The Los Angeles Dodgers have long been the industry leaders within Major League Baseball.
Aside from the team’s immense success on the field sustained for over a decade, the group is known for being cutting-edge, shrewd, immense smart, transcendent, and creative. Anyone working within the sacred Andrew Friedman braintrust will garner interest from other organizations looking to replicate this exact model as best as possible.
Unsurprisingly, it appears as if one of those front office geniuses is being looked at for a position outside of the organization.
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The team of Keith Law, Ken Rosenthal, Sahadev Sharma, and Patrick Mooney all contributed to a report for The Athletic which spoke on a vacant front office position for the Washington Nationals. The job would appear to be an attractive one given its location and the young core currently on the roster.
“As the Washington Nationals look for a new head of baseball operations, the club has contacted Chicago Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins, Arizona Diamondbacks executive Amiel Sawdaye and Los Angeles Dodgers senior vice president Josh Byrnes, according to league sources briefed on the search.
“The Nationals have also been in contact with Byrnes, a league source said, looping in a Washington native who graduated from St. Albans School. Earlier in his career, Byrnes was an assistant general manager when the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series, as well as the general manager of the Diamondbacks and Padres. As the Dodgers have become the sport’s dominant force, he has been a fixture in their front office.”
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Byrnes is highly experienced given his stops around the big leagues. He’s also someone with ties to the area — and that could be a driving point on the Nationals targeting him, as well as Byrnes potentially wanting to head back home to the East Coast.
Byrnes initially broke into baseball as an intern for the then-Cleveland Indians once his collegiate days as a player ended. From there, he gradually climbed up the ladder — working for the Colorado Rockies, Boston Red Sox, San Diego Padres, and Arizona Diamondbacks before ending up with the Dodgers in 2014.
The scouting responsibilities and farm system are ran by Byrnes. He’s done a stellar job in that department with the Dodgers effectively churning out elite players (such as Will Smith, Corey Seager, Walker Buehler, Cody Bellinger), and having their system often ranked towards the top of the sport.
Photo Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
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