Baseball Musings: GM Stock

November 03, 2005

GM Stock

Just when did we start caring more about general managers than managers? Branch Rickey and others were certainly famous, but I don't think fans cared all that much about GMs in the past.

Part of it was that the job of the general manager was a bit easier before free agency. Your roster wasn't ripped apart at the end of each season. The executive's job was to figure out who to keep, who to trade and who to cut. He owned the players lock stock and barrel.

Fantasy baseball allowed fans to design their own teams, and brought many to think about how to best build a winner. It was couple with the computer, statistics and internet boom, where anyone can now have access to detailed information about every player.

We see very little innovation by field managers these days. Everyone knows when the bunt is coming, or the stolen base, or the Williams shift. Managers don't carry enough hitters to make platooning worthwhile anymore. The real innovators are in the front office, and that has attracted our attention.

And finally, there's a battle going on there, and battles grab out attention. The old boys club is fighting the young boys club, and we don't know who's going to win yet. Enjoy the skirmishes.

Posted by David Pinto at 08:54 AM | Management | TrackBack (3)

Comments

Funny you should mention this today, but I guess it's on everyone's mind. I was wondering the same thing. There's been a sea-change in attitude. I'm much more interested to see who the new Dodger GM is than to see who the new Dodger manager is. I would probably point to a recent belief that managers are interchangeable for the most part as the point that caused this shift. Even 10 years ago, I would say people still cared more about managers than about general managers.

Posted by: Benjamin Kabak at November 3, 2005 10:33 AM

I would also add that the media hype about some kind of feud between "Moneyball" types and "Smartball" types creates an image of heros and villians in the eyes of fans. Every team now has an identity, and, right or wrong, that identity seems to be embodied by the GM.

Posted by: Daniel at November 3, 2005 10:37 AM

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays press conference is now on
XM MLB Ch. 175. They're adding Gerry Hunsicker to
the front office, discussing what form that will take.

Posted by: susan mullen at November 3, 2005 12:25 PM

I think both manager and GM are important. You have to love a guy like Bobby Cox who moved from the dugout to the front office and back to the dugout again to manage the guys he'd signed. John Schuerholz was a wonderful partner in the GM role and the Royals have suffered his loss ever since.

A book by Bill Shanks, "Scout's Honor" gives you a bird's eye view of how the Braves organization went from legaue laughingstock to model franchise under Bill Lucas, Paul Snyder, Cox, Stan Kasten and Schuerholz. I think you'll enjoy it even if you aren't a Braves' fan.

Shanks contrasts how the Braves evaluate talent with Moneyball but the Braves don't ignore statistical and empirical evidence, they just put it in context thanks to the efforts of an extensive scouting network and national cross checkers.

Posted by: Bill McKinley at November 3, 2005 12:44 PM

The only guy I can think of who obviously doesn't use any stats is Jim Bowden (Christian Guzman 4-years, $16 million!). But the smart ball types use stats.

Posted by: Yankee Despiser at November 3, 2005 02:35 PM

I think part of it has to do with the salaries paid today. Payroll figures are a much bigger factor today than they were even 10-15 years ago. (When the Blue Jays won back-to-back World Series, they had the highest payroll in baseball... and who knew?)

Larry

Posted by: Larry Macdonald at November 3, 2005 10:41 PM