Earlier today, the Dodgers and Rays announced the stunning news that Rays GM Andrew Friedman would leave his post to become the new president of baseball operations for the Dodgers. The move shook the baseball world and, obviously, comes with some significant ramifications not only for the teams involved but for the entire game.
MLBTR’s Zach Links participated in the conference call after the announcement, and reported on the thoughts and observations of owner Stuart Sternberg and new GM Matthew Silverman. Hare are some more reactions and fallout from the news of the day …
- For the Dodgers, the move to add Friedman is a part of a broader shift towards modernizing baseball operations, Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com reports. If the launch of big spending and major moves was phase one of the new ownership group’s plans, then Friedman will be entrusted to engineer phase two: a bid to make the Dodgers the powerhouse franchise and brand of the 21st century, driven by a traditional scout-and-develop approach that is informed and supplemented by analytics and a robust war chest.
- Baseball America’s John Manuel opines that Friedman got out of the Rays organization at the right time (Twitter link). The Rays have had some rough drafts in recent years, resulting in a thin farm system, while the Dodgers’ minor league system has far more high-end prospects, he writes.
- ESPN’s Buster Olney suggests that Friedman is likely to hire a GM to work underneath him, much like the Theo Epstein/Jed Hoyer pairing with the Cubs (Twitter link). Olney speculates that Red Sox assistant GM Mike Hazen and Yankees assistant GM Billy Eppler are candidates.
- One Dodgers source told Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com that the Dodgers’ failed pursuit of David Price this summer, ironically, heightened their interest in Friedman. Said the source: “They always asked for the right prospects. Not just the guys everybody knows, either.”
- On the managerial front, the Dodgers are expected to stick with Don Mattingly for next year, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times tweets. Meanwhile, Joe Maddon said he remains committed to steering the Rays, and even said he expects to talk extension over the coming offseason, as Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune reports on Twitter.
- Sam Miller of Baseball Prospectus writes (subscription required) that Friedman will bring his “black box” of subtle tricks with him to Los Angeles, and will likely make his impact in many nuanced ways. Dave Cameron of Fangraphs says that the Dodgers seem likely to launch into a tighter spending model more reminiscent of the recent-vintage Red Sox, with Friedman hopefully delivering continued on-field results at a lower price tag.
This should be one of the most interesting stories to follow in MLB over the next few years.
The question I have is what happened to Stan Kashan. He was president and part-owner. With Friedman as president, where does Stan go? If he’s been de-fanged, I’d guess there are at least a half-dozen franchises that should be standing in line to talk to him. His work in turning around the Braves, getting the Nationals off the ground as a high quality franchise, and re-establishing the Dodgers as a primer MLB franchise, has to be attractive to a lot of owners with under performing operations.
Kasten is still the president AND ceo of the dodgers as a whole as well as a part owner
Friedman is the president of the newly formed position of baseball operations
He will be able to choose a gm to work under him just like epstein has done in chicago
Im pretty sure that friedman will make all the moves and have the gm negotiate the contracts and all that. We’ll basically have a puppet gm with friedman controlling everything
Based on his track record hanley is probably gone.
In a perfect world i hope mattingly is replaced, ethier is traded sign a starter and rebuild our bullpen
It seems maddon likes tampa but dave martinez is ready for a manager job maybe we can have him replace mattingly.
Maddon stays in tampa we bring in martinez everybody wins
Had not thought about Dave Martinez coming.
Great point!
Kasten still runs the Dodgers, while Friedman will handle the baseball side of the company.
I can’t speak to the Dodgers’ specific organization, but it’s not unusual to have multiple presidents. The Cubs, for example, have Theo Epstein as the President of Baseball Operations, while Crane Kenney is the President of Business Operations.
Team President and ‘president of baseball operations’ are two entirely different posts. the ‘Team president’ oversees all aspects of the team as a corporate entity while the ‘president of baseball operations’, or ‘PBO’ has authority only over talent acquisition.
Kasten would still be in charge of the finances of the Dodgers as an whole, Friedman is just in charge of the drafting, minor league system, major league roster and other things directly related to the baseball part of it.
the “president” is just a title so he can get paid more than a just a “gm”
1st job for Friedman, find a new manager.
The “problem” with following a tighter spending model similar to the Red Sox might be results. Will the Dodgers tolerate two last place finishes and frankly three out of four seasons that are disappointing? The new owners of the Dodgers seem to want to win every year. That’s not possible if they follow the Red Sox model. The Dodgers have a huge beast to feed.
“The Rays have had some rough drafts in recent years, resulting in a thin farm system” – this statement is very true and part of the problem was scouting a drafting bad characters who didnt apply themselves to the game. (i’m talking guys like Beckham & Sale)
Recently the higher round drafting of the Rays has been abuntandly wasteful and while Friedman has many strengths and brought alot of success to the Rays, this is a part of his legacy in Tampa and something Dodgers fans will need to be aware of.
LOL, Friedman’s a genius, a boy wonder, a miracle worker, yet, the Rays have had some bad drafts resulting in a thin farm system. Maybe, the Rays are glad to see him go.
Just because you’re good at one thing doesn’t mean you’re good at everything. If I were the Dodgers, I would draw a clear line between Friedman and the amateur scouting department. Whatever GM I brought in would be an expert at amateur scouting and 100% in control of that area. Friedman can spend his time doing other things. Just because you’re an Admiral in the Navy doesn’t mean you can be the General of the Air Force.
Fortunately, for the Dodgers, Logan White is as good as it gets in heading up a scouting and development department. Now that he has full financial backing from ownership, he quickly has revamped the Dodgers’ farm system.
Usually, the assistant or scouting director has the most input. The GM may make the first round pick, but after that, it is the Asst.
For instance, Neal Huntington has said more than once, that he has input on the first round picks, but trusts Roy Smith and his scouts after that.
So, these bad drafts for the Rays can’t be laid totally at the feet of Friedman.
I will disagree as director of baseball operations everything falls under Friedmans remit and as such he is responsible for staffing in areas such as scouting.
If Neil Huntington didnt trust Roy Smith and his scouts then he is in a posistion to make a staffing change.
Mr. Friedman please find us a Catcher among other priorities. AJ Ellis just doesn’t cut it.
Russell Martin?
AJ Ellis has the best avg in the playoffs, and the Dodgers were only in one round. Then he has a great partnership with the best pitcher in baseball. I think his maturity adds a great virtue to the team.
This is about improving the team with an offensive Catcher. Ellis would be a good backup catcher and could be used when Kershaw pitches.
Ellis is the least of the problems. Pitching pitching pitching. Of course it would be nice to have another Mike Piazza (his giveaway by Fox + McCourt was the beginning of the longggg Dodger malaise)
What phase is getting past the Cardinals in the playoffs?
It involves having a deep bullpen you can go to when your starting pitchers are getting tired. Dodgers lacked that in the postseason this year. Friedman is known for his ability to put together solid bullpens.
We cannot keep blaming the bullpen. Yes, the teams that do the best in the playoffs usually have great and deep bullpens, but we need discipline. Kershaw is a great player, and maybe he wanted to alleviate
Mattingly having to go to a weaker bullpen, but he is still a man and in the playoffs he should quit after six innings, everybody’s sore from the reg season and the playoffs are even worse. We would have had a better chance with a fresh pitcher, the seventh inning has shown a pattern.
I agree. All year long we saw the same thing: Mattingley or Honeycutt head out to the mound in the 7-8-9th inning to talk to Kershaw. If Kershaw says he can do it, they let him do it. And how often during the regular season did that not work out? I really don’t blame Mattingley for playing the hand in the postseason that worked for him all year.
Give the Dodgers their 2015 rings already!!!
Please oh please bring a new manager with you. It’d be a huge mistake not to start fresh there too!