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MLB: Rating the front offices of the NL West

By Bill Felber

July 17, 2020; Los Angeles, California, United States; Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman watches game action during an intrasquad game at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
July 17, 2020; Los Angeles, California, United States; Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman watches game action during an intrasquad game at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /
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(Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

Los Angeles Dodgers

Andrew Friedman, President of Baseball Ops: +1.1

When Friedman saw general manager Farhan Zaidi walk out the door for San Francisco following the 2018 season, he eschewed the normal course of hiring a replacement and absorbed the duties into his own office.

Zaidi’s residual influence remains strong within the dominant structure the Dodgers have been. Fifteen players – among them Cody Bellinger, Walker Buehler, Kenley Jansen, MaxMuncy, Joc PedersonCorey Seager, and Justin Turner – play on contracts signed during Zaidi’s administration.

But that influence is inevitably waning. Prior to and during the 2020 season,  Friedman made 22 moves impacting his team, only one-third of which produced negative value to the Dodgers. Most of those were valued players sent to other teams in exchange for even more valuable assets.

The Mookie Betts deal with Boston is a classic illustration. Betts came to Los Angeles and generated +2.9 WAA in value. He cost the Dodgers outfielder Alex Verdugo, a +1.4 player for Boston. But that still left Los Angeles a full game to the good.

The Dodgers’ 2020 rating is only modestly positive because Freidman let a substantial amount of talent walk in free agency in order to open up the cash flexibility needed to make his team financially stable. Those losses included pitchers Hyun-Jin Ryu (+2.4), Rich Hill (+0.4), and Kenta Maeda (+1.0), all of them productive for their new teams.

The Dodgers were so deep that they could write off those talent losses. Besides, the farm system produced Dustin May (+0.9) and Tony Gonsolin (+1.0) to largely offset them.

Related Story. MLB: Rating front offices of the AL West. light

Here is a summary of the performance of the Los Angeles Dodgers front office since Andrew Friedman became president prior to the start of the 2019 season.

  • 2019:     +9.4
  • 2020:     +1.1
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