I’m assuming at some point before spring training camps break they will hire a GM. Far be it from me to say the Dodgers haven’t done anything this winter. After another agonizing World Series defeat, (this time to the Boston Red Sox in five games) the Dodgers did resign Clayton Kershaw to a three-year 93 million dollar contract extension. They also picked up David Freese’s contract, and then slung a qualifying offer Hyun-Jin Ryu’s way. Which the left handed pitcher happily accepted. So to say the Dodgers haven’t been hard at work would be false.
Then again, the Dodgers need a lot of work. They have several vacancies on the player, coaching and executive rosters that need to be filled right away. Quickly filling those holes with quality players/coaches/executives would greatly increase their chances of winning the World Series in 2019. At least that’s what online betters are hoping for. One of the most important roles to fill is the vacant general manager position recently vacated by Farhan Zaidi. The former Dodger GM took a president of baseball operations job with the hated rival San Francisco Giants. With Zaidi gone, Andrew Friedman has to start vetting potential GM candidates.
Of course he’s in no rush to do so, according to an article from the OC Register. Friedman stated that he just hasn’t wrapped his arms around it yet. It’s not like the general manager job is important or anything. Actually I’m being quite sarcastic. The GM position is one of the most important if not the most important jobs in the front office.
So why doesn’t Friedman think this is important enough to start working on this right away? I’m not a huge fan of his work flow method. He’s treating this the same way he builds his player roster. He waits until the very last minute until everyone is already hired or acquired. Why not get ahead of this now? Again, Friedman has said he just hasn’t wrapped his arms around this yet.
Friedman said he did not know if the Dodgers would hire a new general manager to replace Zaidi in the near future. That decision – along with a job description for a new hire – is one of many Friedman said he has yet to “wrap my arms around” with a series of departures from the Dodgers’ front-office and on-field staff following their second consecutive trip to the World Series.
“I’m not sure yet,” he said of replacing Zaidi. “Farhan was strongly deliberating over the weekend up to yesterday. There was so much going on that I didn’t really start to wrap my arms around it. Now I will. But I’m not concerned about the near-term workflow with the guys that we have. There are going to be some guys who are going to step up and do more which is great.”
If we can get a glimpse of who the Dodgers could possibly be interested in to replace Zaidi, reports indicate that Friedman and the Dodgers are considering two executives from the Oakland A’s organization. Where else would they hire someone from? Assistant GM and director of player personnel Billy Owens, and assistant GM and pro scouting and player development director Dan Feinstein are both considered to be in the running. The Dodgers are also looking at senior vice president of baseball operations Josh Byrnes as well among a couple of other internal candidates.
To be fair, we don’t know if any of the above are really being considered, or if the Dodgers are even holding interviews. Here’s hoping that Friedman understands that they can hire someone from outside the Oakland organization.
The decision not to immediately look to hire a replacement is about “not forcing it,” Friedman said.
“I’m not opposed to it,” he said. “It’s just with everything we have going on, figuring out when it makes sense, who. I just really haven’t had time to wrap my arms around it.”
Ok Andrew.
Typical Friedman, and you are so right about waiting until the last minute. He does the same thing with signing or trading for players.
The Yankees were the last team to make 3+ straight WS appearances and they won 3 out of those 4 in a row they made it to. It is very difficult in this day and age to really expect ANY team to make 3 straight WS appearances and if I am honest the Dodgers will not do what it may take to return to WS in 2019 at all.
Not having a GM will save them another salary. So they’re all for that.
This organization has an illness.
True
Yes it does have an illness and its called stupidity. Every year it is the same story, they tell you that do not want to exceed the cap and then go dumpster diving or using a kid who is not ready. They tell the fan base that they have tried to secure a free agent but it was too much money or the contract was too long, or they were just a little late getting in on or they didn’t know, or any number of reasons they can think of. Then they go back to using whatever is available and claim there was no money and then we call them cheap and some go ballistic and say this is the way it is supposed to go. Sound familiar? We as Dodger fans have no choice but to accept whatever they say. Meanwhile, we never win the big one. ,We put up with stupid managers and stupid FO. Just another in the unending saga of LYING FRIEDMAN.
Friedman’s strategy reminds me of when I go shopping on Christmas Eve and just take whatever’s left. It reduces the number of choices I have to make and saves money. Of course, nobody’s happy with their gifts but at least I can say I had my eyes on some really great gifts but unfortunately they just weren’t available.
Snider Fan
That comment is priceless and true.ha