If I were to write AF, the following is probably what I would say. Mind you, I pull no punches, and I am pretty blunt. Don’t get me wrong, I think Freidman took a rebuilding organization and infused it with even more talent. And he did that while drafting low. But he has also had the luxury of pretty much-unlimited resources at his disposal. You cannot argue too much with success. And the Dodgers have been consistent winners of their division, at least. I also recognize that the playoffs are a whole different animal altogether. I also realize that a couple of times, he has made below-the-radar moves that have been very successful, and he has a few times traded for big stars with varying degrees of success. I do not think that he is the genius many think he is, but his baseball acumen is pretty solid. He does seem to have the idea set in his head, though, that the Dodger way of doing things can fix players who have plus skills but mediocre results. It has worked sometimes and not so much others. But I call him a spin doctor because, to me, at least, he dances around the issues a little too much. I cannot remember him just coming out and laying it on the line. Maybe he has, but I do not remember it. So here goes.
Andrew Freidman: President of Baseball Operations
Dodger Stadium, 1000 Vin Scully Avenue
Los Angeles California 90012
Mr. Freidman,
As a Dodger fan of more than 65 years, and somewhat peeved after the speedy exit from the playoffs of my team, I am writing to you to express my discontent and ire with the way the team was handled in said series. We expected much more from the so-called best team in baseball, and certainly the best team in Dodger history. Lesser Dodger teams have won Championships. Maybe you are doing it the wrong way. Come in as the underdog instead of the top dog, and you might win the whole thing.
Even as a fan, I spotted holes in your lineup all year. We kept waiting for Muncy and Bellinger to improve. Too many weak links at the bottom of the order, and it came back to bite you against San Diego. Max had a nice surge there for a while but never did get his BA up over .200 to stay. Since when is hitting under .200 a good thing? And all the strikeouts, please, that is not baseball; that is just poor coaching. 451 strikeouts between Bellinger, Muncy, and Taylor. Unacceptable. That is 451 wasted at-bats. I gave Max a little break because he was coming off of an injury, the same break I gave Cody last year. But Cody is well over a year removed from his surgery, and he still can’t hit.
Too many left-handed pitchers in your starting rotation. No balance at all. Gonsolin was the only consistent RH you had after Buehler went down. Your deadline trades were less than inspiring. Martin proved to be reliable, but I never could and never will understand trading for a whiff machine like Joey Gallo. I think it is somewhat arrogant to think your coaches, who espouse the all-or-nothing approach to hitting, could turn around a career .199 hitter. He struck out 57 times in 44 games. Yep, they were a lot of help. What you should have done was have every hitter sit down with Freddie Freeman and talk about hitting for about 10 hours. He does it the right way. He doesn’t try to hit everything out of the park, and would it really kill those guys to learn how to hit the ball the other way? Especially when the opposition is giving you the entire line. How about bunting classes???
Baseball, by the numbers, is not the way it should be played. All the analytics in the world do not tell you a dang thing about a player’s desire or makeup. Many fans I know questioned the coachability of Bellinger. All the reports said he was working with the coaches. If he was, your coaches are very bad at their job because, from what I witnessed night after night, he chased the same stuff all year, and not once did he hit a high heater in the zone hard; more often than not, he missed it by a lot. Now with the shift going away, Cody will probably be good for maybe 25 more hits this year. Since that was close to the number of times, I saw him pull one right into the shift.
And finally, while I think you do a very decent job of building a team and even managing a gem find now and then, I think your press conference was a dodge. You kept referring to RISP as the problem. Well, there was a lot of that during the season too. And the idea of going on cruise control after they clinched, well, it showed because the team that showed up in San Diego was flat and uninspired. You left their heart and soul, Alberto, off of the roster, and then his replacement never got into a game. That right there is a waste of resources.
And be a man, take responsibility for the massive failure this team had, and don’t blame it on some stat. You built the roster, Roberts used what you gave him, and it all went down the toilet in spectacular fashion. A team cannot just flip a switch, and it seemed to me that you and the powers that be thought you could. Now we have to sit through another long winter because management failed to read the room correctly. You underestimated your competition, and you got beat. Signed, A very Disappointed Fan.
Discussion (17)
Disagree, not disagreeable
When I look back on this season, and how it ended with such a pathetic whimper, I think the AF-led brain trust did a great job at the start and a terrible job at the end.
The year before, as we all recall, the Dodgers went into the playoffs relying on marginal veterans like McKinney and Andy Burns to fill out a roster weakened by Muncy’s injury and more.
So AF stocked OKC with MLB veterans like Kevin Pillar and Jake Lamb. When Edwin Rios got injured (again), Lamb proved an able replacement. Pillar also was called up but suffered a season-ending injury. This help create an opportunity for Outman, who despite a spectacular debut with bat and glove, was denied the chance to show whether he really belonged. Later on, when Mookie was hurt, AF targeted Trayce Thompson, who exceeded expectations and, in the end, was trusted more than any outfielder not named Mookie.
Why didn’t Outman get more of a chance to prove himself? Of course his bat would cool off a bit–but it didn’t much back at OKC. Why was he denied the proverbial “runway”? Giving him a real chance would have infused the team with more youthful energy.
And perhaps AF wouldn’t have rolled the dice on Gallo.
I’ve criticized AF for failing to bring in a true impact player at the midseason trade market, the way the Pads brought in Drury and Hader, or the Yankees brought in Bader, or the Mariners brought in Castillo. In past seasons AF had previously brought in the likes of Machado, Darvish, Scherzer and Trea. This season, other front offices made the big impact deals.
But perhaps the bigger problem was the failure to give prospects like Outman a real chance.
Just a reminder: In just four games of play, Outman had a ridiculous 1.409 OPS, including an on-base percentage of .589. He struck out 7 times in 13 ABs, and had two walks. Sure, a small sample–but an impressive one. And nothing about his play in the field diminished his reputation as one of the best gloves in the system.
But as season wound down, with the Dodgers gambling on Gallo, the decision was made to bring up the righthanded-hitting Vargas.
Vargas got four times as much runway–and finished with the lowest OPS on the final roster at .455, with an OBP of only .200. When Vargas walked in his last plate appearance, it was only the second BB of his ML career.
Maybe Vargas will wind up being a great Dodger.
But the fact that both Vargas and Gallo were on the postseason roster shows that AF really made some big bad personnel decisions this season.
I’m not comparing this to the Dodgers game because each game is different. Just pointing out the vagaries of baseball. One more hit and Thompson would have been a bum. One more out and Melvin would have been a genius. Sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug.
Phillies manager pulls his starter after 5 innings. Eflin comes in, puts runners on first and third and then gets Bell to hit into an inning-ending double play. Melvin leaves Musgrove in for the sixth inning. He gets two quick outs then back to back doubles to break the tie and the Phillies go on to win. So is the Phillies manager a genius for pulling his pitcher after 5 innings and/or is Melvin a bum and a horrible manager For leaving his pitcher in for the sixth inning?
Easy to choose in retrospect but not so easy in real time. Give Doc some slack.
Once Dodgers got that ‘z’ it appeared they got away from the mission and started fielding experimental spring training tryouts at least to some degree. I didn’t like the feeling that gave me but told myself not to fear and they know better than me. My fear was it could set the team on the wrong path for the post season. I can’t claim my feelings were right or wrong but now it’s substantiated there might of been something to my fears. At any rate, the post season Dodgers didn’t appear to be on any mission and showed little passion to rally a win. I love Mookie as a Dodgers. He shows how it’s done and influences a rally on both ends. But Mookie didn’t show up this post season. I see that as the biggest reason why it all came crashing down. Nobody took the baton in place. Don’t know why that happened or didn’t happen, but there’s all the things that everybody has said and everybody is right. B&P brings some interesting points about Doc that can’t be disputed other than Doc that’s what got the Dodgers to the Dance in high style. Maybe we lost because we were supposed to win. Maybe were not supposed to get used to winning and there is such things as baseball gods. How do we get rid of wildcards and divisions now that they’ve been introduced. So many things ruining the game that’ll abuse any passion any player has for his career other than the wealth it can bring. Again that’s probably what’s ruining it most. Sorry for the rambling but my disappointment crept in where I started to post something far different than this nonsense.
Bear: My apologies for stating the wrong 1959 White Sox record. These old eyes read it wrong. Thanks for the clarification.
Where to find Scott’s web for LADR,A little help please.
The Athletic’s baseball podcast talks about the Dodgers recent dominance and lack of WS titles:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-athletic-baseball-show-a-show-about-mlb/id1558220009?i=1000583469488
Well, I never thought I’d be a Yankee fan. I guess I’m into self-abuse as I age. And a Phillies fan, of course. The best part of the Playoffs so far is watching Buzzie Altuve go 0 for 22.
* So we’ve all expressed our thoughts on what’s wrong. So what needs to be done to fix it? Let’s look look at a few solutions.
What is the Dodger way? We are pretty arrogant about who we are, and for good reason. But this was a very disappointing exit and it is time to reevaluate. I would take a look at our organizational philosophy. How we play the game. How we use data, how the game is managed and personnell needs. All of it.
From listening to AF’s presser, he indicated everything will be looked at. I don’t believe that, because deep down, I don’t think he thinks much is broken. We draw about 3 million, sell all the Jerseys and hats, Dodger Dogs and have a nice bit of TV revenue. So what’s the panic?
* Here are some things I’d like to see.
Personnel moves – Saying goodbye is hard. A year too early is better than a year too late. I wouldn’t stay with Bellinger at any price. It’s time to move on. I’m not sure what happens with Muncy? Maybe he is the DH and plays some third, but we need to look at Rios or a new face and an upgrade there, defensively. Do Muncy and JT split time there and DH again next year. Haven’t we seen this act before? Pick one but the other needs to go.
I favor signing TT still but not at the price he will likely demand. Enter Amaya.
CT3 needs to get packaged up in some deal and strike out elsewhere. With the DH and no double switches, the Swiss-Army-Knife player like CT is less needed. Give me everyday guys with no big splits demanding platooning.
Obviously, gone with Bellinger and CT3 is Gallo and Thompson. I’m starting over in the outfield beside Mookie. We have a a strong minor league system and we pride ourselves on player development – A Dodger Way. Well it’s time to see the fruits of that system. The youngsters either get jobs in our lineup or are used as trade pieces. I’d like to see more players who are trained to run more, bunt more, contact more, play better defense – rethink Dodger Baseball.
* Is the 3 outcome, lift and separate approach to hitting and emphasized in the Dodger Way, going to remain? Watching the pitching and lack of hitting and runs scored in the playoffs, will that approach be replaced with more contact guys? I’d like to see that.
I think we need a contact guy or 2. A Brett Butler or healthy Nick Madrigal come to mind. Perhaps a switch hitter who plays everyday. A guy or 2 who can bunt for a base hit, sacrifice, steal bases, run and hit. A guy who looks like a traditional lead off hitter back in the day. Mookie leads off and he isn’t that guy. Maybe his approach needs a look but a contact hitter or 2 would make things happen somewhere in the line up.
* I don’t offer which pitchers stay and go, right yet, but our pitching philosophy in general, needs a look. Put Starting Pitching back in the game. Evaluate shrinking innings to starting pitching. The trend of 4 inning starts with 85 pitches as a quality start comes with over reliance on the bullpen. It can catch up to you. The reverse might be true for some teams. Total bullpen games may be the future but to me that’s not the Dodger Way. We have arms and develop arms.
I would empathize 6 man rotation for at least until the All-Star break and maybe longer. No matter what, there would be 6 starters. Stop guys on the shuttle to OKC. Leave em in the show, including spots 5 and 6 for those guys to be a part of the Big Club, unless they are hurt or shitty. Each starter pitches every 6th day and is expected to get stretched out to go 7 innings. If I’m a pitcher I would hate to be expected to go only 5 innings and 85 pitches and hit the shower. And pitching decisions based more on what the hitters are tell the Skipper and Pitching Coach and less on a computer predicting the guy is going to ineffective in the near future.
* So how much data and information needs to be collected? How big of an analytical staff is needed. How many computers are needed? What can the pencil necks provide that isn’t already out there? Does a staff of metrics guys need to tell me that in the 4th inning with 1 out and a runner on 2nd, that this pitcher will throw a changeup 55% of the time? That might be great filler for the tv folks but nothing to the players. More is not better.
I would have loved and used pitching labs and hitting labs, I’m all in on that. The pitchers have a technical advantage now. Hitting has never been harder. But is more data in-game data actually helpful?
We all know the benefits of information on positioning and tendencies. To help a player defensively he gets a little card in his hat; 3 steps over and 2 steps back. A Pre-game a scouting meeting and report on the pitcher, is good. The pitcher and catcher gets advanced scouting on the hitters. So why do need more data? How much more information is actually useful for a player? If it can’t be digested by players, many of whom barely graduated from high school, then it isn’t useful. Some of the best players I played with were likely special need students. They didn’t overthink shit. See ball, hit ball. A little, very digestible info and they were good to go.
The pendulum is still swing to the analytics side and I hope that ends and it begins to swing back to the center. That puts the eye test and humanity back in the game. I hope it happens before all the players become robots.
I have more, but no today.
I like these lines, even though they are dripping with sarcasm, because they highlight how much of a crapshoot the playoffs are:
We expected much more from the so-called best team in baseball, and certainly the best team in Dodger history. Lesser Dodger teams have won Championships. Maybe you are doing it the wrong way. Come in as the underdog instead of the top dog, and you might win the whole thing.
We write here because we love baseball and the Dodgers. I hope what I write generates thought and discussion. Now, no one has to agree with what I say and I respect that. Hell all of us who write here don’t agree with each other most of the time. But that is what is so great about baseball. I respect Mark, Evan, BP and I respect Scott who runs LADR. I have posted on many blogs, including Jeff’s new one. I get solid info from all of them. I also learn from each and every poster on all of those sites. I do not have enough time to read everything, but I read what I can and try to get the best info I can. Am I wrong? Sometimes badly. Like the other day when on my post I misidentified Jim Davenport as having been a Dodger when in reality it was his former teammate, Daryl Spencer. I try to write articles that are 1. informative 2. thought provoking 2. bringing Dodger history to life. I hope I succeed in doing that most of the time. I am not professional writer, just a fan who really cares about his team. That is why I wrote this post. I was and still am disappointed in the way it all played out. My feelings have been echoed by many other fans. If you think what we have wrote about AF and Roberts is bad, you should see how both are getting shredded elsewhere. Roberts gets more negative press on Twitter than anyone I can ever remember. Well, I will be heading back home to Colorado next week. Going to stop off in Arizona and see an old friend, and then some of my family members. We all love the Dodgers, let us all just a little bit try to be nice to each other. I know it is hard, but as I get so much older, I just detest conflict and arguing.
Rangers get Bochy….have to think this makes Texas much more desirable for Clayton.
I get it everyone down on bellinger, I for one hope he stays a dodger There’s talk about him changing teams starting a new era New scenery We’ll help him We need to change our hitting instructors on the dodgers. I’m saying this only if he takes less in 2023.
Corbin Burnes
Bear: In 1959 the Dodgers and White Sox had the same record 88/68 and in the shortened season of 1981, the Dodgers were 63/47 and the Yankees were 59/48. Both years, we were not facing superior teams.
Interesting.
There are always holes in line-ups and obviously the Dodgers had them. There were too many rally killing hitters, who ended up striking out with runners in scoring position. Chris Taylor, Max Muncy and Cody Bellinger come to mind. I totally agree on wasted at bats. But the Dodgers scored lots of runs during this season so it wasn’t something to focus on.
Maybe the Dodgers were a little too arrogant. They were good, real good. How many teams win 111 games? None of the teams still in the playoffs.
The lead off hitter, Mookie Betts, is notoriously streaky. When he’s hot, he helps generate a lot of offense. When he’s not, others have to key the offense. Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman were good at that with nearly 400 hits between them. Will Smith was a pretty good four hitter, then Justin Turner came on with Muncy rediscovering his swing. Gavin Lux was producing big before he got injured. Then Justin was slowed by a September injury.
Should the Dodgers spend much time analyzing all this? Probably not, best to focus on 2023.
They have some time to form a good view of where do we go from here. Andrew Friedman is a very smart guy. He has a great staff. They will no doubt kick around what went wrong. But I’m not sure that pulling levers will make the Dodgers better.
But how do you move forward? Hard to say the Dodgers aren’t doing a lot of things right. They won 111 games.
What gets teams to the World Series. Teams get hot, players step up and then there is luck. Perhaps there is fire. Like the 1988 team. Underdogs often possess that. Then there are teams that are simply better than everyone else, like the Yankees when they had a dominant run years ago.
While I hate to say this, it’s probably time to move on from Bellinger. I agree with Jerry Hairston. Maybe the Dodgers roll the dice and try to negotiate a lesser dollar amount and see what happens.
Not sure how they replace Trea Turner’s bat, but I’m guessing Gavin Lux plays short next year.
Most big contracts don’t turn out well.
So where should the Dodgers go from here?
Well, promote the idea that starting pitchers should look to go seven innings. Sometimes I feel the Dodgers overuse their bullpen and at some point you pay a price.
Find contact hitters, move away from the big swing and miss guys. Wasted at bats and all.
Again, they need to focus on pitching. Maybe bring back Anderson.
Miquel Vargas is probably ready to step and play, probably a couple of other prospects too. Certainly two or three pitching prospects will help.
I would bring Justin Turner back.
But a team that wins 111 games isn’t going to tear up the plan and toss it into the trash. More likely to tweak a little here and there. There are no clear answers to any of this.
Excellent write-up today.
Nice write up, but fried isn’t going to give straight answers to anyone! He knows he can pick and choose all the reclamation projects he wants and if they work out fine, if not so be it. Never understood gallo move at all! Kiki was never a great player but he sure filled a big role, playing all over and supplying power and base running , plus great in the dugout. Joc supplied some serious pop off the bench, and popular in the dugout. I know money wise it made sense to let them walk, but replace them with Alberto /gallo type s , doesn’t work. Brandon drury would have been a major upgrade. We’re not Tampa! We can afford good players for the bench, they don’t all have to be waiver players! Love dusty baker, but can’t stand the thought of bregman, altuve getting another ring., but I think they win it all. Go Phillies!
I have a couple of observations:
#1. I listen to what comes out of Andrew Friedman’s mouth, but I watch his actions because he is NEVER going to give anyone an edge in knowing what he really thinks or means, and if he gets a little defensive, it is because you have asked a question that is getting close to the truth (like when he was asked if Roberts really makes the decisions). I don’t particularly like it, but in today’s game of statistics and analytics, he does not want to give an inch to his opponents. (By the way, if you really believe Doc makes all his own decisions, I have a bridge…). Now, maybe Andrew will loosen up and let Doc make more decisions in the future…
#2. “ Come in as the underdog instead of the top dog, and you might win the whole thing.” How can you do that when you lead all of baseball in runs, BA, hitting with RISP, ERA, and Run Differential? If he had gone out and gotten Luis Castillo or another arm, would that have helped? Maybe if Castillo could hit.
#3 – Yes, AF does seem to think he can “fix” players. Well, not himself, but the Dodger “fixers” – and they are pretty successful, but Gallo, as tantalizing as he was/is was a bust! Maybe they can fix CT3, but I thought it was a mistake to re-sign him and said so at the time. Max Muncy was not the problem in the playoffs. He hit .286 with a .375 OP% and .945 OPS. Why they let him play all season puzzles me.
#4. I doubt that the Dodgers will give Friedman “unlimited resources” next year. According to AP News, “The Dodgers have a record $310.6 million payroll and will pay an all-time high $47 million luxury tax. That isn’t going to continue and now we have a few weeks until we allegedly find out about Trevor Bauer.
#5 – I agree with bunting classes, especially after eliminating the shift, which might seem contradictory.