Editorials

Dodgers’ Friedman: Team Has Deals in Works

The Winter Meetings are coming to a close and the Dodgers appear to be heading toward a fairly disappointing week given the hullabaloo surrounding the organization when the week started.

Andrew Friedman did imply Wednesday evening that he and his team might not be done, though.




ICYMI: Dodgers’ Acquiring Chapman Could Backfire


This, via Bill Plunkett of the Orange Country Register:

In other words, there are still deals to make in the Winter Meetings’ midnight hour.

Well, yeah. I’d certainly hope so.

The odds are definitely against the Dodgers to make a move in the final day of the meetings as agents, players and other front offices depart, having made their deals.

The offseason by no means ends tomorrow, as the meetings are typically to plant the seeds on as many conversations as teams possibly can and develop the negotiations from there.

It is worth mentioning, though, that a disappointing Winter Meetings week is by no means ultimately damning for the rest of the season. More than anything else, it means they’ll have to be that much busier through the end of the offseason.

NEXT: Mattingly Playing A Big Role in Fernandez Negotiations

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8 Comments

  1. Please. Someone trade Andrew Friedman to the Giants, Diamondbacks or some other team that he seems to be a fan of.

  2. Far too much emphasis is put on the Winter Meetings as a gauge for offseason maneuvering . It’s like Valentine’s Day, a completely manufactured event set on an arbitrary date. You don’t “win” or “lose” the Winter Meetings. You might end up with a few suitors and a box of chewy centers, but it doesn’t mean much in the long run. Smart teams come away with a better sense of what it will take to improve their roster, but it’s not the end-all-be-all by any means.

  3. RMRuby I’m a little surprised that Dodger fans are coming out with the torches and pitchforks calling for Friedman’s head on a spike. Why? Because ownership decided a quarter of a billion dollars for a 32-year-old pitcher might not be a good idea? It wasn’t Zaidi or Friedman that didn’t sign Greinke, it was Walters. He signs the checks. Heck, I don’t blame them.

    If you wanted to throw huge contracts at aging players we could have left Coletti in the job. Let’s give these guys a SECOND season before we lynch ’em, OK?

  4. If the DBacks could sign ZG, the Dodgers could have. There is good reason to believe ZG can pitch well for many years to come. Now the rotation is the best pitcher in the game, and then a bunch of #5 starters. He’s done NOTHING to improve the starting rotation. The bullpen is awful except for Jansen, so he tries to bring in another closer which fell apart because he didn’t know what others knew about Chapman. As a bonus, he’s probably insulted Jansen and pissed him off. Still, he’s done NOTHING to improve the bullpen. Who will play 2nd? I don’t know, but it won’t be Gordon whom he traded away. What about 3rd? Who knows? He’s done NOTHING to improve the infield. What about the outfield? Crawford has been basically useless, Pederson needs to get his mojo back, and Puig can’t seem to hit anything except his sister. He’s done NOTHING to improve the outfield. Price, Lackey, Zimmerman all signed with other teams. They made themselves better. He’s done NOTHING to improve the team. Doing nothing is NOT the job of the VP Baseball Operations. The Guggenheim Group said they wanted to win NOW. They are not doing what it takes to field a winning team, and we fans, who buy the tickets and the t-shirts, and whose eyeballs provide the advertising revenue to warrant that huge contract with TimeWarner, have a right to expect our team to make the effort to improve. Friedman has so far done zilch. He’s in over his head, and seems unable to make a real deal. I’m sorry the MLB marketplace is giving away ridiculous money for ridiculous lengths of time. But that is the playing field he has to work with. He needs to butch up and get with the game. And most of us still can’t see the Dodgers on TV. So yeah, it’s time for the torches and pitchforks.

  5. RMRuby There’s more than a month until Spring Training. Nothing turns into a pumpkin at midnight at the close of Winter Meetings. I don’t recall Mets doing much at Winter Meetings last year and they made it to World Series. Stan Kasten, Josh Byrnes, Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi make up what is widely considered in the industry as the best front office in SPORTS. These guys aren’t stupid. Not paying a quarter of a billion dollars for a pitcher we had for three seasons and pitched in exactly ZERO World Series games, isn’t getting any younger (and has had elbow issues) is not a dumb thing. The Gordon deal? I loved Dee but given the info at the time and the team’s needs … it wasn’t an unreasonable move. It’s not like Howie didn’t work out. There are a million ways to build a team and ownership has invested in the best minds in the game to try and do just that. Spending the most money guarantees nothing. Using your resources wisely is a prudent approach. Maybe the D-Backs will win the World Series, chances are they won’t, but they’ll be paying Zack $35M a year for their foreseeable future. Let’s give the Friedman team a SECOND season before we run them out of town. It took Theo three seasons in Chicago, so let’s see what happens. I think they’ve still got something up their sleeve in Chavez Ravine.

  6. Zack Greinke simply wanted to be #1. That could never happen on the Dodgers with Special K Kershaw. There are starting pitcher #1’s and 2’s to be had through trade without giving up Seager or Urias who I also view as untouchable as Fernandez. I would also hang on to Holmes. So those 3 are off limits. We should trade either Ethier and/or Crawford as a chip along with a secondary prospect for one of Cleveland’s big 3. Or there are so many other options out there. Starting pitchers, relief help and 3B are where I think we have needs!

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