Dodgers Team News

Dodgers: Andrew Friedman Shares Thoughts on Trade Deadline

The MLB trade deadline came and went as the Dodgers were busy winning their MLB-best 71st game of the season. While the club added complementary pieces at best with the trades for infielder Jedd Gyorko from the Cardinals, and left-handed pitcher Adam Kolarek from the Rays, it still fell short of expectations.

After the game, Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman shared his thoughts on how the deadline went down for Los Angeles.



Friedman says the team made offers on impact players, but the asking prices in baseball were just too high at this deadline.

I think throughout the last 3 or 4 days, the confidence on lining up on something was kind of a roller coaster ride, but ultimately the small list of guys we really targeted and spent a lot of time and energy on were guys that ultimately didn’t move.

With 16 teams within 3.5 games of a playoff berth, the deadline just seemed to come at the wrong time in the season (which, of course, is the same time as every season). Too many teams were unsure what to do with their assets.

Moreover, With names like Vazquez, Greene, Diaz, and others linked to the Dodgers for the last few weeks, the clubhouse reportedly never grew concerned about whether they would add someone to their ranks or not.

As Dodgers Nation shared today, manager Dave Roberts is keenly aware of the nature of the trade deadline over his career. He understands what it takes for a player to keep his head down and compete through the noise.

While the Cubs (Nick Castellanos) and Astros (Zack Greinke) did their part to get better equipped for a World Series run, the Dodgers will instead rest on their prospects, and acquisition of Kolarek to bolster its bullpen heading into October.

Clint Pasillas

Clint Pasillas has been writing, blogging, and podcasting about the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2008. Under Clint's leadership as the Lead Editor, Dodgers Nation has grown into one of the most read baseball sites in the world with millions of unique visitors per month. Find him online on Twitter/X or his YouTube channel!

21 Comments

  1. The guys they did get make sense.
    There was no need to reinvent the Dodgers
    The infield support, a right hand bat & new relievers may just do the trick.

    Just do not allow Pederson to play first base, a damn disaster that screwed up the entire infield, and do not rely on Jensen as the only closer, he’s lost a lot and is too emotionally unstable to adjust.

  2. The Asstros are going to beat us in the World Series again and it’s going to be so embarrassing especially with Greinke getting his ring before everyone on our team. We will officially become the biggest joke in baseball

  3. The Astros are going to beat us again in the World Series and it’s going to be embarrassing especially with Greinke getting his ring before us. We will officially become the joke of baseball

  4. The organization gives away Yordan Alvarez and talk about loosing asset’s? They fail to improve their bullpen for yet another year. As a Dodger fan maybe for the last year LOL, just hope they don’t humiliate the city with a 3 peat of lost world series. The Astros were brilliant with their improvement’s and the Yankees spare no expense. Our Lil Dodgers look like the lil brother once again just kicking rocks at the end of the season.

        1. It was a puzzling deadline for other reasons. The Astros gave up almost nothing to get two (rather quesitonable but possibly very decent) pitchers. The Braves gave up little for Shane Greene.

  5. I respect the baseball acumen of Andrew Friedman. Better not to make a deal than to make a bad deal. This was a particularly tough trading season. The guys really worth going after couldn’t be bargained for. So be it. Attitude wins games and attitude wins championships. The Dodgers currently have the tools to do both.

    1. The trade market this season was too expensive. Friedman was not willing to pay the current market prices. It’s really pretty simple……..Too bad the Dodgers could not get some relief help, seriously jeopardizes their chances to advance in the playoffs. But to keep developing talent from within the farm system, as they have been doing, something had to give. There is a reason the Dodgers now have Seager, Bellinger, Buehler, Perderson, Smith, Beaty and Verdugo all playing major roles in the everyday. I am quite sure if Friedman had been willing to part with Lux, Ruiz or May he could have acquired relief help. I am sure most of the Dodger fans are upset right now, but I understand keeping these guys. Ask the Astros, who now have emptied their pantry, making trades in this new no waiver trade environment comes at a severe cost.

  6. Having a good farm system is great ! Always looking at it his way,( Friedman. ) not what people are trying to say ,but That is what he gets paid for,saving the future .I don’t even want to go on hoping we don’t have to say like in the past “Wait till next year”

    1. When does the future arrive, in terms of a WS win? How often will we be as well situated as we are this year? Look at Boston from last year to this. No guarantees we’ll be great when the prospects are ready to contribute (if they ever are).

  7. I just don’t understand the fear of dealing a prospect or two. It’s not like we have an aging core that will need multiple replacements soon. Belli, Seager, Buehler, Verdugo, Smith and Beaty have us well positioned to at least compete for the foreseeable future. While there’s no guarantee a trade for a reliever would have brought a WS Championship there’s also no guarantee that all these prospects will become stars. You would be trading potential future impact for proven current impact. It’s great to be in the hunt every year, but at some point you really need to pull the trigger. I always understood that the ultimate objective was to win, not just compete.

  8. With the Astros getting Greinke even if we got a reliever we wouldn’t be able to beat them. They have 3 solid starters. I hate to say it but, wait to next year? If Lux can play second or third we would be set in the infield. In the off season we can strengthen the ball pen. Next year could be the one!

  9. MLB stated yesterday just before the deadline that from 2012 thru 2017 there were 429 prospects traded. Only 20.1 % made the majors. You better be damn sure the prospects you are afraid to trade are going to be in that 20%. Otherwise, it’s just poor management.

  10. Kelly, Kelly, Kelly. If he lives up to his contract, we have a decent shot in the WS, assuming we get by the Nationals and Braves. He’s been the key all along, but so far he has for whatever reason underperformed big time.

  11. It wouldn’t have made sense to trade May or/Lux for a reliever. Ruiz is expendable because we don’t need three catching prospects and Smith is looking pretty good right now. Unfortunately we are set up once again to come up just short this year and the Astros appear to have taken the step we were not willing to. Our bullpen remains a question mark and we saw last year that good pitching beats good hitting every time. Being “competitive” every year will never replace winning. The Red Sox have had some really bad teams in the past 15 years. They have also won four titles. You would have to be a fool to trade that for the Brave’s- like consistency we seem to be trending toward.. Unless, of course, Mr, Friedman aspires to be first modern team executive to make the Hall of Fame without actually winning a title.

  12. Folks, as was pointed out on MLBN, while they didn’t come out and say Dodgers were losers at this deadline, they did allude to them not being winners, which is the case here. Again we could have landed the relievers necessary for this BP, but IMHO the Dodgers would not win a WS with this current offense anyway. Too Left handed heavy for one thing, (would struggle against the better elite LHP in the AL), inconsistent for another thing by the way lineups are managed, and lastly no matter the relievers we may have had, the Astros and the Yankees offenses are far superior to ours as it stands.

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