Dodgers name Brandon Gomes general manager, among front office promotions

The Dodgers made a few promotions in the front office, most notably bumping Brandon Gomes to general manager, the first to fill the position after Farhan Zaidi left for San Francisco after the 2018 season.

Gomes, 37, joined the Dodgers front office before the 2017 season as pitching performance coordinator, then served as director of player development before spending the last three years as assistant general manager and vice president.

“I’m thrilled to announce the promotion of Brandon to General Manager, as he has been an integral part of our success since joining the Dodgers in 2016,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said in a statement.

After Zaidi was hired to be the president of baseball operations for the Giants, the Dodgers had not filled the GM role the previous three seasons. Under Friedman since 2019, the team had Josh Byrnes, a former GM, as senior vice president, along with Gomes and Jeff Kingston as assistant general managers and vice presidents.

With Gomes’ ascension to GM, the Dodgers named two new assistant general managers in addition to Kingston.

Alex Slater was the director of baseball operations for the last five years. The new VP & assistant GM is perhaps most known recently for being part of the collaborative group that led to relief pitcher Corey Knebel to be used as an opener to start Game 5 of the NLDS, which the Dodgers won in San Francisco.

The Dodgers also hired Damon Jones as a VP/assistant GM and baseball legal counsel. He spent the last two years with the Washington Football Team in the NFL, where his duties included working through the intricacies of the club’s name change.

Prior to the NFL, Jones was in the Nationals front office for 13 years, including Washington’s championship season in 2019. His baseball operations work with the Nats included player contracts, salary arbitration, grievances, CBA and rules issues, in addition to overall strategy.

The Dodgers also announced a pair of promotions in baseball operations. Thomas Albert is the new head athletic trainer, a position held by Neil Rampe the last five years. Albert was an assistant athletic trainer on the staff the last six seasons.

Brandon McDaniel also got a title bump, from director of player performance to vice president of player performance. The former strength and conditioning coach has been in the organization since 2012, including the last nine years on the major league staff.

In addition, Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic reported that Rob Hill was promoted from pitching coordinator to director of minor league pitching, a move confirmed by Hill himself.