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Andrew Friedman: Dodgers ‘need to figure out’ October problems

October 17, 2023

LOS ANGELES — Booted from the postseason in four games by the San Diego Padres last fall, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman called it “an organizational failure.”

So how would he characterize a second consecutive first-round exit, this time after a three-game National League Division Series sweep by the Arizona Diamondbacks?

“I think those words ring true,” Friedman said. “We’ve talked about this a lot, and I would hope that our actions demonstrate this – our goal each and every year is to win a championship. In our opinion, putting ourselves in the best position to do that in the regular season, is to win the division, which then puts us in the best position to win a championship. And when we don’t do that, I think it’s fair to say it’s an organizational failure.

“Our goal was to win 11 games in October and we didn’t win one. So we need to figure out what we can do differently and how to go about it.”

But Friedman’s answers to 30 minutes’ worth of questions at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon sounded very familiar and made it unclear what – if any – significant changes the Dodgers will make to address their October problem.

“Because organizational failure means it’s on all of us. We all have a hand in it,” he said to that. “If this were one person or a small collection of people – in my estimation – then we would make changes. We just wouldn’t do it to say, ‘Look, we’ve made changes’ and try to cover up what has happened. Instead, we have a lot of extremely disappointed, angry people who are all gonna work really hard together to avoid being in this position next year.

“With the talent, with how much they care, with their work ethic, how much they care about these fans and doing everything we can to win a championship in 2024, it felt like making a change would be for the sake of it instead of actually bringing better, more talented people here.”

Friedman made it clear that he did not feel staffing changes were called for and said Dave Roberts will return for a ninth season as manager in 2024. Roberts agreed to a contract extension last spring that runs through 2025.

“The one thing I can say with absolute certainty – and there aren’t a lot of things I can do that about, as we post-mortem – is it was certainly not from a lack of effort, watching the way these guys prepared, cared, did everything they could to put themselves in the best position to go out and have success,” Friedman said. “We didn’t do it and that is ultimately what matters most. .. But I think Doc and our coaching staff did an incredible job this year. And none of us did a good job for those three games against Arizona.”

Friedman also would not blame the playoff format, which gives the top two seeds in each league a first-round bye and five days off before starting postseason play – even though the 100-win Dodgers, Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles were eliminated in the division series round.

“I certainly would not use that as an excuse,” Friedman said. “And our goal next year is to win the division and have those five days off again.”

Ultimately, it was the players who failed in the postseason for the second consecutive year.

Starting pitchers Clayton Kershaw, Bobby Miller and Lance Lynn gave up 13 runs while recording 14 outs against the Diamondbacks. Friedman acknowledged that shoring up a starting rotation that dissolved over the course of the season will be a priority this offseason.

But Friedman called the disappearance of an offense that scored more than 900 runs during the regular season – led by Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, who combined to go 1 for 21 in the NLDS – was “our bigger issue … because it was unexpected.”

It was unexpected in 2022 as well. And yet, the Dodgers have followed up 211 regular-season wins with back-to-back first-round playoff exits.

“I don’t know the answer,” Friedman said. “For our offense to be an issue this year was really surprising to us. We scored over 900 runs for the first time in Los Angeles Dodger history. It’s the best offensive team we’ve had in this run. So that was surprising to us. Obviously, there are three-game snippets throughout a year where our offense doesn’t perform. How much of it is that? How much of it is other things? I don’t know the answer.

“A lot of these things, it’s hard to know the answer to. There is an element that is October theater, and just what plays out on a daily and nightly basis. And there’s other things that we can do a better job on. And how to separate those, it’s incumbent upon us to figure out.”

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The Dodgers’ search for answers this winter could lead to some big expenditures – to restore their stock of starting pitching or to renew enthusiasm among a fan base no longer excited by 100-win seasons or division titles. Shohei Ohtani would do one of those immediately (and the other perhaps down the line).

“Who?” Friedman joked when asked about Ohtani’s pending free agency.

“Obviously, we can’t talk about free agents or pending free agents. … For us, obviously we’re extremely angry, disappointed with how these last two offseasons have gone. We’re going to do everything we can to put ourselves in position for it not to happen next year. What that means exactly, I’m not sure yet. But I do feel very confident that when we show up in Arizona in February, we’re going to have a team that has very, very legit championship aspirations and then it’s about going out and taking care of that first part of the goal in the regular season and then doing whatever we can to make sure we’re not sitting here in this exact setting a year from now.”

Orange County Register

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Andrew Friedman: Dodgers ‘need to figure out’ October problems

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