Roger Arrieta
A couple weeks ago, I wrote a piece which toyed around with the idea of bringing in Joe Maddon as the GM, to help form a dream team of front office minds to go along with Friedman, Kasten, Coletti, and obviously Mattingly at the helm as manager. Now we have learned that is exactly what new CEO of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has done. While Maddon has gone on to accept the managerial position with the Chicago Cubs, the Dodgers formally announced their new front office staff. The new GM is Farhan Zaidi, whom the Dodgers lured away from the Oakland Athletics. His primary focus will be on Major League team and player acquistions. The Dodgers named Josh Byrnes, Senior VP of Baseball Operations. Byrnes had been with the Padres as GM until this summer, and also held that position with Arizona, and was AGM for Boston, under Theo Epstein.
The front office hirings didn’t stop there, as the Dodgers named former MLB outfielder turned Fox Analyst Gabe Kapler, Director of Player Development, and Billy Gasparino Director of Ameteur Scouting. Kapler and Gasparino are filling the holes left by the departures of Logan White and DeJon Watson. With all these front office moves, where does that leave the Dodgers?
As a fan, I think this is a very exciting time! From the beginning of the new ownership’s reign, they were clear they wanted to put a championship contender on the field immediately to lure back many of the fans that were lost during previous ownership. They also wanted to restore relevance to a storied franchise that has gone far too long between championships. The past two seasons, ownership has indeed stuck to that plan. They brought in the likes of Hanley Ramirez, Adrian Gonzalez, and gave out huge deals to players like Zack Grienke and Clayton Kershaw, as well as international signings of impact players like Hyun Jin Ryu and Yasiel Puig. New ownership made another promise to fans also and that was to rebuild what was a very depleted farm system, so that the Dodgers could once again become a franchise that could groom and develop its own talent. This would ease the burden to rely heavily on free agent signings year in and year out. Over the last couple seasons, we have seen them hold true to this by holding on to top prospects like Joc Pederson, Corey Seager, Zach Lee, and Julio Urias. But in order to truly reach the ultimate goal, there is much more replenishing that needs to be done to the Dodgers farm system. Even with international signings of Alex Guerrero and Erisbel Arruebarena, the lower levels of the minor system are lacking in potential talent. Keeping these levels stocked with talent helps the team to develop superstars the club can have control of for longer periods of time, rather than risking signing high profile free agents who come at a far steeper price tag. Having a fully stocked farm system, however, makes it easier to make trade deadline or off season moves, because there isn’t a desperation or urgency(as there seemed to be this season) to hold on to top prospects. For example, the Dodgers may have been able to land that much needed relief pitcher they needed last season, at the deadline, had they been willing to part with a Zach Lee, or Corey Seager, but they only reason they would do such would be if there were others in the pipeline not too far behind. There weren’t, and we all know how the season ended.
What the Dodgers have now done, is put together a front office team of all star executives to go with their team of all star players, a formula I’m very eager to see take shape. Friedman and Zaidi are statistical geniuses, and are considered to be the best at what they do. What I’m excited about are the new wave of statistics and metrics that are changing the game, because this new team of executives are experts on exactly those things. On paper, the Dodgers look better than most clubs, if not all. Yet, as we know, “on paper” doesn’t win championships. Looking at the Giants win yet another championship this year, it is clear they have something the Dodgers didn’t have, and it certainly wasn’t talent, because the Dodgers were clearly more talented than the Giants, and perhaps more talented than any other team as well.
Why then are the Giants world champions again? Is it because their “team chemistry” is so strong they can’t be stopped? I doubt that is the case, but I do believe they have a formula in place. I believe there are things outside of batting average, ERA, RBI etc, which are now being accounted for in the game of baseball, and this is why Stan Kasten and Dodgers ownership have brought in this new breed of baseball minds, and this is why Dodger fans should be excited. What Andrew Friedman had to do in Tampa Bay was put his knowledge together with his scouting team and stats experts, and with a very limited budget, try to put together a contending team, and he did just that. With the Dodgers, Friedman doesn’t have to worry about money like he did in Tampa Bay, and this is one of the things I’m most excited about. If there is a certain need, he no longer has to operate within a very small box to make things happen. The Dodgers now have scouting geniuses to help replenish the farm system, and begin drafting and developing cheaper home grown talent. The Dodgers now have metric and analysis experts to begin implementing new age strategies to be successful in todays game. The Dodgers also have the financial means to go out and get whatever free agent they need, if there’s a definite need to fill. The way I see it, ownership is making sure they cover every base they can in order to assure the Dodgers are a championship team in 2015, and for many years to come!
