Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman spoke with the media for the first time since the Dodgers lost to the Nationals in the NLDS and provided updates on the team going forward. Here’s a brief recap of what Friedman said on Monday.
- Before going into other updates, Friedman said the he expects his own new contract with the Dodgers to be finalized in the next few days. The length of the contract is not known at this time. Friedman will remain with the Dodgers.
DAVE ROBERTS:
- Friedman has confirmed that manager Dave Roberts will indeed be back, and was surprised when he was asked to even confirm this, given that ” by and large, the body of work is really strong.”
- “I was surprised by the questions, this is a team that won 106 games.”
RICK HONEYCUTT
- The longtime pitching coach for the Dodgers will be stepping down from his role, and transition into a special assistant for the team.
- Honeycutt has had back issues, and this transition allows him to remain with the team, just in a less hands-on role
- Friedman added that he expects current bullpen coach Mark Prior to assume Honeycutt’s old role and take over as pitching coach
KENLEY JANSEN
- When asked about Kenley Jansen’s role as the team’s closer going forward, Friedman said, “I’m not sure, but my sense sitting here is that Kenley will be our closer.”
KENTA MAEDA
- Friedman said they expect Kenta Maeda to return to his role as a starter for the 2020 season — “He’ll be pitching every 5th day.”
RICH HILL / RUSSELL MARTIN
- Friedman said that he fully expects both to play in the MLB next season, he just is not sure if it will be in LA.
ADDITIONAL NOTES + QUOTES
- Friedman said he will go into the offseason open to changing the complexion of the roster.
- When asked if the team would hire a general manager, Friedman said he “does not know yet”.
- Friedman added the Dodgers have “financial flexibility” in terms of adding big free agents, but points out how successful the team was in 2019, essentially implying that they don’t feel they necessarily have to make a big splash in the offseason.
ON THE 2019 SEASON
- Friedman called the loss to the Nationals “heart wrenching”, but defended the decision to set up the pitching rotation to set up Clayton Kershaw being able to come out of the bullpen in Game 5
- “You can’t possibly script out a baseball game,” Friedman said when asked if that was what the front office does.
- He also added that this year’s bullpen was “capable of winning a World Series”.
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