Dodgers name Friedman President, Colletti kicked upstairs

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Today the Dodgers named Andrew Friedman, formerly of the Tampa Bay Rays, as President of Baseball Operations. Ned Colletti will remain with the team as senior advisor to Stan Kasten. This probably means that Friedman will name a new GM of his own choosing.

Under Friedman, the Rays posted the franchise’s first winning season and won the American League pennant in 2008, when he was named Sporting News’ Executive of the Year. After finishing below .500 in each of its first 10 years of existence, the Rays finished above the .500 mark in six consecutive seasons under Friedman from 2008-13.

Not bad for a guy in his thirties. He’s only 37 now.

25 thoughts on “Dodgers name Friedman President, Colletti kicked upstairs”

  2. I suppose a new front office may help, but who around these parts was really complaining about the roster this season? … Sure, there were injuries and under-achieveing……
    ….
    Bills never did play. Beckett and Haren’s durability were questionable from the start. Maholm had some bad luck with his knee. Brian Wilson came back down to earth. Uribe was solid at 3B. Grienke on/off hurt, but great. Notable underachievers to me: JP Howell and AJ Ellis.
    Most Notable Post-Season under-achiever…. Puig, Hands’ down.
    …..
    But, Turner and Rojas played well. We found our new 2B of the future. Kemp’s great in RF.
    The deadline moves were very ‘vanilla.’…. with the emphasis on keeping the top prospects.
    Kershaw had an MVP / Cy Young season….
    …..
    Sure, we all have our ideas of how we’d tinker with the roster…. New front office? Ok….

    However, I’m putting this 2014 Post-Season Collapse ‘squarely’ on these players. IMHO.

    • JP Howell had a handful of poor performances during a season in which he made 68 appearances. Three of those came in the last half of Sept (and then came the playoffs). Almost all season he was about the only bright light, besides Jansen, in the pen.

    • Haren was effective and durable enough to trigger the vesting clause in his contract. Howell was excellent except for a handful of badly timed performances.

    • Ok. So, everybody “likes” everybody’s replies….and, I’m a jerk, right? Ha. 🙂
      …
      Touchy…. Touchy….. Fellas!
      If nothing else, it’s great to see that AJ and JP have such passionate fans here at Elysian Fields.
      …
      PS – As a total type-A, perfectionist-type (not that it’s a healthy characteristic) personality, I remember the bad more than I remember the good. I can certainly appreciate and celebrate the good, but the bad… few as the instances may be… are magnified in my brain.
      …
      So, when I think of 2014 Dodger baseball, two things (of many) that come to mind are AJ’s K-looking tendency / futility at the plate…. and, JP’s timely failures – which makes them double-failures in my mind. Great guys (as you all are) and I root for them. But, I think that if you even asked them, they would say that this was not their best year. And…. that’s all I was meaning to shine a light on. Hopefully, 2015 treats them both better. IMHO.

      • If we could get a full time catcher who hit .270 with 15 HRs I’d be content to have AJ as Kershaw’s personal catcher and pinch hitter off the bench. I expect the bullpen to turn over quite a bit. Wilson has taken his option, so he’s on board, but who else besides Jansen will be there is a mystery, I think. League may have another year on that dumb contract. He was much better this season than last, but I’d just as soon replace him as not.

        • Hey Link, how about putting a hot stove league post up that somehow stays active after other posts are put up?

          We could guess at what Friedman might do for awhile.

          the Dodgers could send a message to Stanton that it might behoove him to not sign a long term contract before he becomes a free agent by making room for him on their roster by packaging Puig, Crawford, and money in a trade for a top end rotation pitcher and a relief pitcher.

          • I don’t know this, but I suspect that unless someone has a conversation going in a post, that post is not looked at after a NPUT.

            How can you keep a post active after a NPUT?

          • NPUT is just text, not a trigger for any action within the software. It’s merely to notify the commenting public that there’s more to be read at the top of the blog.

            Ordinarily comments are kept open for 10 days, as I recall the settings. I can change that to any number I like.

          • I knew what NPUT is and keeping a post open doesn’t accomplish what I proposed. Once a new post is made, everyone ignores all previous posts. If I were to comment on an old post, I would be talking to myself.

      • You seem to be using different criteria for your “notable” underachievers. In the case of AJ it’s for the year, but for JP it’s for the playoffs? Not sure why. If you turn it around, AJ hit OPS 1.493 in the playoffs and JP had an ERA+ of 147 for the year compared to lifetime of 109.

  3. SF continues their charmed ways.
    Hopefully KC proves to be the team of destiny, even in this even-numbered year.

          • In all fairness, Jayson was hit by a pitch in SP in 2005. He played through 2005, but it was discovered that he had ligament damage that required surgery. He sat out 2006 and was subsequently granted free agency. The Fillies signed him doubling his salary. (He injured his wrist again in 2007, but that was with the Fillies)

          • That’s considered to be a “move”? Guy hit OPS+ 115 in 2004 and played through an injury in 2005 and is unceremoniously dumped and picked up by a team that recognized something.

          • the problem the Dodgers had with Werth was that he, Garciapara, and Drew were their 3, 4, and 5 hitters and all were in and out of the lineup with injuries. Have to have at least one of the 3, 4, or 5 hitters play in 150 plus games.