Dodgers’ front office may ask for patience, but it won’t get it from fans

It’s early, but it’s late. Patience is necessary, but fear is palpable. There is much reason to hope, but every reason to dread.

A year ago, Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi were the answer, but today they have become the question.

Does the Dodgers’ management team understand how badly Dodgers fans want to win now? And are they willing to do what it takes to put the team in a position to make that happen?

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The baseball winter meetings ended quietly and murkily for the Dodgers on Thursday, the front office crew slipping out of Nashville like a country band embarking on a tour to nowhere.

Since the 2015 season ended with a third consecutive postseason collapse, the Dodgers’ master plan appears broken, the blueprints seem trampled and the roster has essentially changed in two ways that reeked of contradiction.

1) They allowed baseball’s earned-run average leader Zack Greinke to walk because they didn’t want to give him a contract that would pay him to pitch through age 37.

2) They agreed to a deal with injury-plagued Hisashi Iwakuma to pitch through age 37.

To make matters more confusing, the Arizona Diamondbacks signed Greinke to a $206.5-million deal that was made possible by a new TV contract worth $1.5 billion, while Dodgers rejected the high cost of Greinke even though they have a TV contract worth $8.35 billion.

In an attempt to clear everything up, the Dodgers worked out a deal for Cincinnati Reds reliever Aroldis Chapman, who would allow them to rebuild the pitching staff through a deep bullpen they hoped would imitate the one belonging to the World Series champion Kansas City Royals. But that deal was scuttled — and the Dodgers were saved much embarrassment — after Yahoo Sports broke the news of alleged domestic abuse by Chapman.

No, the Dodgers don’t need Chapman now, especially since they already have one player, Yasiel Puig, that baseball is investigating under its new domestic violence policy. And, no, even if baseball clears Chapman and his price drops, the Dodgers don’t need to make that deal, and will be excoriated by the locals if they do.

So no Greinke, no Chapman, a weakened rotation, a thin bullpen, and what now? Where do the Dodgers turn next? With ownership dipping its fingers into the Dave Roberts managerial hiring, are Friedman and Zaidi even sure they have a firm grip on what’s next?

The clock ticks on the 27-year World Series drought. The pressure mounts because 60% of Los Angeles homes still can’t get the team on television, thanks to arguably the worst broadcast deal in sports history, which still sits in the lap of Dodgers President Stan Kasten.

Now that everybody’s favorite target has taken his talents to South Beach — doesn’t Don Mattingly seem unsettlingly happy these days? — the Dodgers’ burden sits squarely on the shoulders of Friedman and Zaidi, and nobody quite knows how they will handle it.

The initial mandate should be for patience. Everyone needs to chill until the team shows up at Camelback Ranch in February. The Dodgers have plenty of time to completely remake the roster, and Friedman’s group has used that time before. The winter meetings are only the beginning of the off-season, not the end.

Just last winter, Howie Kendrick was aquired Dec. 11, Matt Kemp was traded Dec. 18 and Jimmy Rollins arrived on Dec. 19. There are still plenty of free agents available, still plenty of guys on the trading block. Give Friedman’s group time to chase them down.

The second mandate, however, should be for urgency. Friedman should no longer pepper his interviews with such words as “sustainability” or “consistency.” The fans have heard enough. It’s time for him to talk about two things. Winning. Now.

If the Dodgers’ front office had had that mentality last summer, they would never be in their current predicament. The most ominous day last season wasn’t the October night when they failed to cover third base and blew a deciding playoff game to the New York Mets.

The most ominous day was July 31, when the Dodgers failed to cover their rotation and blew an entire season. That was when the Texas Rangers traded six players, including some top prospects, to the Philadelphia Phillies for Cole Hamels. It was Hamels who led the Rangers into the playoffs and will be under club control for three more seasons.

It was Hamels who could have solved all the Dodgers’ problems by not only possibly leading them to a World Series, but also allowing them to later wave goodbye to Greinke without burning their hand on a rotation that now features Clayton Kershaw and a bunch of third, fourth, and fifth-of-never starters.

Why couldn’t they acquire Hamels? Because they wouldn’t trade their top prospects, the same prospects who are being sought by teams in trades today. With respect to all those who love to witness their team nurturing their homegrown stars, that’s a narrative for another team, not this one, not here, not now.

If it means acquiring players who they believe can help them compete for a championship in 2016, the Dodgers need to be willing to trade almost anybody.

Julio Urias? Trade him. Jose De Leon? Trade him. Any minor league kid whose future is an unknown quantity but who can be spun off for a known quantity? Trade him.

If they can’t bolster the team through trades, they need to make a big splash through free agency, even if that splash is named Johnny Cueto, and they need to stop sending their fans the message that they can’t afford it. Eight billion bucks from TV? Big bucks through increased ticket prices? Nobody is buying how the richest payroll in baseball suddenly cries poor, not until they’re playing in late October.

Friedman and Zaidi are smart guys. They understand baseball geography. They know that Los Angeles isn’t even in the same universe as their former homes in Tampa and Oakland.

Los Angeles is big and demanding and starving for World Series now. It understands Friedman and Zaidi can offer no guarantees. It just wants to know that they’re trying.

bill.plaschke@latimes.com

Twitter: @BillPlaschke

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