Dodgers’ Andrew Friedman Reveals Biggest Goal of 2024 Offseason
The Los Angeles Dodgers were one of the most successful teams following the trade deadline in July. Making acquisitions like reliever Michael Kopech, utility man Tommy Edman, and starting pitcher Jack Flaherty, the Dodgers fortified their roster down the stretch.
However, the Los Angeles front office likely won’t be doing much next season around the trade deadline.
“My goal is to not buy in July,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has said this offseason. “I am setting that out there right now. My goal is to do everything we can right now to not buy in July. It is terrible.”
During the trade deadline, the prices of players are much higher than they would’ve been in the winter. While the Dodgers made some key additions last season in July, the team is hoping to fortify the roster this offseason in order to avoid any last minute trades.
The Dodgers have already made multiple signings this winter, taking arguably the best starting pitcher off the market in free agent ace Blake Snell. The Dodgers also signed outfielder Michael Conforto and reliever Blake Treinen on the eve of the Winter Meetings.
The latest signing was the long-awaited return of outfielder Teoscar Hernández, who will be returning to the Dodgers on a three-year, $66 million contract. Just two days after Christmas, Hernández posted on his Instagram story a black background with this caption: “I’m back.” After weeks of contrasting reports, Hernández finally found his way back to Los Angeles.
Now that the Dodgers secured their outfield bat in Hernández, the team will likely turn to signing another high-leverage arm in the bullpen.
While the Dodgers were linked to change-up specialist Devin Williams for several weeks, the New York Yankees snagged him. Williams was even surprised to hear he was joining the American League, because he kept being told he would be going to the Dodgers.
There is now speculation the Dodgers will pivot to free agent reliever Tanner Scott, a Friars free agent. If the Dodgers hope to be silent during the trade deadline next season, then it’s practically a guarantee more moves will be coming soon.
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Have you subscribed to our YouTube Channel yet? Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest Dodgers news, rumors, interviews, live streams, and more!
Friedman has done very well in trading for help at the trade deadline (and at other times). Yu Darvish. Manny Machado. Max Scherzer in the past. In 2024 he obtained players who were essential to winning the World Series: Kopech, Edman, Flaherty. Without those players the Dodgers would not have won the World Series; they would not have made it to the World Series. They gave up very little to get those players. Friedman made one bad trade at a deadline in the past — giving up Yordan Alvarez for a relief pitcher. This will happen sometimes. There may be some very useful players available this year (and in future years) at the trade deadline available in exchange for Dodger farm hands who are blocked from making it to the 26 man roster any time soon. Overall Friedman has been A+ in trades, at any time of year. Michael Busch and Yency Almonte for Zyhir Hope and Jackson Ferris may turn out to be a very good trade for the Dodgers, someday. Unless they will platoon Wil Smith with Dalton Rushing [Will Smith plays too many games, it wears him down, hurts his hitting productivity, Barnes does not hit well enough to platoon with him, a platoon of Smith and Rushing (a left hand hitter) would be good for the Dodgers] then trading Rushing is the logical thing to do — maybe for Luis Robert, Jr.
Yep, sign Tanner Scott and then see if they can STEAL Nolan Arenado from the Cardinals along with Ryan Helsley.
SO ANDREW FRIEDMAN IMPLIES/SAYS IT’S BETTER TO BUY IN THE WINTER BECAUSE PLAYERS ARE CHEAPER, YET HE BOUGHT MICHAEL CONFORTO FOR 17 MIL PER YEAR. 17 MILLION PER YEAR! IS THIS CHEAP FOR A MARGINAL PLAYER WHO THE VECCHIO FACTOR THINKS ANDREW BOUGHT FOR AN OVER-PRICED NUMBER? IS THIS NOT A HEAD SCRATCHER? THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU HAVE MONEY-MANAGERS RUNNING A BASEBALL TEAM. NOW PEOPLE WILL SAY, “BUT LA WON THE WORLD SERIES LAST YEAR, SO WHY CRITICIZE THEM?” WELL, IT’S TRUE THEY WON, BUT THE STARS WERE ALIGNED IN MANY INSTANCES. THEY SEEMED TO HAVE THINGS GO THEIR WAY, LIKE FREEMAN’S WALK-OFF GRAND SLAM, & THE YANKEES ERROR-FILLED 5TH INNING OF THE 5TH GAME, ALLOWING LA TO TIE THE GAME AFTER THE YANKS WENT UP 5-0. PEOPLE MIGHT SAY THEY WERE A TEAM OF DESTINY. WHATEVER IT WAS, THEY WON THE SERIES, AND PROPS TO THE DODGERS. BUT REMEMBER THEY’VE WON 2 WS TITLES IN 36 YEARS; ONE BEING A SHORTENED SEASON “ASTERISK” WIN OIN 2020. OUR QUESTION IS, WHAT IS STAN KASTEN AND ANDREW DOING WITH THE YEARLY DEFERRED 68 MILLION OHTANI GIFTED THEM WITH? SURE THEY SIGNED A GREAT LEFTY, BLAKE SNELL, BUT WHY NOT SIGN THE BEST RIGHTY, CORBIN BURNES?? GETTING HIM WOULD’VE NAILED IT FOR LA IN THE NL WEST DIVISION, AND MAYBE ALL OF BASEBALL! COULD IT BE “PENNY-PINCHER” MENTALITY PREVENTED IT? AS MONEY-MANAGER FRIEDMAN SAYS, ‘BETTER TO BUY IN THE WINTER, THE PRICES ARE CHEAPER!’ ANDREW, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR “BUY CHEAP” IN THE WINTER PHILOSOPHY? IT’S NOW GOING TO WORK AGAINST YOU BECAUSE ARIZONA JUST SIGNED THE BEST RIGHT HANDER IN MLB, CORBIN BURNES! IT’S THE WINTER, SO WTF ARE YOU DOING WITH THE DEFERRED MONEY SHOEHEI GAVE YOU? AS A FORMER PRO BASEBALL PLAYER, THIS DOESN’T EQUATE. PITCHING IS JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING IN MLB, AND YOU HAD A CHANCE TO LOCK UP A STRONG POSITION TO GET BACK TO THE WORLD SERIES. INSTEAD OF PLAYING “BUY CHEAP IN WINTER,” YOU PLAYED YOUR MONEY-MANAGER, “GARMENT STREET MENTALITY.” GAME WITH BURNES, INSTEAD OF USING DEFERRED MONEY, AND OPT OUTS, LIKE ARIZONA DID WITH BURNES. WHERE’S YOUR ‘BASEBALL HEAD?’ IT DOESNT ADD UP! YOU SIGNED AN OVER-PRICED MEDIOCRE PLAYER IN THE WINTER, CONFORTO, AND ALLOWED THE BEST RIGHTY TO SIGN ELSEWHERE…IN THE WINTER WHEN IT’S SUPPOSEDLY CHEAPER! IT’S ALL A HEAD-SCRATCHER, BUT SHOWS HOW YOUR LITTLE LEAGUE, HEAD-SCRATCHING, BASEBALL MIND WORKS! WITH THE GOBS OF MONEY AVAILABLE FROM THE GUGGENHEIM DODGERS OWNERSHIP GROUP, THERE’S NO EXCUSE TO NOT SPEND DEFERRED MONEY TO SIGN A CORBIN BURNES TO ARGUABLY FURTHER CEMENT A DODGER DYNASTY FOR AT LEAST THE NEXT 10 YEARS!