It has been a question on the mind of every Dodger fan on the planet, especially recently and especially during and after the just-concluded 2021 National League Championship Series, when things went terribly wrong for the Dodgers:

“Are the decisions being made by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts coming from Andrew Friedman?”

During his first off-season media session on Wednesday afternoon at a very empty Dodger Stadium, Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman was asked this question – point-blank, which he answered – point-blank:

“I’ve answered this question each year after – they’re Dave’s decisions, with Danny Lehmann, Mark Prior, and Bob Geren; guys in the dugout.

“We do a lot of work to prepare ahead of time to understand like how certain relievers match up against certain hitters. They go through and figure out runs. Games play out in so many different ways that it’s impossible to anticipate it before. And so, those decisions are made in the dugout, as they should be, because so many things have changed in the two, two and a half, three, four hours from when just kind of going through it.

“I think it’s more, and I think to just compliment Dave and our coaching staff, their focus is on doing everything they can to put our players in the best position to succeed. And by doing that, obviously we win a lot more games than we lose if we continue to do that and we have the requisite talent to be able to do it. But the answer’s no different than what it’s been: In games, during those moments, it’s a hundred percent their decision.

“And as I’ve said in the past, there are a lot of things that happen in the course of a game that personally I disagree with, and often times they work out on what we actually did. So many decisions that are made are in that middle, they’re 40-60, 45-55, like, very few things are on extremes. And so, being in the dugout, I think, is different You have a different feel for those things than you do sitting in the stands – meaning me – and things that have come up, and factors that have played out that I don’t know about until after the game. But I think they’re really good at making decisions”

Asked and answered.

…until next season.

Play Ball!

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