Friedman: Roberts will manage Dodgers in 2024

LOS ANGELES -- For a second straight October, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman found himself reflecting on a first-round postseason exit. Once again, he deemed his club’s lack of success to be an “organizational failure.”

However, Friedman made it clear that it’s not something he intends to address through staffing changes. He specifically confirmed that Dave Roberts will return for his ninth season as the Dodgers’ manager.

Roberts, who helped guide the 2023 squad to 100 wins before a three-game sweep at the hands of the D-backs in the National League Division Series, is entering the second year of a contract extension that runs through ‘25.

“If this were one person or a small collection of people, in my estimation, then we would make changes,” Friedman said on Tuesday in a press conference with general manager Brandon Gomes. “… We felt like making a change would be for the sake of it instead of actually bringing in better, more talented people.”

If change isn’t coming on the personnel side, it could instead be reflected in how L.A. constructs its roster for 2024. While there’s room for improvement in all facets, starting pitching depth was arguably the Dodgers’ biggest issue in ‘23, and it remains the source of several present unknowns, such as whether or not Clayton Kershaw will retire, as well as how Walker Buehler will perform coming off a second Tommy John surgery.

Many of the pitching prospects pressed into service out of necessity -- such as Bobby Miller, Emmet Sheehan and Gavin Stone -- will get the chance to build upon the experience they gained at the Major League level this year.

“[We] had a number of really talented young pitchers who we wanted to make sure and create some kind of opportunity for, and we did,” said Friedman. “I think they helped us in 2023, and then they're going to help us a lot in 2024 and beyond.”

It seems inevitable, though, that the Dodgers will also have to look to the trade and free-agent markets. Which brings them to the Shohei Ohtani question.

While he won’t be an option to pitch again until 2025 due to right elbow surgery, Ohtani will be able to hit next year. Though the Dodgers’ offense was very successful in the regular season -- their 906 runs scored were a Los Angeles record -- Ohtani’s bat would undeniably provide a big boost; the American League MVP favorite knocked 44 homers and led all qualified MLB hitters with a 1.066 OPS in ‘23. That certainly could have come in handy for a team that cobbled together just six runs over three postseason games.

Friedman wouldn’t comment specifically on Ohtani, but he suggested that the Dodgers will be aggressive in pursuing frontline free-agent talent, particularly in light of coming up short in that regard in recent winters -- something out of the norm for most of the decade-plus since the Guggenheim ownership group took over.

“We’re extremely angry, disappointed with how these last two offseasons have gone, and we’re going to do everything we can to put ourselves in position for it not to happen next year,” said Friedman. “So what that means exactly, I’m not sure yet, but I do feel very confident that when we show up in Arizona in February, we’re going to have a team that has very, very legit championship aspirations.”