Country music star Brad Paisley, who counts himself as a Dodgers super fan, might have actual grounds to claim a hand in one of the Dodgers' key offseason acquisitions — the trade for Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow.
A deep-dive piece on the Dodgers' busy offseason in the Athletic on Thursday details a party at Paisley's 100-acre farm in Nashville that laid the groundwork for the Dodgers eventual trade for Glasnow, with Paisley heavily involved.
“He definitely gets the assist,” Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman admitted.
How did country music singer Brad Paisley help orchestrate the Tyler Glasnow trade?
Apparently it all went down in the midst of Major League Baseball's famed Winter Meetings, which took place in December 2023 in Nashville.
During those meetings, where representatives from all MLB teams gather to discuss league business and conduct offseason signings and trades, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts mentioned to reporters that the Dodgers had met with highly coveted free agent Shohei Ohtani, who had yet to decide where he would sign.
Even though the team that consistently has one of the highest payrolls in baseball meeting with arguably the most sought-after free agent in baseball history should have come as a surprise to absolutely no one, Ohtani's reps had been rumored to have asked for all his free agency team meetings to remain private — so Dodgers executives were worried Roberts' comments may have harmed the team's chances to sign Ohtani.
“I was Captain Obvious,” Roberts told the Athletic. “And it just blew up into something that I couldn’t believe.”
Therefore, when Brad Paisley offered to host an after-hours party for Dodgers executives to unwind after a day of meetings, he realized after the Roberts' comments that the tension might be even thicker than he anticipated, and decided to bring out the good stuff from his impressive bar liquor collection.
Paisley filled two glasses of his choicest bourbon, Pappy Van Winkle 23, and immediately handed one each to Dave Roberts and Andrew Friedman when they arrived to ease their nerves. “I have a feeling you guys need these tonight,” Paisley quipped.
Paisley also joked that Roberts' Ohtani comments amounted to “DEFCON 1” for the Dodgers.
“You have no idea how much I need this right now,” Paisley recalled Roberts telling him of the Pappy Van Winkle pour.
The fancy bourbon definitely loosened the nerves of Dodgers executives, enough so that Andrew Friedman decided to hand his phone to Brad Paisley when the Tampa Bay Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander called.
“Brad,” Friedman said, “I need you to answer this and tell the Rays’ GM that we need Tyler Glasnow.”
What diehard Dodger fan wouldn't want to help orchestrate a trade for a key player? Needless to say, Paisley eagerly agreed.
“Ok, let’s make a deal,” Neander remembered replying, playing along with whoever had answered Friedman's phone. Neander did have to ask however, “Who is this?”
“Brad Paisley,” the country star replied before finally handing the phone back to Friedman.
The befuddled Neander, who used to work for Friedman at the Rays, told his old colleague, “That sounded like an AI-generated Brad Paisley voice.”
“It is Brad Paisley!” Friedman explained. “Come on over.”
That led to the Rays attending Paisley's party, where the conversation continued.
“Brad really wanted Glas,” Neander said. “I’m like, I’m leaning into this. We had some drinks. Let’s go.”
Paisley apparently was on the offensive about getting the trade done from the moment Neander walked in the door, calling the California native pitching talent “a beast.”
He proceeded to do his best impression of a high-powered, deal-making baseball general manager the rest of the night. At one point he showed Neander his bar and asked the Rays exec, “You see this top shelf, this really high-priced whiskey up here? That’s the Tyler Glasnow shelf. That's the ‘deal’s done' shelf.”
The terms of the trade for Tyler Glasnow weren't actually finalized that night, but Friedman and Neander both admit that Paisley's party, which lasted until about 4 a.m., and his persistence certainly laid the groundwork for the deal to happen. Then, the Dodgers did of course manage to sign Shohei Ohtani. And Yoshinobu Yamamoto. And now Will Smith. And a bunch of other talent, on their way to spending $1.4 billion this offseason.
We all knew Brad Paisley had acting skills after his series of amusing Nationwide commercials with Peyton Manning, but now the country music sensation can add part-time MLB general manager to his list of accolades for his legit assist in the Dodgers' trade to acquire Tyler Glasnow.
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