The strategies that Friedman helped enact with the Rays can be seen in the DodgersGETTY IMAGES
Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman had a "major hand in transforming the Rays from among baseball’s worst to one of the best, and now they’re playing in the World Series against a Dodgers team he took over in late 2014 and has run incredibly successfully," according to Marc Topkin of the TAMPA BAY TIMES. In fact, "many of the philosophies and strategies -- and much of the culture and foundation -- that Friedman, 43, helped implement with the Rays will be evident among the Dodgers." Rays Principal Owner Stuart Sternberg said, "I understand why he left, but I don’t understand why anybody ever doesn’t want to be part of what we’re doing. So it goes both ways. It’s not fair to the people who have been with me since 2004 (when he started the purchase process) who are incredibly responsible for all this. And they’ve chosen to stay and be part of things" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 10/20). In L.A., J.P. Hoornstra writes Friedman "might have taken his culture-building ideas" from Tampa to L.A., but he "does not take credit for their origin." Friedman said that they "were with Sternberg from the beginning," and "as strong as any tenet that guided the Rays’ rebuild" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 10/20).
SMALL MARKET, BIG BATS: MLB Network’s Brian Kenny said The Rays, more than "any other club, have been at the forefront of the intellectual revolution in baseball." Kenny: "They’re on a great run. ... We’ve gotten used to it, but it needs to be pointed out: the Rays are one of the lowest spenders in baseball. I’m not saying we should celebrate cheapness, but it’s a small business beating the multinationals year after year.” The Yankees and Dodgers have “payrolls three times the size of the Rays" (“MLB Now,” MLB Network, 10/19). MLB Network’s Tom Verducci said of the Rays being the small-market success story, “The only people who are selling this narrative that they’re the little engine that could are people looking at payroll and equating payroll with talent. That’s not the case. This game is driven by young players. The Rays are one of these teams that have a ton of super talented players, but they’re not older ones. So they don’t carry a huge payroll” (“High Heat,” MLB Network, 10/19).
