Dodgers Front Office: Friedman and Zaidi Recap Season and World Series
On Thursday, Los Angeles Dodgers’ President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and General Manager Farhan Zaidi spoke to the press in an end of season press conference. This is a recap of that press conference.
Among the topics that came up:
Clayton Kershaw
Both Zaidi and Friedman said that discussions with the pitcher who extended his opt-out deadline to Friday as ‘ongoing pleasant’. Friedman stated that Kershaw’s impact has been maximum from on the field and a culture standpoint. It was stated when there is ‘something to announce’ it will be.
Dave Roberts
Friedman said that talks were ongoing throughout the year that the manager would be ‘working with the front office for a long time’. Nevertheless, he re-stated that when there is something to announce the organization will do so. There is currently no deadline with Roberts’ negotiations.
Negotiations were tabled during the season – and Friedman doesn’t see obstacles in re-signing Roberts. It would appear a deal is imminent.
Farhan Zaidi
Friedman said the organization gets a lot of requests (in regards to Zaidi being granted permission to interview with the Giants). Zaidi stated that his plans are to work for the Dodgers in 2019, and his focus is on his current work in the weeks ahead. The GM said that he would not address his interest in the Giants job.
World Series 2018
Friedman said that with so much going on – it’s been tough to reflect back. He emphasized struggles offensively and so many guys at one point slumping made things difficult. The margin for error on the pitching side was small due to offensive struggles. There will not be re-thinking in regards to the platoon lineups or the leading home run hitters being on the bench. Friedman said they had an extremely deep lineup against left-handed pitching as well (as against RHP). He felt that both lineups were well-balanced. The World Series result simply came down to struggles in that series.
Zaidi said that strategic decisions by Dave Roberts are directly from his own gut, and conversations with the front office. The GM said that a lot of credit goes to the Red Sox for being an incredible team. He thinks the microscopes need to come down, and criticism of the manager is somewhat invalid. Blame should go around to both Zaidi and Roberts, but again he credits the Red Sox with playing well. The focus is on the roster and how they can get well but responsibility for the loss goes around.
The organization is proud of returning to the World Series while not accomplishing the ultimate goal. Resiliency of the team was praised by Friedman. Friedman compliments the core of players in place – he likes the position of the team for 2019. A great deal of turnover was asked about in regards to the roster. Friedman talked off this point to a degree without answering.
Luxury Tax
It’s not something that has been actively reviewed but there are ‘plenty of resources’ to go around Friedman stated.
Platoon Lineups
The front office has not looked at it in a level of detail in regards to slumps being created by the lineup. In terms of reps and at-bats, Friedman sees the weakness more as shortening the bench (over not getting reps). Up and down the lineup, guys got to play a lot and had more opportunities on other teams.
Zaidi pointed to the World Series MVP (Steve Pearce) as a platoon guy example that had success. Again, Zaidi said the Red Sox pitching was unbelievable in the series. The Dodgers went with an approach that gave them the best chance to succeed and it simply fell short.
Manny Machado
Machado filled a large hole when Seager went down Friedman stated. Friedman said he was better at shortstop than anticipated. In regards to the ‘not hustling’, some guys don’t hustle and don’t care. Friedman feels that Machado doesn’t hustle but does care and said it wasn’t a great look. His teammates really like and respect him.
Zaidi said that things happen in the heat of battle but Machado did care a lot.
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They (the front office) and Dave Robert’s are total losers and it showed big time this year. They can made all excuses they want.
Bottom line they lost games with how they ” MANAGED ” the team..with Robert’s the puppet
you nailed it on the dot let the manager manage friedman needs to go !!!
It starts at top is where blame should start the red Sox was a good team seen in many years they had no weak links. Pitching keep Dogers off score board. With a good starter and rebuild of bullpen back in business don’t throw stones unless you know who is in charge. Get the gm that made tampa bay e knows a baseball player most new upstarts are in minors when comes to knowledge . third base and hitting coaches are up most importance.
I wouldn’t call the front office total losers; they did make better moves this year than 2017, but they are slow learners, and I hate the way they manipulate the manager and play their BS analytics game. If they lose Kershaw, the face of the franchise for the last decade, I am done with them, despite the talent and character of most of our players.
The 2018 Dodger “players” deserve credit for achieving what they did. No team was capable of beating the Red Sox this year
Are you kidding me, 17.9 million for a mediocre to poor catcher who strikes out a lot!!! Dave Roberts over manages based only on analytics instead of how a player is playing.
How can you call world series runner up losers?
They made it to the show two years in a row.
You must not be a true Dodgers fan.