Dodgers' Flurry of Moves Is Making Them Better Now and in the Long Term

The moves made in San Diego left Los Angeles stunned, confused and even angry last week. 

The new Los Angeles Dodgers front office made drastic roster changes at the MLB winter meetings, pulling off five moves involving 16 players. The week ended with the group of Andrew Friedman (president of baseball operations), Farhan Zaidi (general manager) and Josh Byrnes (senior vice president of baseball ops) tallying 10 trades in 26 days that netted major league talent as well as several prospects.

It was a flurry of moves that left heads spinning and everyone, including other executives, in a daze.

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Just think, there are babies born in the last two days that haven't been alive for a Dodgers transaction

— Eric Stephen (@truebluela) December 14, 2014"

For Dodger fans, only two really mattered. Gone are Matt Kemp and Dee Gordon, two of the team’s most popular players with fans. And that neither deal brought back a star in return made amateur evaluations worse.

But unlike more traditional front offices, much like the one former GM Ned Colletti headed, Friedman and Co. do not operate in singular cuts. Instead, they slice and dice a roster while keeping a larger goal in focus. One move cannot be evaluated on its own. They all need to be seen as parts, with the final product assessed as a whole.

While some might not agree with what the Dodgers have done to this point in the offseason, this product is not final. What it is as of now is better at run prevention, deeper and potentially cheaper with more financial and personnel flexibility.

“Our intent coming in was to field as dynamic and complementary of a roster as we could,” Friedman told Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke last week. “Obviously we still have the rest of the winter to do that.

“We came into this situation with no hard and fast rules, we wanted to be open-minded and nimble in terms of opportunities that presented themselves. The last couple of days, we've had the opportunity to add players that complement our existing group of players very well.”

Nick Ut/Associated Press

As things stand, the Dodgers might not be as good offensively as they were last season. They have lost two powerful, imposing middle-of-the-order hitters in Kemp and in Hanley Ramirez, who signed with the Boston Red Sox as a free agent. They also lost great speed in Gordon, a player who was a major distraction anytime he was on base, as infrequent as that was.

The flurry of moves certainly made the team better defensively, however. Ramirez, Gordon and Kemp all played up-the-middle positions last season and were among the worst trios in the majors. None of them rated well defensively in terms of runs saved, and Kemp, even after moving to right field, was among the worst qualified outfielders in the sport with minus-23 defensive runs saved, according to FanGraphs.

Replacing those three with Jimmy Rollins at shortstop, Howie Kendrick at second base—both players were acquired in connected deals, including the one that sent Gordon to Miami—and top prospect Joc Pederson in center field should make the Dodgers a drastically better defensive club. The pitching staff, which now includes ground-ball pitcher Brandon McCarthy after the team signed him to a four-year deal last week, will benefit greatly from the changes.

The team got weaker in one area (power) but significantly better in another (defense). Also, the team addressed a negative clubhouse dynamic. Last season’s was ripe with tension, frustration and dysfunction. Ramirez and Kemp were a part of that, and the new front office had that in mind as they went about their moves in the last month.

“I think that’s certainly part of it, especially with a high-payroll team,” Byrnes told Los Angeles Times beat writer Dylan Hernandez.

As valuable as any of those moves, though, is that the Dodgers now have options. While rich teams like the Yankees or Angels have star power but very little flexibility in their payrolls or farm systems, the Dodgers have created both through their recent trades.

Their once top-heavy system, which was going to be more depleted with Pederson’s promotion, is now deeper, allowing the Dodgers to be players in the blockbuster trade market. And that they are currently on the hook for only $32 million of Kemp’s remaining $107 million salary allows the Dodgers to play in free agency, making them contenders for someone like front-line pitcher James Shields.

These options, set up by trading away Kemp and Gordon, are a valued commodity in this baseball market. The Dodgers now have them, and they have a front-office group as qualified as any to utilize them wisely and efficiently.

“We can't ever afford not to have the best team we can have,” Dodgers President Stan Kasten told Los Angeles Times baseball writer Bill Shaikin. “Everything we have done so far, and everything we hope to do, is about getting the best team.”

Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

Critics questioned how Friedman and Zaidi would fare with a large payroll, and they have operated exceptionally so far. Their moves have been shrewd, and they have started executing a clear plan to make the team better immediately and in the long term.

This offseason is not finished. The Dodgers are not done adding, subtracting or making the major league roster better. Fans might be upset at losing Kemp and Gordon right now, but Friedman and his boys are likely to change that sentiment over the next two months.

Anthony Witrado covers Major League Baseball for Bleacher Report. He spent the previous three seasons as the national baseball columnist at Sporting News and four years before that as the Brewers beat writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.