Stone runs down GM Candidates
DMZ · June 17, 2008 at 11:49 am · Filed Under Mariners
While Dave and I were busy emailing ~20 names back and forth (Dave complaining at one point that we might as well put every AGM on the list since I’d included ~ten), Larry Stone wrote up and ran an article on Pelekoudas and other potential GM candidates which includes many of the people on our list and then some.
It’s a nice article, check it out. We’ll be commenting in more depth on the list, and our list, later.
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68 Responses to “Stone runs down GM Candidates”
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I’m not an Ng advocate — I don’t know enough to have an opinion — but there are more possibilities than just those two. In particular, there is the possibility that she isn’t a good enough candidate (in the opinion of hirers) to overcome the obstacles she’s certainly going to face when she’s hired; or that the people doing the hiring don’t have the nerve to face the media and fan shitstorm if she fails; or that it simply hasn’t been the right fit at the right time.
jzalman,
I didn’t take that quote to mean they aren’t considering candidates outside the organization. I took it to mean that making a change with about 6 weeks before the trade deadline puts an artificial limitation on the search – and I happen to agree with that. There’s nothing with stating clearly that Pelekoudas is the GM through the end of the season, and after that will be one of many candidates considered for the job on a permanent basis.
If it is Krivsky I am done with the team forever.
Evan: I don’t find it hard to believe at all that Ng would be interviewed and not hired repeatedly. It doesn’t take a drooling trogldyte to decide on within-the-margin-of-error white male candidate over some minority, it just takes a little bit of perspective distortion, even unconsciously. But given that GMing is overwhelmingly the province of white males, it’s not hard to assume that Ng has to be twice as good to have the same shot.
Isn’t Jim Duquette the guy that traded Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano?
If nothing else, I think I’d like a GM who can properly evaluate and value pitching talent.
Also, I’m not saying one bad trade should knock you out, but it does cause some concern.
I don’t either, though I think you can add job scarcity to the list of reasons. There are only 30 Major League GMs on earth, meaning that there are probably multiple qualified executives who have been interviewed more than once and still haven’t landed one of those jobs. Each time there’s an opening, an organization will interview multiple candidates, so we’d expect to see lots more interviews than hires.
Not saying there aren’t sinister forces at work behind the scenes, just pointing out that getting a few interviews but not a job (yet) is within the realm of normal.
Other than Ken Williams, there also was Bob Watson with the Yankees and Bill Lucas with the Braves, if I remember correctly.
Chris Chambliss got a ton of interviews for manager without ever getting hired, despite (so far as I could tell) most folks agreeing that he’d earned a chance by any reasonable measure.
Ahhhhhhhhh Chambliss. Man, that would be entertaining.
I haven’t heard a single thing that would give me any reason to believe that they blame the team’s philosophy for their struggles.
I think they blame Bavasi, I don’t think they blame the approach. Because blaming the approach would be blaming themselves.
The burden is on them to prove to us that they won’t screw this up – they haven’t earned the assumption that they will make wise decisions. They have earned the opposite.
Even in the last 24 hours they have been dismissive and defensive about sabermetrics.
Why should the fact that they fired Bavasi years too late, after letting him gut the franchise give me optimism about their judgment? Why do they get credit for doing something even the most dull of executives would have realized needed to be done a long time ago?
I’m excited for change, but hope will have to wait.
Axis of Incompetence. hehe. I like that.
Those two could still be fired, remember. I kind of doubt it, but it could happen. If it did, it’ll probably be at the end of the season.
If not, we can only hope they have learned from their mistakes. Chuckie’s insinuation that they’re going to do something at the trade deadline is troubling however. They talked about a new plan. I only hope they don’t lock themselves into a half baked ‘old’ plan by what happens the rest of this season.
Rushing to try and rebuild might be the worst thing they could do right now.
If Armstrong’s track record of hiring GM’s tell us anything the hiring will be someone who has the following attributes:
*Old school baseball/scout philosophy
*Win-now is the first priority, building long term success is secondary attitude (Gillick and Bavasi)
*Won’t rock the boat (Woody Woodward is dream candidate)
*In lock step with the commish’s office (Bud can do no wrong)
*History of winning or working for winning franchises (WS ring a must)
*History in the game (No 30 something ivy league grads please)
*Gritty (Must love WFB)
*Old white male (sorry Kim!)
If the Columbia Journalism Review does an internet collection of funny headlines — an online equivalent of Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim — the headline of this post would make a good entry.
You know, the assistant GM and VP of Player Development for the Nationals may be available. I’m sure he’d be interested.
Say hello to your new GM – Bob Boone.
What about Jim Beattie?
Although Kim Ng would be a demographic breath of fresh air — young, female, Asian American, she even went to college at my alma mater — there’s a lot not to like about the way the Dodgers have been run. Granted, much of that’s due to the GM and the owner, I have no idea what Kim’s exact role and duties with the Dodgers are.
Overpaying for vets such as Garciaparra, Andruw Jones, and Jason Schmidt (and I remember the dicussion and wariness here about the M’s going after Schmidt).
And it’s not just the on-the-field decisions … I suspect that Dodger Stadium has become the most class-segregated ballpark in baseball (by class I technically mean class of ticket, although class of income will be correlated with that). There are whole levels of Dodger Stadium that you cannot go to if you don’t have a ticket for that section, and I don’t mean just a few luxury boxes. Some of the best concessions are in those levels. In contrast, one of the pleasures of Safeco Field wander all over into the nooks and crannies check out the viewpoints. Last year in Safeco Field a friend took me to the Hit It Here Cafe; not having tickets to sit there for the game we had to finish before gametime but we still got to enjoy the meal and the view before going to our seats. Can’t do that sort of wandering or high-class eating at Dodger Stadium, not unless you’ve got a golden ticket.
Early this season, in order to protect the precious box seat patrons from the hoi polloi, the Dodgers put severe restrictions on where kids could stand before the game to get autographs. Mustn’t have a 10-year old drop any Cracker Jack on one of those box seats. An uproar of protest from the fans and sports columnists finally got the Dodgers to relent.
Parking at Dodger Stadium now costs $15 and unlike many other ballparks, you have virtually no other options for parking or for getting there (I even tried walking from the nearest light rail stop once … not something that’d be wise to do at night).
Earlier I’d drawn analogies between the Mariners and the Cubs: great ballpark drawing in enough fans to pad a high payroll roster, but no clue about how to spend that money wisely (although the Cubs are doing well so far this season). But maybe the Dodgers are a better analogy with the Ms. Unlike the Cubs, the Dodgers have won several World Series over the past century — but they’ve won a grand total of one playoff game in the last 20 years. But the fans and money keep rolling in.
However so far the Mariners have been continuing to make the ballpark experience more fan-friendly than the Dodgers have. But would that advantage continue under Ng?
Sorry to be so late in checking in. #1, Gillick:
World Championship Blue Jays
Division Winners Mariners
First Place Phillies
Gillick we do not want?
I know, minor leagues a mess, gee, we have so many prospects now.
Reality, personally, I would like a new face, Ng or Antonetti but Gillick is a winner.
I suspect that Dodger Stadium has become the most class-segregated ballpark in baseball…
What makes you think the GM, or anybody who works for him (or her), has any input into ticket and parking prices, seating policies, or really anything at all to do with stadium operations?