HOUSTON -- These must be bittersweet times for Ned Colletti, watching somebody else's Dodgers try to end the franchise World Series drought, right?
"No, nothing bittersweet about it," said the Dodgers' former general manager. "I applaud [president of baseball operations] Andrew Friedman, [general manager] Farhan Zaidi and [CEO] Stan Kasten. They took this team where I couldn't get it."
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Colletti said he's enjoying his third season as an analyst with the organization's SportsNet LA broadcast, along with other media gigs, and he just released a memoir of his front-office career: "The Big Chair -- The Smooth Hops and Bad Bounces from the Inside World of the Acclaimed Los Angeles Dodgers General Manager."
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In Colletti's nine-year tenure, his teams reached the postseason five times. More pertinent to the current World Series -- which resumes against the Astros with Game 3 tonight tied at a game apiece -- a significant core of players from the current Dodgers roster were acquired during Colletti's regime.
We're talking Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen, Justin Turner, Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger, Yasiel Puig, Joc Pederson, Andre Ethier and Thomas Stripling. Other players in the system were used in trades to acquire contributors such as Chris Taylor, Rich Hill, Enrique Hernandez, Austin Barnes, John Forsythe, Alex Wood and Yasmani Grandal.
But when the Dodgers won the National League Championship Series over the Cubs in Chicago -- and if they beat the Astros -- Colletti won't be lifting the championship hardware.
"I'm at peace with it. I want them to win, I want there to be a World [Series] championship parade in Los Angeles," he said. "A lot of people, in and out of the organization, as well as the fans, deserve it. It's an iconic franchise. And everybody in it has been classy and dignified with me."
Colletti said when Dave Roberts was hired, the new manager asked Colletti what he thought was the greatest challenge of the job.
"I said to change the culture," Colletti said. "I was unable to bring here what I thought was needed to be successful. You look at this team now, with what ownership and Stan and Andrew and Farhan have given him, Dave has been able to sculpt it, and I think it's tremendous."