The Rays “have been able to maintain a run of unprecedented success” despite losing a series of star players, but they “now are faced with a potentially much more daunting challenge” as Exec VP/Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman leaves to join the Dodgers, according to a front-page piece by Marc Topkin of the TAMPA BAY TIMES. Team President Matt Silverman will "take over the baseball operations department in lieu of a more experienced outside executive." Principal Owner Stuart Sternberg described Silverman as "absolutely the right person to pick up the baton and take this thing forward." Senior VP Brian Auld "will assume Silverman's duties" as team President. Silverman said, "I know it's going to be different and it's going to take some time for us to adjust. The beauty is that the gentlemen leading this baseball organization have been doing so for many years. We're minus Andrew and it's a huge loss -- I can't minimize that and I won't minimize that -- but it's going to be business as usual for most of us in the department. And we have a lot of work to do." Manager Joe Maddon yesterday said that he "wants to stay with the Rays." Maddon: “I don't really look to go anywhere else.” Sternberg said that Friedman “would not take any members of the baseball operations staff with him; Chaim Bloom and Erik Neander, two of his top assistants, are now expected to assume larger roles with the Rays.” The organization “has no plans to hire a senior adviser, as they did when Friedman started.” Sternberg said that he was “confident in the new organizational structure, but not overly optimistic.” He acknowledged that “a rank at or near the bottom in major-league attendance and a lack of progress on a new stadium have had an impact on their overall operation” (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 10/15).
END OF AN ERA? SI.com’s Jay Jaffe wrote for the Rays, “this is a blow along the lines of trading” P David Price, “in that other bright but less heralded figures will be charged with moving the team forward now that the superstar has departed.” This is a “seismic shakeup that affects both leagues and both coasts” (SI.com, 10/14). USA TODAY’s Paul White writes under the header, “Minus Friedman, Can Rays -- And Joe Maddon -- Endure?” The staff under Friedman is “in place, a staff that at times has included various specialists and researchers who didn't even appear on the team's published list of baseball operations employees, so avidly protective was Friedman of the work done behind the scenes” (USA TODAY, 10/15). In Tampa, Tom Jones writes under the header, “Rays’ Loss Of Friedman Painful But Not Crippling.” Yesterday was “not a good day” for the Rays. Friedman “took his pie charts and spreadsheets and sharp eye for baseball to the greener pastures and greener dollars” of L.A. More than 3B Evan Longoria or Price or even Maddon, Friedman “meant more to the success of the Rays than any member of the organization.” Friedman “was the Rays' MVP.” Taking over what “might have been the worst franchise in all of sports and working on a shoestring budget, Friedman somehow patched together a team that had six consecutive winning seasons, appeared in four postseasons and even went to the World Series.” But it “doesn't mean the Rays are doomed” (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 10/15). MLB.com’s Bill Chastain wrote with Friedman, the Rays “moved from laughingstock to pennant contender,” and he did so “while remaining well respected and popular in the clubhouse.” Longoria in an e-mail wrote, “Although he will be missed, I feel that he has insulated the Rays' clubhouse and staff with great people that will be able to continue the progress we have made as a franchise. … The Dodgers are lucky to have him.” P Alex Cobb said, “It's tough for the organization as a whole to lose a guy like him. But you know, a lot of fans and people in general don't see a lot of what goes on behind closed doors” (MLB.com, 10/14).
MOVING ON UP: FOXSPORTS.com’s Ken Rosenthal writes for Friedman, the time “was right for him to jump.” Rosenthal: “The Rays still play in Tropicana Field. They still don't appear close to getting a new park.” While Friedman is "close" with Sternberg and Silverman, “what exactly was left for him to accomplish as Rays GM?” All he “could do was tread water -- or, more to the point, try to avoid drowning.” Friedman “hated trading” Price and P James Shields. Now, Friedman can “sign such players as free agents if he wishes, or avoid them and spend on others.” In baseball, “money equates to freedom -- the freedom to make choices, choices that simply do not exist for the Rays” (FOXSPORTS.com, 10/15). In California, Bill Plunkett notes Friedman’s success in Tampa “made him a target for numerous teams in the market for an executive to run their team.” Friedman previously “turned aside all offers,” including those from the Cubs, Astros and Angels (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 10/15). In N.Y., Tyler Kepner writes Friedman “had to stick to a process” with the Rays. He never had a payroll above $77M, so he “never had much chance to make an expensive mistake” (N.Y. TIMES, 10/15).
KEY COG: YAHOO SPORTS’ Tim Brown wrote the Rays "lose the man who guided their decisions and philosophies and took them from doormat to World Series.” The franchises successes -- "large and small -- are celebrated, their defeats often excused as a byproduct of living alongside” the Yankees and Red Sox. At their best, “they were smarter and more creative, because, in part, of Friedman.” Now Friedman “gets the payroll and the flexibility, but he also gets the expectations, and the drama, and the bloated clubhouse that comes with L.A.” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 10/14). In N.Y., Joel Sherman writes Friedman “loved his working situation in Tampa, had so much trust in the process he worked without a contract.” Franchise after franchise “tried to lure him away,” but in “offering to take him from a shoestring to the glass slipper, L.A. made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.” With the Rays, Friedman “maneuvered with little red tape or interference.” The “power trio” of Friedman, Sternberg and Silverman “spoke the same language.” There was “no meddling from elsewhere.” That enabled the club to “operate with limited dysfunction and disruption.” Part of the Rays' success was “based on richer clubs having more complex processes that slowed them down, caused dissension and created hard feelings” (N.Y. POST, 10/15).
