Brad Paisley Apparently Helped The Dodgers Build A Superteam

When fans imagine the most important people in building the 2024 Los Angeles Dodgers roster, a few obvious names come to mind: top team executives like Andrew Friedman, Brandon Gomes, Mark Walter, Stan Kasten and maybe even manager Dave Roberts. 

One name that likely isn't at the top of mind though, is country music star Brad Paisley. And yet, according to a new story from The Athletic into how the Dodgers built their superteam, Paisley was a significant contributor to helping Friedman land one of the organization's prized acquisitions.

During Major League Baseball's Winter Meetings in Nashville in December, Paisley hosted the Dodgers contingent at his nearby ranch. And as Friedman worked with his Tampa Bay Rays GM counterpart, Erik Neander, he enlisted Paisley to help seal the deal.

When Neander called Friedman while the matter was at Paisley's house, he jumped at the opportunity. 

 "Brad," Friedman said according to the report, "I need you to answer this and tell the Rays’ GM that we need Tyler Glasnow." Paisley agreed, and Neander played along, saying "Ok let's make a deal. Who is this?"

"Brad Paisley," Paisley said, and gave the phone back to the Dodgers exec. "That sounded like an AI-generated Brad Paisley voice," Neander replied. "It is Brad Paisley!" Friedman replied. "Come on over."

And over an evening of drinks, Paisley played matchmaker and encouraged the deal to get done…in his own way.

"You see this top shelf, this really high-priced whiskey up here?" Paisley reportedly said. "That’s the Tyler Glasnow shelf. That’s the ‘deal’s done’ shelf."

Maybe Paisley is in the wrong business?

American singer-songwriter Brad Paisley arrives at Kershaw's Challenge Ping Pong 4 Purpose 2022 held at Dodger Stadium on August 8, 2022 in Elysian Park, Los Angeles. (Photo by Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Sipa USA)

Brad Paisley Playing Closer For Dodger Executives

Sure enough, Neander eventually agreed to trade Tyler Glasnow to the Dodgers for two young players. Glasnow joined Shohei Ohtani as two of the biggest acquisitions of the winter. And when Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed a few weeks later, it cemented one of the best offseasons in recent memory.

The Rays may have been motivated enough to trade Glasnow's $25 million salary before what Neander described as having "some drinks," but it couldn't have hurt to hammer out the arrangements with one of country music's biggest stars.

As if the Dodgers needed more advantages to go along with their track record of success, star-studded roster, historic stadium and exceptional in-season weather.

With Juan Soto the 2024 offseason's biggest free agent, someone should probably find out now if he likes country music.