The Dodgers have reportedly added a pair of high-level scouts to its reshaped and growing front office, hiring Galen Carr and David Finley from the Red Sox, per Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. Carr was previously mentioned as a rumored addition by Mark Saxon of ESPN LA. The hires were not confirmed by president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.
On Friday, Friedman said the team was still working on adding people to the front office that would announced in the coming days, in addition to new general manager Farhan Zaidi, senior vice president of baseball operations Josh Byrnes, director of amateur scouting Billy Gasparino and director of player development Gabe Kapler.
Carr was with the Red Sox for 15 years, including the last three years as a special assignment scout. He and Finley were among the group of Boston talent evaluators sent in 2013 to see Rusney Castillo, the Cuban outfielder who eventually signed a seven-year, $72.5 million deal with the Red Sox.
Before he was a special assignment scout, Carr was a major league scout for five years and a pro scout for one year, in 2006. His first six years with the Red Sox was in the advance scouting department, which he described in 2011 to Dan Bolles of Seven Days in Burlington, Vermont:
Carr spent his first six years with the Red Sox breaking down game tape and managing the team’s advance scouting department. He was charged with composing reports on every player on the entire 25-man roster for every upcoming Red Sox opponent to identify each team’s potential weaknesses.
"It was a serious grind," Carr says. "But it definitely helped me become comfortable breaking down and evaluating players."
Carr pitched at Colby College in Maine, but didn't play baseball professionally.
Finley was director of player personnel for the Red Sox the last three years, and was with Boston for 13 years, with positions ranging from west coast cross checker to national cross checker to special assistant to the general manager. Prior to joining the Red Sox in 2002 he was a scout with the Marlins for seven years and the Padres for four, dating back to 1991.
Finley was drafted by the A's in the 27th round in 1987 out of UC Riverside, and the infielder played two seasons, mostly at third base, in Oakland's system before retiring as a player. He lives in San Diego.
His son Drew is a senior at Rancho Bernardo High School, a right-handed pitcher with a commitment to USC but potentially someone to watch in the 2015 draft.
Both Carr and Finley worked in Boston with Byrnes, who was the Red Sox assistant general manager from 2003-2005.
The crew could be augmented further, with Saxon mentioning the possible hire of Scott Bream from the Tigers as director of pro scouting. Bream was with the Tigers for a total of 14 years, including nine years as a scout, but in 2011-2012 was a special assignment scout and special assistant to the general manager with the Padres. Byrnes was with San Diego both years, including 2012 as general manager.
If Bream and Finley take similar roles with the Dodgers, they would essentially replace Rick Ragazzo and Vance Lovelace, respectively, both of whom were vice presidents under Ned Colletti and are currently, like Colletti, special assistants to CEO Stan Kasten.