Friedman took ‘roller-coaster ride’ to trade
PHOENIX >> The days blur together for Andrew Friedman as the trade deadline nears.
But Wednesday afternoon, he thought “there was a real chance” the Dodgers were going to be able to pull off the biggest move of baseball’s mid-season swap meet and acquire both three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer and five-tool shortstop Trea Turner from the Washington Nationals.
By Wednesday night “we felt like there wasn’t much of a chance,” Friedman said Friday.
“Then Thursday morning that kind of changed,” the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations said. “It kind of speaks to
the roller-coaster ride that is the trade deadline. I think once we got into Thursday we felt pretty confident we were going to be able to figure something out.”
Friedman’s confidence was shaken briefly in mid-afternoon, though, when Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and MLB Network — the most reliable of the insider species — tweeted that the San Diego Padres (not the Dodgers) were “close” to finalizing a deal with the Nationals.
“We were pretty engaged at that point. It definitely spooked me for a second,” Friedman said. “I feel like things would have been playing out differently if that were the case. Yeah, it definitely got my attention and my heart may have skipped a beat or two. But we came quickly back to where the conversations were and where it was trending and what was going on.”
The Dodgers were ultimately able to get the deal done, acquiring Scherzer and Turner in exchange for four prospects including two (right-hander Josiah Gray and catcher Keibert Ruiz) ranked in the top 100 prospect rankings.
Ten players from this year’s All-Star rosters changed teams before the deadline. The Dodgers were the only team to acquire two of them.
It was an “added bonus,” Friedman said, that the Dodgers snatched Scherzer away from the NL West rivals.
“For us, it was about adding impact talent,” he said. “It’s definitely an added bonus but not the driver. The driver was adding two guys that we feel like are this impactful and what it does for us this year and at the very least in Trea’s case for next year. The added bonus is that reportedly the other teams were looking at them as well.”
The Dodgers reached the trade deadline this year trailing in the division for only the second time during Friedman’s tenure. He acknowledged the standings — with the Giants three games ahead of them and the Padres just 2 1/2 games farther back — affected his aggressiveness at this year’s deadline.
“It’s definitely a factor. I’d be lying if I said that it wasn’t,” Friedman admitted. “It reminds me a little of 2018, at a similar-ish place and approach. Obviously when we can get to July and have a comfortable lead in the West and can focus on levers to pull to help our playoff team is ideal. At certain times we’re not in that position. So right now we’ve got to really think long and hard about August and September so that definitely played a role in this for sure.”
Scherzer and Turner will certainly play important roles in the NL West race during August and September. But Friedman also traded for left-hander Danny Duffy. Duffy is on the injured list with a flexor strain for the second time this season.
Friedman said there is no timetable for when Duffy will pitch for the Dodgers until the team’s trainers can work with him. But the Dodgers would be fine if he doesn’t make an impact until the postseason.
“We really like the arm talent and feel like he can slot in in October and really help us in our pursuit to win a championship,” Friedman said.
“We’re not going to put a timetable on it because we don’t really know. If things are going really well, we’ll be able to build him up and stretch him out. And if things are a little bit slower then it may be shorter bursts. We’ll read and react based on how he’s feeling. But an eye toward October and the weapon he can be for us was definitely a strong factor.”
Corey Seager’s contract status was certainly a factor in acquiring Turner.
With Seager in the final year of his contract and heading to high-priced free agency this winter, Friedman did not wait to find his replacement. Turner will be arbitration-eligible again this winter and can’t be a free agent until after the 2022 season.
In the meantime, though, the Dodgers will have to find a way to fit both in their lineup.
“We feel like he (Turner) is one of the premier shortstops in the game,” Friedman said. “We feel like Corey is one of the premier shortstops in the game. Fortunately, we have two of them. I don’t yet (how they will play together).
“From our standpoint, we have yet to be healthy as a group all year. So it’s a little silly to speculate when we’re healthy what it will look like. We’ve yet to be that all season. So hopefully we are. It will be a good problem to have. As soon as Trea is able to join us, we’ll sit down eye to eye and talk through things and work everything out.”