The Dodgers finished the 2019 regular season with a win-loss record of 106 and 56, a historic number of wins for the Dodgers franchise. The 2019 Dodgers are a special group of players and coaches committed to winning the World Series. Let’s take a retrospective look at this team, starting with the personnel moves.

The Front Office

Nine days after the last out of the 2018 World Series the team’s General Manager, Farhan Zaidi, left to become the President of Baseball Operations for the San Francisco Giants; not a surprise to the Dodgers that someone as talented and respected as Zaidi would be highly coveted by other teams. It did, however, leave a void in the Dodgers front office at a very busy time with free agency, the tendering of contracts and the 2018 Winter Meetings knocking on the door.

Zaidi’s Dodgers duties were distributed amongst other executives, there was no rush to name a new General Manager, it was a methodical process that fans have come to expect from the leadership of Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman. It wasn’t until four months later that the team announced an organizational alignment to ‘replace’ Zaidi, promoting both Brandon Gomes and Jeff Kingston to Vice President and Assistant General Manager, essentially dividing Zaidi’s responsibilities between the two up-and-coming young executives.

Gomes’ previous position as Director of Player Development was filled with another internal promotion, Will Rhymes, who was the Assistant Farm Director. Alex Slater moved up to Director of Baseball Operations from his previous role in development and scouting. It is well known that the Dodgers operational strategy is to develop players with a robust development organization. It is not surprising that the front office is deep in talent, ready to step forward when needed.

The Coaching Staff

For an organization as successful as the Dodgers, it is unsurprising that other teams will come calling when they need managers or coaches. After the 2018 season, third base coach Chris Woodward left the Dodgers to become the Texas Rangers Manager and hitting coach Turner Ward left to take over the same duties for the Cincinnati Reds. Veteran third base coach Dino Ebel was hired to replace Woodward and young (32-year-old) hitting guru Robert Van Scoyoc replaced Ward. Assistant Hitting Coach Luis Ortiz and Danny Lehmann, Game Planning/Communications Coach, were not retained. Aaron Bates was the new Assistant Hitting Coach and Chris Gimenez assumed the responsibilities of Game Planning Coach.

The Roster

The best word to describe the Dodgers roster over the last several years is “fluid.”  In 2018 a total of 51-players made their way onto the roster. After the season, 23 of those players were either released, traded, or retired (Chase Utley). Two players who were retained never saw an inning on the active roster (pitcher Tony Cingranni and outfielder Andrew Toles) and left-handed relief pitcher Scott Alexander, who only pitched 17 ineffective innings due to assorted injuries.

You may recall some of the names: Axford, Hudson, Neal, Venditte, Rosscup, Goeddel, Koehler, Fields, Madson, Dozier, Machado, Locastro, et al. And, of course, there was the huge trade that sent malcontents Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp to the Cincinnati Reds (along with Alex Wood and Kyle Farmer) for Homer Bailey’s contract (he was immediately released) and young prospects Jeter Downs (shortstop) and Josiah Gray (pitcher) – both of whom have moved up very quickly within the Dodgers minor league system. By every indication, the Dodgers definitely won this trade.

2019 roster additions included catchers Russell Martin and Will Smith; infielders Tyler White, Jedd Gyorko, Edwin Rios and Gavin Lux; outfielders A.J. Pollock and Kyle Garlick; utility players Matt Beaty and Kristopher Negrón; and pitchers Tony Gonsolin, Joe Kelly, Adam Kolarek, Dustin May, Casey Sadler, and Josh Sborz – among several others who dropped by for a cup of coffee, as they say.

Up next, we’ll look back at the 2019 season itself.

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