Chapter 14: 2015, The Dodgers work with the Friedman Bureau
A new front office starts to make some big changes, but the ending is still the same
Not long after the Cardinals eliminated the Dodgers from the playoffs, the Dodgers made a big personnel change. On October 14, 2014, Andrew Freidman left his job with the Tampa Bay Rays to become President of Baseball Operations for the Dodgers. Farhan Zaidi was named to be the Dodgers new General Manager, replacing Ned Colletti.
Friedman and Zaidi started retooling team. Outfield star Matt Kemp was traded to San Diego with catcher Yasmani Grandal coming in return to be the team’s new starting catcher. The Dodgers sent Dee Strange-Gordon, Dan Haren, and Miguel Rojas to Miami and got back Enrique Hernandez, Austin Barnes, and Andrew Heaney. Heaney was almost immediately sent to Anaheim in exchange for Howie Kendrick. Jimmy Rollins was brought in from Philadelphia to be the new shortstop. Rookie Joc Pederson was given the center field job.
Everything went pretty well for the Dodgers on Opening Day in 2015:
The Dodgers pitching staff still had Kershaw, who was “just” a Cy Young Award winner. Zack Greinke had a 1.66 ERA that somehow flew under the radar.
Early in the season, fan favorite Juan Uribe was traded to Atlanta. Justin Turner took over the position and would quickly make people forget about Uribe.
Rollins would lose his starting shortstop job at the end of the season to rookie Corey Seager. Chase Utley came in from Philadelphia to share second base responsibilities with Kendrick.
The Dodgers led the division for most of the season with the Giants finishing in second. The defending World Series champs missed out on the playoffs.
This year, the New York Mets were the Dodgers first round opponent. It would be their first meeting since the Mets swept the Dodgers in 2006.
Game 1 matched Kershaw against the Mets rookie ace, Jacob deGrom. The Mets got a home run from Daniel Murphy and a 2-run single from David Wright and that was enough as DeGrom won this duel. The Mets won Game 1 3-1.
Greinke started Game 2 against another hard-throwing Mets rookie, Noah Syndergaard1. The Mets led 2-1 before a controversial seventh inning. With one out, Hernandez and Utley reached base. 42-year old Bartolo Colon came in to relieve.
Howie Kendrick was the batter and he hit a grounder up the middle that Murphy fielded and threw to shortstop Ruben Tejada at second. Utley made a hard slide into Tejada that flipped him over, breaking up the double play. Tejada also broke his leg.
Both managers appealed the play. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly wanted a video review because he knew Tejada had never touched second. Mets manager Terry Collins wanted Utley called out for an illegal slide.
The Dodgers prevailed. Utley was safe2. Tejada’s season was over. The Dodgers went on to win the game 5-2.
The Mets won Game 3 in a 13-7 with a ninth inning three-run homer by Kendrick providing some cosmetic relief to the final score.
With the Dodgers in a must win situation, Kershaw started Game 4 on short rest. This year, Kershaw delivered giving up just one run in seven innings as the Dodgers won 3-1.
Game 5 was a big pitching showdown between Greinke and deGrom. The Mets scored in the first first on an RBI double by Murphy. The Dodgers scored twice in the bottom half on four straight hits off deGrom.
The Mets tied the game in the fourth on a Travis d’Arnaud3 sacrifice fly. And in the sixth, Murphy hit his third homer of the series to put the Mets up 3-2.4 Which is how the game ended. And the Dodgers season.
The first year of the Andrew Friedman did not end as well as people hoped. There would be a need for more changes. One change was at manager. Don Mattingly was let go to take the same job in Miami.
Although nine people were interviewed for the job, the competition for the job was thought to be between farm system director Gabe Kapler and San Diego Padres coach Dave Roberts. In something of an upset, Roberts got the job. The choice proved to be one of Friedman’s best.5
Syndergaard would play for the Dodgers in 2023. It was not a happy story.
Utley would be suspended for two games for his slide. But he never served it because of an appeal and MLB dropping the matter the following season. Slides like Utley’s are now explicitly forbidden.
d’Arnaud would later play for the Dodgers. And get one at bat.
Murphy hit 7 homers in the first two rounds of the playoffs after hitting just 14 in the regular season.
Hey, I’m writing this. It’s my opinion!