Consensus
A deliberate process also means that Friedman has the space to build consensus around the final pick — an important task for both the front office and the clubhouse.
Although the current regime is often portrayed as a sabermetric monolith, it consists of many different personalities who’ve only had one year to gel.
ESPN’s Jim Bowden describes the front office dynamic as it pertains to the managerial search:
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has the final recommendation to ownership on whom to hire for this position, but he is listening carefully to input from GM Farhan Zaidi, senior VP of baseball operations Josh Byrnes and director of baseball operations Alex Tamin, who have been an integral part of the interview process during the first round.
As is the case with any large organization, each executive is likely to bring his own perspective to the discussions. In terms of candidate connections alone, we see Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi previously worked with New York Mets bench coach Bob Geren, and Dodgers senior VP of baseball operations Josh Byrnes has similar relationships with Black and Roberts.
By engaging his leadership team in the decision-making process, Friedman has a better chance of making the right recommendation with internal support. The same goes for the owners.
Their involvement (and ultimate approval) should serve as a vote of confidence for the selected Dodgers manager. In the end, it’s unlikely we’ll ever really know how the selection was made.
That’ll leave room for speculation and even cynicism about how open it truly was. But, based on the way matters are unfolding, it appears the Dodgers have set themselves up to make a sound hire.
