With Dodger baseball on indefinite hiatus, it’s tough to find topics to write about. There are no games going on so what’s a writer to do? Most sites are doing simulations, or looking back on past games and remembering old players. There was recently an article published outlining and grading all of the Andrew Friedman trades since his hiring as the Dodger’s president of baseball operations back in December of 2014.
I’m not as anti-Friedman as you may think I am. There has been a lot of success, mostly on the position player side. Players like Max Muncy, Chris Taylor, Enrique Hernandez are all great players and regular producers. Walker Buehler is awesome and the player development has been vastly improved. Kudos. There have been 5 consecutive division titles, and two World Series appearances. That’s all great. But let’s not pretend that the existing core talent (Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen, Justin Turner, Cody Bellinger, Corey Seager, Joc Pederson Etc. ) were all already on hand. Not to mention that most of his pitching acquisitions have been total disasters.
Regardless of my opinion, Friedman got a B grade from the pollsters. Perhaps you would agree? I might be so inclined to give him a high C grade myself, but that’s just my opinion. Whether you love or hate Friedman, you should always be challenging authority. Never be afraid to be critical of people making millions of dollars per year. Don’t ever be a conformist. Think independently and question leadership. What grade would you give Friedman?
I am of the same mind you are Scott. A high C. Why some might ask? Easy, as many decent player pickups as he has made, Muncy, Taylor, Hernandez, and the crop of talent they now have in the minors, the failures far out weigh the success. And you can start with his free agents. Then move on to their international signings. The Cuban connection really has flamed out. Other than Puig, who was Colletti’s regime’s signing, not one of the Cuban players made a huge impact. Guerrero had some good games, but was gone after 1 1/2 years with the team. Aruebarrena was a total bust. Alvarez has never come close to being what they thought he could be. In in season trades for the most part have been forgettable. Just look at the ones he made last year. He brought in Negron, ok, Gyorko, worthless, and White, even more worthless. Negron retired, they did not retain Gyorko, and White was removed from the 40 man roster. For every Muncy, there have been 10 Gyorko’s. Especially on the pitching side, and one of his trades resulted in a Rookie of the Year for the Astros. Yep, Fields for Alvarez. Hill and Reddick? Only decent after Hill resigned as a free agent the next year. Reddick was about as bad as you can get in a Dodger uni. Machado? 5 for 1, nobody the O’s got has done anything for them yet, but Machado was no where near the player he was in Baltimore. As a matter of fact, his BA dropped 40 points, his power fell off, and he was lousy in the World Series. He had few impactful games during the regular season. But he at least filled a need with Seager out. What is more insightful about that trade is that the Dodgers made zero effort to retain him after the season. None. Yeah, AF has made a few decent trades and signings. But for the most part, he has not been the genius everyone thinks he is.
B. Only because he hasn’t totally screwed it up. This team and organization were good and deep when he took over and they still are.
Thats exactly why I would give him a C grade….maybe a C+.
The team was a 90 win team with a young core and a highly touted farm system prior to Friedman arriving.
Well, he won over 100 a couple times and got to the World Series. It’s quite likely we would have won at least 1 of those had the field been level.
B. No A because of all the shaky erzatz moves Bear brought up. I’m ok with those who say C too. I’m an easy grader.
So what say you all – we gonna have a season and win it all in an empty park in Glendale, Arizona?
Kershaw said he would not do it. He would not be away from his family for 4 months. I do not think that plan has much support from the players, especially those with family’s .
Not surprised. I would think the players as a collective would be against it, but pressure may be applied.
Its a 50-50 proposition whether the ‘season’ takes place. The MLB plan is to play in AZ only and I don’t believe the players will go for that.
I was intrigued with the 15 teams in FL playing each other and the 15 teams in AZ playing each other. Play everyone in your 5 team division 10X and everyone else in the state 6X. 100 game schedule.
Season begins Memorial Day Weekend.
4 teams in each state advance to playoffs. 3 div winners and 1 wildcard. Playoffs are played in the teams home stadiums/cities with capacity limited to 50% or less. Best of 3, best of 5 then WS best of 7.
All teams need to report May 1st or there abouts. They all have diamonds and facilities in place and the players families are allowed to be there.
It’s an interesting proposal, but I don’t think it works. Not without Florida and that state is way behind the curve. They’ve moved the “peak date” out to May 6th. Arizona’s has also moved – to May 2. Those dates for each state have been moving, and I predict they will keep moving. We just don’t have a handle on this thing and the players are going to know it.
Testing. Contact tracing. Vaccine. We have none of that. Baseball? Seems rather unimportant on the grand scheme of things.
Jackie Robinson day and no baseball. Kind of surreal. If and when they do play, the one thing it will do is make people feel better. So many are missing the games. I am with Badger. I think they need at least a month start up time. I know most are doing as much as they can as far as keeping in shape and baseball related exercises. The richer players probably have better facilities at home. Not like the old days when George Shuba hung a baseball from the rafters in his basement and he would take 1000 swings a day at that ball. Lets just get the country healthy and well and past any danger of a catastrophic pandemic. Numbers are not great, but it could have been a lot worse.
Yes sir, you nailed it.
Video on Twitter of Joe Kelly throwing at home and missing the net completely and shattering a bedroom window. Caption says, Kelly in mid season form! Pretty funny stuff. Reminds me of one back in the day, Brett Butler was pitching to his kid, do not remember how old he was, but the kid hit the ball right back at Butler and hit him in his package…..Totally hilarious.
ha ha ha that is funny Michael.