Front office mid-term grades: The NL West
By Bill Felber
This week marks the halfway point of the 2024 season. That makes this an excellent time to deliver mid-term grades for the work done by each team’s front office since the conclusion of the 2023 postseason.
We begin with the NL West.
The standard of measurement here is Wins Above Average (WAA), a variant of Wins Above Replacement (WAR). For this purpose, WAA is preferable because, unlike WAR, it is zero-based. That means the sum of all the decisions made by each team’s front office gives at least a good estimate of the number of games those moves have improved – or worsened – the team’s status this season.
Our grading scale is straight-forward. Front offices that have improved their team by:
+3.0 games or higher = A
+1.0 to +2.9 games = B
-0.9 to +0.9 games = C
-1.0 to -2.5 games = D
-2.6 games or worse = F
A team’s front office impacts that team’s standing in five ways. Those five are:
1. By the impact of players it acquires from other teams via trade, purchase or waiver claim.
2. By the impact of players it surrenders to other teams in those same transactions.
3. By the impact of players it signs at free agency or extends.
4. By the impact of players it loses to free agency or releases.
5. By the impact of players it promotes from its own farm system.
From best to worst, here’s how NL West front offices stack up by those five yardsticks.
Los Angeles Dodgers: President Andrew Friedman, general manager Brandon Gomes.
Grade: A.
The Dodgers were, of course, the talk of the winter, landing slugger Shohei Ohtani, signing Japanese free agent pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto and trading for Tyler Glasnow. Those moves have all paid off. Ohtani is batting .322 with 22 home runs, Yamamoto was 6-2 with a 2.92 ERA before landing on the IL, and Glasnow has a 3.00 ERA in 15 starts.
Given the uncertainty surrounding LA’s pitching staff and the recent injury to Mookie Betts, the Dodgers’ offseason activity has probably gone a long way toward preserving LA’s status as one of the game’s first-rate World Series contenders.
Since the end of the 2023 postseason, the Friedman-Gomes front office has made 37 player moves impacting the Dodgers’ major league roster. That’s as many as any team. An impressive 21 of those moves produced positive value for the Dodgers. Only 13 hurt the team; the final seven were neutral.
The Ohtani signing thus far has netted the Dodgers +3.4 WAA, the most of any move made by any team. The Glasnow acquisition added +1.5 WAA.
Add it up and the Dodgers front office to date has the best offseason and early season record in MLB.
Overall score: +7.5. Grade: A.