The GM speculation kicks off
DMZ · September 26, 2008 at 9:55 pm · Filed Under Mariners
The AP, which I can’t quote or they’ll sue us and won’t link to, has a story on the wires in which some Chuck Armstrong makes a particularly interesting comment about the team being blind to skin color or gender. I’ll update this with a quote when there’s a non-AP source.
Hey! Lincoln’s on FSN! Apparently GMs make decisions. Good one, Howard. They want a GM who makes decisions that most of the time turn out right. WOO HOO! Results-based hiring!
They want a comprehensive short/long term plan that gets them to the playoffs. Full interview Sunday at noon… I might have to turn that on.
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Espn.com and cbssportsline.com are both running an article on it…
And HL is going to talk on the post-game about the GM search…
Espn.com and cbssportsline.com are both running an article on it
Which is to say, they’re simply carrying the AP story. I’d link to it, but as Derek has reminded us, the AP is not blogger-friendly. If anyone really needs help finding it, well I did link to it earlier in a different thread. I’d tell you which one, but then Derek would have to kill you (or maybe me).
“We want the new GM to make the right decision most of the time.”
Wow. How insightful. I kept watching for that. Awesome.
I read the story, and I dismiss it as management rhetoric to assure us that they are thinking outside the box.
I don’t think Kim Ng is coming here. It’s too big a risk for these guys if she fails.
Here’s the thing, though — if they really want to demonstrate that they’re committed to change, that they’re not a couple of baseball cavemen who hurt the team and so on, hiring the first woman GM will get them a huge amount of publicity and no one will question their willingness to go in a new direction. That has to be tempting.
Howard said this is the most important off-season in Mariners history. That might be dramatic hyperbole, but I think he finally knows that they are gone if whatever they do doesn’t work.
That’s true Derek, and I hope you’re right, both because she’d be a great choice, and any willingness to break out of their rut (or should I say their cave?) that those two demonstrate will give us hope for more of the same from them.
You know, if they’re hiring strictly on results, Dave and I should apply.
This would be following the most significant off-season in M’s history.
Derek and Dave in 2009! I’m on board!
I just hope whoever it is doesn’t pull a Bavasi and think we are close to winning…if they bring in another washed up hack and pay them a ton, I’ll puke…
I would rather go through two more years of losing if it meant a WS title than to keep trying to patch holes with aging and declining veterans…
Great to be a Rays fan…Yankees, not so much…
I’m not sure what the risk is with Ng ‘if she fails’. Could we possibly lose more games?
There isn’t.
And I really think folks will give them more slack if they hire her.
Isn’t he close to gone anyway? A four to five year stint for the next GM would put him up there in age, wouldn’t it? (72 +, according to Wikipedia….)
Derek and Dave in 2009!
Not to speak ill of the authors in any way, but I think history would indicate that tandem arrangements for front office authority are not a terribly good idea. One or the other, and I’d hate to have to choose.
I think it is the uniform hope of absolutely everyone involved, including HL himself, that this will be his last GM hire. May it last a decade (in a good way).
Not to speak ill of the authors in any way, but I think history would indicate that tandem arrangements for front office authority are not a terribly good idea. One or the other, and I’d hate to have to choose.
Isn’t that kinda what San Diego is doing? They seem to be doing alright.
Well. I think I think that my choice would be Dave for GM, and DMZ for VP, Baseball Information Systems.
Hiring to strength, and all that. Plus, I think they might work well together, toward a common aim and all…
Yes, they could lose 59 more games. Also, I wouldn’t knock the concept of a dual GM just because it failed in Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Individually those GM’s would have failed just as spectacularly.
You’re probably right that they wouldn’t have done any better individually, Osfan. But still, organizational dynamics really necessitates that you have a good understanding of each person’s role and sphere of authority, and you don’t get that when two people share the leadership role with no clear distinction. So something like Matt’s suggestion would make much more sense.
G-Man said: “I don’t think Kim Ng is coming here. It’s too big a risk for these guys if she fails.”
Geez, what about HER? What a huge risk it is for HER career if she comes in here and Chuck and Howie act all good’-ol-boy condescending towards her after the hiring-and-honeymoon this offseason? And they go on with their same old obstructionist vetoing, like they’ve done to Pelekoudas?
It’s too much to hope that they’d get some great suggestions for players to acquire from Ng, that have a 200% greater likelihood to pan out than the ones we suffered through from Bavasi (who has the father-and-son “baseball man” reputation) — and that Howie and Chuck would actually give enthusiastic thumbs-up to Kim Ng’s proposed hires like they did to Bavasi.
I guarantee the management of the Mariners will continue to be looked at with great interest from others in baseball, just to see how much worse Howie and Chuck can screw it up.
And it’s not just the risk to Kim Ng if she fails. Most GMs fail, some sooner than others; if they didn’t, they’d all have jobs for life. But when all those other GMs fail nobody says “Well, that just proves that men can’t GM.” It’s unfortunate, but there are plenty of trogolytes around (and more of them in sports than other places, and probably more in baseball than in some other sports) that would view her performance as a referendum on her gender.
Of course the fact that she is where she is right now, given all of that, probably means she’s an order of magnitude more capable than any of the men occupying equivalent positions.
But heck, let’s not restrict ourselves to gender inequities. What non-white candidates should they be considering?
Karen, I agree, it is a risk for her, I never said it wasn’t. However, I don’t know that it’s much less a risk anywhere else.
Something I read recently pointed out that the management/ownership overseeing the GM’s of many clubs are involved to a similar degree. Several teams were mentioned, and I think the bottom line was that almost all of the teams with probable GM openings had this situation.
I would rather go through two more years of losing if it meant a WS title than to keep trying to patch holes with aging and declining veterans…
Well, I don’t agree exactly. I’d much rather go through two more years of losing if it meant they had created an organization that correctly values talent, finds and acquires undervalued players, doesn’t overpay for veterans, and develops a healthy farm system that produces kids they are willing to play. There’s no sure way to win a WS, but setting up a smart organization is far more likely to win you one eventually. I don’t think it’s realistic to hope for a WS in two years, no matter how much pain we endure between now and then: as we’ve seen, the post-season is just a huge crapshoot. But in two years they could, and should, have a team that gets to the postseason pretty much every year, with no post-“Win-now” dropoff in sight. (In other words, I don’t want the 2011 M’s to look like the 2008 Brewers; I want them to look like the 90s Braves).
There’s at least 3 good teams in each of the other two AL divisions, so the wild card isn’t worth much. Right now the Angels are the class of the division, and I think it’s reasonable to expect to regularly challenge them, and usually beat them. In 2012, when the A’s open Cisco Field, the West also becomes a true three-way race. At that point, the M’s better have more than just a good team: they need a pipeline of talent, and an organization that knows how to find more and make the best use of it.
Otherwise, well, they’re the Royals. Or the Pirates.
But heck, let’s not restrict ourselves to gender inequities. What non-white candidates should they be considering?
Well, Kim Ng, for one.
From a non-baseball POV, Kim Ng would be a positive for process-driven, overly PC Seattle. The casual Seattle fan would be all for it and give her a lot of rope (you don’t think Seattle Storm fans wouldn’t be interested [if they weren’t already baseball fans?])
From a baseball POV, Kim Ng is a positive, given her experience with NY and LA, places where she’s been doing good work.
This would not be a stretch hire for HowChuck.