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