Janet Marie Smith promoted to executive vice president with Dodgers

Janet Marie Smith has had a hand in enhancing or creating some of the most storied venues in baseball, and now has a new title with the Dodgers. Smith was promoted to executive vice president of planning and development on Thursday, the team announced.

Smith, whose previous title was senior vice president of planning and development, oversaw upgrades to both Dodger Stadium and the club’s facility in the Dominican Republic, Campo Las Palmas. The over $100 million upgrade to Dodger Stadium would have been unveiled for the 2020 season, but with no fans in the stands during the coronavirus pandemic many of the new features have yet to be utilized.

“The idea is that you can enter any gate with any ticket, and once you’re inside you can move around using the elevators, escalators, stairs, bridges, whatever suits you,” Smith said in March.

Before joining the Dodgers in 2012, Smith was instrumental in the construction of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the expansion and upgrade of Fenway Park in Boston, and the conversion of Olympic Stadium into Turner Field in Atlanta.

“Janet has done a tremendous job leading our improvement projects over the last nine years, embracing every nuanced challenge and incorporating Dodger history at every turn,” Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten said in a statement. “Dodger Stadium has always been the most beautiful place in the world to watch a sporting event, and now it has the modern amenities to match that beauty.”

Links

• “Bullpen is an area where we need to augment our depth and that is front of my mind as we’re going through our offseason shopping.” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.
• From earlier this week, Dodgers scout Jairo Castillo died Sunday in the Dominican Republic, writes Jorge Castillo at the Los Angeles Times. Castillo was a crosschecker in Latin America for the team, and was just 31 years old.
• Aram Leighton for the Locked on Prospects podcast examines the Dodgers system in-depth, spread over two episodes: Part 1 and Part 2.
• Bill Plaschke at the LA Times plays the hits, saying the Dodgers must re-sign heart and soul Justin Turner.