Andrew Friedman Can't Build a Bullpen

For several years, Dodger fans complained about the Dodgers bullpen… or lack thereof of one. Maybe a lot of their ire was directed (unfairly) at one Kenley Jansen, but I think that many Dodger Fans believe that in the past Andrew Friedman simply did not value the bullpen and therefore did not build good bullpens. I beg to differ. The Dodgers’ bullpen has never been as bad as fans have stated, but it also is true that Andrew Friedman is evolving in the way he and the Dodgers build a bullpen. Let’s look back at how the Dodgers bullpen ranked for all of MLB by year in ERA under Andrew Friedman:

• 2021 – 3.16 #2
• 2020 – 2.74 #2
• 2019 – 3.95 #5
• 2018 – 3.72 #8
• 2017 – 3.38 #4
• 2016 – 3.38 #1
• 2015 – 3.91 #19

Of course, 2015 was Andrew’s first year as the President of Baseball Operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers and he had roster issues caused by “The Trade” and bad management in the years before 2014. He had Clayton Kershaw, Zach Greinke, and smoke and mirrors: Brett Anderson, Carlos Frias, Alex Wood, Mike Bolsinger, Brandon McCarthy, Matt Latos, and Ian Thomas (remember him?). Without solid, innings-eating starters, the bullpen, outside of Kenley Jansen and JP Howell sucked. The Dodgers were finished that year in the NLDS.

In 2016, the starters changed as Zach Greinke left for Desert Pastures and Kenta Maeda was signed. The rest of the rotation consisted of Scott Kazmir, Ross Stripling, Julio Urias, Alex Wood, Bud Norris (yep!), Brandon McCarthy, Mike Bolsinger, Rich Hill, and Brock Stewart. The bullpen was better with Kenley, Joe Blanton, Pedro Baez, Chris Hatcher (belch), and Grant Dayton, in fact, it was #1 in all of baseball, but that was an anomaly. The Dodgers were knocked out of the playoffs in the NLCS.

Then in 2017, the starting rotation improved and was Kershaw, Wood, Hill, Maeda, Ryu, McCarthy, Stripling, Darvish, Stewart, and Urias. The bullpen was led by Jansen, Stripling, Baez, Fields, Tony Watson, Tony Cingrani, Brandon Morrow, and Luis Avilan. Of course, we know that the ASS-TROS beat them in the 2017 World Series, but the improvement was obvious.

I think that after last season, lots of fans think that Friedman was pushing all the buttons, but the opposite was true. While Friedman was the boss, Farhan Zaidi was largely responsible for many of the position player acquisitions, as well as the bullpen acquisitions, including Romo, Fields, Ravin. Morrow, Chavez, Norris, Goeddal, Venditte, Kolarek, and others all had connections to Zaidi. I am not saying that is a bad thing or trying to diminish Zaidi’s expertise. I’m just saying… Farhan had a hand in most player acquisitions. Friedman and Zaidi were also buddies, so I am sure that most player decisions were discussed pretty deeply between themselves and other staff.

Since Farhan has left, I would say that 2022 is the first bullpen that is close to 100% built by Andrew Friedman (without Zaidi) since Kenley Jansen also left over the Winter to sign with the Braves. This is Friedman’s bullpen. Well, Josh Brynes has a hand in it too. Andrew Friedman’s imprimatur is stamped all over this team in so many ways. Andrew Friedman has certainly evolved because this bullpen is very deep and very eclectic!

The starters are as follows:

1. Buehler
2. Urias
3. Kershaw
4. Heaney (That signing is looking pretty good right about now)
5. Gonsolin
6. Bauer (TBD)

Bullpen Pieces

1. Bickford – Waivers
2. Bruhl – Amateur Free Agent
3. Cleavinger – Trade
4. Duffy – Trade
5. Ferguson – 2014 Draft (so I guess he is a holdover)
6. Gonzalez – Amateur Free Agent (2012 – another holdover)
7. Graterol – Trade
8. Grove – Draft (2016)
9. Hudson – Free Agent
10. Jackson – Draft (2017)
11. Kahnle – Free Agent
12. Nelson – Free Agent
13. Phillips – Waiver Pickup
14. May – Draft (2016)
15. Nunez – Amateur Free Agent
16. Treinen – Free Agent
17. Vesia – Trade
18. Kimbrel – Trade
19. Anderson – Free Agent
20. White – Draft (2016)
21. Price – Trade

Yes, some have varying forms of injuries and not all are already to pitch. One or two may not even pitch this year, but Friedman has plenty of arms. He doesn’t need them all. He also has Miller, Pepiot, Beeter, Knack, and several other live arms in the pipeline. Most are not likely to see action THIS year, but you never know. I think that Andrew has figured out that you can never have too many bullpen arms, so his motto is “Buy ’em Cheap, and Stack ’em Deep!“

Is Farhan Zaidi a better talent evaluator than Andrew Friedman? Well, we may never know, because since he and Farhan came to the Dodgers AF, did not need to be. The question we should ask is “Who is the better President of Baseball Operations?” A President of Baseball Operations’ job is not to just evaluate talent, but rather to organize, manage and grow the operation.

Andrew Friedman has the better overall record with seasons dating back to the Tampa Rays where they competed with payrolls under $40 Million. However, in 2021, Zaidi put together the best season ever (in terms of wins) for the Giants – EVER! It’s like comparing Kershaw and Koufax – Zaidi had a monster year, but Friedman was better longer. I don’t have an opinion – I think both are pretty damn good as talent evaluators. At this juncture, I think that Friedman is a more experienced leader, but I would urge anyone never to count out Farhan.

The Giants are also off to a great start (tied for first with the Dodgers), but if you went up and down their lineup, at which positions would you choose a Giants player over one of the Dodgers?

• C- Smith or Bart?
• 1B – Freeman or Belt?
• 2B – Lux or LaStella?
• SS – Turner or Crawford?
• 3B – Longoria (when healthy) or Turner?
• LF – Pederson/Ruf or Taylor?
• CF – Bellinger or Duggar/Slater?
• RF – Betts or Yas?

From the top-to-the-bottom of the lineup, the Dodgers are dramatically better. Yet, the Giants have the same record. The Dodgers are #2 in Runs Score in MLB while the Giants are #13. The Giants are #1 in team ERA (2.20) while the Dodgers are #2 (2.28). You have to admire the fact that the Giants are a bunch of Junkyard Dogs. I don’t think they can keep it up, but I thought the same thing last year. At any rate, it should be fun.

David Gray