Dodgers plan meets real-world test

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- They've put together their think tank. They've started setting up what they hope will soon be the best computer evaluation system in baseball, though there's work to be done. They've remodeled the major league roster extensively and dug in even deeper at the fringes of the 40-man roster, all with an eye toward flexibility and quality depth, hardly the hallmarks of the previous regime.

They've changed the way the team will scout its opponents.

But there's one thing Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and his large team of executives have yet to accomplish: win a game.

Starting on Monday, all of the discussion of the educational backgrounds, the intellectual abilities, the boldness and the imagination of the Dodgers' new front office will be replaced by the one criterion front offices have always been judged by. Is their team winning or losing?

The start of the 2015 season is an exciting and anxious time for Friedman, whose career in baseball has been spent entirely in small-market Tampa Bay, but he's not sorry to see the attention shift to the players he has acquired and those who preceded him.

"I certainly get that [media attention] comes with the territory, but I'm a firm believer that the focus should be on the field and on the players," Friedman said. "They are the best in the world at what they do and they're the reason we draw as many fans as we do, so I think we're all anxious to get this thing started."

The changes have been swift and breathtaking, but how quickly will they produce results? Talking to team officials, one gets the impression that 2016 and 2017 were viewed as more likely maturation dates for the bold changes the organization has undertaken.

The Dodgers, who have a $260 million payroll and have already sold more than three million tickets, aren't going to shirk the high expectations of their fan base. But Dodgers president Stan Kasten said he told Friedman and his assistants that he expects the transition will take "a year to be fully integrated."

The Dodgers have the pieces in place to compete in 2015, of course, and they think they'll be better prepared to make a run should they reach the postseason.

But Friedman admits he's concerned about the team's depth beyond the top five starting pitchers, depth that is already being tested by a shoulder injury to Hyun-Jin Ryu. And, as usual, he has his worries about the bullpen, typically a volatile group and one that already has been hit by injuries to Kenley Jansen and Brandon League. Because the Dodgers' farm system hasn't fully recovered from Frank McCourt's neglect, Kasten urges some patience.

"We should contend every year and I certainly believe we will this year," Kasten said. "And our minor-league pipeline is getting closer and closer to the major leagues. Combine our staff with the emergence of our minor-league team, I think we should be able to contend indefinitely into the future with, increasingly, a younger team. That's where I hope we wind up in a year or two or three."

Kasten said he has marveled at the new front office's focus on roster depth. When front-line players went down with injuries in recent seasons, the Dodgers often had players who either weren't ready for the major leagues or didn't have the talent to play there for long. Friedman and his team have given the Dodgers enough position-player depth that some veterans, such as Darwin Barney and Chris Heisey, figure to start the season at Triple-A. That's a bad situation for those players, but a good one for the team.

"Whenever there's an opportunity to improve Spot 38 on the 40-man, they go to Spot 38 and work on that," Kasten said. "They don't just focus on one through five or one through 10. That's been a very good way to proceed and they've been aggressive with those kinds of things."

Friedman has been busy over the past 5 months. His early weeks were spent raiding the front offices and scouting rosters of other teams for many of the brightest minds in the game. Just before the winter meetings, the focus changed to remaking the roster.

With Kasten over him, Friedman is flanked by his two top deputies, general manager Farhan Zaidi, who has a doctorate in economics, and vice president for baseball operations Josh Byrnes, a former GM of two major league teams. Beneath the triumvirate are the department heads, with farm director Gabe Kapler and pro scouting director Galen Carr viewed as particularly close to Friedman.

The Dodgers took over the final two days of the winter meetings, sending fan favorites Matt Kemp and Dee Gordon out of town and bringing in veteran infielders Howie Kendrick and Jimmy Rollins and catcher Yasmani Grandal to control the middle of the diamond. Out was veteran Dan Haren and in was younger, but injury-plagued pitcher Brett Anderson. They signed Brandon McCarthy to a four-year, $48 million contract.

While many teams seemed to shy away from pitchers with long injury histories, the Dodgers loaded up on them in the early days of spring training, mostly because they view all pitchers as inherently risky signings.

Early in camp, it seemed there were more Dodgers executives walking around the fields than there were coaches. Kasten has tried to ensure that the new regime doesn't drown out the voices of those who were held over. Former general manager Ned Colletti, now a senior advisor, remains a visible presence around the team. The scouts were retained from 2014, though the team's two advance scouts now will send their reports to a Friedman hire, Danny Lehmann, who will travel with the team. Lehmann will integrate the reports as well as scout other teams off video.

In Tampa Bay, Friedman had to cut corners to make his budget and didn't have traveling advance scouts. The Rays relied on video to scout their opponents. It's another example that, in theory, adding the savvy of small-market thinkers to the resources of the freest-spending team in the majors should be an unstoppable force, but none of it is guaranteed. It still usually comes down to good decisions.

"It allows us to not have cost be the primary decision point in whether or not we do something. We get to come at it from a what-makes-sense standpoint, which, in theory, should allow us to be better at our jobs," Friedman said.

Until Clayton Kershaw throws the first pitch Monday afternoon, it's all in theory.