The Los Angeles Dodgers under president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman have proven time again to be plenty patient and willing to give veterans every opportunity to right the ship.
Friedman has also demonstrated an openness to keep a player on the roster for clubhouse and leadership purposes even if it meant waning production. That’s part of what’s made the past handful of days so jarring for the organization.
Austin Barnes was designated for assignment last Wednesday. He passed the proverbial torch of longest-tenured Dodgers position player to Chris Taylor, who was released on Sunday.
“This has been a very emotional week for all of us,” Friedman said. “Barnesy and C.T. have been in the middle of some huge moments for this organization. Both guys have left an indelible mark on our culture and where we’re at at this point.
“So the decisions were incredibly difficult. The conversations were tough, but with where we are, division race, composition of roster, everything, we felt like this was in the Dodgers’ best interest, in terms of how to win as many games and put us in position to best win a World Series this year.
“Doesn’t mean that it was easy, but ultimately felt like it was the right thing to do. … I feel like our culture is in a significantly stronger spot than it was five years ago. And I hope five years from now, it’ll be even stronger.
“And if that’s the case, their fingerprints are still going to be on that. The lasting impact that those guys have had is real. And so again, that’s what made it so difficult and so emotional.
“But balancing that with our roster and how to win the most games. And we’ve got a lot of guys who’ve been here a long time still, and we’ve got some new guys as well. We talk about this every off season, it’s a really delicate balance of figuring out the right way to handle the stability and continuity, versus infusing some new guys.”
The Dodgers signed Taylor to a four-year, $60 million contract on the eve of the MLB lockout beginning in December 2021. Taylor’s contract included a $12 million team option for 2025 and $4 million buyout.
The Dodgers owe Taylor just north of $13 million in terms of remaining salary for this season and the contract buyout total.
Last November, the Dodgers exercised a $3.5 million option on Barnes for this year despite his ongoing struggles. There already had been external clamoring for Barnes to be replaced by Hunter Feduccia if not top Dodgers prospect Dalton Rushing, who now is getting his opportunity.
“Obviously, you get more information. We didn’t feel like coming into the season, this is something that we would necessarily be doing in May,” answered Friedman when asked why the Dodgers didn’t make changes with Barnes or Taylor at an earlier point.
“But you learn things and things change and things evolve and play out. We just have a lot more information at this point in May than we do before the season. So I wouldn’t say it was something that we thought was fait accompli and was necessarily going to happen.
“But with where we were, all things factored in, again, while not easy, we felt like it was the right thing to do.”
Dodgers in NL West battle
The Dodgers entered play Sunday sitting atop the National League West standings, but just one game ahead of the San Diego Padres. The San Francisco Giants have shown to be an early challenger and the Arizona Diamondbacks are attempting to remain in the division race as well.
The first two months of the season have been reminiscent of 2021, when the Giants narrowly finished ahead of the Dodgers to snap their streak of NL West titles. That also was a factor behind the Dodgers’ decisions to DFA Barnes and release Taylor.
“Our primary goal during the regular season is to win the division. That is what we feel like puts us in the best position to accomplish our ultimate goal,” Friedman said. “And so for us, bringing a fresh arm to make sure we don’t put all the burden on other guys and affect our chances in subsequent days.
“I mean, everything we do is about how to try to win as many games as we can, and try to do it with as much thoughtfulness and humanity as we can in communication. We have a tough division. We’ve got some really good teams in our division who are playing well. And so for us, it’s about doing everything we can each night to try to win a game.”
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