Andrew Friedman

Didn't work out, but it was of that same school of thought.

I think it's fascinating, and certainly Andrew Friedman has done this to a great extent, the ability to use some smaller market principles with a big budget to that allows you to outspend and in some ways outwork your own mistakes because Kyle Tucker hasn't really worked out that well, although he's been better lately.

You think about all the money the Dodgers have spent on guys that are on the injured list.

That is a departure from what Friedman learned in Tampa.

Didn't work out, but it was of that same school of thought.

I think it's fascinating, and certainly Andrew Friedman has done this to a great extent, the ability to use some smaller market principles with a big budget to that allows you to outspend and in some ways outwork your own mistakes because Kyle Tucker hasn't really worked out that well, although he's been better lately.

You think about all the money the Dodgers have

spent on guys that are on the injured

Yeah, hard to hide that stuff, right, in the hallway, especially here at Great American Ballpark.

And also, when Andrew Friedman flies in, who has never been to Cincinnati in his baseball career, he flies into Cincinnati, you know he's pretty confident his team is going to get the job done tonight or tomorrow.

Look, Blake Snell has only pitched here once, and the one time that he pitched here, he threw a no-hitter.

So it should be a good night for the Dodgers, and certainly Freddie Freeman had a smile on his face before the game today.

Right.

And so I find it difficult to lay blame at the feet of Dave Roberts or Andrew Friedman or Mark Walter or anybody, because I think they told him when he came here, he said, "Look, I wanna hit and I wanna pitch." And they said, "Look, if you come here, we'll let you hit lead off.

You can hit and pitch, and you tell us when you're comfortable, and that's it." And they don't wanna go back on that deal.

So here's the thing though, John.

The power struggle- Oh, I see what you're saying, yeah ... and I think Shohei would win a po- Well, I'm gonna be dead honest about this.

I ne- I love Dave Roberts, love him.

If Shohei went to Mark Walter and Andrew Friedman and said, "Guys, I don't wanna play for this guy anymore.

Dave, good luck.

Well, I'm glad that you feel good about it, Matt, and something you said yesterday does seem to be coming to fruition where you see the Dodgers starters pitching so well and guys like Kyle Tucker and all that doing their thing.

You see him there on your screen? It looks like Andrew Friedman has got it all set up in the right way, headed toward the place where they need to be, Matt.

There's a reason why this team has been to the playoffs 14 consecutive seasons, why they have won the division all but one year, and they won 106 games that year under Dave Roberts.

They know how to close, and they know how to close the season, and maybe that now applies to Kyle Tucker.

Stop it.

I'll quote Andrew Friedman, and I do this a lot, President of Baseball Operations for the Dodgers.

"If you're gonna be rational, and you're gonna be sane when you pursue free agents, you're always gonna finish third.

Not in the standings, third in getting that player." You just are.

The more I watch, the more we listen, the more we see.

And this is starting to crystallize into what I'm guessing was Andrew Friedman's vision.

So you're feeling confident, Matt?

I feel like he knew.

I don't even know if I'm pronouncing the guy's name right.

Is it Chris Bubich? Chris Bubich? Who is the latest guy to show up in this bullpen? And did Andrew Friedman find another gem going into the playoffs?

He really did.

He bought low with the potential of a high ceiling.