Andrew Friedman Admits Dodgers Didn’t Expect Fully Healthy Seasons From Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell
Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman recently spoke about the Dodgers splashing on pitchers over the last two offseasons.
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The Dodgers struggled with injuries among their pitching staff in 2024 — especially in the postseason — and immediately fixed this weakness in their squad. They signed Roki Sasaki, Blake Snell, Kirby Yates and Tanner Scott in the offseason, reinforcing their depth in both starting and relief pitching ahead of the season.
However, in those additions — as well as the prior offseason additions of Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow — Friedman and the Dodgers knew they were taking a risk. Glasnow and Snell, for example, didn’t exactly have the cleanest injury history.
Friedman was asked if the Dodgers expected them to be fully healthy when they arrived, or if they planned to have them miss time throughout their tenure.
“Yeah, I guess we weren’t sure,” Friedman said ahead of the World Series. “But it wasn’t something where we were going to be really surprised. I think the whole point of depth is that injuries happen. Sometimes they happen in clusters, ideally they happen where they’re more spaced out. And the last thing that we want to do is say, Oh well, we won 81 games this year because we just didn’t have depth, we had injuries and it was bad luck.
“So it’s trying to be as prepared as we can, not knowing exactly what’s going to happen or when. But to have that depth to help backfill and keep our heads above water during periods where it’s more clustered — and we went through some periods this year where it was very clustered, the injuries. So I wouldn’t say we knew it for certain, but we know it’s a possibility and just trying to be as prepared as we can be.”
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The Dodgers’ depth-building paid off, as they suffered a surreal amount of injuries in the early season — including to Snell and Glasnow — but managed to retain their position at the top of the NL West until their major pitching pieces were fit to return.
The Dodgers’ investment into their pitching staff has paid off so far this season, and they entered the postseason with potentially the best rotation in the major leagues. The Dodgers’ starting pitchers have kept a 2.54 ERA this postseason, which ranks the best among teams who made their respective League Championship Series.
They’ll hope their starters can switch back on after a rough couple of games against the Toronto Blue Jays, who are on the verge of winning their first World Series Championship since 1993. The Dodgers face elimination in Game 6, and will hope Yoshinobu Yamamoto can deliver another fantastic performance to keep them alive.
Game 6 of the World Series comes Friday at 5:00 p.m. PT.
Photo Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
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