ARLINGTON, Texas — Andrew Friedman has a tree. And it’s doing pretty well.
The executives running the front offices of each of the other three teams that reached their League Championship Series were all hired by Friedman at one point.
Friedman hired Eric Neander as an intern with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2007. Neander was promoted to senior vice president of baseball operations and GM in Tampa after Friedman had left to become the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations following the 2016 season.
Astros GM James Click followed a similar path. He was also an intern with the Rays under Friedman, moved up to vice president of baseball operations in 2017 then left for the Astros after their GM Jeff Luhnow was fired in the wake of the sign-stealing scandal.
“I definitely feel old,” Friedman said of having two former interns now running big-league teams.
Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos worked with Friedman under different circumstances. He had already been GM of the Toronto Blue Jays for six years before he joined the Dodgers’ front office for two (2016 and 2017). He was hired by the Braves following the 2017 season and has led them to three consecutive NL East division titles.
“It’s cool to have a personal connection,” Friedman said. “Obviously all three are really good friends of mine and in a vacuum, I’m really happy to see them having success. … But now I’m to the point where I want each one of them to lose – as I’m sure they feel about me.
“I’m not very good at kind of stepping back and reflecting back and really being nostalgic about things in the past. Just the future and what’s going on in that moment tend to take up a lot of my time. But, it was a really special time with the Rays with a lot of really talented people who have now gone on and are doing some incredible things. Alex was with us for a couple years and he likes to tell people how much he learned while he was here. We also learned a lot from him as well. And so it’s gonna be fun and it does add a real personal connection even watching the American League side of things.”
Anthopoulos does indeed point to his two years working with Friedman and then-GM Farhan Zaidi in Los Angeles as a valuable experience.
“Those guys are, for me, the best executives in the game so I jumped at the chance to go work with them,” Anthopoulos said.
“I could go on for hours about all the things I learned from being around them. I think generally speaking my focus probably in the past was more on the 1 to 25 at the big-league level. Obviously, you’re worried about scouting and development. But in terms of going in and competing during the season, I was more focused on the 25 than I was the entire 40-man. And I think among other things, they understand more than I did, the importance of getting through the season and needing all 40 guys and that next group of players is going to be important. Guys are going to get hurt. Guys aren’t going to perform. I think that’s where some clubs that are unable to stay afloat aren’t as deep as they should be or can be. That’s something I learned to value and appreciate. You look at the Dodgers. They are extremely deep. … that’s certainly gone into my philosophy of putting a team together.”
RIOS RETURNS
With the prospect of playing games each of the next seven days without a break, the Dodgers added pitching and will carry 15 pitchers for the NLCS against the Braves.
Along with left-hander Alex Wood, infielder Edwin Rios was added to the roster for the series. Rios missed the NL Division Series against the San Diego Padres with a minor groin injury and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Rios would likely be available only to pinch-hit at least early in the NLCS. But the Dodgers are hopeful Rios will continue to recover enough to be available for more as the series progresses.
“Day over day over day over day, it’s continued to improve pretty significantly,” Friedman said. “The way he ran the bases yesterday. He took some live at-bats and just the way he was able to fire on his backside really gave us more optimism about where he was and also not only where he’d be today but where he’ll be in the next few days as well.”
Pinch-running specialist Terrance Gore and second baseman Gavin Lux were dropped from the roster to make room for Rios and Wood.
DEPTH CHARGE
With this year’s NLCS being played at a neutral site, there is no need for travel days. So the best-of-seven series will be played without an off day.
That’s fine by the Dodgers.
“I like that it makes teams have to utilize their whole roster,” Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner said. “You can’t get through a playoff series with three starting pitchers. So I love that about it. It really exposes the depths of teams.”
A year ago, the Washington Nationals eliminated the Dodgers in the best-of-five first round of the playoffs with Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin pitching 28 of the 45 innings in the series then rode that trio to a World Series title.
“I mean, he’s right,” pitcher Clayton Kershaw said of Turner’s assessment. “You’re going to use everybody. Seven games in seven days, there’s not so many guys that can just throw seven straight days. It’s going to be taxing for both sides, especially the bullpens.
“But, like JT said, we feel good about our guys 1 through 28. We think that’s a strength of ours. … I think it’s favorable to us so I like it.”
The format affects not only starting pitching plans. Bullpens could reset during travel days in the past. Now managers will have to be more mindful of how many consecutive days they use individual relievers.
“You have to be careful to not play for tomorrow – meaning if you have a chance and you’re close and you’re in the game worry about today, today. You can always reconvene the next day,” Anthopoulos said. “You don’t know what the next day is going to bring. You don’t know if you get out to a big lead or they get out to a big lead. … As long as you’re within reach, I think you have to play for that day and react accordingly the next day.”Both the Dodgers and Braves have deep bullpens. But Friedman pointed out the danger of going to the same matchups too often in an extended series, giving hitters time to get more comfortable with certain relievers.
“Even with off days in years past, you run the risk of overusing some relievers, and not necessarily to the point where they’re at risk of getting hurt but just where it starts to potentially eat into some effectiveness,” he said.
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