While there is still not anything new as far as the labor dispute between MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Union, there are some happening within the Los Angeles Dodgers organization worth talking about.
On Tuesday, the Dodgers formally announced some promotions in the executive ranks of the organization, most notably that of General Manager.
Brandon Gomes has been named the 12th General Manager in the history of the Dodgers. This position has been empty since Farhan Zaidi left the organization in 2018 to become the President of Baseball Operations for the San Francisco Giants.
Gomes has quickly worked his way through the ranks, last pitching in baseball in 2016. He joined the Dodgers front office before the 2017 season as their pitching performance coordinator. He then moved to director of player development before becoming the Dodgers’ assistant general manager and vice-president, a role he has been in for the past three years.
“I’m thrilled to announce the promotion of Brandon to General Manager, as he has been an integral part of our success since joining the Dodgers in 2016,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said Tuesday in a statement.
The 37 year old Gomes was part of a team under Friedman that also included Josh Byrnes, a former GM, as senior vice president, with Jeff Kingston as the other assistant general manager and Vice President
The Dodgers named two new assistant general managers to now work alongside Kingston. Alex Slater had been the director of baseball operations for the past five years, and was integral in the Dodgers using an Corey Knebel as an opener in Game 5 of the 2021 NLDS against the Giants.
Los Angeles also hired Damon Jones to assistant GM/VP and baseball legal counsel. He was most recently with the Washington Football Team for the last two years, helping them navigate their name change. Jones was also with the Washington Nationals for 13 years prior to that, working with contracts, players’ issues and CBA rules to name a few things.
In addition to the front office, the Dodgers have named promotions within baseball operations. Thomas Albert will now be the head athletic trainer, replacing Neil Rampe who had held the position for the past five years. Albert has been an assistant athletic director for the last six seasons.
Brandon McDaniel has been named Vice President of baseball performance, a promotion from director of player performance. McDaniel has been in the Dodgers organization since 2012.
Rob Hill has been promoted to director of minor league pitching, from his previous job as pitching coordinator. It was not publicly announced by the team yet, but was reported by Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic and confirmed by Hill himself on Twitter.
Gomes and Andrew have a long history together. He pitched for the Rays when Andrew was GM there. I like the fact that he has done a lot of different things for the organization. That can’t be a bad thing in helping him form ideas and decisions, although I’m sure Andrew still has the last word on most everything.
I wonder how active Kasten is with his vision or blueprint of what he did with Atlanta early on and how that has evolved? I am sure Friedman and Kasten have interesting discussions on how to shape the future.
Any chance that Correa would sign with the Dodgers just went out the window. He changed agency’s and is now a Boras client. Not that I want him in LA, but this should shut down all of the rumors of the Dodgers pursuing him.
Good! The man is unethical. No team should accept a blatant cheater. There is no place in sports or life for cheaters and liars.
I don’t want him here either Tmax, but half the sports world is filled with cheaters and liars. Many of them just don’t get caught.
I was just thinking before I read your comment that most people are probably giving AF a pass on Bauer, just feeling that he made a mistake in signing him and could have done better due diligence. If, on the other hand, he would actually sign Correa also, I think people would view Andrew in an entirely different light and his legacy would be tarnished somewhat, not to mention the team’s reputation as well.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Someone will sign Correa, but I would be very surprised if it turned out to be the Dodgers.
I think most Dodger fans are giving Friedman the benefit of the doubt as the saying goes on Bauer, Although with the money involved it stands out as a colossal screw-up. Dodgers may get lucky and not need to pay Bauer’s second year according to reports. But it’s a lot of wasted money even for a billion-dollar franchise. If Friedman signs Correa as an unrepentant blatant cheater I believe there would be a stigma attached to the Dodgers.
Correa is a very talented player, I wonder what he was thinking as you always get caught. As they say, only two people can keep a secret if one of them is dead! Too many people were involved for it to remain a secret. Manfred will always be known as a very poor leader because of the lack of penalties to the players and team involved. The managers should have been banned for life. The players will always be banned from the HOF because the voters remember but should have been suspended and penalized money. The team should have forfeited the Championship.
Reported today on MLBTR
If the Dodgers want to spend money they should pay Freeman an unreasonable amount to get him away from the Braves. They have Turner unless they do not feel they can re-sign him they do not need Correa. Signing Freeman or trading for Olson or someone to play first and moving Muncy to second seems a better idea. I just could not stomach Correa with the Dodgers.
Baseball America’s list of Top 100 Prospects is out.
Dodgers have 5 in the top 100:
Cartaya (23)
Miller (38)
Vargas (40)
Busch (76)
Pepiot (99)
That’s impressive, even 3, or 4 in the top 100 is good, but five is great. It looks like AF would be able to use some of these guys, if he decides to trade for some pitching.
He could use them, the question is will he. The pitching that’s out there is controllable for one or two years. Is that worth trading a top 100 prospect or multiple top 100 prospects? I guess we’ll find out.
It depends on what happens with Bauer, and Kershaw. If they are both back, you don’t, but if neither is pitching for the dodgers next season, then you would have to strongly consider trading one or more of those five, to get another quality arm here. Without at least one, or maybe even both of those guys our pitching is on the thin side.
If you look at the guys we started last year with and if you subtract Kershaw, Bauer and May and look at what remains it’s downright scary. Price still hasn’t proven he can still function as a starter and give us decent innings and we still don’t know the condition of Gonsolin’s shoulder. Jackson and White still haven’t proven themselves, Heany is a total wildcard and Pepiot, Miller and Knack are definitely not ready to start the season in the rotation.
AF will do what he has to with regard to filling in his starting staff. Maybe he’ll just dump it all in Gomes’ lap and take a nice long vacation. 🙂
That being said, I don’t think I would move Miller, I can see him being a solid part of the pitching staff soon, maybe not next year but after that I could see it.
I really wouldn’t want to have to include Cartaya, Miller or Vargas in a trade.
Cartaya could turn out better than Will Smith and Will is already considered a top 3 catcher in all of baseball.
Miller could be another Buehler.
Vargas could be another Miggy Cabrera or at least a junior version.
Of course they could all totally flame out and be out of baseball in three years.
I’m with you, I think those top three guys play in the majors, I’m not as sure about the other two, maybe they make it, maybe they don’t.
Why are they using the term “robotic umps”? That’s inaccurate. There are no robots involved, it’s just the ABS system, that everyone but the umpires has seen for quite a while now, will be made available to umpires. About time.
As for those prospects, it’s my opinion that in the right deal any of them could be used.
Many of us could be accused of hanging on to prospects and valuing them too highly, Scoop.
My 3 favorites are Cartaya, Miller and Vargas.
Could you give me an idea of the kind of trade you’d be willing to put those guys in? Not necessarily all in one trade.
I have no clue who might be available. All I’m saying is if a couple of these guys can be used to make the current team better then I would use them. One caveat, I do not like giving up top prospects for rentals unless I know those rentals intend to stay. Scherzer was a great pick up – for a while. We could have not won the World Series just as easily without that trade. Mookie was a similar kind of deal but he stayed. Now we have Turner sitting there. Is he gonna stay? Hope so, but….
When you are talking to teams about guys like Scherzer and Betts, they’re gonna want your best prospects. Not all of them, but certainly a couple of them. We’re an organization that goes all in.
Do you consider a rental one year or less? Two years or less?
Would you include Vargas and Miller in a trade for Castillo? For Montas? Both have 2 years of control remaining.
Let’s say they sign Kershaw, which if he is healthy I think is probable. They have Urias, Buehler, Kershaw, Heaney, Price, and Gonsolin as possible rotation pieces. You have May back in 2022. The Dodgers and other clubs must think Heaney is fixable/viable. Dodgers have Jackson, White & Grove on the 40 man and Pepiot, Miller and others ready in 2023 but could be brought up in 2022. I would not trade Vargas or Cartaya position players that can make contact are incredibly valuable. After reading everything about him I think Vargas is for real.
Unless they can get a good pitcher for lesser talent I would pass. I believe Miller will be special also.
I agree with you Tmax. I wouldn’t trade any of Vargas, Cartaya or Miller for any pitcher whose name has been mentioned as being available right now.
I was wondering where Scoop came down on that because he seems more inclined to trade prospects than we do.
I might consider Busch in the right deal. Also Pepiot, but I might eventually regret that.
As stated earlier Busch’s splits are bad and he is barely an average fielder at 2nd although they say he is working hard at defense. Picking Hoese and Busch in the draft so far has been a huge bust. Dodgers seem to be feast or famine since they changed scouting directors and mostly famine. They reportedly have done much better internationally..
Would you trade Miller for Aaron Judge?
Would you trade Vargas for Corbin Burnes.
If Wander Franco suddenly became too expensive for Tampa would you use one of those guys you wouldn’t trade for him?
If Ohtani decided he’s had it with Anaheim, and they asked for any two of those three, you are saying you wouldn’t do it?
You cannot predict the future. I choose to keep an open mind about these things.
First of all, I can predict the future, for that is where you and I will spend the rest of our lives. I think it was either Kreskin or Criswell who used to say that.
No I would not trade Miller for Judge because he’s only controllable for this coming season. Then he’s a free agent.
I would include Miller in a trade for Burnes. I would probably include Cartaya in a trade for Burnes. I would not include Vargas, and I’m admitting that would probably be a bad decision. I just think Vargas is going to have a spectacular career here and Burnes, being a pitcher, might throw his arm out at any moment.
You offer me Wander or Ohtani and yes, they’re all in play.
But keep in mind, Scoop, my original statement was that I wouldn’t trade any of the three for any pitcher whose name has been mentioned as being available. Burnes is not available and the other three aren’t pitchers.
Good point about Judge. I think we could extend him, he’s a California kid, though he grew up a Giants fan. Sure don’t want to see him there.
Kreskin and Criswell were wrong. Nobody is guaranteed a future. I learned that as a 19 year old.
I don’t think Montas and Castillo will require that kind of talent. I’m thinking big and in their prime stars cuz those 5 prospects will, in time, likely be front line players. As I said, I think the Dodgers have proven to be All In every year so if they feel they need something they will go get it. And I’m all in on them working in the Now. You just never know who might be available.
If Judge grew up a Giants fan, he not only wouldn’t let us extend him, he wouldn’t even report in the first place.
No one is guaranteed a good future, but if you live one femtosecond (I had to look that one up) after the present, you’ve had a future.
Just think, if there was no lockout we’d be discussing the Miller/Vargas/Pepiot/Busch/Leonard/Vivas/Ramos/Pages for Soto trade, but instead we’re having an esoteric conversation about the future.
I have no femtoseconds buddy, my time measures in mascoseconds. I’d advise you remember that.
Judge may have grown up a giants fan but I think a billion dollars could convince him to play in LA. Those guys have loyalty only to money. I don’t like the giants but for 300 thousand thousand I’d put on a uniform and play for them.
The heck MLB. This weekend is about the Rams. Oh, and Go Packers!
Just dropped Farhan a note advising him that I know a slick fielding, seventy-something shortstop with a good vocabulary in case he’s looking. Expect a call as soon as the lockout is over.
I still have my A-2000 and it’s as good as it ever was. However, my slick is long gone. I can still talk a good game, actually write it, but it takes longer. Less fluent, more babble. But, off season blatherskite is kinda what we do here, right? Wish there was baseball to blather about.
Haven’t you heard? They’re sitting down together in NY on Monday. I figure an hour, ninety minutes tops, and they have an agreement.
Just focus on the joy which will be headed our way for the entire week after the agreement is signed, whenever that might be. There should be a trade or signing per minute.
Yep. I read it. Free agency, arbitration, adding teams to post season. All things foreign to the actual working world. Come on. Settle in the middle and get back to work. This is a game of chicken until mid February. After that money will be lost. I figure we got several more days of this nonsense and they’ll get it done.
I am one of the guys that prefer to use the minor league guys on the home team. The Dodgers had been good at that mostly. I would not trade Miller or Vargas. It would take a helluva deal to get Cartaya.
I was against the Bauer signing as we had May at the time.
Right now the team has Urias and Buehler. Gonsolin should be ready to go. The team always knows of course where players are at physically. They signed Heaney and have Price. On the 40 man Grove, White and Jackson are potential starters along with guys in the Minors Pepiot, Miller, and Knack.
I would think trading any of the guys in the top three would be a poor strategy for the future.
I think Vargas is going to be an impact player. I would trade Busch his splits are terrible.
I will be shocked if Kershaw is not back with the team.
Used to was we brought up 1 every year, they win the ROY, send one veteran packing, and the rook sticks around awhile. We still have a few out there that are ours, and that will continue, but it’s difficult to continue winning 100 games without getting proven veterans when the opportunity arises. We’ve had a lot of opportunities to add some exciting veterans.