April 8, 2025 • 10 mins
Andrew talks about Tommy Edman's versatility, the organization's pitching depth, and the plan for Shohei Ohtani on the mound.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We are in our nation's capital and we're joined right
now by the Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman. Andrew,
thanks a lot for the time. And I always love
it when it's good mood.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Andrew, Yeah, that's fleeting. I think it. You know, you
can always tell what mood I'm in based on how
we're playing.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Here's something I used to cover the Lakers when Phil
Jackson was coaching, and he said he never evaluated any
of his teams until probably a quarterway through the season.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Do you look at it big picture like that?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
And also on a day to day basis, how do
you view it this early in the season.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah, I mean I think you know where we will
really take stock is basically a third of the season,
get through May and get a real feel for things.
That being said, we feel it intensely every day, and
so tell not to overreact to things that are you know,
happening in a moment in time and try to get
(00:55):
a bigger, broader perspective before making you know, big changes.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
When you look at the team so far, obviously, offense
has got to be the biggest strength. Is it performing
the way you envisioned it when you put this together.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
No, which is actually pretty exciting. I think there's a
lot more in there. Offensively, We've had some games with
some really timely hits, which has helped, and it's helped
us put some points on the board, but just the
consistency of our offense up and down hasn't really been there.
A lot of our runs, feels like, have come via
(01:33):
the home run, which is great to have the ability
to hit the ball all of the park. It's not
as great when we're relying on it as it kind
of feels like. But this is a really dynamic, talented offense,
and you know, in a lot of ways, feel good
about where we are record wise, because I think from
a fundamental standpoint offensively, we haven't played to our ability yet,
(01:57):
which is great being that these wins are in the bank,
and feel like there's even more upside from here.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
I know you block out a lot of the noise,
but I get to hear it all. So after starting
out eight and oh you were unbeatable, now the team
has lost three of the last four and all of
a sudden, the sky's falling, The defense is horrible.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
How do you keep that perspective?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah, well, I'm glad that you feel them. People of
Los Angeles are really lucky to have you to as
their outleot.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
I'm a therapist at times.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yes, yes, you know, I think any you know this
season is a series of daily narratives.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
When we win, things couldn't be any better.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
When we lose, the sky's falling and totally get that,
and fans are right. Our defense has been really poor
the last three or four days. We haven't played well fundamentally,
but that's not who we are, and I will bet
a lot that that's not how we will play going forward.
(03:02):
So while frustrating looking back, everything for us is about
looking forward and making a bet on what we think
will happen. And I will bet on this team being
good defensively and you know, doing what we need to
to keep runs off the board and with our offense
be able to score more than we allow and win
(03:24):
a lot of games.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Andrew, I'm not sure we fully appreciate it as you did.
How good Tommy Edman is playing every day. And we
were all a little looking at you sideways when you
said a couple of off seasons ago you had two
guys at the top of your board.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Otani and Tommy Edman.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
But I believe we've started to see and we saw
it when you acquired him last year, just how good
he is and what you saw.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, I mean that makes it sound like we had
those guys is like one and two in the league.
It was more just guys that we felt like really
fit us and we're going to be you know, really
guys we could potentially acquire elsewhere. Obviously, Tommy's played great.
It's been more power than what I expected, more home runs,
(04:10):
but just doing all the little things on the Field's
ability to play infield, outfield, run the base is just
what kind of baseball player he is. Even on days
he goes oh for he can help us win a
game in different ways. So those are the kind of
players that we really like, and he fits our rosters
(04:32):
so well.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
How long did you have that vision or want for
tom Y Edmund Obviously you have to be patient in
certain circumstances with teams, But how long had you been
feeling Tom Edman would be a great fit for this team.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
I mean really since early on with Saint Louis, but
it wasn't realistic then more in the last like two
two and a half years, they started entertaining the thought
of it. That's where you know, we spent a lot
of time trying to acquire them for a couple of
years and then felt fortunate to kind of line up
(05:08):
on that convoluted three way last July.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Hey, it worked out.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Michael Kopek and Tommy Edman were a big part of
the Dodgers run last year and this year as well
as far as the depth of the organization. You take
a lot of pride in that you going to give
Yamamoto an extra day of rest tomorrow, Blake Snail's on
the IL and you have the luxury of having a
guy like Justin Robletski and Landon nak be here. What
(05:35):
can you say about just your starting five in Oklahoma
City at double A and being able to have this luxury.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah, I mean we've talked about it a lot, you know,
the scouting and player development groups, the work that they
have done, just how connected they are, the value we've
been able to create. You know, it's one of my
favorite things. When we met with Showhy before we signed them,
and you know, going through our organization and talking about
(06:05):
our farm system, you know, and got into how everything
in the system is designed for us to have a
bottom farm system. We pick at the end of the draft.
We have less draft money to spend. Our international pool
is less than everyone in July every year, we're trading
away players to get, you know, shorter term players for
(06:27):
an October push. Everything is designed for us to be
at the bottom. But we're top five and Joy stops
me and he just goes how, which I think really
speaks volumes to the work that our scouting and player
development group does. And so with as talents as our
major league team is, we got a lot of talent
(06:50):
coming as well, and for us to be able to
do what we're doing on the pitching side right now,
and just a number of guys that we could have
a discussion about, yeah, who would come.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Up and pitch these games.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
And you know, with Tony Gonson on his way back
and Kersh and Blake coming back, you know, opportunities can
come and go, and it's hard to predict when things
will happen. But to ROBO's credit, to Knacker's credit, they've
done everything they could to be ready for this opportunity.
And we feel very fortunate to have guys like that
(07:26):
ready to step in.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
So you weren't considering an Otani spot start today or tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Not yet.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
It's coming, but not yet.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
What can you tell us about the design for Otani
this season and how you view his pitching season.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, I mean, I think for us it's interesting in
that had he not had left shoulder surgery, you know,
maybe the timing would look a little bit different. But
with it, we said, hey, let's make sure we strengthen
that and get that ready, which then slowed down the
throwing rushing a little bit and just kind of pushed
(08:01):
everything back. And the biggest thing for us is we'd
much other error on the side of caution with him
in this on this front, and so we kind of
got him going just to make sure everything was in
order able to you know, make sure his delivery is
in a good spot ball was coming out of his hand.
(08:22):
Then kind of slowed it down some in that it
was never realistic for him to be able to go
wire to wire, you know, April through a long October
run and so you know, he started theming bullpens again
and we'll start to build him up and get that going.
We're not going to try to cut any corners. We're
going to take our time and figure it out and
(08:44):
basically figure out each step based just on how he's
recovering and making sure that things are going really well
with the idea of when we go get him back
to have him plug in and be a big part
of our pitching staff through October.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
How does that happen?
Speaker 1 (09:01):
How do you thread the needle with a player that
is so unique and how much he means to your offense.
Usually a guy would go out on a few rehab starts.
How do you get him ready for a game when
that's not an option?
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, I mean, he's one of one, So all of
this is kind of uncharted territory for us as well.
I think communication is key, and you know, it's one
of those things that he's almost got like a split personality.
He's got his offensive mindset and then the pitching and
(09:35):
he's got his routine dialed on the offensive side and
on the pitching side. When he gets to a point
of facing hitters. We can get guys in from Rancho,
We can set up ZIM games, We can do things
that simulate a minor league outing at two o'clock, give
him time to go nap in the in the quiet
(09:56):
room and then come back out and dh and hit
laid off four set.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
All right, Andrew, this looks like a great room too,
here in the bowels of National's Park. I'm not sure
if anybody could take a nap here.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
No, but I think anytime you're in the vicinity of
Danny Lehman, you know it's gonna be a good day.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Oh yeah, that's Stringy here.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
That's always standing right next to Dave Roberts, and that
Dodger dugout is always nearby.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Have you noticed Harris kind of no man's land right now?
He can't decide whether he's gonna let it flow or
cut it more business like, he's cutting no man's land.
So fans, if you have any feedback for him, he
would welcome it.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
No doubt.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
A man that never speaks only in the dugout. Outside
of the dugout, you will never hear from Dodger bench
coach Danny Lehman. Andrew, thanks a lot for the time.
Always great to see you. It's been a fun trip
so far, and we'll keep going with this ride.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Wow, we'd like to win a few more games.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Here in this trip. Yeah, you will.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
You will, No panic, Andrew, I'm here the voice of reason.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Thank you, thank you,
We are in our nation's capital and we're joined right
now by the Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman. Andrew,
thanks a lot for the time. And I always love
it when it's good mood.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Andrew, Yeah, that's fleeting. I think it. You know, you
can always tell what mood I'm in based on how
we're playing.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Here's something I used to cover the Lakers when Phil
Jackson was coaching, and he said he never evaluated any
of his teams until probably a quarterway through the season.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Do you look at it big picture like that?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
And also on a day to day basis, how do
you view it this early in the season.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah, I mean I think you know where we will
really take stock is basically a third of the season,
get through May and get a real feel for things.
That being said, we feel it intensely every day, and
so tell not to overreact to things that are you know,
happening in a moment in time and try to get
(00:55):
a bigger, broader perspective before making you know, big changes.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
When you look at the team so far, obviously, offense
has got to be the biggest strength. Is it performing
the way you envisioned it when you put this together.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
No, which is actually pretty exciting. I think there's a
lot more in there. Offensively, We've had some games with
some really timely hits, which has helped, and it's helped
us put some points on the board, but just the
consistency of our offense up and down hasn't really been there.
A lot of our runs, feels like, have come via
(01:33):
the home run, which is great to have the ability
to hit the ball all of the park. It's not
as great when we're relying on it as it kind
of feels like. But this is a really dynamic, talented offense,
and you know, in a lot of ways, feel good
about where we are record wise, because I think from
a fundamental standpoint offensively, we haven't played to our ability yet,
(01:57):
which is great being that these wins are in the bank,
and feel like there's even more upside from here.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
I know you block out a lot of the noise,
but I get to hear it all. So after starting
out eight and oh you were unbeatable, now the team
has lost three of the last four and all of
a sudden, the sky's falling, The defense is horrible.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
How do you keep that perspective?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah, well, I'm glad that you feel them. People of
Los Angeles are really lucky to have you to as
their outleot.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
I'm a therapist at times.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yes, yes, you know, I think any you know this
season is a series of daily narratives.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
When we win, things couldn't be any better.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
When we lose, the sky's falling and totally get that,
and fans are right. Our defense has been really poor
the last three or four days. We haven't played well fundamentally,
but that's not who we are, and I will bet
a lot that that's not how we will play going forward.
(03:02):
So while frustrating looking back, everything for us is about
looking forward and making a bet on what we think
will happen. And I will bet on this team being
good defensively and you know, doing what we need to
to keep runs off the board and with our offense
be able to score more than we allow and win
(03:24):
a lot of games.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Andrew, I'm not sure we fully appreciate it as you did.
How good Tommy Edman is playing every day. And we
were all a little looking at you sideways when you
said a couple of off seasons ago you had two
guys at the top of your board.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Otani and Tommy Edman.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
But I believe we've started to see and we saw
it when you acquired him last year, just how good
he is and what you saw.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, I mean that makes it sound like we had
those guys is like one and two in the league.
It was more just guys that we felt like really
fit us and we're going to be you know, really
guys we could potentially acquire elsewhere. Obviously, Tommy's played great.
It's been more power than what I expected, more home runs,
(04:10):
but just doing all the little things on the Field's
ability to play infield, outfield, run the base is just
what kind of baseball player he is. Even on days
he goes oh for he can help us win a
game in different ways. So those are the kind of
players that we really like, and he fits our rosters
(04:32):
so well.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
How long did you have that vision or want for
tom Y Edmund Obviously you have to be patient in
certain circumstances with teams, But how long had you been
feeling Tom Edman would be a great fit for this team.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
I mean really since early on with Saint Louis, but
it wasn't realistic then more in the last like two
two and a half years, they started entertaining the thought
of it. That's where you know, we spent a lot
of time trying to acquire them for a couple of
years and then felt fortunate to kind of line up
(05:08):
on that convoluted three way last July.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Hey, it worked out.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Michael Kopek and Tommy Edman were a big part of
the Dodgers run last year and this year as well
as far as the depth of the organization. You take
a lot of pride in that you going to give
Yamamoto an extra day of rest tomorrow, Blake Snail's on
the IL and you have the luxury of having a
guy like Justin Robletski and Landon nak be here. What
(05:35):
can you say about just your starting five in Oklahoma
City at double A and being able to have this luxury.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah, I mean we've talked about it a lot, you know,
the scouting and player development groups, the work that they
have done, just how connected they are, the value we've
been able to create. You know, it's one of my
favorite things. When we met with Showhy before we signed them,
and you know, going through our organization and talking about
(06:05):
our farm system, you know, and got into how everything
in the system is designed for us to have a
bottom farm system. We pick at the end of the draft.
We have less draft money to spend. Our international pool
is less than everyone in July every year, we're trading
away players to get, you know, shorter term players for
(06:27):
an October push. Everything is designed for us to be
at the bottom. But we're top five and Joy stops
me and he just goes how, which I think really
speaks volumes to the work that our scouting and player
development group does. And so with as talents as our
major league team is, we got a lot of talent
(06:50):
coming as well, and for us to be able to
do what we're doing on the pitching side right now,
and just a number of guys that we could have
a discussion about, yeah, who would come.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Up and pitch these games.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
And you know, with Tony Gonson on his way back
and Kersh and Blake coming back, you know, opportunities can
come and go, and it's hard to predict when things
will happen. But to ROBO's credit, to Knacker's credit, they've
done everything they could to be ready for this opportunity.
And we feel very fortunate to have guys like that
(07:26):
ready to step in.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
So you weren't considering an Otani spot start today or tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Not yet.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
It's coming, but not yet.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
What can you tell us about the design for Otani
this season and how you view his pitching season.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, I mean, I think for us it's interesting in
that had he not had left shoulder surgery, you know,
maybe the timing would look a little bit different. But
with it, we said, hey, let's make sure we strengthen
that and get that ready, which then slowed down the
throwing rushing a little bit and just kind of pushed
(08:01):
everything back. And the biggest thing for us is we'd
much other error on the side of caution with him
in this on this front, and so we kind of
got him going just to make sure everything was in
order able to you know, make sure his delivery is
in a good spot ball was coming out of his hand.
(08:22):
Then kind of slowed it down some in that it
was never realistic for him to be able to go
wire to wire, you know, April through a long October
run and so you know, he started theming bullpens again
and we'll start to build him up and get that going.
We're not going to try to cut any corners. We're
going to take our time and figure it out and
(08:44):
basically figure out each step based just on how he's
recovering and making sure that things are going really well
with the idea of when we go get him back
to have him plug in and be a big part
of our pitching staff through October.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
How does that happen?
Speaker 1 (09:01):
How do you thread the needle with a player that
is so unique and how much he means to your offense.
Usually a guy would go out on a few rehab starts.
How do you get him ready for a game when
that's not an option?
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, I mean, he's one of one, So all of
this is kind of uncharted territory for us as well.
I think communication is key, and you know, it's one
of those things that he's almost got like a split personality.
He's got his offensive mindset and then the pitching and
(09:35):
he's got his routine dialed on the offensive side and
on the pitching side. When he gets to a point
of facing hitters. We can get guys in from Rancho,
We can set up ZIM games, We can do things
that simulate a minor league outing at two o'clock, give
him time to go nap in the in the quiet
(09:56):
room and then come back out and dh and hit
laid off four set.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
All right, Andrew, this looks like a great room too,
here in the bowels of National's Park. I'm not sure
if anybody could take a nap here.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
No, but I think anytime you're in the vicinity of
Danny Lehman, you know it's gonna be a good day.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Oh yeah, that's Stringy here.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
That's always standing right next to Dave Roberts, and that
Dodger dugout is always nearby.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Have you noticed Harris kind of no man's land right now?
He can't decide whether he's gonna let it flow or
cut it more business like, he's cutting no man's land.
So fans, if you have any feedback for him, he
would welcome it.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
No doubt.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
A man that never speaks only in the dugout. Outside
of the dugout, you will never hear from Dodger bench
coach Danny Lehman. Andrew, thanks a lot for the time.
Always great to see you. It's been a fun trip
so far, and we'll keep going with this ride.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Wow, we'd like to win a few more games.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Here in this trip. Yeah, you will.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
You will, No panic, Andrew, I'm here the voice of reason.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Thank you, thank you,
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