As arguably the most well-run organization in professional sports, the Los Angeles Dodgers have become accustomed to having their front office personnel get hired away by opposing teams.
Most notably, the San Francisco Giants hired Farhan Zaidi, the Atlanta Braves hired Alex Anthopolous and the Philadelphia Phillies hired Gabe Kapler away from the Dodgers. They have also lost numerous coaches and player development personnel to other teams.
In this past offseason, Josh Byrnes and Brandon Gomes became two names often connected to other teams, but neither ended up leaving. Gomes was also given a promotion to general manager to guarantee he stays in the organization.
Now, with the Detroit Tigers searching for a replacement for their recently-fired general manager Al Avila, Byrnes is one of the top candidates to take over their baseball operations department, according to Jon Morosi of MLB Network:
In 2020, Byrnes was under consideration for the Phillies president of baseball operations job before he eventually withdrew his name from the search.
Byrnes is in his seventh season as the Dodgers’ senior vice president of baseball operations, where he supervises the club’s scouting and player development.
He previously served as executive vice president and general manager for two of the Dodgers’ NL West rivals, the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2005-10 and the San Diego Padres from 2011-14.
Byrnes began his baseball front office career in 1994 with the Cleveland Indians working as an advance scout in 1995-96 before being promoted to director of scouting in June 1998.
In fall of 1999, Byrnes became assistant general manager of the Colorado Rockies and moved to the Boston Red Sox in the same role for the 2003-05 seasons, helping Boston to the 2004 World Series title.
Doug Gottlieb admits to being wrong about Dodgers signing Freddie Freeman
Fox Sports radio host Doug Gottlieb retracted his report that claimed Excel Sports Management agent Casey Close withheld information from Freddie Freeman during contract negotiations with the Atlanta Braves.
At the time, Close denied Gottlieb’s accusation of not presenting the Braves’ final contract offer to Freeman, who of course went on to sign with the Dodgers.
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