Coming off five consecutive first-place finishes in the National League West divisional race, the Los Angeles Dodgers quietly extended their President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman recently, according to sources. Jon Heyman of MLB Network was on it first, as he noted that, per team protocol, there was no formal announcement of contract length, financial aspects or even when it officially was signed.
For Friedman, his transition from the Tampa Bay Rays to the Dodgers has been one filled with constant success, but as he inherited a stacked roster full of postseason potential, it would be hard to not make the playoffs. However, making the move from a small-market franchise to one of the largest is quite a difficult transition, so a slow start would not have been surprising.
His former deal, which ended up running out at the end of the 2019 regular season, was reportedly for $35 million across five seasons, which is a pretty hefty sum for one team to pay its top baseball executive. However, as is typical will all big-spotlight franchises, the money brings the talent and the pundits, so Friedman has been fighting a bit of an uphill battle ever since arriving in Los Angeles.
Filling teams with cheap talent that is controllable for many years is the MO for most executives across the league, and Friedman fits that to a T. But with also having one of the largest payrolls to work with across the league, he has a ton of money to work with, which is exactly what may fuel this team’s spending spree this winter.
Linked to players like third baseman Anthony Rendon, starting pitchers Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg, as well as needing to potentially resign Hyun-Jin Ryu, Friedman has a bunch of high-impact decisions to make this winter that will affect this team for a number of years moving forward.
Having brought in outfielder A.J. Pollock last year on a four year, $80 million deal, that may represent one of Friedman’s only bad deals in his tenure in LA, so far at least. While Pollock’s talent is obviously there, his injuries really plagued him through this past season, making his contract a bit difficult to justify so far.
Regardless of how the remainder of Pollock’s deal turns out, combined with the types of moves that the Dodgers make in free agency and the trade market this offseason, it is easy to label Friedman’s tenure as the head of the Dodgers a real success so far. When they pried him away from the Rays after the 2014 regular season, they could not have estimated that he would make this type of impact.
While their postseason record has continued to improve underneath Friendman, the franchise’s lack of World Series pennants has remained empty. Even though not fully on the shoulders of Friedman, that mark may end up being his downfall if it does not improve.
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