Speaker 1: We'll get back to your phone calls in a second,
Speaker 1: but here is my conversation with Andrew Friedman. We are
Speaker 1: in Dallas for the Winter meetings, and man, not too
Speaker 1: many people get dressed up for me. Clayton mccullaugh did
Speaker 1: earlier because he's a fancy new manager and now the
Speaker 1: president of Baseball Operations. Andrew Friedman the best dressed I
Speaker 1: have seen him in quite some time. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: He didn't have to be so formal.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, Dave, anything for you. I've got to return
Speaker 2: this by six, so if we can get this going,
Speaker 2: that'd be great.
Speaker 1: I'm well aware of those deadlines on suits and stuff
Speaker 1: when you walk through the lobby. I know you were
Speaker 1: asked this earlier. What is the feeling for you coming
Speaker 1: off this World Series championship compared to twenty and just
Speaker 1: compared to come in here the last few years.
Speaker 2: You know, in a lot of ways people said, you know,
Speaker 2: how long did you get to enjoy it? And it
Speaker 2: really was like forty eight hours. Those forty eight hours
Speaker 2: were incredible. But then it was on a flight to
Speaker 2: San Antonio for the GM meetings and everything focused on
Speaker 2: the only twenty five season, and so you know, walking
Speaker 2: through the lobby, a lot of you know, hey, congratulations,
Speaker 2: so it's like a half second bite of like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: we won the World Series last year. But obviously for us,
Speaker 2: so much of our focus and energy right now is
Speaker 2: on repeating. You know, winning is really really hard. Repeating
Speaker 2: is even harder. So we've got a lot of work
Speaker 2: to do to try to do that. And you know,
Speaker 2: talking to different guys, I think everyone's mindset is that,
Speaker 2: which is great.
Speaker 1: If we can go back to the day of the parade,
Speaker 1: I asked a lot of players this question, and I'm
Speaker 1: just curious, from your standpoint, did you realize how much
Speaker 1: that team, those group of players meant to the city
Speaker 1: before that day?
Speaker 2: You know, for me, right or wrong, Like, I've always
Speaker 2: associated winning with a parade, Like the parade is the
Speaker 2: cherry on top of the winning and you know, the
Speaker 2: kind of tying it up in a neat bow, and
Speaker 2: I've always associated that with winning so much so that
Speaker 2: the night before the parade, I said to my wife,
Speaker 2: I was like, God, I've built this up so much
Speaker 2: in my head, like there's just no way it can
Speaker 2: match what my expectations are. So it just kind of
Speaker 2: thinks that we're going to do this and it's definitely
Speaker 2: going to come in below what I've built up in
Speaker 2: my head. And then to go experience it the next day,
Speaker 2: it demolished anything I had in my head because my
Speaker 2: brain couldn't even fathom that. Like, it was so incredible,
Speaker 2: the outpouring of love and support, the passion that the
Speaker 2: fans have for our guys. It was just so palpable,
Speaker 2: the energy. It was an incredible moment for everyone.
Speaker 1: I saw how emotional you were, how the group of
Speaker 1: players were. And now, like you said, you've turned your
Speaker 1: attention to trying to repeat and put together the best team.
Speaker 1: How do you detach the emotions you have for some
Speaker 1: of the players that have the opportunity to test free
Speaker 1: agency and make the best decision for the way you've
Speaker 1: done it in years past.
Speaker 2: You know, I think for us, all we can really
Speaker 2: do is be honest, and that's the most important thing
Speaker 2: to me. And so when free agency hits, right before
Speaker 2: it opens, you know, all make sure and touch base
Speaker 2: with our guys and be open and honest about how
Speaker 2: we're kind of viewing it. You know what potentially works? Now,
Speaker 2: does it mean that we wouldn't go up a little
Speaker 2: bit here or there like, No, it doesn't mean that,
Speaker 2: especially with guys that we have relationships with, but it's
Speaker 2: all we can really do is just be straightforward and honest,
Speaker 2: and a lot of times that results and something getting done,
Speaker 2: and sometimes it doesn't. But the most important thing for
Speaker 2: me is that they feel the love, support and respect
Speaker 2: from us during that process, and so touching base with
Speaker 2: the agents and making sure that you know that we're
Speaker 2: checking in and they know that we're thinking about him,
Speaker 2: and we're just we'll be honest, and that's all I
Speaker 2: can guarantee.
Speaker 1: Before I let you go. Everybody focuses on the Winter meetings,
Speaker 1: but the Dodgers have been aggressive already, signing Michael Conforto,
Speaker 1: bringing back Blake Trining, and so far the centerpiece of
Speaker 1: the winter signing, the great Blake Snell. Snell Zilla, congratulations
Speaker 1: on that.
Speaker 2: Oh, I listening to you over the years. I didn't
Speaker 2: know you'd be supportive of that.
Speaker 1: Some people think I had some influence, but I that
Speaker 1: was all you.
Speaker 2: No, I think it was all you. But I'll take
Speaker 2: the victory lap for us. You know, Michael's a guy
Speaker 2: that we've had a lot of respect for from Afar
Speaker 2: It's not often that you can say, on one hand,
Speaker 2: you think that this player will be a really good
Speaker 2: floor raiser and at the same time have upside. Michael's
Speaker 2: a guy that will hit middlest somewhere in the lineup,
Speaker 2: and you know, we think driving a lot of runs
Speaker 2: and be in the middle of a lot of different
Speaker 2: run scoring up opportunities. Blake is a guy that obviously
Speaker 2: has been a huge part of the success we've had
Speaker 2: over the last five years. What he did this October
Speaker 2: was incredible. When we got to the end of the
Speaker 2: parade and guys are starting to go their separate ways,
Speaker 2: Blake said, hey, it's a priority for me to come back,
Speaker 2: and we said, hey, it's a priority for us as well,
Speaker 2: and so that's always a helpful jumping off point. It
Speaker 2: doesn't guarantee anything, but both sides kind of lived up
Speaker 2: to that and kept working at getting a deal done
Speaker 2: and couldn't be happier about him returning.
Speaker 1: All right, Andrew, thanks a lot for the time. We'll
Speaker 1: catch up with you back in LA and hopefully you
Speaker 1: get to have those moments continue where you enjoy what
Speaker 1: you built and continue to build upon. Thanks a lot.
Speaker 2: Thanks Dave,