When Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman arrived in town, there was panic in front offices around the league.
For many, it was the perfect storm they hoped would never come: a shrewd evaluator with a propensity for finding diamonds in the rough combined with arguably the largest bank account in the league.
In 2005, Friedman took over as the Tampa Bay Rays general manager and began the franchise’s most successful run. Beginning in 2008, the Rays made the playoffs four times in six years — including one trip to the World Series.
But what made Friedman special was the budget he was able to do it on. In 2008 (the year they went to the World Series), the Rays had the league’s second-lowest payroll at just under $44 million — almost one-fifth of the Yankees’ payroll that season.
In 2014, Friedman decided that having money to spend was a good thing, and so he left Tampa Bay to take over a Dodgers franchise flush with cash and desperate for a personnel overhaul (the Rays haven’t made the playoffs since). Joining him was Farhan Zaidi, a former Oakland Athletics executive who cut his teeth under Billy Beane — the only guy who could rival Friedman’s ability to win on a budget.
With the team of super genius’ complete, the question wasn’t if the Dodgers would win, but when. While the franchise and the roster were in transition at the time Friedman and Co. arrived, it was clear pretty quickly that the Dodgers were in good hands.
In their first year on the job, Friedman and Zaidi got rid of Matt Kemp, Hanley Ramirez and Dee Gordon among others — all while continuing the franchise’s streak of consecutive division titles. But while much has been made about the Dodgers’ spending (or, this season, the lack thereof), the one thing that has defined Friedman’s tenure more than anything is his ability to continue to make treasures out of other peoples’ trash.
Yes, the Dodgers boast a big payroll and can re-sign guys like Justin Turner and Kenley Jansen while other teams may not be able to, but the difference makers throughout the past few years have not come through major spending.
Take this season, for example. After a brutal start to the season, the Dodger faithful began getting restless as a team that was one game away from their first title in three decades last season found themselves buried in the standings.
And then Max Muncy arrived.
Muncy, who is slashing .275/.413/.627 with 20 HR in just 193 at-bats, has been the closest thing the Dodgers have to a savior this season. As the only player in the entire National League with an on-base plus slugging percentage over 1.000 (among players with 200+ plate appearances), Muncy has been a revelation this season — which is notable when you remember where he came from.
Muncy was signed to a Minor League contract in April of 2017 after having played 96 games with the Athletics between 2015 and2016. After the 2016 season, he was a non-roster invitee to Athletics camp, but he was released at the end of Spring Training — which was when the Dodgers pounced.
In 2017, Muncy spent the entire season with Triple-A Oklahoma City, where he posted his best batting avergae (.309), on-base percentage (.414), slugging percentage (.491) and home runs (12) of his career above High-A. But still, there was no call-up.
Fast-forward to 2018 and the Dodgers lineup was desperate for help and so Muncy got the call. At first, it wasn’t pretty: in April he hit just .207 with 12 strikeouts in 32 plate appearances, but eventually, he turned it around.
In May, his average jumped to .261 and he smacked five homers, which was the precursor to his monster June: .289/.465/.711 with 10 long balls.
While it seems like there are countless articles out there about what changed in Muncy’s swing or approach, that isn’t the point — it’s that somehow, the team with the deepest pockets made their biggest move with a Minor League deal.
You can complain all you want about the Dodgers outspending your favorite team, but what can you say when they beat you when the playing field is level as well? Because this isn’t even the first time.
Last year it was Chris Taylor (who came over from the Seattle Mariners in 2016 for basically nothing), Brandon Morrow (Minor League deal) and Tony Cingrani (trade deadline) who were key difference makers on a World Series team. The year before? In addition to acquiring Taylor, they signed Kenta Maeda to a contract with a base value of $3 million per year, signed Joe Blanton for $4 million and acquired Josh Fields at the deadline.
Of course, none of this is to say that this group has been perfect (nobody is), but it’s clear that they set themselves up with opportunities that everyone around them seems to be missing.
While the Dodgers will be in the mix for All-Stars like Bryce Harper this offseason — players most franchises only dream of having a chance to acquire — those haven’t been the type of moves to lay the foundation of a franchise with five consecutive divisional titles.
And really, that is what’s scary. Imagine a team that has the ability to sign the most expensive players in the sport while also beating everyone at the bottom to the bargain bin treasures. It’s a nightmare that hopefully the league never wakes up from.
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