Friedman Leaves Rays for Dodgers

The Rays confirmed the bombshell announcement this afternoon that General Manager Andrew Friedman was headed to the Dodgers, with President Matt Silverman essentially replacing him as GM.

Silverman's new official title will be "President of Baseball Operations," while the Rays will promote VP of Business Operations, Brian Auld, to president.

No word on if Silverman, who has a rapport with St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman, will continue to be the lead negotiator on the stadium issue.

UPDATED 6:15pm:

#Rays Sternberg said new team prez Auld will get involved in stadium talks "when and if they progress"
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) October 14, 2014

Earlier in the day, these were the immediate reactions to the news:

Friedman took #Rays to World Series with $43M payroll in 2008. Now has $235M to work with in LA. #Dodgers
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) October 14, 2014

They're giving Andrew Friedman a payroll? This should be fun.
— Matt Adams (@2015WhiteSox) October 14, 2014

#Rays went to the World Series in 2008 with a payroll of $43M. Imagine what Andrew Friedman can do with bags & bags of $$$? #Dodgers
— Steve Mason (@VeniceMase) October 14, 2014

Hard to see Friedman leaving #Rays as anything positive. (sigh) Though I do like to watch the Dodgers just to see how Carl Crawford is doing
— Angie Drobnic Holan (@AngieHolan) October 14, 2014

Credit to Rays Index, one of the first to tweet the rumor:

Now there's a crazy rumor #Dodgers will go after Friedman & Maddon http://t.co/VhYnRg2lQZ #Rays http://t.co/7zOkmAqLJH
— Rays Index (@RaysIndex) October 13, 2014

Rays fans are just hoping the rumor was only half-true...