We had a good time Friday with general manager Farhan Zaidi taking over the Dodgers’ Twitter account for nearly 45 minutes to chat with fans, even if Zaidi couldn’t answer every specific question asked, jokingly or naively, about what deals the Dodgers might do in the future. (That’s not how life works.) Still, Zaidi got in some fun replies along the way. Here’s how it went …
[mlbvideo id=”37196221″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /] By Jon Weisman
If you didn’t get to hear Vin Scully at FanFest on Saturday, above is a special video capturing his words, where you can hear about his nightmare of “being chased by a giant clam screaming ‘Linguine!'” That’s right.
And now for more news about us mortals …
Rehabbing from two surgeries, Chris Withrow is hoping to make it back to a Major League mound sometime in 2015, reports Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. “When I began tossing Nov. 2, my arm felt incredible,” Withrow said. “But you know the back has bothered me off and on for years and it had gotten significantly worse. We just felt it made sense to get it taken care of as long as I was already out.”
Joel Peralta had a customs nightmare in Miami that prevented him from attending FanFest, writes J.P. Hoornstra of the Daily News.
The Jaime Jarrin Scholarship is being established by Servite High School in Anaheim for Latino students with leadership potential. “I feel extremely and humbly honored,” the Hall of Fame announcer said.
In a chat, Bill James suggested the 1942 Dodgers as the best second-place team of all time. His explanation:
The ’42 Dodgers went 104-50, but finished 2 games behind the Cardinals. You know, mathematically, one team in 8,000 should be strong at all 13 positions (8 regulars, 4 starters, relief pitchers). Since there are only about one-third that many teams in baseball history, then probably there should be no team that is above-average at every position–and, in fact, there isn’t, although I think one can argue for one of the Yankee teams of the 1990s. Anyway, there isn’t, but the 1942 Dodgers are very close to being strong at every position, with Hall of Famers at second (Billy Herman), third (Arky Vaughan), short (Pee Wee Reese) and in left field (Medwick). Their first baseman was Camilli–1941 MVP. In center field was Pete Reiser, an outstanding player for a couple of years; in right field was Dixie Walker, who had something close to Hall of Fame ability, athough his career was broken up at the start by a serious injury and fouled at the end by his infamous role in the Jackie Robinson story. Anyway, 7 really good starters; the 8th was catcher Mickey Owen, who was a good player. Starting pitchers Kirby Higbe, Whitlow Wyatt, Curt Davis and Johnny Allen–all of whom had good careers and were effective in 1942, relief ace Hugh Casey. It’s as close to a perfect team as there has ever been. Larry French was the starter/reliever swing man; he went 15-4 with a 1.83 ERA. . ..he also had an outstanding major league career.
In the same chat, James addresses who would win between a team of nine Clayton Kershaws and nine Mike Trouts.
A career retrospective of Buzzie Bavasi at In Pursuit of Pennants comes from Mark Armour and Dan Leavitt, who rank Bavasi the No. 7 general manager in MLB history.
As good as the Dodgers were, Bavasi is perhaps underappreciated because he made fewer trades than his contemporaries. “Why play poker,” he said, “when you’re the only one in the game with any money?” The Dodgers developed their own talent, and Bavasi was rarely called upon to find more.
Carl Erskine will play the National Anthem on his harmonica before Friday’s Pacers-Cavaliers NBA game in Indianapolis. Dana Benbow of the Indianapolis Star has a nice feature on the Dodger great, including stories you probably haven’t heard before.
Dodger senior vice president of planning and development Janet Marie Smith will join team historian Mark Langill in presenting an insider’s tour of Dodger Stadium, complete with dinner, drinks and a Q&A, on Tuesday for $50, through a special deal with Master Card.
“The Story of Billy Bean,” a one-hour documentary hosted by Bob Costas about former the one-time Dodger’s experience as one of two MLB players to publicly come out as gay, will premiere Tuesday at 6 p.m. on MLB Network. At one point, Bean talks about being sent down to the minors on the same day in 1995 that his partner died.
Dodger general manager Farhan Zaidi will answer fan questions live on the Dodgers’ Twitter account at 11 a.m. on Friday. With Spring Training just around the corner, it’s a perfect time to check in. Tweet your queries to @Dodgers with the hashtag #AskFarhan.
In the wee hours, Dodger president of baseball operations Andrew Freidman discussed Wednesday’s exchange of players with the Marlins and Angels. Above is some video, below are some excerpts …
[mlbvideo id=”36919225″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /] By Jon Weisman
In the days since the Dodgers announced new additions atop their front office, some noteworthy profiles have emerged, offering a window into their souls.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB8CF6Bmi3I&w=550&h=309] By Jon Weisman
The past 24 hours in the Dodger front office should be sponsored by Hires Root Beer.
The third and fourth people to officially join the executive staff since Thursday evening are Gabe Kapler as director of player development and Billy Gasparino as director of amateur scouting. Ken Gurnick of MLB.com has more on the newbie newbies.
Moments into his introductory press conference as the Dodgers new general manager, Farhan Zaidi asked, “Is Steve Dilbeck here?”
Zaidi then pulled out a mini screwdriver on the pretense of being willing to fix the Times blogger’s laptop, a reference to Dilbeck’s mocking description of Zaidi as a member of the Dodgers’ new Geek Squad.
In fact, Zaidi has a well-rounded baseball background and philosophy, which he put on display today for reporters. Here are some selected quotes:
Dodger president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman spoke this morning to reporters about his new hires: Farhan Zaidi as general manager and Josh Byrnes as senior vice president of baseball operations. Here are several excerpts:
“Where we are in the offseason, the pace of game is fast and nobody has any sympathy for us, and they’re not slowing things down to allow us to catch up.
Dodger president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has officially named his top two lieutenants in the front office, announcing Farhan Zaidi as the franchise’s 11th general manager and Josh Byrnes as senior vice president of baseball operations.
The 37-year-old Zaidi had been the assistant general manager and director of baseball operations in Oakland, while Byrnes was most recently executive vice president and general manager of the Padres.
“It is very exciting for us to be able to add two exceptional, veteran baseball executives like Farhan and Josh,” Friedman said. “Farhan’s primary focus will be the Major League team and player acquisitions while Josh will concentrate on the oversight of scouting and player development. However, they will both work closely with me on all aspects of baseball operations in our efforts to make the Dodgers’ front office and team the best it can possibly be.”
Selected quotes from Dodger president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman today:
Opening remarks:
“It’s an incredibly exciting day for me, coming into a franchise with such an historic history, occupying the same seat held by legendary baseball men like Buzzie Bavasi and Branch Rickey, is both challenging and humbling. Baseball would not be where it is today, without the Dodgers, and I have to say it feels great to be a Dodger today.
“Baseball is great when fans care deeply, and no team has better fans than the Dodgers. They expect their team to compete deep into October every year, and so do I. The fans know that baseball’s best when you win, so I’m looking forward to working with the many talented people in this organization to help us get to where we want to be, which is bringing a World Series championship back to L.A.
Andrew Friedman’s introduction to Los Angeles today as president of baseball operations for the Dodgers came with all the big-picture talk that you’d expect.
But what Friedman clearly knows, even as he emphasizes his philosophical approach, is that it’s the details of execution that make the difference.
“I think information is king,” Friedman said at today’s press conference at Dodger Stadium. “I think analytics is very important. I think scouting reports are very important. I think makeup information, getting a feel for what makes someone tick — all those things are incredibly important to me in the decision-making process. The difficult part is taking all that information and synthesizing it in a way to make efficient decisions.”
In other words: Step one for any leader is having an open mind. Step two is having a discerning mind.
Andrew Friedman, the 37-year-old architect of four playoff appearances and a trip to the World Series for the Tampa Bay Rays, is joining the Dodgers in the newly created position of president of baseball operations.
Ned Colletti, the Dodgers’ general manager since 2005, will remain in the organization as a senior advisor to president and CEO Stan Kasten. A news conference will be held at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday.
Friedman is six years older than Paul DePodesta was when the latter was named general manager in February 2004. And it’s those six years, plus three more as Rays executive vice president of baseball operations, that probably will impress those who would otherwise doubt someone so young and who came to baseball after starting his working career with Bear Stearns and MidMark Capital.
Though they finished 77-85 in 2014, the Rays had a run of six consecutive winning seasons — five of them with at least 90 victories — despite operating with one of the lowest payrolls in baseball. At age 31, he became the youngest-ever winner of the Sporting News’ Executive of the Year award.
“Andrew Friedman is one of the youngest and brightest minds in the game today and we are very fortunate to have him join our organization,” said Kasten. “The success he has had over the past nine years in molding the Tampa Bay Rays team has been incredible.”
Lest you think Friedman was a baseball neophyte when he joined the Rays, he went to Tulane on a baseball scholarship as an outfielder.
Since Colletti joined the Dodgers, the team has had eight winning seasons and five playoff appearances in nine years.
“Ned Colletti has played a major role in the success of the Los Angeles Dodgers over the last nine years, and I’m thrilled that we are able to retain him as a special advisor to me,” said Kasten. “Ned’s knowledge and experience in the game covering 33 years will be a great asset to the club as we continue to add and build our player development system.”
Happy Day of the Leaders of the Executive Branch …
Non-roster invitee Chone Figgins talked with Bill Plunkett of the Register about his … well, maybe it’s too strong to call it a comeback attempt in the traditional sense, but close enough, you know?
… By the end of his lost season, Figgins had decided he would work out for scouts during the winter in hopes of landing an invitation to someone’s spring camp.
He did that on Jan. 15 with about 10 teams sending scouts. The Dodgers sent Vance Lovelace, vice president for player personnel and a close advisor to General Manager Ned Colletti.
“Usually a guy with 10, 12 years in the big leagues or whatever – you go see a guy’s workout and he’ll do, like, 10, 15 minutes,” Lovelace said. “This guy worked out for a good 45 minutes. He ran the 60 (in 6.3 seconds, according to Figgins). He hit from both sides of the plate. He was a one-man infield but he took balls in center field, he took balls at third base, he took balls at shortstop, second base. It was the full gamut.”
Figgins joked that it was “a full high-school workout” but acknowledged it was a very humbling “reality check” for an 11-year major-league veteran. …
Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A. has a good news feature on why salary arbitration is a necessary evil, with first-hand quotes from Ned Colletti, Don Mattingly and Tim Wallach, among others.
Dodger president and CEO Stan Kasten did a one-on-one interview with Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.
It’s tough to steal a show that features Vin Scully, but during tonight’s Town Hall at Dodger Stadium for season-ticket holders, Dodger president and CEO Stan Kasten did his very best.
When one transistor-toting fan asked why there was a delay between the game action and Scully’s call on the radio, Kasten was quick with a zing.
“The delay is there for a reason,” Kasten said, “and it’s because we never know what Vin is going to say.”
While Kasten might have had the night’s funniest line, Scully might have had both the most heartwarming and also the boldest.
Heartwarming: “It’s nice to be a bridge (for generations of fans), not a toll bridge, not a bridge that has a traffic jam. I’d like to be that bridge for a little bit longer, God willing.”
As you try to read into those tea leaves (I have no insight into them), here’s the bold:
“Tonight,” Scully said, “I really have the feeling we are beginning one of the great stretch runs in the history of the Dodgers.”
Scully explained the latter remark in a couple of ways, most entertainingly in his telling of the story of the Dodger ownership transfer in 1925. Listen here:
Later, Scully characterized the level of dedication that he felt the current leadership brought to the Dodgers.
“You know the definition of dedicated?” Scully asked. “There’s two men; they’re partners in a clothing company, and one goes to Rome and has an audience with the Pope, and he comes back, and his partner says, ‘What kind of a guy is the Pope?’ And the other guy says, ‘He’s a 44 regular.’ ”
For his part, Kasten – who indicated that he was ready for fans and the media to stop referring to the current ownership as “the new ownership,” as opposed to just “the ownership” – said Dodger fans had every right to expect as much.
“We didn’t have to reinvent the wheel,” Kasten said. “We just had to restore the Dodgers. We knew what we wanted – what we always were.”
“We’re the Dodgers. We’re supposed to contend every year. And I believe that’s what we’re going to do this year.”
Orel Hershiser, who joined new SportsNet LA teammates Nomar Garciaparra, John Hartung, Alanna Rizzo and Charley Steiner (along with a number of Time Warner Cable Sports executives) at tonight’s event, talked about how much the approach meant to him and his fellow Dodger alumni. Listen:
There was a lot of patting on the back tonight, much of it from the season-ticket holders who asked questions for the final 20 minutes of the program, but Kasten was questioned on the topic of paperless tickets. He said the team was prepared to deal with everyone’s issues.
“Like all new things, there’s going to be a period of time when people struggle with it,” Kasten said. “Every time so far that we have gotten on the phone and talked them through their questions, there’s going to be a very high acceptance factor. … Two or three years from now, we’re all going to be wondering what took us so long.”
Kasten also offered snippets on other topics. A sampling:
Another player acquisition: “We have 59 players in camp. There’s going to be one more coming. Nothing I can say about that just yet. I’ll let the media go crazy with that.”
The Australia trip: “We have so many resources to deal with problems, to deal with preparation, and so much planning, that the only downside we have is people using it as an excuse. And we won’t accept excuses.”
Improved wi-fi: “For the second consecutive year, I’ve been promised it’s going to be here on Opening Day. This year I’m kind of sure we’re going to have it on Opening Day.”
What happens when three old friends in crisis fall into an unexpected love triangle? In The Catch, Maya, Henry and Daniel embark upon an emotional journey that forces them to confront unresolved pain, present-day traumas and powerful desires, leading them to question the very meaning of love and fulfillment. The Catch tells a tale of ordinary people seeking the extraordinary – or, if that’s asking too much, some damn peace of mind.
Thank You For Not ...
1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
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Attendance
1991-2013
Dodgers at home: 1,028-812 (.558695)
When Jon attended: 338-267 (.558677)*
When Jon didn’t: 695-554 (.556)
* includes road games attended
2013
Dodgers at home: 51-35 (.593)
When Jon attended: 5-2 (.714)
When Jon didn’t: 46-33 (.582)
Note: I got so busy working for the Dodgers that in 2014, I stopped keeping track, much to my regret.
