building a team for the 162 game season, but maybe not one to win a championship. AF’s big position player acquisitions have been Manny Machado, AJ Pollock, and Mookie Betts. None of the three have experienced successful career post seasons. In 99 PA, Mookie has a slash line of .227/.313/.341/.654, and that is better than the other two. Thus, in order for AF to become a “genius” somebody is going to need to break the trend and carry the team offensively through the WS. Maybe 2020 is the year.
What I would call AF is a leader. He has a plan that he believes brings success and then builds a team (player and management) that fits in that plan. The manager needs to be able to communicate with both his players and management. Dave Roberts – check. His offensive philosophy seems to be to swing hard with a high launch angle. RVS – check. Defensive versatility – check and double check. Pitching – This took a little longer because of the presence of long time pitching coach Rick Honeycutt. Honey is fantastic at breaking down tape of a pitcher to see what was working before and what needs to be adjusted. But AF is metrics driven. Enter Mark Prior and Connor McGuiness. What RVS is for offense, McGuiness is for pitching. Hugely data driven. Also, there is an emphasis on spin rate. Enter Rob Hill and Driveline. Not to mention how much he has surrounded himself with his staff of Josh Byrnes, Brandon Gomes, Billy Gasparino, Jeffrey Kingston, Dave Finley, Ismael Cruz, Galen Carr…
I was at the time of the hire, and remain more so today, an AF advocate.
Right on 2D2. They played crappy and lost. Turn the page.
Someone did say Urias and “the bullpen” let us down. Actually the back end of the pen was fine. Urias and Santana accounted for 5 of the 6 runs in 2 and a 1/3 innings, on 87 pitches. 87 pitches in less than 3 innings. WOW
And with an umpire who wanted to call strikes. Mark Ripperger, behind the plate was yet another reason for the ABS technology. And while he had a spike zone as big as the whole outdoors (mostly), he was especially generous to Tiajuan Walker. Walker got his 500th career strikeout on a gift and 8 total. But the Dodgers made him look like Cy Young anyway. Case in point; Muncy was justified in his frustration of the called strike 3 in the 3rd. Not even close. That frustration led to the problems in the 6th where he got pissed over the strike 2 call. Pitch Trax had it clearly in the zone. When he struck out swinging he had his words walking away that got everybody tossed. The umpire should have let Max walk away but he had heard enough as well. This could have all been avoided by a better at bat by Mucny. He had a juicy advantage count of 2 and 0. A green Light Special. So instead of feasting on a center cut, hit me. BP fastball. HE TAKES IT. I’m groaning. That’s a pitch you dream about getting. He than got the call that pissed him off and struck out swinging.
You approach hitting with the idea that you will get at least ONE hittable pitch per at bat even against the Aces. You need to take advantage when you get it. Don’t let the advantage counts go by.
Looking forward to a good outing tonight by CK and a more engaged performance in general.
Today:
Mookie
Pollock
JT
Belly
CT3 (SS)
Muncy
Kike (2b)
Barnes
Beaty (DH)
Kersh
Bear, a good and thought-provoking piece. I do think that we have to factor the role of the Dodgers ownership in all of this. And no one knows for sure what constraints they have put on Friedman, if any. I have always thought that the owners had a lot to do with the unwillingness to hand out long-term deals, up until Betts. Also, the unwillingness to take a chance or two and give someone like Morrow or Treinen a couple of years when picked up. In Morrow’s case, it turned out to be a good decision, but sometimes you miss out that way, and are always having to search around for someone new to pick up.
I was not a a fan of Colletti as a GM, though he is a likable guy. He would go after name players not in their prime.. The big trade with Boston brought us one quality player; Crawford was usually hurt, at $27 million or so a season, Beckett gave us part of one year; Punto was not valuable. Friedman is better, but we still don’t have even one title. The Astros cheating is not a virtual title for us, the Yankees may just as well have beaten Houston in their series. AF has done a very good job in keeping us good, given low draft positions. I thought that we very much needed another top pitcher after last year. We tried with Cole but did not get him, Price is not a top pitcher now, maybe we will get away with it with Gonsolin and May, maybe not. Going forward, who has the best future, Dodgers or Yankees? It’s pretty close. I don’t think Friedman is a genius, but he is smart, and probably better than any GM we have had, since Bavasi, who I thought was very good. Campanis was good, but not as good as Bavasi, who got us Wally Moon for Gino Cimoli, Ron Perranoski for Don Zimmer, Phil Regan for Dick Tracewski, Claude Osteen for Frank Howard, essentially.
A couple of quick comments on the season; Bring Gonsolin back, and let him pitch regularly the rest of the year, he is better than Urias, and we desperately need a set top three for the playoffs, since we will not be playing the succession of weak teams which we are playing now. Do not be misled by Pedersen finally hitting a home run last night, or Hernandez finally getting a big hit after about 20 games of doing nothing at the plate. The problem is that we do not have good other choices, unless somehow Lux can put it together. There are a few spots in our lineup which I do not look forward to coming up. If Barnes starts sliding back to .230, we are weak from six to nine in the order, unless Pollock is playing. And if Bellinger does not do much better, particularly in the playoffs, we will have difficulty scoring runs against good pitching.
What I would say is that geniuses are generally appreciated for what they are historically. In other words, history will decide… not us.
OK, Badger,
I looked it up: BP ranked the Dodgers Farm System #14 in 2014:
https://www.baseballprospectus.com/prospects/article/25592/2015-prospects-2015-organizational-rankings/
Keith Law had them at #11 in 2014 and #18 the year before.
I was pretty sure BA had them at #17, but I can’t find the 2014 BA rankings – Maybe AC can.
From the OCR:
Friedman took over a team that had won back-to-back division titles but was losing traction. After advancing to the NLCS in 2013, the Dodgers were brushed aside in the first round of the 2014 playoffs. The payroll was swollen to unsustainable levels and the farm system was in the early stages of rebirth.
So, the Dodgers were not a Top Farm System, when Friedman took over – the consensus was that they were in the teens.
I wrote this last Christmas:
https://ladodgertalk.com/2019/12/25/the-new-paradigm/
Not sure that I would classify AF as a “genius”, though I think he’s a very good and smart baseball man. He is a very capable leader and he appears to know how to surround himself with smart and innovative people. He also appears to allow those that he’s hired do their jobs. Whether it is solely AF or a collaborative effort, the Dodgers’ Player Development Department seems to have improved exponentially since the AF regime has taken over. If I had to choose between AF and Colletti, I would choose AF 100 times out of a 100. Listening to him on SNLA, makes me wonder how he ever got a GM job in the first place. I don’t think I have ever heard him say anything that is insightful. In my mind, a huge distinction between AF and NC is that AF does throw himself in the limelight and say stupid stuff nearly as much as NC did.
As to the Punto trade, it is my understanding that Kasten pulled off that deal without Colletti’s input. NC’s trades for Manny and Hanley Ramirez were good moves.
Last night’s game further strengthened my newly found insight – – most every time the Dodgers lose, they play crappy. It isn’t why they lost, but the home plate umpire didn’t have much of a good night either.
Now if only the players would perform in October like they do from April-September!
I have been on the fence about some of the SABR revolution that has overtaken baseball. Make no mistake – what we have seen over the past 20 years is nothing less than a revolution. Leveraging technology to “improve” a team or a player is what we have seen.
Billy Beane did it with the A’s because he couldn’t afford to pay players, so he used his computer to try to identify traits that would make a player successful even if conventional wisdom didn’t support it. So now batting average doesn’t matter but OBP does, even though your brain should tell you that a single is better than a walk. Strikeouts don’t matter for hitters because an out is an out, so swing for the fences – but on the other hand, strikeouts matter for pitchers because there is no way to turn a K into a hit but a routine grounder can be a hit if it’s in the right place.
I digress.
Now, computers can measure launch angle, speed of the ball off of the bat, solid contact (barrels), tunnels for pitchers (2 different pitches coming from the same plane but moving in different directions) and myriad other rarities.
I have been down on many of the changes that technology has wrought for removing the human element from baseball and reducing it to a boring game of swinging as hard as you can and hoping you make contact. I blame Andrew Friedman for adopting some of this.
That being said, what Andrew Friedman has accomplished is remarkable. Yes, he inherited great prospects and a two time division winner when he arrived, but I don’t think that anyone would confuse the 2013 or 14 Dodgers for the team that has been put on the field since 2017. Here are his major accomplishments, in my view:
1 – He has dumped the head cases and malcontents. I don’t think that there are any “bad eggs” or prima donnas left on the team. He has a much healthier clubhouse and guys that are mostly pulling in one direction. This is, in my opinion, Dave Roberts’ biggest contribution – he has helped to create a much healthier clubhouse culture. No more Matt Kemps, Yasiel Puigs or Manny Ramirez.
2 – He has kept the best prospects (mostly) when making necessary trades. While occasionally, a Frankie Montas or Yordan Alvarez has gotten away, he has kept Corey Seager, Walker Buehler, Joc Pederson, Dustin May, Cody Bellinger et al.
3 – The Dodgers have finally started to produce starting pitchers from the farm. Chad Billingsly was drafted in 2003 and Clayton Kershaw in 2006, but they didn’t produce a single starting pitcher of note after that until Walker Buehler who wasn’t drafted until 2015. That’s 9 years between drafts that netted an important starting pitcher. But now we have May, Urias (signed in 2012) and Gonsolin all contributing as starters and Josiah Gray knocking on the door.
4 – The Dodgers don’t draft in an advantageous position but have skillfully drafted several good players anyway.
5 – The Dodgers’ player development system is tops in baseball. This is a huge advantage. They take 12th round draft picks like Matt Beaty and turn them into major leaguers. Before anyone else was doing it, the Dodgers started paying attention to things like nutrition and were preparing individualized plans for minor leaguers. I have read several stories relating how farmhands say that all players are treated as prospects and they all get the type of attention and access to technology that allows them to be their best. This not only allows prospects once thought of as “fringe” to contribute at the big league level, it allows the likes of Chris Taylor and Max Muncy to be plucked off of the scrap heap and become major contributers.
6 – Friedman has brought the concept of versatility to the Dodgers and expanded it to the point that they have the most versatile roster in MLB. Friedman had Ben Zobrist in Tampa and he played everywhere. In LA, Cody Bellinger is a gold glove caliber OF and 1B; Chris Taylor and Kike Hernandez can literally play anywhere except pitcher and catcher, Matt Barnes can play C, 2B and 3B; Max Muncy can play 1B, 2B and 3B. They have an infinite number of lineup possibilities – And Roberts will use them all.
7- The Dodgers leverage technology for defensive positioning that gives them huge advantages. They were 1st in defensive runs saved last year and are 1st again this year.
8 – The Dodgers have the deepest roster in baseball – again. When Friedman 1st arrived, I was told of the Dodgers “depth” but the depth was the likes of Brandon McCarthy – guys who couldn’t actually play. I was unimpressed. Now, Corey Seager goes down and Chris Taylor takes over. Clayton Kershaw couldn’t pitch opening day but Dustin May could. This sets the Dodgers apart from all other teams in MLB.
What Andrew Friedman has accomplished is to create a team poised to win the World Series every year, as he said. He has used technology, player development, roster versatility and depth to turn the Dodgers into a powerhouse.
I’m a believer.
With the advent of the shift launch angle is very important. If you pull the pull on the ground into the shift you’re out 90% of the time. Now going the other way to beat the shift. That’s a lost art in today’s generation. Could you imagine Rod Carew against the shift. He might hit .500!
Good article Bear. AF has made some good moves and bad moves but how many of the players he’s traded away do we really regret letting go? I think he was kind of in on Harper and I think he was in on Cole to a point (years) but the guy he really wanted was Arenado. When he re-signed AF had to look elsewhere. To me the major problem for the team hasn’t changed. They fail to hit good off-speed pitching. We heard all last year how well they hit 95+ fastballs but what have we seen consistently in the playoffs? The inability to hit, layoff or foul off off-speed pitches. How many times over the past 3 seasons in the playoffs has a pitcher gotten 2 strikes on Seager and Bellinger and everybody watching knows what the next pitch is going to be?
AF isnt perfect, but i dont see any other gm in the game i would rather have. After McCourt experience, it is very comforting to be able to trust the direction and decision making of our GM. Go Dodgers!!
Genius is a loose, subjective term that, personally, I would apply toward those whose innovate or re-write blue scripts. Friedman is probably a pioneer in modern day analytics, but I don’t believe he introduced it altogether. He’s really good, I think, although, I’m probably a softer grader than most. I don’t hold the elusive championship against him and as long as he’s consistently giving us a genuine shot every year, I’m satisfied. I also like nearly all his moves. The head-scratchers early make some sense in hindsight and I can’t recall the last deal that I was vehemently against (although the proposed Joc/Stripling deal was about to). I love the nice, consistent blend of youth/prime/vets. Our very reliable defense. The payroll flexibility. These were things the Dodgers struggled with most years since I became a fan in the 80’s and a constant issue holding us back. The only real point of contention I have with him is the power heavy approach with our offense, but he has a lot of ammunition to argue with supporting this approach. Even still, I think he’s made strides in the last few years to make us a little more multi-dimensional. There’s no one I’d rather have running the team at this point in time. Keep doing what you’re doing.
Mookie’s been great this year, but I’d still give the early or fast approaching mid year MVP to Seager. He’s been hot since spring training in March and obviously on a mission. I felt he had some objectives to meet this year. He’s secured the number 2 spot in the order–check. He’s managed to avoid extended time off from injury–probational check. He’s looked better against breaking balls and movement and generally pretty solid in RISP situations. I guess I should give him a pass for striking out to the end the game last night, but I can’t help but be a little disappointed. Nats divisional performance still vivid in my mind.
AF is a smart guy. I understand that baseball now is not the same baseball I grew up with. You use the tools that are available to you at the time. There were a lot of good pieces in place when he took over the team. To his credit, he kept the best ones. And a few times, he hit pay dirt with under the radar pickups that were for the large part not seen as huge at the time. Taylor was one of those guys. Badger is right. He has a plan, he does not make panic moves. You know that simply from watching the Betts trade. He worked on it until the Sox were satisfied. He inherited a pretty good team, removed the players he felt the team could win without, and stuck to his ideas of the kinds of players he wanted. Last season he brought in RVS to be the hitting coach and he has adopted a lot of the new theories on hitting, player nutrition and how pitchers should be used. Every GM at one time made a trade that was awful. I can’t remember who was the GM at the time, but Milt Pappas for Frank Robinson? Or how about Ernie Brolio for Lou Brock. I look at the game a lot different that I did a few years ago. Last night was no different. A bad start by the starter. You don’t get out of the second inning, something is seriously wrong. Bullpen, which has been very good, gives up 5 runs. Offense is mainly home runs. That’s cool as long as someone is on base when you hit it. Too many K’s. Taylor went down twice. Muncy was tossed after his second one. Bellinger’s first AB he never came close to hitting any of those pitches. No situational hitting. No one trying to beat the shift. They would rather it seems make hard contact and ground out into the shift instead of trying to hit the ball the other way. I did like the hustle displayed by AJ Pollock who beat out two weak hit ground balls. But all in all it was a sloppy game. They were down to one player on the bench. Geren pulled Beaty for Hernandez, and Beaty has hit lefty’s in the past, so that to me seemed to be something that was unneeded. They lost to a team they should beat easily. And as Badger said, they did not do well with runners in scoring position again. I could do with less attention to launch angle, and more paid to solid contact, going with the pitch, and with two strikes, protecting the plate, which this team is terrible at. All you had to do to see that was watch Chris Taylor’s first at bat. Chris, who a week ago was hitting everything pretty much right on the screws, swung so hard at every pitch thrown up there and never shortened up. He just swung from the heels. It is the way they play the game now. But a little small ball, especially in a place like T Mobile, which is a pitchers park, would bring better results. I am just not sure these guys know how to play that kind of game. I was very impressed though with the poise of the young catcher, Ruiz. That pickoff at 3rd base was something I have not seen a Dodger catcher execute in a long time.
Bobby, you are a prophet elite. #’s 4, 5, and 7 all hit home runs last night. Your predictions for today’s game, please.
The Dodgers have been consistently the best overall regular season team In baseball for the last several years. It’s up to the players to continue that performance into the playoffs. And they haven’t. No WS titles doesn’t fall at AF’s feet!
Interesting, thought provoking article, Bear. We all have our thoughts and reasons why Friedman and those before him haven’t gotten that ring since our run began in 2013. I don’t need to rehash my blame list (Kershaw) either. Of course, it cannot be understated that we were blatantly cheated out of a ring in 2017. Then again, the trashtros also cheated Boston and NY out of a potential World Series trip, and perhaps we don’t beat one of those teams in 2017. I personally believe we would’ve beaten NY in 2017, but we’ll never know.
Otherwise, the good news is, this team is wealthy, young, experienced, and loaded in the minors. So despite the Padres upcoming talented team, we look like we’ll still be in the mix for the next many years as well.
Now go out and get us that impact Game 2 or 3 starter for October, and let’s try it again!
AF has a plan and has stuck to it.. I suspect he also doesn’t feel the need to be the smartest person in the room. Hence his acquiring of top personnel to help plan the way ahead. That’s not genius but it is good management. Like it was mentioned above, he inherited a good farm system but did not trade away what he and his team considered top prospects. Didn’t he say he has been looking at Mookie for several years before he became available? I think most of us on this board look at this and maybe one year out. AF I has a much longer time horizon when it comes to making plans.
Sainthood? Oh, I forgot. AF is Jewish. A saintless tradition.
Isn’t a genius someone with an IQ above 140? This is what I was taught as a student and this is what the dictionary still says today. All we have to do is find out what the IQ of AF is and then we will know if he is a genius or not. Simple.
He is a genius and he will be imitated but never equaled.
The Dodgers have always been like this as an organization, pioneers in so many things that changed the game, and AF is no different than that, if in the past it was Rickey, today it is Mr. Andrew Friedman.
Surely both have used all the means and technology available at the time.
Genius? No. Exceptional executive with strategic vision, outstanding talent evaluator, who surrounds himself with exceptional people? Absolutely! No doubt he inherited some really talented prospects from the previous front office, but where many executives would have been willing to trade that talent for quick fixes to the roster he stayed the course while putting together rosters that were World Champion caliber. A side note, I believe the trades for Hanley Ramirez and Manny Ramirez were some of the worst decisions ever made by a Dodgers front office. Outstanding talent who were always playing for the name on the back of their jersey rather than the name on the front and were clubhouse cancers.
I have been driving the Andrew Friedman Bandwagon since day one and have taken a lot of heat for it… but, not so much anymore. He has built a powerhouse – other teams seek to emulate the Dodgers. He is on the cutting-edge of technological and sabermetric advances in baseball, but he has also made sure that the ‘human element” the people side of the game is also elevated. He genuinely cares about his players… witness what they have done in trying to help Andrew Toles.
AF inherited the #17 ranked farm system in baseball. There were some good players in it, but overall it was not elite. Since he has been in LA, it is elite and he did it while winning the division every year! He should have a World Championship to show for it but for the garbage can bangers!
The definition of genius is a person who is exceptionally intelligent or creative, either generally or in some particular respect. To me, that sounds like AF, but being a genius does not mean you don’t make mistakes. In fact, it may mean you make more mistakes because you try new and creative things that may not always work.
I do know this: when the people who are regarded as the smartest baseball people take over teams, the teams tank as they are rebuilt. Epstein, Luhnow, Preller, Anthopoulos, and others all come to mind. They gutted the teams, sold off their best assets, tanked, and hoarded draft picks. However, when Stan Kasten hired AF, his mandate was to build the term “while winning.” AF has done that and to the best of my knowledge that have never been done before. The Dodgers have a TOP farm system even after trading for Betts, Graterol, and Price.
AF is not perfect – he has made many mistakes… mostly out of the necessity of not giving out dope-fiend contracts, but most of those moves are no longer necessary. He still likes to find those players who are valued very low and developed them: Taylor, Muncie, Blanton, Morrow, et al.
Lots of new GM’s want to get rid of the other regime’s player’s but AF kept the core, for the most part – he knows talent. Even Grandal (whom I loved, but grew to hate) served a purpose. The Dodgers were devoid of catching prospects, so AF acquired Barnes and Yasmani to be the bridge to Smith, Ruiz, Cartaya, and company. There was little question in my mind that AF would let Yasmani walk. Yasmani is still one of the top catchers in baseball, but he became maddening to me.
Thomas Edison is regarded as a genius, but he made 10,000 mistakes before he invented the lightbulb. AF has made a few out of necessity, but lately, he hasn’t had to make dope-fiend moves like Olivera, Anderson, McCarthy, Kazmir, and Sierra. Those days are over – they were just a “bridge” to where we are today.
I won’t debate whether he is a genius – there’s a fine line between genius and insanity (I walk it every day 😉 ), but all I know is: There’s no one I would rather see running the Dodgers Baseball Operation than Andrew. However, it is time to win. Doc will not have 4 more years of rope!
What Friedman is doing is the same as when he was hired when the headline read: Andrew Friedman is building a long-term juggernaut without sacrificing the present
He didn’t build a very good farm system, he inherited it. It’s remained pretty good and considering where we draft that is an accomplishment. We are a juggernaut but one that has not finished any Friedman year on top. In my estimation a genius would have accomplished that by now.
Last night. Set up for a dramatic victory and Corey strikes out swinging with the bases loaded. We just didn’t have it. 3 solos, a lot of warning track power, 1 for 5 WRISP, gave up 6 earned runs, 5 by the pen. We still have 3 in our lineup under .200.
Can’t win them all. Can win the next one.
I have been onboard with Friedman since his first day with the Dodgers and think he has stayed with his game plan. He said from day one he would not give a huge contract to players in their mid 30’s and he has stayed with that concept while keeping the Dodgers best minor league players. Building the Dodgers minor league system into a top 5 operation year after year while drafting somewhere in the high 20’s every year might be his greatest achievement so far with the Dodgers. I agree with you Bear that some of his moves have not worked but over all I think he has done an outstanding job, not so outstanding for Roberts, but overall probably the right man to manage the team at this time, but maybe time is running out.
Smart & Genius!