DODGERS The FRONT OFFICE (NERDS) Thread

Farhan Zaidi Likes Dodgers Current Bullpen
by Matthew Moreno | Dodgers Nation — 5 hours ago



Talented as the Los Angeles Dodgers were in 2014, good enough to win 94 games and a second-consecutive NL West title, there was a glaring weakness that caught up to them in the postseason.

Largely due to injuries and inconsistency, manager Don Mattingly rarely had more than one or two relievers he confidently could hand the ball to. Since taking control of the Dodgers’ front office, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi have set out to remedy the bullpen situation, among their other tasks.

Zaidi took time away from his general manager duties on Friday to answer questions on the Dodgers’ official Twitter account and had this to say about the retooled bullpen:

Multiple relievers from last year’s team are gone as the Dodgers opted to not re-sign them; or in Brian Wilson’s case, paid to go away after a puzzling and disappointing second season with the Dodgers.

Collectively, the Dodgers’ bullpen held a 3.80 ERA last season, which was ranked 22nd in all of baseball and 12th in the National League; their .239 batting average against placed them in the middle of the pack among the 30 teams, same with their .675 OPS.

On paper, the Dodgers bullpen should be improved this season with the additions of Chris Hatcher and Joel Peralta. Additionally, young relievers Pedro Baez and Daniel Coulombe gained valuable experience last season, so too did swingman Carlos Frias.

Then there’s Kenley Jansen, who enters just his second full season as the Dodgers’ closer. Last year, Jansen converted 44 saves and now sits fifth on the franchise’s all-time saves list. With an improved middle infield and bullpen, the Dodgers are projected by PECOTA to win an MLB-best 97 games this season and their third-straight NL West title.

While Zaidi gave his vote of confidence to the bullpen, it was reported in mid-January that the Dodgers were searching for a late-inning reliever. Currently, Francisco Rodriguez and Rafael Soriano are among the free-agent options still available.

 

Friedman credits team’s International Department
by Matthew Moreno | Dodgers Nation — 1 hour ago

For multiple decades the Los Angeles Dodgers have been an organization that’s succeeded in identifying and signing international players with the capability of succeeding in the Majors.

The Dodgers’ most recent success is in Yasiel Puig, who’s rockstar persona fits well in Los Angeles, and talent has him pegged as a cornerstone for the present and future. While the Dodgers were relatively quiet during free agency, opting not to overexert themselves for the likes of Jon Lester, Max Scherzer or James Shields, they’ve had a strong presence in the international market.

Although president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has only been with the Dodgers for four months, he spoke highly of the team’s international department and players who are now available, via Bill Plunkett of the OC Register:

"There certainly has been a number of very interesting guys that have become available in the last six to eight months," Friedman said Friday. "Our international department has done a tremendous job of evaluating these players. We also have a paper trail from various international tournaments over the past few years. We’re continually evaluating opportunities where we can operate most efficiently."​

In what began with the Dodgers being linked to 19-year-old Cuban infielder Yoan Moncada has grown to include Hector Olivera, another infielder and fellow Cubans, pitchers Yadier Alvarez and Jorge Hernandez. Moncada has twice worked out for the Dodgers and in the case of the latter three players, the Dodgers have had a group on hand to watch them during showcases.

While Moncada is considered the biggest prize among the Cuban prospects, it isn’t beyond reason to believe the Dodgers will sign more than one Cuban prospect before the dust ultimately settles.

 

agreed, just like all the mayweather/pacquiao talk

 

talk about a backhanded compliment...

[Dodgers] president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman’s involvement isn’t to suggest he doesn’t trust Mattingly or wants to be in complete control, but rather is a byproduct of his belief in collective thought so as to come to the best solution:

"[Mattingly] has a job and that’s to manage our 25-man roster and deploy them on a nightly basis for what gives us the best chance to win, but there will obviously be debate over what that means, and there should be,” Friedman says. “Donnie is so mired in the day-to-day stuff that sometimes he doesn’t see things as clearly, while other times he has his finger much more on the pulse than we do. It’s all about us listening to each other.”​

http://www.dodgersnation.com/dodger...-work-together-setting-lineup-card/2015/02/27

 

• In his latest piece for Gammons Daily, Peter Gammons cites the Dodgers as the “clear winner” of the 2014-15 offseason, praising Andrew Friedman for adding a great deal of flexibility and depth to the club’s roster while also bringing several good baseball minds into the front office.

Peter Gammons: My 2015 Off-Season Winner
March 11, 2015 by Peter Gammons 2 Comments



GLENDALE, Arizona—One of the most sustainable ongoing debate topics since midwinter was which team had the best off-season.

We all get the argument for the White Sox, with Jeff Samardzija, David Robertson, Adam LaRoche, Melky Cabrera. Or the Padres, getting the power outfield of Matt Kemp, Justin Upton and Wil Myers and adding James Shields to a really good pitching staff. Or the Red Sox or Nationals with Trea Turner as well as Max Scherzer, Toronto, Miami, Seattle…

We get all of them. But, for me, there was one clear winner. The Dodgers. No media-driven hype signings and acquisitions. No Miami Heat-type player introductions at a FanFest. No exercises in usage of the first person singular.

Just a restructuring and reorganization to what might be called the 21st Century Branch Rickey model. So non-Hollywood.

They won the winter because in attracting and assembling one of the brightest and most proven front offices in the sport they won for the long term; hey, they’re the Los Angeles Dodgers, they have the TV deal and the audience and they don’t have to do what an A.J. Preller had to do to create sizzle.

Anyone close to the Rays knows how modestly, thoughtfully and respectfully Andrew Friedman runs a team with the ability to give every one of his employees from PhDs to scouts to former players and former general managers like Ned Colletti and Gerry Hunsicker voices that will be heard.

Farhan Zaidi is, simply, brilliant. Josh Byrnes is a remarkable baseball man (and do you like Paul Goldschmidt yet in Arizona?) who is back where his passion is fulfilled, watching baseball games. They went and hired two of the best evaluators in the business in Galen Carr and Dave Finley. They brought in what can only be described as two creative, intellectual and energetic minds to run the development program in Gabe Kapler and Nick Francona.

And they brought Don Mattingly into the process the way Joe Maddon was critical to the process in Tampa Bay, which has in turn generated tremendous enthusiasm.

OK, we know the Dodgers have stars. Clayton Kershaw is a preeminent superstar. Zack Greinke and Hyun-jin Ryu are really good. Adrian Gonzalez is a human metronome. Yasiel Puig is a star who wants the peripherals to catch up to the tools.

They have Joc Pederson, the apple of Mattingly’s eye.

So Friedman, Zaidi, Byrnes and company needed depth and a better-rounded roster. They took Dee Gordon, paid the 2015 contract on Dan Haren, agreed to trade an infielder named Miguel Rojas Miami liked, and in return got what talk radio did not like. It started with lefthanded pitcher Andrew Heaney, whom they turned into Howie Kendrick. Then they got infielder/catcher Austin Barnes (50 walks, 36 strikeouts, 34 extra base hits and legit catching promise). And infielder Kike Hernandez. And reliever Chris Hatcher.

And while talk bellowed for Rafael Soriano, if the season were to open today, Hatcher would be their closer until Kenley Jansen returns, Hernandez a potential bigtime multi-position utility-man, Kendrick their second baseman working with Jimmy Rollins and Barnes would be in triple-A preparing to be a stretch drive catcher/infielder with attitude and versatility. “They made a great trade, and we know it,” says Marlins GM Dan Jennings. “But we felt we needed Gordon at the top of the order and in the middle of the infield, and we needed the veteran pitcher in Haren.”

Walt Weiss says “the player that makes his team better is more important than a great player,” and in a city of stars, where stars’ handprints are in cement along Hollywood Boulevard, the emphasis has been on building the best 25-35 man roster. Which is why they’d love to move Andre Ethier. He’s been an extraordinary player, he believes he has to play against righthanders and lefthanders to stay in and maintain his stroke, and that isn’t going to happen. Scott Van Slyke and Chris Heisey are going to play.

“I know this is a difficult situation,” says Ethier. “Of course I want to play, and I feel I need to get regular at-bats. I stay in much better against righthanders if I’m playing against lefties. The role of coming up for an at-bat against some righthanded reliever throwing 98 isn’t a very good role. But I get it.” If Ethier doesn’t fit a role, what happens isn’t exactly clear. What it is that these Dodgers are going to have, is what Friedman and Zaidi have crafted so well in Tampa and Oakland—a deep, flexible, useful roster.

Which is necessary in their division, where the offense and defense have to play 117 games in Dodger Stadium, Petco and AT&T, then another 18 in the offensive-oriented Denver and Phoenix. “It’s a division that requires a lot of different styles,” says one GM. “When we’re facing the pitching the Padres and Giants throw out there, we have to have a lot of ways to produce runs,” says Mattingly. Hence the addition of a Kendrick. The depth of Hernandez, whom they love.

They can groom Barnes as Yasmani Grandal and A.J. Ellis do the catching. They have Jimmy Rollins’ energy and fire, and not even think about rushing Corey Seager, as tempting as that might be. They have Van Slyke and Heisey to protect Pederson against a Jon Lester.

And they have Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Hyun-jin Ryu. Some questioned the one year, $10M investment in Brett Anderson given his medical history, but he has thrown well, Monday effortlessly throwing a dominant curveball. They paid Brandon McCarthy $48M to be a solid starter off the adjustments and stuff he showed with the Yankees. Joe Wieland has looked like the front prospect he was in San Diego before Tommy John Surgery.

Jansen was a serious loss, but they are convinced that Hatcher can be the interim closer. What’s interesting is that they have four position player converts in their bullpen mix: Jansen (catcher), Hatcher (catcher), Pedro Baez (third base), Sergio Santos (shortstop). Then throw in college third baseman Brandon Beachy, who might be able to contribute later in the season.

At this point, the Dodgers are six months into their new administration, less than three months into the operation of the full staff Friedman has assembled. They will, at some point, flex their financial might, maybe for one of the many top free agent pitchers on next winter’s market, or in the international market after the July 2 signing period; had the Diamondbacks not jumped in and beaten them to Cuban Yoan Lopez, they would have already made their international push, signed Lopez, gone after Yoan Moncada, but once Lopez signed they decided to wait until after July 2 to go over spending limits knowing several teams cannot spend more than $300,000 on players.

It shouldn’t be forgotten what Colletti endured from the McCourt Adventure Park to MannyWorld on forward. The Dodgers contended, they got the TV deal, and as Byrnes points out, they have a lot more talent in the organization than outsiders believe.

Pederson will be the center fielder. Julio Urias is 18 and will likely be pitching in double-A. Chris Anderson is a righthanded horse projectable as a 200 inning strikethrower or backend reliever.

But everyone wants to watch the 20-year old Seager, who hit .352 with 18 homers in 80 games in the California League and .345 with a .915 OPD in the Southern League. The brother of the Mariners all-star is listed at 6-4, 215, and the common thought is that he will outsize shortstop. And he actually looks bigger than 6-4, with an easy swing and beautiful approach.

Greinke, who is a student of players from the majors to the draft, comps Seager’s swing to that of Grady Sizemore. Byrnes asked Seager if he’d watched John Olerud. No. But that may be the perfect split-screen comp; Tuesday he flicked a ball that was caught at the wall in left-center like the vintage Olerud.


John Olerud (left); Corey Seager (right)

“People say he’s too big for shortstop,” says one Dodger official. “I don’t buy it. You watch his hands, his path to balls, his instincts, his transfer and the way he gets rid of the ball with such accuracy and there’s every reason to believe he can stay at shortstop, at least for a few years.

It has been interesting this spring to see the crop of big young shortstops. Carlos Correa is 20, 6-4, 200 pounds with a phenomenal baseball IQ and signs that he will be Houston’s shortstop sometime this season. The Cubs are agog over Addison Russell, who when he arrives at Wrigley will look like a premier running back. Xander Bogaerts, now 22, is a good 6-3, 215 after his winter’s workouts (often with Ethier as his partner), noticeably quicker and stronger.

With Rollins, Seager is not going to be a 2015 solution for the Dodgers. But with this ownership and organization, they can shuttle for the short term and not lose sight of the long term.

ESPN.com this week ranked organizations in terms of future, long-term strength. The Red Sox, Dodgers and Cubs, three of the strongest franchises with similar beliefs in the broad view of yesterday, today and tomorrow on and off the field with the resources to invest in creative thinking.

Boston has won three of the last 11 World Series. It may not be long until the road to the World Series in the National League runs through Chicago and Los Angeles, in a league where the road to the World Series for the last decade has run through St. Louis and San Francisco.​

 

Friedman believes Dodgers defense can be elite
by Daniel Starkand | Dodgers Nation — 2 hours

In 2014 the Los Angeles Dodgers as a team made 107 errors, which ranked 27th out of 30 Major League teams. That was in large due to shortstop Hanley Ramirez. Out of 21 qualified Major League shortstops, Ramirez ranked dead last with a .961 fielding percentage.

New president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman emphasized improving the team’s defense this offseason, and because of that Ramirez is now a member of the Boston Red Sox. According to Bill Plunkett of the OC register, Friedman believes the Dodgers can have an elite defense this season:

Replacing Ramirez is Jimmy Rollins, who is on the opposite end of the list of qualified shortstops in 2014. Friedman traded for 36 year old, four-time Gold Glover, who’s .988 fielding percentage was tops in the Majors last season. Rollins’ defensive WAR was 1.1 last year, compared to Ramirez’s -0.6.

The Dodgers also acquired Howie Kendrick from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to replace Dee Gordon at second base. While Gordon was able to steal 64 bases in 2014, his defensive WAR was -0.3. Kendrick will likely be a huge improvement, as his defensive WAR last season was 1.4 and he has a career .985 fielding percentage.

Joining Rollins and Kendrick in the infield in 2015 are veterans Adrian Gonzalez and Juan Uribe. Gonzalez has won four Gold Gloves at first base, including one last season, and Uribe is a superb defender at third; making just six errors in 102 games in 2014.

The Dodgers also improved their outfield defense this offseason, by trading Matt Kemp and moving Yasiel Puig back to right field, where general manager Farhan Zaidi believes he can win a Glove Glove. That also freed up center field for prospect Joc Pederson, who is considered the best center fielder in the organization.

The Dodgers team fielding percentage of .980 so far this Spring Training ranks 12th in the Majors, which is definitely an improvement from their 27th ranked defense a season ago. Add Gold Glove pitchers Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke to the mix, and it looks like Friedman’s prediction of an elite run-prevention defense could be a possibility in 2015.

 

Friedman, Kasten don’t focus on specific payroll number
by Tyler Monroy | Dodgers Nation — March 27, 2015

Playing in a major market such as Los Angeles, it comes as no surprise the Dodgers are set to repeat as the team with the highest payroll in baseball. Aside from fielding a competitive team as a result of the big spending, the Dodgers are also second-most valuable MLB team, as recently announced by Forbes.

The Dodgers’ payroll for this season will again exceed $250 million and the Dodgers added to it this week with the expected signing of Hector Olivera to a six-year, $62.5 million contract. While a large payroll has evolved from a trend to a constant under the Guggenheim group, the front office continues to maintain the extravagant won’t continue.

Head of baseball operations, Andrew Friedman commented the perception of the Dodgers seemingly spending with no bounds, via Bill Plunkett of the OC Register:

“It’s funny. I don’t really look at payroll numbers as if they’re actual dollars because we have parameters to work in,” he said. “It’s more that whatever the band is that you’re operating in – whatever it is, whether you’re a small-market team and the band is X or you’re a large-market team and the band is Y, we’re just trying to put the pieces together and construct our roster in the best way we possibly can.”​

Stan Kasten agrees that the Dodgers need to put the best team on the field possible and isn’t concerned with hitting a certain number on the payroll sheet, but again stated the club is still focused on rebuilding through their farm system, as opposed to consistently relying on free agency:

“I think they are not a part of the kind of team we’re trying to build long term,” Kasten reiterated this week. “I’ve also said we don’t shoot for any particular number. We are trying to build a team that is sustaining through the (farm system) pipeline. Those kinds of teams are invariably younger teams. Younger teams are also cheaper. But I don’t talk about (payroll) numbers. We don’t have a number in mind. We want to put the best team out there.”​

The new front office is no longer solely focused on immediate success. While winning a World Series in 2015 is undeniably a goal of the Dodgers, the future of the club is equally as important. The Dodgers may not have made the splashy signing during the offseason, but they added to the overall depth in the organization and retained their top prospects.

​

 

espn article on the nerds
i'd post it, but this one is particularly long [no homo]

http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/mlb/st...ard-thinking-front-office-force-reckoned-with

 

he'll get both
and deservedly so
the guy is an elite pitcher who's done exceptionally well with us
nerds should do do whatever they have to do to retain him