Dodgers hire Friedman to take over baseball operations

It’s true — either the Giants or Cardinals will represent the National League in the World Series this year. That the Dodgers will not remains the saddest truth in this fan’s sports world.

This morning, though, there is a glimmer of something for sullen Dodgers fans to get excited about. It comes in the form of an announcement.

The Dodgers have hired Andrew Friedman as President, Baseball Operations. Ned Colletti will stay as Senior Advisor to Stan Kasten.

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 14, 2014

Then I did this.

OK, Friedman won’t change the team immediately, but it’s the beginning of the offseason. The fact is, the Dodgers could look a whole lot different by the time March rolls around in Glendale. By then, this organization — the baseball part of it anyway — will surely have his stamp.

Ned Colletti wasn’t bad bad. He somehow found a way to hang around and bridge the largest ownership gap in the history of sports, having success all along the way. Most of the time, I’m a fan of consistency. I like a GM who stays with his guys and allows them to do what he hired them to do. Colletti’s time, though, had run its course. It was time to change the way the Dodgers were operating. Consistency had turned to stagnation and change, in this case, was the right thing to do.

Colletti will still be around — as a Senior Advisor to Stan Kasten — but the management of everything baseball-related now belongs to Friedman.

For today, my Twitter feed will provide my entertainment. Mike Petriello, Chad Moriyama, Sons of Steve Garvey, Dodgers Digest, DJ Short, Molly Knight, Alanna Rizzo, Craig Calcaterra, Jeff Sullivan, Rob Neyer, Howard Cole and every other baseball personality I follow will certainly have a take and an angle. So will @DodgerzGM who has changed his visible name to DodgerzSeniorAdvisor. It’s the best parody account on Twitter.

They’ll all have reactions that are more thought-through and worth reading, but mine is simply an exhale. That nasty, cold, bitter pit in the bottom of my stomach that’s been there since Game 4 of the NLDS — it might be dissipating. Good deal.

Some fun Tweets about the Friedman thing from today:

Andrew Friedman as soon as he gets to Los Angeles: http://t.co/9w8JH2QnQB

— Cespedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) October 14, 2014

The toughest thing about this transition is figuring out how to change my wifi password from G1ANTS2010 to G1ANTS2014.

— DodgerzSeniorAdvisor (@DodgerzGM) October 14, 2014

Fingers crossed that Andrew Friedman hires me to be the GM.

— DodgerzSeniorAdvisor (@DodgerzGM) October 14, 2014

I'm not exactly what a Senior Advisor is, but I imagine I'll be working with a lot of old folks.

— DodgerzSeniorAdvisor (@DodgerzGM) October 14, 2014

Colletti: /eats $15 reuben Friedman: /bag lunch Colletti: Friedman: Both: /laughter Friedman: /burns $100 bill Friedman: /tosses into woods

— Jeff Sullivan (@based_ball) October 14, 2014

btw, here's actual data showing that (good) baseball executives have been wildly underpaid: http://t.co/HXd7Ek1Xnm

— robneyer (@robneyer) October 14, 2014

Bonus: Dodgers' Friedman announcement upstages Cards/Giants.

— Sons of Steve Garvey (@sosgsosg) October 14, 2014

If it wasn't before, @jonahkeri's The Extra 2% is now required reading, Dodger fans http://t.co/Z9IOiFDPr6

— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) October 14, 2014

Don's gone by the end of the week.

— Howard Cole (@Howard_Cole) October 14, 2014