We'll get back to your phone calls in a second, but here is my conversation with Andrew Friedman. We are in Dallas for the Winter meetings, and man, not too many people get dressed up for me. Clayton mccullaugh did earlier because he's a fancy new manager and now the president of Baseball Operations. Andrew Friedman the best dressed I have seen him in quite some time. Thank you so much. He didn't have to be so formal.
Yeah, no, Dave, anything for you. I've got to return this by six, so if we can get this going, that'd be great.
I'm well aware of those deadlines on suits and stuff when you walk through the lobby. I know you were asked this earlier. What is the feeling for you coming off this World Series championship compared to twenty and just compared to come in here the last few years.
You know, in a lot of ways people said, you know, how long did you get to enjoy it? And it really was like forty eight hours. Those forty eight hours were incredible. But then it was on a flight to San Antonio for the GM meetings and everything focused on the only twenty five season, and so you know, walking through the lobby, a lot of you know, hey, congratulations, so it's like a half second bite of like, oh, yeah,
we won the World Series last year. But obviously for us, so much of our focus and energy right now is on repeating. You know, winning is really really hard. Repeating is even harder. So we've got a lot of work to do to try to do that. And you know, talking to different guys, I think everyone's mindset is that, which is great.
If we can go back to the day of the parade, I asked a lot of players this question, and I'm just curious, from your standpoint, did you realize how much that team, those group of players meant to the city before that day?
You know, for me, right or wrong, Like, I've always associated winning with a parade, Like the parade is the cherry on top of the winning and you know, the kind of tying it up in a neat bow, and I've always associated that with winning so much so that the night before the parade, I said to my wife, I was like, God, I've built this up so much in my head, like there's just no way it can
match what my expectations are. So it just kind of thinks that we're going to do this and it's definitely going to come in below what I've built up in my head. And then to go experience it the next day, it demolished anything I had in my head because my brain couldn't even fathom that. Like, it was so incredible, the outpouring of love and support, the passion that the fans have for our guys. It was just so palpable, the energy. It was an incredible moment for everyone.
I saw how emotional you were, how the group of players were. And now, like you said, you've turned your attention to trying to repeat and put together the best team. How do you detach the emotions you have for some of the players that have the opportunity to test free agency and make the best decision for the way you've done it in years past.
You know, I think for us, all we can really do is be honest, and that's the most important thing to me. And so when free agency hits, right before it opens, you know, all make sure and touch base with our guys and be open and honest about how
we're kind of viewing it. You know what potentially works? Now, does it mean that we wouldn't go up a little bit here or there like, No, it doesn't mean that, especially with guys that we have relationships with, but it's all we can really do is just be straightforward and honest, and a lot of times that results and something getting done,
and sometimes it doesn't. But the most important thing for me is that they feel the love, support and respect from us during that process, and so touching base with the agents and making sure that you know that we're checking in and they know that we're thinking about him, and we're just we'll be honest, and that's all I can guarantee.
Before I let you go. Everybody focuses on the Winter meetings, but the Dodgers have been aggressive already, signing Michael Conforto, bringing back Blake Trining, and so far the centerpiece of the winter signing, the great Blake Snell. Snell Zilla, congratulations on that.
Oh, I listening to you over the years. I didn't know you'd be supportive of that.
Some people think I had some influence, but I that was all you.
No, I think it was all you. But I'll take the victory lap for us. You know, Michael's a guy that we've had a lot of respect for from Afar It's not often that you can say, on one hand, you think that this player will be a really good floor raiser and at the same time have upside. Michael's a guy that will hit middlest somewhere in the lineup, and you know, we think driving a lot of runs and be in the middle of a lot of different
run scoring up opportunities. Blake is a guy that obviously has been a huge part of the success we've had over the last five years. What he did this October was incredible. When we got to the end of the parade and guys are starting to go their separate ways, Blake said, hey, it's a priority for me to come back, and we said, hey, it's a priority for us as well,
and so that's always a helpful jumping off point. It doesn't guarantee anything, but both sides kind of lived up to that and kept working at getting a deal done and couldn't be happier about him returning.
All right, Andrew, thanks a lot for the time. We'll catch up with you back in LA and hopefully you get to have those moments continue where you enjoy what you built and continue to build upon. Thanks a lot.
Thanks Dave,