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3 Andrew Friedman moves that doomed the 2022 Dodgers

By Thomas Carannante |
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 04: Joey Gallo #12 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates his solo homerun to tie the game 2-2 with the Colorado Rockies, during the fifth inning at Dodger Stadium on October 04, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 04: Joey Gallo #12 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates his solo homerun to tie the game 2-2 with the Colorado Rockies, during the fifth inning at Dodger Stadium on October 04, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
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Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman is the gold standard in regard to baseball executives across Major League Baseball. He always does more with less and he appropriately and successfully spends big within the generous budget he’s given.

But he’s not perfect. No executive is. Not every move pans out the way someone envisions it. Nobody can predict unexpected departures, regressions, or choking in the postseason. Those are uncontrollable variables most of the time.

Even though he traded for Trea Turner and Trayce Thompson, signed Freddie Freeman, Tyler Anderson and Andrew Heaney, and discovered guys like Alex Vesia and Evan Phillips over the last couple seasons, Friedman didn’t fortify this Dodgers roster in a few areas as well as he could’ve.

In the end, there really isn’t much of an excuse for the 111-win Dodgers, who were historic in many ways, to have fallen short to the San Diego Padres, a team they destroyed for the better part of the last three years (14-5 against them in 2022).

But what if the Dodgers were stronger in a few key areas? Maybe that could’ve prevented the annual discussion of, “What happened?”. The concern here was that these decisions (or non-decisions) were fairly obvious to the average fan.

3 Andrew Friedman decisions that eventually doomed the 2022 Dodgers

Joey Gallo #12 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)
Joey Gallo #12 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images) /

3. Thinking Joey Gallo Would Be Viable Bench Option

Usually, the Dodgers can get the best out of players who are either struggling or have trouble “finding” themselves. But Friedman pressed too hard when he thought he could turn Joey Gallo around.

LA badly needed depth/bench help for the postseason. Trayce Thompson, for as good as he was in the regular season, couldn’t be relied on to replicate that in the playoffs with his lack of experience. Cody Bellinger, defense aside, has continued to be a liability, especially in the area that once made him an MVP. Chris Taylor was dealing with multiple injuries this year (one big one before the trade deadline, too), which limited his usage in the NLDS. As for Gallo, he saw ONE defensive inning in the DS. One. Didn’t get an at-bat. But every LA fan was convinced he’d “run into one” in October. Sure.

So why did Friedman think Gallo was a viable backup/depth option? The man hit .159 with a .660 OPS and 84 OPS+ in 140 games with the Yankee dating back to last year’s trade deadline. In LA, he hit .162 with a .671 OPS and 83 OPS+ across 44 games. Did the Dodgers really think he’d be revived in less than two months after experiencing the worst yearlong stretch of his career? It was the worst yearlong stretch in Yankees history for a full-time player and marked one of the worst in the league.

On top of that, the Yankees have seemingly revived prospect Clayton Beeter, who they received in exchange for Gallo. Double L for the Dodgers.

Craig Kimbrel #46 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Craig Kimbrel #46 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) /

2. Replacing Kenley Jansen with Craig Kimbrel (and Losing AJ Pollock)

The Dodgers seemingly dragged their feet with Kenley Jansen in free agency (if we’re to believe what he said) and he signed with the Braves for one year and $16 million. The Dodgers lost their legendary closer just like that.

With ninth-inning guys so hard to come by, there was no way this loss wasn’t going to hurt the Dodgers. Even if, at the time, they were getting another very good and experienced reliever in Craig Kimbrel.

Turns out, they didn’t get that, though. Kimbrel reverted back to his White Sox self, just like how Gallo remained his Yankees self, and the right-hander was left off the NLDS roster. The Dodgers’ bullpen was largely a skeleton crew come playoff time, and manager Dave Roberts determined he had no use for his closer for most of 2022. That speaks to a failure in the front office.

The Dodgers paid the same amount for Kimbrel that the Braves paid for Jansen, who finished second in MLB with 41 saves. Not only that, but the Dodgers killed their outfield depth by sending AJ Pollock to Chicago in the deal. In one fell swoop, Friedman replaced Jansen with Kimbrel and Pollock with Thompson/Gallo. And nobody here would be out of line to say the Thompson trade with the Tigers was “lucky.” By definition, it was. Friedman said it himself!

Pollock didn’t have the best of seasons with the White Sox, but that team was poisoned from start to finish. He was a very good Dodger who shook off his postseason woes with good showings in last year’s NLDS and NLCS.

More importantly, though, Kimbrel was a hated Dodger. Fans celebrated his exclusion from the postseason roster. That’s how you know it was an abject failure.

Walker Buehler #21 of the Los Angeles Dodgers(Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)
Walker Buehler #21 of the Los Angeles Dodgers(Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images) /

1. No Deadline Reinforcements After Walker Buehler Injury

Of all the years, even though the Dodgers’ bullpen held up admirably while battling injuries and poor play all season, LA couldn’t afford a bullpen game in the first round. Though that bullpen showing in Game 3 was actually good, it exhausted the unit for Game 4, which is when it all came crashing down. Tommy Kahnle and Yency Almonte finally faltered, and that was it.

The Dodgers knew — or at least had a hunch — that Walker Buehler wouldn’t be returning for 2022 as early as May. Even if he was able to return, were they really going to bank on a surgically-repaired elbow to carry them through October?

So when Friedman didn’t do anything to bolster the rotation at the deadline, many were rightfully puzzled. While Julio Urías, Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Anderson proved to be a killer top three, Urías’ workload was a concern, Kershaw’s injuries and overall postseason performance was another, and Anderson’s lack of experience further added to the question marks.

Though only Kershaw “faltered” (you’d like a better start than five innings and three earned from your No. 2), the lack of a fourth starter further taxed the bullpen, didn’t exactly strike fear into the Padres, and left the Dodgers a bit more disorganized come playoff time than many would like to admit.

Losing Buehler, the team’s literal postseason ace, was colossal. There was no “replacing” him, but options existed to strengthen the rotation. There was too much reliance on Andrew Heaney’s impressive start to the year. There was too much reliance on Dustin May’s return from Tommy John surgery. There was too much reliance on Tony Gonsolin’s All-Star season (though, we’ll admit, that injury was untimely and contributed to the rotation strength/bullpen issues in that Game 3).

In the end, the Dodgers would’ve been better off bringing back May as a reliever from the get-go, jettisoning a guy like David Price who didn’t contribute much of anything, and adding another reliable starter at the deadline.

There were too many unknowns with all the other scenarios. The Dodgers relied on everything to “play out” the manner in which they had hoped, and a few unexpected issues ended up costing them.

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