The Los Angeles Dodgers hired Tampa Bay Rays executive Andrew Friedman as their new president of baseball operations Tuesday with the hope that he can lead the postseason success.
General manager Ned Colletti will stay with the Dodgers as a senior adviser to president and CEO Stan Kasten. Colletti had served as GM since 2005.
“As I embark upon my next journey, I have only thanks and gratitude to the Rays organization and the Tampa Bay region for a wonderful 10 years together,” Friedman said. “I am truly grateful for the opportunity to have been part of something so special and for the passion and support of this exceptional fan base,” he said.
Friedman had worked as the Rays’ executive vice president for baseball operations since 2005 when he was hired at age 28.
Now 37, Friedman built the Rays into a winner during his nine years in Tampa. The franchise had not experienced a winning season in each of its 10 years of existence until 2008, when the Rays made the first of four playoff appearances and started a string of winning seasons in a row.
Kasten called Friedman one of the youngest and brightest minds in baseball.
“Andrew Friedman is one of the youngest and brightest minds in the game today and we are very fortunate to have him join our organization,” Kasten said in a statement. “The success he has had over the past nine years in molding the Tampa Bay Rays team has been incredible.”
This year, though, the Rays slumped to 77-85 and finished in fourth place in the American League East.
Friedman, who has Wall Street experience, goes from a budget-minded franchise with one of the lower payrolls in the major leagues and a strong farm system to a team that had had the largest payroll at $256 million.
The Dodgers won the National League West for the second straight year but were knocked out of the postseason in the National League Division Series by the St. Louis Cardinals last week.
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly expects to return in 2015 as he enters the second year of a three-year contract.
