In his 10 seasons as the Dodgers President of Baseball Operations, Andrew Friedman has been responsible for the acquisition of some of the best players to ever wear a Dodger uniform, either by trade, free agency, via the MLB draft, or homegrown through one of the best farm systems in the game today.

For those unfamiliar with Friedman’s baseball background, it is rather extensive and quite impressive. He was an outfielder at Tulane University. Like his father Kenneth, Andrew played for the Tulane Green Wave on a baseball scholarship. He was part of the team when, in 1996, won the inaugural Conference USA championship. Friedman played under longtime Tulane coach Rick Jones briefly before injuries to his wrist and shoulder ended his playing career. He grew up in Houston, TX. As such, he was a huge Astros fan and hung out around the Astrodome, where he struck up friendships with players and team employees.

Friedman worked as an investment banker before joining the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, having become friends with team owner Stuart Sternberg. He became Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations for the Devil Rays following the 2005 season, a position he held until the end of the 2014 season. As the Rays VP of Baseball Operations, he oversaw the team’s transformation from cellar dweller to perennial postseason contenders, whose success began with the team’s name change to the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008, during which they had their first winning season and reached the 2008 World Series on the strength of a core of home-grown players, complemented by others acquired in smart trades.

Operating on a modest budget, the Rays managed to sign a few stars to long-term contracts, most notably three-time All-Star and 2008 Rookie of the Year third baseman Evan Longoria, although a big portion of that success was the result of obtaining good value through trades in return for players who were about to become too expensive.

During his time in Tampa Bay, Friedman worked with only one manager, Joe Maddon. There was a certain amount of secrecy behind the Rays’ success, as Friedman would not divulge the names of those working for him, some of whom were likely statistical analysts, as the Rays tried a number of unusual things over the years, such as unorthodox line-up choices and defensive shifts.

On October 14, 2014, Friedman was hired by Dodgers team President Stan Kasten to become team’s new GM, replacing Ned Colletti. He was also named the Dodgers President of Baseball Operations. Under Colletti, the Dodgers had failed to advance to the World Series in spite of having the largest payroll in the MLB and Kasten saw Friedman as the man to take them over the hump. Kasten said, however, that his objective was to eventually a hire full-time GM to work under his orders, while Friedman would concentrate on the bigger picture.

On November 4, 2014, Kasten hired Oakland A’s assistant GM Farhan Zaidi to be the team’s new GM and in their third season togethar, the Friedman-Zaidi-led Dodgers reached the World Series in back-to-back seasons in 2017 and 2018, after which Zaidi left to become GM of the San Francisco Giants. Friedman decided not to replace him, instead taking over part of the duties, and promoting former pitcher and long-time friend Brandon Gomes to assistant GM to help him out. Gomes was promoted to GM in January of 2022, as Friedman finally decided to let go of day-to-day operations after having led the Dodger to a third World Series title in 2020.

Ok, so that’s Friedman’s background, which, again, is extensive and impressive.

Unfortunately, following the 2021 season, Friedman did not re-sign (then) 27-year-old and (then) extremely popular free agent shortstop Corey Seager, who he had drafted in the first round in 2012 out of Northwest Cabarrus High School in Concord, NC. In his seven seasons with the Dodgers, Seager posted a ridiculous .297/.367/.504/.870 slashline, with 104 home runs and 364 RBIs, not to mention the fact that he was the National League’s Rookie of the Year in 2016, a two-time All-Star, and a two-time Silver Slugger winner.

Seager was very quickly snatched up by the Texas Rangers, with whom he is a three-time All-Star, a Silver Slugger winner, and finished second in the AL MVP voting in 2023.

In his stead, The Friedman-led Dodgers have had a nightmare of time finding a fulltime replacement for the future Hall of Fame shortstop, especially with 31-year-old eight-time All-Star, six-time Gold Glove winner, six-time Silver Slugger, former MLB MVP and Player of the Year Mookie Betts currently on the 10-day IL recovering from a broken left hand after being hit by a pitch on June 17. But as Dodger fans well know, and though he has done a steller job as the Dodgers shortstop, his two natural positions are second base and right field.

The hope is that Betts will soon return to action, presumably at second base, but a 10-day stint on the IL for a fractured hand seems a bit optomistic. But when Betts does finally return, where does Friedman and his injury-plagued team go from there?

“I don’t think our mentality is different than it’s been in previous years in that we feel we have a really good team and to the extent that we can add really good players, we’re going to be aggressive to do so,” Friedman recently told The Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett. “What appears to be a marginal upgrade is not something we’re going to spend a lot of time on. That doesn’t mean something is not going to happen along those lines, but that’s not where our energy and focus will be.”

Kind of sounds like Friedman is once again working on something big, doesn’t it?

Perhaps very big.

Play Ball!

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