Andrew Friedman has made a surprise switch from Tampa Bay Rays to Los Angeles Dodgers, both teams confirmed yesterday.
Friedman, 37, was executive vice president of baseball operations and general manager at the Rays but has switched to the Dodgers to become the president of baseball operations and will select his own GM in the coming weeks, according to cbssports.com.
This means Ned Colletti, who had been the Dodgers general manager since 2005, will change roles and become a senior advisor to Dodger president and CEO Stan Kasten.
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The Dodgers fell to a 3-1 series defeat to the St Louis Cardinals in the NLDS this year while the west coast franchise have won back-to-back NL West division titles.
Sharp rise
Dodgers president and CEO Kasten explained: “Andrew Friedman is one of the youngest and brightest minds in the game today and we are very fortunate to have him join our organisation.”
Friedman switched careers from a financial analyst to join up with the Rays in 2004 and was quickly promoted to executive vice president in October 2005.
The 37-year-old was season as the reason for the Rays turnaround in fortunes. In 2008, with one of the smallest payroll budgets in the entire MLB, the Rays made it all the way to the World Series in the first-ever postseason berth, eventually losing 4-1 to Philadelphia Phillies.
Since that season the Rays have made the postseason in three of the past six seasons from the tough AL East division against heavyweights like the Yankees and the Red Sox.
Thankful
“I have only thanks and gratitude to the Rays for a wonderful 10 years together,” Friedman said in a statement.
“The Rays organisation is loaded with talent from ownership to players and everyone between. I am absolutely confident that the success we achieved will continue in the future.”
Matt Silverman will take the reins on baseball operations after Friedman’s departure while vice president of business operations Brian Auld will replace Silverman as president at the Rays.
Tampa Bay Rays owner Stuart Sternberg thanked Friedman for his work and admitted in a statement he will miss the 37-year-old.
“While we will miss Andrew, we have prepared ourselves for this possibility, and I have great faith in Matt and Brian,” Sternberg said.
According to cbssports.com, with Colletti promoted away from his general manager post, four of the five NL West teams will have new GMs in 2015. Only Brian Sabean of the San Francisco Giants will continue as GM with his side battling in the NLCS against St Louis Cardinals.
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