Dodgers President Andrew Friedman Discusses Roster Configuration
The Los Angeles Dodgers got a major shake-up to the starting lineup with A.J. Pollock hitting the injured list. Now, the Dodgers will need to shuffle furniture and make do with the likes of Alex Verdugo, Chris Taylor, and Joc Pederson in the outfield.
On Wednesday, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman joined Sirius XM Fantasy Sports to talk about the current state of the roster.
.@Dodgers President Andrew Friedman talked to @rotobuzzguy & @JimBowdenGM about the Outfield & A.J. Pollock's health on @FantasyAlarm! pic.twitter.com/MFWhpXqFRW
— Fantasy Sports Radio (@SiriusXMFantasy) May 1, 2019
Indeed – Friedman was cool, calm, and collected when asked how the Dodgers will handle the absence of A.J. Pollock in the lineup.
“I think it’s kind of all of the above. Everyone is going to get a little more of an elevated role. I think Verdugo will play more against righties and lefties with Max Muncy playing more against lefties. Joc may play more against lefties. Chris Taylor is going to get more at-bats, its’ kid of an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ approach.”
Furthermore, Friedman shared the confidence the organization holds in Verdugo. This is great to hear.
“It made sense for us to break camp with Alex Verdugo. He’s proven all he could and should in AAA, and given the amount of plate appearances a fourth outfielder on this team gets; we knew it would be a softer landing spot for Alex.”
Certainly it sounds like Verdugo will be a focal point of the plan going forward while Pollock is mending his elbow back to full strength.
Finally, Friedman was asked how long Pollock will be sidelined.
“We don’t know the answer to that right now. It’s really a freaky thing where he banged his elbow in Chicago, and it was a little stiff over the weekend and slow to recover. We figured by Monday he would be good to go. He woke up Monday and it was swollen with some kind of infection.”
It’s always good to hear the head man of the Dodgers feed it to us straight. Now, the Dodgers will need to hold down the ship with their current veterans and youngsters while Pollock is out. Next man up sounds like the motto here.
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We are getting close to the quarter season mark and the report card for Friedman is not good. The Dodgers had two high profile free agents Kelly, Known for being a very streaky Bullpen pitcher and AJ Pollock known for freaky yet debilitating injuries that kept him off the field. SO far Kelly is not streaky he is just incredibly bad and Pollock is out on a freak injury. Are we SHOCKED? No baseball is a game full of stats. The Dodger Front Office is supposedly analytic so calculate those numbers BEFORE you sign them….
My other gripe is Taylor. Roberts and the Front Office continue to pretend Taylor is hitting well. Or say no he is coming around real soon now. Well we are through almost a quarter and instead of CP3 I propose his new initials should be SOT. The man is a Strike Out waiting to happen. Watch him at the plate he is clueless. He has called strikes consistently. His exit velocity is down he constantly sings and misses. No contact it is incredible.
Tmaxter,, and whether people here agree with me or not this shortage of good RH hitting is one reason why Dodgers lost to the last place Giants 2 of 3 games. My whole issue is that the way this roster is made up Roberts has ZERO options later in games when teams bring in LH relievers and it will haunt this team in the long run. Give Verdugo CF , OK, Toles and or Beaty are not good replacements for Pollock either. I realize that Pollock was struggling but of course we know why he was for the most part.
Pauldodger what? The guy hurts his elbow two days ago and you think that is the reason he is having such a bad year? We won’t miss his 210 average and maybe get verdugo into the line up full time.
Gordon, not necessarily, but again it’s not about Pollock to begin with. Dodgers are lacking from the right side and really have no real answer to all the LHP they will face. IMHO only Bellinger and Verdugo are performing well enough against LHP and for now Dodgers don’t have viable options late in the game against lefty relievers because the RH bats we do have are already in the game and teams know then that Dodgers would only have LHB left on the bench. Never mind about Pollock, watch what happens in the next 5 or 6 games….
Freidman is an idiot. Nearly every player he obtains is either injured (Hill ) or gets injured after acquisition (Polluck) or just stinks (Kelly) to cite three major examples. Oh yeah, he also overpays these losers when he signs them.
Wonder which is easier to find a replacement, Roberts(field manager) or Friedman(president of baseball operations), because the Dodgers Don’t have a general manager? I’ve heard the players say they enjoy playing for Roberts or have him as their manager.
Robin, I have a suggestion here ..why don’t they add Omar Estevez to the 40 man roster and give him a shot. That would clear up CT3 or kiki to be in the OF if necessary. Omar is having a good start in minors and he bats RH
Bottom line folks, our LH heavy lineup was exposed again last night but what’s really worse is Dodgers once again striking out continuously with men in scoring position. Giants won last night’s game BECAUSE THEY WERE ABLE TO PUT THE BALL IN PLAY WHEN IT MATTERS MOST.
Hi Paul……..Just reading your post here……..there is a big difference between the Dodgers and most NL squads that I think gets lost sometimes. You keep railing about the LH heavy roster……….and I get it……….BUT………this team was built to hit home runs…..they do not embrace putting together base hits……..it is not who they are, LH or RH. I believe this AL mentality/philosophy stems from just looking @ the odds themselves. One swing of the bat to put a ball out of the stadium, versus bunching base hits together to eke out one or two runs. The Giants play to put the ball in play, that is who they are, look at their scores. The Dodgers live and die with the home run. They are built on starting pitching and home run hitting. They are not going to play old NL style of running and bunching hits together, it is not who they are any longer. Putting several hits together in a row to score is harder to do. That is one of the reasons opposing teams fear the Dodgers style versus their own. They know that if the Dodgers get hot they cannot keep up.
Bluz1st, basically you are correct about Dodgers at this time period. However, I know both Roberts and Freidman have talked about a need to make a better effort at getting runners across without just doing so by the HR. I am also sure they are overly happy with striking out with RISP. that being said, I am glad to see these power numbers because when I was a kid Dodgers totally lack power hitting for the most part. and keep in mind we have succeeded because we have out homered the opposition, which is a huge reason for our success, except of course in the WS. And remember too, that no team will be able to or should expect that they will connect for a HR or 2 every single game.
Could not agree more with the consensus opinions voiced concerning Pollock and Kelly. But cheer up things could be worse. The Dodgers could have outbid the Phillies for Bryce Harper who after another “ofer” last night is hitting a very robust .231. The boo birds are out in the City of Brotherly Love. And in case you haven’t checked lately Machado clocks in at a more robust .236 after last eve
What can I say other than I take AS’s words with a grain of salt. There is no way we lose 2/3 to the lowly Giants. But, we did!!!! Friedman and his sabremetrics, platooning, and, in certain cases, his unwillingness to spend (on Kimbrell) confounds me. I want to see Urias succeed as much as the next guy, but I still believe he should be a starter; Maeda should go to the BP. AF is going to be the death of me. Situational hitting is another issue that PaulDodgerFan1965 touched on above. I would be happy if we could just get a nice balanced lineup, and use it each and every night!!!! Go Blue!!
Whew!……Reading these comments………Good thing we are in first place………..imagine how snarky everyone would be if we were in the middle of the pack or worse yet, where The Giants are (Grin!)………….
Like most people Friedman and Roberts are driving us nuts–Friedman has built a pretty good team and I give him credit for that–BUT he is no field manager and its clear he is tell Roberts what to do–Roberts is absolutely horrible–Taylor needs to be sent down–Like they did Puig & Joc–period–Urias needs to start–Maeda needs to go to the bullpen and Ross has to step it up–Seager just needs a rest–maybe just a couple of games–Play Matt Beaty 2 games–He sure cant do worse than Taylor or Seager has–also LHP is coming–do it now–Replace Taylor with DJ Peters for a month or so and see what happens-Play Verdugo 24/7 and bat him 2nd not 7th -All this doesnt really matter–Roberts is just bad–We might win despite him–But he is just bad–dump him period
Uh what exactly has Friedman built? The core of this team is colletti. You are noticing that the farm is a little barren. Not much there anymore. In five years Friedman has not contributed much. What do you think Friedman has built in 5 years. He is riding colletti coattails.
Amen Gordo!……….This is, for the most part, the team that Ned Coletti and his staff built together.
This article is for all you guys to read when you have a minute………we have complaints from everyone on this thread……. but I like our team and the job our management has done overall. I complain about things too……..my point is it could be a lot worse.
GO DODGERS!
mlb.com/news/mlb-executives-on-2019-surprises
My favorite part pasted below:
Who is the best team in baseball?
Dodgers: 11 votes
Astros: 7.5
Rays: 3.5
Yankees: 3
The Dodgers received nearly half of the votes thanks to a “balanced,” “well-rounded” and “deep” roster.