On October 14, 2014 another new era in Dodger baseball was born. The delivery went smoothly as Andrew Friedman took over the reins of the team as President of Baseball Operations. He quickly proceeded to build his management team including Farhan Zaidi (former Oakland Athletics Assistant GM), Josh Byrnes (former San Diego Padres GM) , Bill Garparino (former Padres Scouting Director) and Gabe Kapler (former MLB player and analyst for Fox Sports).

Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman
(Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

Friedman himself had served as the Director of Baseball Development for the Tampa Bay Rays during the 2004 and 2005 seasons. He was promoted to the position of Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations and General Manager after the 2005 season, a position he held for the past nine baseball seasons. He was twenty-eight at the time of his appointment and inherited a team that had eight losing seasons since it’s inception in 1996.

Following the 2007 season in which the Rays lost 101 games, the team became very competitive in perhaps the strongest division in MLB, the Eastern Division of the American League. Through six winning seasons under Friedman the Rays clinched a division title, captured two Wild Cards and in 2010 had the league’s best record at 99-66. In 2008 the Rays advanced all the way to the World Series losing to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games. Three of those losses were by one run.

Friedman has gained a reputation as one of the brightest young minds in MLB. The transformation of the Rays from door mats to contenders that spanned a mere two years was considered to be somewhat of a minor miracle. As part of that miracle Friedman had hired Joe Maddon as team manager in preparation for the 2005 season.

On October 14, 2014, it was announced that Friedman would leave the Rays to become the President of Baseball Operations for the Dodgers. This time he inherited a team that was far from a bottom dwelling team. The Dodgers were coming off two post season performances and had a roster dotted with star players, but merely getting into the playoffs is a far cry from going home with a World Series ring.

In addition to filling out his player development and scouting staffs, Friedman has already made a number of roster changes with the Dodgers. He has not signed any big name free agents but has acquired the following players through minor league free agency, from the waiver wire or with trades: Pitchers Mike Bolsinger (26), Adam Liberatore (27), Juan Nicasio (28), Joel Peralta (39), infielders Buck Britton (28), Ryan Jackson (26) and outfielder Kyle Jensen (26). Ryan Jackson, Friedman’s first acquisition with the Dodgers, has since been traded to the Kansas City Royals for cash.

I couldn’t help but wonder what Friedman’s game plan might be. As I looked at the moves he has made thus far in his short time with the Dodgers, four possibilities came to mind:

• Insurance or depth for the big league club when the inevitable injuries occur.
• Infielders to get through the season while waiting for Corey Seager later in 2015 or starting in 2016.
• Strengthening the roster for AAA Oklahoma City to make a good showing in it’s first year as a Dodger affiliate.
• Replacements for players like O’Koyea Dickson, Darnell Sweeney or Scott Schebler who might go in trade for a shortstop like Alexi Ramirez. Those players, especially Schebler are closing in on being MLB ready.

I decided to look back at his days in Tampa hoping to find a few clues as to how Andrew Friedman operates and what he might do to get the Dodgers over the hump. Obviously the big difference now is that he is not in the financial straight jacket he was with the Rays. However, I don’t think he will be throwing money here and there at big name players in their thirties. I think one of his priorities is to return the Dodgers to fiscal responsibility reducing payroll not because he has to, but because it is the prudent thing to do. I expect his foray into free agency may net low cost workable pieces for the Dodgers. If a large ticket item is to be purchased I expect it will be for a starting pitcher.

First Year Player Draft

It is commonly thought that Friedman built the Rays with high first round draft selections. There is no denying this is somewhat true as he was able to draft two franchise players with early selections: Evan Longoria in 2006 with the third overall selections and David Price in 2007 with the first overall pick in the First Year Player Draft. Timothy Beckham, drafted first overall in 2008 has had only eight major league at bats. Beginning in 2009 Friedman no longer had the pick of the crop in the draft. His highest first round selection since 2009 was Josh Sale at number 17 in 2009 and Taylor Guerriere at number 24 in 2010. Unfortunately both were suspended for violating MLB’s drug policy – including Sale twice. Friedman did draft Ryan G. Zimmerman (the pitcher, not the third baseman) in the 12th round in 2005 but Zimmerman elected not to sign with the Rays and was never again drafted.

Friedman has had some success with picks in the later rounds as well, such as pitchers Matt Moore on the eighth round in 2007, Alex Cobb in the fourth round in 2006 and Jeremy Hellickson in the fourth round in 2005. His drafting pattern has been somewhat different than that of the Dodgers as Friedman has drafted a pitcher with his first round selection only once since 2008, whereas the Dodgers have a long history of drafted pitchers (especially high schoolers) in the early rounds. Generally speaking, Friedman has experienced both success and disappointment that the June Draft brings.

Trading

Under other circumstances Friedman might have been known as a wheeler and dealer in the trade market. However, he no doubt was driven by financial constraints in Tampa, not wanting to simply lose assets to free agency with no return. On the other hand he definitely showed no hesitation in dealing before a player’s free agency year. His trades often netted former high draft selections who were still young. Three of the Rays starting pitchers in 2014 were acquired in trades:

• Chris Archer age-26 was acquired in the Matt Garza trade with the Cubs. Archer was a fifth round draft selection.
• Drew Smyly age-25 was acquired in the David Price trade. Smyly was drafted in the second round.
• Jake Odorizzi age-24 was acquired in the James Shields trade. Odorizzi was a first round pick.
• Wil Myers age-23 was also acquired in the James Shields trade. The talented outfielder was selected in the third round in 2009.

Friedman is no longer in the same financial bind he was in with the Rays but I’m guessing the only untouchables on the Dodgers now are Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu. I think it would take a bundle to get Matt Kemp but I expect he will be discussed. I also don’t think Friedman will trade for Alexi Ramirez.

Free Agency

Friedman has not had the luxury of bidding on top of the line free agents but has clearly proven that he didn’t need to, although we might concede that one big name player possibly might have been enough to get the Rays over the top. Over the years Friedman has gotten yeoman service out of players like Carlos Pena, Casey Kotchman and James Loney, another first round selection.

Friedman’s genius with free agency may well be with relief pitchers. The Rays in the past three seasons have gone through a revolving door with their relief corps yet each year emerge with a strong contingent of relievers. Following the 2013 season the following relievers either left the Rays as free agents or were traded: Fernando Rodney, Jamey Wright. Alex Torres, Kyle Farnsworth and Wesley Wright. As the 2014 season began they were replaced by Brad Boxberger, Grant Balfour, Kirby Yates, Jeff Belliveau and Juan Carlos Oviedo. Boxberger was a first round draft selection by the Padres in 2009. The Rays relief corps didn’t skip a beat with the 2014 make over.

So what is Andrew Friedman’s plan? I’m no closer to knowing what it is than I was yesterday at this time. I think it is safe to say that his focus covers a fairly wide spectrum including solving the outfield glut, the shortstop issue, rebuilding the relief corps, shoring up the starting pitching staff, strengthening the bench, rebuilding the farm system (particularly at the AAA level) and restoring the Dodgers to a fiscally responsible position – that would be the focus of any baseball ops guy. How Friedman does all of this will be most intriguing.