Just prior to the 2015 MLB Winter Meetings in Nashville, we conducted a poll here on ThinkBlueLA to see what letter grade our readers gave Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi after their first full season in their respective positions. And while both Dodgers executives received an above average B grade, both were within a couple of votes of receiving a below average D grade. In fact in Zaidi’s case, he was actually tied at 27% for a B and a D.

But that poll was (by design) conducted before the Winter Meeting. There is little doubt that if a similar poll were held today – post Winter Meetings – those B’s would probably be D’s or F’s.

On Monday evening it was announced that free agent right-hander Johnny Cueto had come to terms with the San Francisco Giants for a six-year / $130 million deal that reportedly includes a suddenly chic opt-out clause after two years. As expected, social media exploded after the announcement with hundreds of anti-Friedman and Zaidi posts. And even though most of the big name media guys – including Dodgers beat writers and bloggers – refrained from jumping on the Friedman and Zaidi hate bandwagon, you get a sense that even they are beginning to question the pair’s lack of activity this off-season.

But do Friedman and Zaidi even care what fans and the media think about the job they are doing? Judging by their continuing lack of action, the answer appears to be an unequivocal and resounding no. That being said, one has to suspect that if the Friedman and Zaidi-led Dodgers continue to fall short of advancing beyond the National League Division Series, their respective geese may be cooked come next off-season.

Even though Friedman is entering only his second season with the Dodgers, you have to wonder how long Stan Kasten and the other Dodgers owners will put up with not making it to the World Series.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Cueto becomes the fourth and final top-of-the-rotation free agent starting pitcher to land a job this winter. Gone are David Price to the Red Sox, Jordan Zimmermann to the Tigers, Zack Greinke to the Diamondbacks and now Cueto to the Giants. Granted, there are still a couple of free agent starters available on the market (or available via trade), but none are in the same class as the aforementioned four. These four are number one or number two starters whereas guys like Mike Leake, Scott Kazmir and Wei-Yin Chen are, at best, number three starters or below – and the Dodgers already have plenty of those, such as Brett Anderson, Mike Bolsinger, Carlos Frias and eventually Brandon McCarthy and Hyun-jin Ryu.

Through eight major league seasons, Cueto is 2-5 with a 2.79 ERA against the Dodgers. He did not face them in 2015. (Photo credit – Dilip Vishwanat)

The thing to keep in mind is that although F&Z are extremely secretive with the media (and fans), they are very good at finding otherwise hidden players, including several former first or second round draft picks befell by injuries up to and including Tommy John surgery. But in spite of the risks in signing these guys, several still have tremendous potential in the big leagues. But while this all sounds good and is certainly an economical approach, it hasn’t worked out very well thus far, with Brett Anderson perhaps being the only exception. But here again, Anderson – who became the first pitcher in MLB history to accept a qualifying offer just last month – is, at best, a number three starter but more likely a number four or number five, this in spite of his tremendous popularity among Dodger fans and Twitter followers (he’s very funny).

To their credit, Friedman and Zaidi stood fast in their protection of top prospects Corey Seager, Julio Urias, Jose De Leon and even rookie outfielder Joc Pederson, who were all required to be included in any trade deals by other teams. But while this may have protected the very future of the Dodgers organization, it was also a deal-breaker in hopes of acquiring some of the most sought-after players on the trading block – including Marlins ace Jose Fernandez.

Perhaps the biggest head-scratcher was when Friedman was asked if Urias and De Leon would be in the mix for a starting rotation spot this spring.

“Not really,” Friedman said. “We want to do what’s right for those guys. Now we may get to spring training and it’s accelerated. It’s certainly not something we would plan on right now, with where those guys are. We feel like a number of them will impact us during the 2016 season. Don’t think it’s fair to them and their development to say we’re going to count on that in April of 2016. Now it may end up happening with injuries and things that happen, but it’s certainly not something that we’re planning for, as we sit here in December.”

The problem with this, of course, is that since the Dodgers lost out on the Fab Four (Price, Zimmermann, Greinke and now Cueto), they are quickly running out of alternatives to fill the spots behind ace Clayton Kershaw. And to come right out and say that you have already eliminated Urias and De Leon a full two months before spring training even begins didn’t sit too well with anxious Dodger fans.

What it all boils down to is that Friedman and Zaidi are quickly running out of time to assemble a pitching staff for 2016 (and beyond) that can rival those of the Dbacks and Giants. And should they continue to do so before pitchers and catchers report on February 19, their respective jobs with the Dodgers may be running out of time as well.