The Dodgers at this week's MLB winter meetings traded "two of their most popular players" in LF Matt Kemp and 2B Dee Gordon, part of a "frenzied makeover" the team has gone through this offseason, according to Bill Shaikin of the L.A. TIMES. Their roster "got older, and not necessarily better." But President & CEO Stan Kasten on Thursday said that he "believes the fans will support the moves as long as the team wins." Kasten: "Fans are going to respond if we give them a good team. We think the changes we have made and the changes we still have hopes of doing this winter will give us a really good team and a great chance to win." Kasten said that he does not want new President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and GM Farhan Zaidi "spooked into keeping popular players if the two believe the Dodgers can be improved by a trade." Kasten: "I have told them not to concern themselves with the business aspects, like ticket buying. Their job is to make the best team we can have, both for this year and the long term. We will take care of the business stuff" (L.A. TIMES, 12/12). In N.Y., Tyler Kepner notes the Dodgers have MLB's highest payroll "but now operate with a sharper focus on analytics and efficiency." Without citing specifics, Dodgers Senior VP/Baseball Operations Josh Byrnes said that it was "fair to say that the team had tried to emphasize character as part of its makeover." The Dodgers’ new vision "extends far beyond next year." Kasten: “The most important thing is not 2015. It’s the big picture; it’s the long-term plan" (N.Y. TIMES, 12/12). ESPN.com's Mark Saxon wrote what the Dodgers "did in a frenetic, all-night highjacking of the winter meetings, wired delicately between three interconnected trades and a signing, speaks to the direction of this franchise." It "won’t be the last time we see such purges." The Dodgers this offseason "hired a front office that values flexibility over stability, cost efficiency over luxury shopping and innovation over tradition" (ESPN.com, 12/12).
USHERING IN A NEW ERA: GRANTLAND's Jonah Keri wrote the Frank McCourt-era Dodgers "are dead and buried," and the new regime "just shoved its chips into the middle of the table" (GRANTLAND.com, 12/11). In L.A., Bill Plaschke writes the Dodgers "are no longer a symbol of a Guggenheim rebirth that led to a league-leading attendance of 3.7 million." Plaschke: "This is Andrew Friedman's team now. The Los Friedman Dodgers." After the moves made this week, the Dodgers' "immediate future will be his glorious triumph, or his thunderous failure, and there will be nothing in between." Kemp's trade to the Padres for C Yasmani Grandal and a couple of prospects "is not a trade, it's a salary dump by owners stinging from the losses incurred by that lousy television deal" (L.A. TIMES, 12/12).
DID THE MOVES MAKE SENSE? In L.A., Vincent Bonsignore writes under the header, "Dodgers Making Big Mistake Trading Matt Kemp." Bonsignore writes of Friedman, "While most of us saw a multimillion dollar listing in need of a few touchups, he saw a fixer-upper." The "next thing he did was find a stick of dynamite, a lighter and, well, you know the rest." Friedman "clearly didn’t waste any time putting his stamp on the Dodgers." Still, whether he "actually improved them is another thing entirely" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 12/12). Also in L.A., Steve Dilbeck writes under the header, "Left Unimpressed By The Dodgers' Winter Meeting Madness Results" (L.A. TIMES, 12/12). ESPN’s Bomani Jones said of Friedman, “You’ve got a ‘Moneyball’ guy that’s been scraping and making it work in Tampa and now he’s got all the money in the world. He appears to be approaching it judiciously, which begs the question in some ways, ‘What’s the good at having all that money if you’re not going to spend it?’” (“Highly Questionable,” ESPN2, 12/11).
WINNERS & LOSERS: ESPN.com's Jayson Stark wrote these were the "wildest 48 hours in the history of the winter meetings." Marlins GM Dan Jennings said, "In my 27 years in the business, I don't know that I was ever involved in a crazier 48 hours than this. And it was happening from 11 in the morning to 4 in the morning. Every night." Stark wrote, "These weren't salary dumps or money deals. These were baseball deals. Involving big-name major league players." Stark also listed his winners and losers from the meetings. Among the winners were the Cubs, White Sox, Dodgers and Marlins. Stark's losers consisted of the A's, Orioles, Royals and Giants (ESPN.com, 12/11). ESPN CHICAGO's Jesse Rogers wrote of the Cubs, "They came. They negotiated. They conquered." The Cubs signed P Jon Lester to a six-year, $155M contract, and the '14 winter meetings "might someday be looked back upon as the start of something special" (ESPNCHICAGO.com, 12/11). SI.com's Tom Verducci wrote under the header, "Aggressive White Sox Are Offseason's Biggest Surprise" (SI.com, 12/11).
