In the abstract, the Dodgers just concluded a successful season.

They won 92 games, secured their third straight division title and went the distance with the New York Mets in the National League Division Series.

The vast majority of teams in Major League Baseball would take that season in a heartbeat, if given the choice at the open of spring training.

Given the reality of their hefty payroll and expectations, the Dodgers’ season was an unmitigated disaster.

And that is on first-year President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and General Manager Farhan Zaidi, who inherited a very good, albeit subtly flawed roster last winter and proceeded to do the opposite of what they were hired to do.

They made it worse, which seems ludicrous in retrospect, considering the resources the new Dodgers brain trust had to work with.

But that’s exactly what happened. And a repeat this winter is something even the deep-pocket Dodgers can’t afford.

• PHOTOS: Mets eliminate Dodgers in Game 5

Friedman and Zaidi were advertised as young savants, able to focus and view the construction of a baseball roster in ways their old-school counterparts aren’t able.

Maybe that’s true. And they still have time to prove it.

But if they can look deeper and further than everyone else, how can they make such blatantly bad decisions?

Did they simply out-think themselves by giving big money to Brandon McCarthy and Brett Anderson, two oft-injured pitchers pretty much everyone else in baseball said would fall apart or not rise to the occasion?

McCarthy did what everyone predicted upon getting $48 million over four years from the Dodgers. He broke down shortly into the season and was never a factor.

Anderson was decent, not great, in the regular season. But he faltered under the bright lights of the playoffs.

Everyone saw that coming.

Except the men the Dodgers pay a lot of money to run their baseball operations department.

• McIINTYRE: Nothing lovable about these Dodgers

Friedman and Zaidi traded away continually improving second baseman Dee Gordon in pursuit of better middle infield defense. The focus was on run prevention, and I’m not too grouchy to dismiss that aspect of baseball as unimportant.

But while my untrained baseball eye may not appreciate some of the subtle intricacies of the sport, my old-school vision couldn’t help notice how Gordon went on to bat .333 with a .359 on-base percentage while racking up 205 hits and 58 stolen bases batting leadoff for the Miami Marlins.

Gordon could have been a difference-maker against the Mets at the top of the order, creating havoc on the basepaths.

Power bats Matt Kemp and Hanley Ramirez were traded or allowed to leave as free agents, and while the Dodgers went on to lead the National League in home runs, the batting order looked a lot less intimidating without Kemp and Ramirez in it.

That was painfully obvious in the postseason, when the Dodgers couldn’t come up with the one big hit necessary to break open Game 5, despite repeated chances to do so.

The problem wasn’t getting rid of Kemp and Ramirez, it was not bringing in power bats to replace them.

As for the bullpen issues over the last few years under former general manager Ned Colletti, Friedman and Zaidi did little to fix it.

No wonder, then, the Dodgers were dismissed from the postseason in the first round for the second straight year and ahead of the World Series for the third consecutive season.

The good news for Friedman and Zaidi is they have the trust of Dodgers ownership, which invested quite a bit of money in the two highly regarded executives.

The challenge is, they need to tweak their strategy as they approach a pivotal winter in which they must decide whether Don Mattingly is the right manager moving forward, dip into the bank account even more to hang on to ace pitcher Zack Greinke and make the necessary changes to truly position the Dodgers as World Series contenders.

Time is of the essence.

The young, talented Mets and Chicago Cubs are actually year ahead of schedule, and neither is going anywhere, considering all their dynamic talent.

The Washington Nationals will bounce back. The St. Louis Cardinals are going nowhere. And in the west, the San Francisco Giants are too smart to stay down for long.

The Dodgers need to act fast to prevent falling off pace. Clayton Kershaw and Greinke — provided he returns — are the ideal starting point atop the pitching rotation. They were almost enough to push the Dodgers past the Mets.

But almost enough isn’t enough.

Not when the payroll is more than $300 million and the men in charge are baseball intellects who can see far beyond what their counterparts are capable.

It will be difficult, to be sure.

How much are they willing to pay the 31-year-old Greinke, who will opt out of the last three years, $77 million he’s owed in pursuit of a much bigger deal? And how do you balance that with the obvious need to improve the rest of the rotation and bullpen so the Dodgers aren’t left vulnerable — again — in the playoffs.

What do you do with Yasiel Puig, who has digressed into an enigma?

Or his high-priced outfield colleagues Andre Either and Carl Crawford — both 33 years old — who are owed a combined $79 million over the next two years? Either is essentially a platoon player, and Crawford played in just 69 games this season. That is a lot of money for part-time players. But their paychecks — and age/status — makes them almost impossible to move.

Friedman and his staff have their work cut out for them, to be sure. But that’s why they make the big bucks.

Their bosses can afford a lot of things. Just not another winter like the last one.