You. And you. And you too.
You all ripped the Dodgers for standing fairly pat at the trade deadline, despite glaring holes in left field and in the bullpen. Heck, this was the headline in this very newspaper: “Andrew Friedman struck out on the Dodgers†urgent need for a closer.â€
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How ever would the Dodgers return to the World Series?
The San Diego Padres had crept within three games of the Dodgers, and they had given up one of their two elite prospects for Mason Miller. The Philadelphia Phillies, a team that would finish with more wins than the Dodgers in the regular season, had swapped prospects for Jhoan Duran.
The Dodgers, the team that had spent $85 million on veteran relievers Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates over the winter, had gotten their last three saves from Alex Vesia, Jack Dreyer and Ben Casparius. Their trade deadline pickups: Brock Stewart, a setup man who soon would be lost to injury for the season, and Alex Call, a fourth outfielder.
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The Padres will not represent the National League in the World Series. Neither will the Phillies.
The Dodgers will, so that was Friedman late Friday night, drenched in celebratory alcohol after a championship series sweep, sloshing through pools of liquid forming on plastic sheeting.
You love him now. Three months ago, you crushed him.
“Yeah,†he said with a shrug. “It comes with it.â€
Friedman, the Dodgers†president of baseball operations, appreciates your passion, if not your advice.
“The thing I canâ€t do is make moves based on what people think we should do,†he said. “Weâ€re going to make mistakes. Weâ€re going to be aggressive taking shots.
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“Our goal is to be essentially the casino: be right more than weâ€re wrong, and have it yield a really good product that has a chance to win the World Series.â€
To be the casino means to have options, and to hit on one of them, rather than depending on only one option.
“Our thing on not acquiring some pitching was, we thought we were going to be leaving talented pitchers off our playoff roster as is,†Friedman said. “It wasnâ€t as front of mind as it was for others.â€
Letâ€s rewind here.
In left field, the Dodgers had to decide whether to acquire a productive bat for a corner outfield spot and release Michael Conforto, pick up a platoon partner for him, or let him ride. They picked up Alex Call, with an unannounced postseason contingency.
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“I will say Kiké (Hernández) — trading for him last year, re-signing him this year — that was part of the calculus, given his postseason pedigree,†Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “So thatâ€s not something that was lost on us.â€
It ainâ€t bragging if you back it up. The Dodgers include October on their schedule every year, so they could afford to carry Hernández and his .255 on-base percentage and 0.1 WAR for six months because he conveniently transforms into a star for one month. Hernandez can play anywhere in the infield or outfield.
The Dodgers did not include Conforto on their playoff roster. Hernández has started every game this postseason, with a .375 OBP.
That took care of left field.
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The closer?
Dodgers catcher Will Smith hugs pitcher Roki Sasaki after the final out of Game 4 of the NLCS on Friday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Friedman believed the Dodgers had enough good arms that one would emerge, even with so many quality arms available in trade. He readily admits he had no idea Roki Sasaki would be the one, as Sasaki was on the injured list at the trade deadline and did not emerge as a reliever until mid-September.
“We said internally that things are lining up that we are going to be at the peak of our health in October,†Dodgers president Stan Kasten said. “And, if thatâ€s the case, we love our rotation, we love our lineup, and we love our bullpen.â€
Still, while the starters were headed toward health, the Dodgers made an audacious bet in not adding a late-inning relief arm. Scott, Yates, Brusdar Graterol, Michael Kopech and Evan Phillips all were injured, ineffective, or both.
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In the postseason, Sasaki has given up one run and three hits in eight innings. He has three saves, as many as Yates had in the regular season.
“Those trades in July for relievers? Thatâ€s why we tried to do what we did in the offseason: be aggressive,†Friedman said.
“Not only are the prices out of whack, the same reliever volatility that we were suffering from in that moment can still happen after you make a trade.â€
Miller and Duran — and, for that matter, David Bednar — performed well for their new teams. Camilo Doval and Ryan Helsley did not. So the Dodgers kept their prospects and determined some kind of solution would come from within.
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“What we werenâ€t going to do was do something that we felt was foolish just to placate in that moment,†Friedman said, “and thatâ€s how we have to try to operate and explain it as clearly as we can.
“That said, weâ€re going to make mistakes. Weâ€re going to make mistakes quite often, and our goal is to learn from them and try to be right more than weâ€re wrong.â€
What appeared in the moment to be two big mistakes turned out not to be. Friedman has built two World Series champions within five years, with a third seemingly on deck, so he does not appear to be a moron, no matter what you might see on social media or in the comments section.
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Perhaps the Dodgers†World Series berth might silence his skeptics among the fan base.
“Theyâ€re enjoying the success,†Friedman said. “And Iâ€m glad they are.â€
Winning the trade deadline is not the goal. Winning a championship trophy is, and the sometimes confounding but always contending Dodgers are four victories away.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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