Andrew Friedman Reveals Dodgers' 'Secret Sauce' to Resurrecting Careers

The Dodgers put their guys in the best position possible more times than not.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are entering the 2024 season as the villains of baseball. L.A. has acquired tons of talent this offseason and is set to make some serious noise all regular season and beyond. 

The Dodgers have all the resources and then some to build a team like the one currently constructed, but it's not all about the money.

The Dodgers have a keen ability to both scout and develop talent, and are especially known for their ability to help players turn their careers around.

Over the past decade, the Dodgers have signed players whose careers appeared to be over, and were able to revitalize their careers within a season. It's one of the many things that have made the Dodgers successful during president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman's tenure that began in 2015.

It's not as difficult as it seems, though. Well, sort of. Andrew Friedman recently spoke to Los Angeles Times staff writer Mike Digiovanna, and talked about the "secret sauce" that makes this team so successful.

“It boils down to putting guys in the best position to succeed,” Friedman said. “When we’re looking to acquire a pitcher by free agent or trade, I think our scouts, analysts and pitching coaches work really well together to identify the levers we want to pull to increase the likelihood of success. I think the secret sauce for us is how well our groups work together. The collaboration between our really talented pitching group to our performance group, to our training staff as well as the people who play a role in identifying the talent on the front end. … I think that communication and collaboration is a huge part of why we’ve had success.”

(per Andrew Frediman via L.A. Times)

Pitchers like Alex Wood, Ryan Brasier, Evan Phillips, Tyler Anderson and Andrew Heaney come to mind in terms of these reclamation projects. All these players struggled before coming to L.A, but Friedman and his team saw the vision and helped them reshape their game in ways other teams could not do. 

The Dodgers don't always have the Midas Touch, and that was apparent in 2023 with Noah Syndergaard. Syndergaard signed a one-year, prove-it deal with Los Angeles, but pitched worse than ever, and was dealt to Cleveland before the trade deadline. 

They're not all hits, but the Dodgers have had many more hits than misses. And if the player doesn't elect to come back to the Dodgers, more often than not, they sign a lucrative deal with another team, like Anderson or Heaney.