Rounding Third: Is Friedman hire bad news for Mattingly?

Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) – There won’t be a more significant move this offseason than Andrew Friedman jumping from the Tampa Bay Rays to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Friedman left the Rays organization on Tuesday and became the new president of baseball operations for the Dodgers. It’s a new position for the Dodgers, who moved general manager Ned Colletti into a senior advisory role to CEO Stan Kasten.

“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,” said Kasten in a statement Tuesday. “The success he has had over the past nine years in molding the Tampa Bay Rays team has been incredible.”

Despite overseeing one of the league’s lowest payrolls, the Rays had four postseason appearances – including division titles in 2008 and 2010 – in nine seasons from 2006-14 under Friedman. The Rays won the AL pennant in 2008 and lost to Philadelphia in the World Series.

Now the 37-year-old wunderkind inherits a team that last year ranked at the top of baseball with nearly $240 million in salary.

Friedman is no dope. Sure, he was able to build a winner on a very tight budget with the Rays, but it’s a lot easier to do with an open check book at his disposal. The Dodgers are also more than just high-salaried. They possess three of the top-50 players on Baseball America’s top prospects list.

You know how many Rays were on that list? Zero.

Like we said, Friedman is no dope. He left the Rays at the right time.

So what does this mean for manager Don Mattingly?

There are always rumblings that the Dodgers don’t think Mattingly is the guy to run what is quickly going to be a $250 million team. For whatever reason it always seems as if he is a losing streak away from losing his job.

He may not be the best gameday manager in the league, but as Ned Yost is showing us with the Royals, that doesn’t matter a whole heck of a lot.

The Dodgers did give him a contract extension at the end of last season and reaffirmed their faith in him during Tuesday’s press conference.

But make no mistake Friedman’s hire certainly puts Donnie Baseball on the hot seat, especially since Joe Maddon’s current deal with the Rays expires at the end of the year.

To be even more blunt, another one and done playoff series won’t be tolerated in Dodgers Land.

Now Maddon has already stated that he has no intention of leaving the Rays. However, he does have ties to the Los Angeles area, having spent more than three decades in the Angels’ organization.

A lot can happen in a year and what did you expect him to say on Tuesday? He certainly wasn’t going to come out and admit he was counting down the days to leaving the Rays.

If that is the intention, though, maybe all parties involved should just get it out of the way now. It’s not fair to Mattingly to have the Maddon stuff dangling over him all year.

Make the move. Give up the compensation. And move on. Like the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays did with John Farrell a couple years back.

Maybe, just maybe, Maddon is telling the truth and he is intent on bringing a World Series title to the Rays. Maybe he enjoys managing in front of half full crowds at such an amazing ballpark like Tropicana Field. He’s been there for nine years now, perhaps he’s grown an affection for cowbells.

When you think about it, it’s really not all that inconceivable that he joins Friedman with the Dodgers.

The Dodgers reset the future of their franchise on Tuesday and call it a hunch, but something tells me Mattingly won’t be in it.

Categorized in: MLB