Andrew Friedman won’t be venturing East to rebuild the Boston Red Sox.
Despite no shortage of speculation about a potential move to the Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations told reporters Monday he’ll re-sign with the club in the coming days. Friedman’s current contract was set to expire as the 2019 season ended.
Friedman’s relative contract uncertainty paired with another Dodgers season ending without a World Series championship led some to wonder whether his time in LA was nearing its end. Had Friedman been available, he certainly would have made sense for the Red Sox, who currently are searching for Dave Dombrowski’s replacement.
Friedman’s success in building a farm system and experience in a big market should have made him a top candidate for the Red Sox opening had he been cut loose.
The Red Sox obviously are familiar with Friedman’s work running the Tampa Bay Rays. He literally built a roster that knocked off Boston, a team with much deeper pockets than Tampa Bay.
Friedman built the Rays into pennant winners despite very limited resources. He parlayed his success in southwest Florida into a job with Los Angeles, where he’s been able to build one of baseball’s biggest powers, a team that consistently contends for world titles. Perhaps most enticing would have been Friedman’s ability to rebuild a farm system, something the Red Sox desperately need as they endure a slight rebuild after winning the 2018 World Series and missing the playoffs this past season.
Instead, it appears Friedman will remain in Hollywood, where the chase for the Dodgers’ first title in more than 30 years continues, as does the Red Sox’s search for a new head of baseball operations.
