How the Web has reacted to the Dodgers hiring Andrew Friedman

Well, they love it, OK? Pretty much boffo reviews all down the line. A few cautionary comments, but otherwise all raves.

Friedman is something of a golden boy, kudos you’re going to earn when you have the low-budget Rays in the annual playoff picture.

He seems universally viewed as a young (37), bright, imaginative, cutting-edge executive whose arrival is the greatest thing to happen to the Dodgers since the McCourts’ divorce.

Friedman also is a former analyst for Wall Street’s failed Bear Sterns, so he has that going against him, but in the world of baseball he remains a wunderkind.

Here’s a look at how scribes across the land reacted to the Dodgers nabbing Friedman away from the Rays:

-- Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports just flat out called Friedman the best general manager in baseball.

“Friedman will make mistakes, just like every executive makes mistakes. If anything, his departure from the Rays for the Dodgers ensures that his mistakes are about to become more expensive. But, based on his history, he’s going to be right more than wrong, and the Dodgers are going to get better before they get worse.”

-- CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman also loves the hire, though he cautions at this point, Freidman has only proven himself an effective small-market GM.

“Friedman is the hot name, and has been the hot name since 2008. And there’s no question he and the others who ran the Rays baseball department are very smart and made many good decisions over the years. But starting today, he has a totally different job, one where there are expectations, there is pressure and folks are actually paying attention.

“Anything would have been fine in sleepy St. Pete. Remember, when you have no money, it’s much harder to make a big mistake.”

-- Buster Olney at ESPN.com (Insider status required) already has a Dodgers’ to-do list for Freidman, thought it pretty much looks like the same list Ned Colletti would have dealt with.

-- Tampa Bay Times columnist Tom Jones thinks the Rays will survive, but hates to see Friedman go.

“More than Evan Longoria, more than David Price, more than even manager Joe Maddon, Friedman meant more to the success of the Rays than any member of the organization. Friedman was the Rays’ MVP.”

-- Martin Fennelly of the Tampa Tribune also thinks the Rays will carry on, but believes Freidman was clever to the very end.

“Here we spent all that time wondering if Friedman would trade David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers for all those prospects. Well, Friedman traded Price. And now he has all those Dodgers prospects. Thinking outside the box until the end.”

-- Jeff Miller of the Orange County Register thinks the hiring looks so good, it makes him nervous.

“For Dodgers fans, the only real concern in the brilliant move of hiring Andrew Friedman while retaining Ned Colletti is the fact the move is so universally and unequivocally being lauded as brilliant.

“When something looks this good doesn’t it always turn out bad? Or should that be badly? See, already things are threatening to go sideways.”

-- Vincent Bonsignore at the Daily News is not convinced Friedman’s hiring doesn’t mean Rays Manager Joe Maddon – despite his denials – won’t yet follow him to the Dodgers.

“Unless Maddon inks a new deal, speculation will rage that he will eventually join Friedman in Los Angeles. They didn’t just forge a deep working relationship with the Rays, they concocted a winning formula in spite of dire financial difficulties.

“How intriguing must it be to potentially match their baseball intellect with a payroll and organizational commitment as great as any in the game?”

-- And for those wondering about Freidman’s brilliance as general manager, the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin takes a look at the five best and worst moves he made during his nine years with the Rays.