For any new MLB front office executive, the dream scenario is to take an excellent talent base and improve it. That’s precisely what Brandon Gomes did with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Gomes was named general manager last fall, relieving his boss, team president Andrew Friedman, of those responsibilities. It turned out to be a clear case where two heads were better than one.
The Friedman-Gomes combo improved the Dodgers by 11.7 WAA, easily the best total of any team in MLB. Combine that with the mammoth talent base, which worked out to +22.9 WAA, that Gomes inherited from Friedman and you understand how the Dodgers won a franchise-record 111 games.
The analysis that follows is an assessment of the impact each NL West front office’s personnel decisions since November of 2021 have had on their team’s standing right now. It is based on the aggregate Wins Above Average of moves made in five areas:
- Players acquired by trade, purchase or waiver claim.
- Players signed as free agents or extended for more than one year.
- Minor league callups.
- Players lost via trade, waiver claim or sale.
- Players lost to free agency or released.
Wins Above Average is the preferred metric for this calculation because it is zero-based, meaning that it approximately reflects the number of games by which a front office either helped or hurt its team in the standings.
Gomes’ addition was the only change in the upper echelons of any of the division’s front office leadership structure. Here are the heads of the other four teams as those offices impacted 2022.
Arizona: Mike Hazen, executive vice president and general manager.
Colorado: Bill Schmidt, senior vice president and general manager.
San Diego: A.J. Preller, president of baseball operations and general manager.
San Francisco: Farhan Zaidi, president of baseball operations; Scott Harris, general manager.