Cashman: Succession Planning Matters
Joel Sherman has an interesting feature in the Post today – comparing Brian Cashman to Ernie Accorsi, the football Giants former GM (and a huge baseball fan). A snip:
It is possible, and Cashman knows this, that he might be rebuilding a farm system for another man, that he will play Accorsi and hand off something ready to blossom to his successor. He insists he is fine with that prospect, recalling how fortunate he was to be gifted a championship roster from his predecessor Bob Watson, saying he owes it to that memory and to professionalism and to Yankees fans to guarantee his baton pass is as fruitful.
“You want to make sure it is sustainable for the next person,” Cashman said.
As always, Cashman says the right thing. He truly is a professional, at all times.
“As always, Cashman says the right thing. He truly is a professional, at all times.”
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OK… Who are you?… And what have you done with my buddy Steve?
Has there ever been a GM that ever utilized a “scorched earth policy?”
I can’t think of any off the top of my head; if they’re fired, it’s usually because of incompetence, if they walk away it’s because of other factors that influenced their decision.
Reese, not Accorsi, found most of the players on the Giants’ roster.
Yet another swing and miss by Sherman.
~~~Has there ever been a GM that ever utilized a “scorched earth policy?”~~~~
Minaya, Omar. General Manager Montreal Expos 2002-2004.
Consider this holocaust of transactions:
March 23, 2002
Traded Guillermo Mota and Wilkin Ruan to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Received Matt Herges and Jorge Nunez (minors).
March 24, 2002
Traded Jason Bay and Jimmy Serrano to the New York Mets. Received Lou Collier.
June 27, 2002
Traded Lee Stevens, Brandon Phillips, Cliff Lee, and Grady Sizemore to the Cleveland Indians. Received Bartolo Colon and Tim Drew.
July 11, 2002
Traded a player to be named later, Graeme Lloyd, Mike Mordecai, Carl Pavano, and Justin Wayne to the Florida Marlins. Received Cliff Floyd, Wilton Guerrero, Claudio Vargas, and cash. The Montreal Expos sent Donald Levinski (minors) (August 5, 2002) to the Florida Marlins to complete the trade.
July 30, 2002
Traded Cliff Floyd to the Boston Red Sox. Received Sun-Woo Kim and Seung Song (minors).
January 15, 2003
Traded Bartolo Colon and Jorge Nunez (minors) to the Chicago White Sox. Received Rocky Biddle, Orlando Hernandez, Jeff Liefer, and cash.
April 3, 2004
Traded Chris Young and Josh McKinley (minors) to the Texas Rangers. Received Einar Diaz and Justin Echols (minors).
July 31, 2004
As part of a 4-team trade, traded Orlando Cabrera to the Boston Red Sox. Received Brendan Harris, Alex Gonzalez, and Francis Beltran from the Chicago Cubs. In addition, the Boston Red Sox sent Nomar Garciaparra and Matt Murton to the Chicago Cubs; the Minnesota Twins sent Doug Mientkiewicz to the Boston Red Sox; ; and the Chicago Cubs sent Justin Jones (minors) to the Minnesota Twins.
To recap all that in just under two years, Minaya sent the following ‘Spos packing: Guillermo Mota, Jason Bay, Brandon Phillips, Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, Carl Pavano, Cliff Floyd, Bartolo Colon, Chris Young and Orlando Cabrera.
Reese, not Accorsi, found most of the players on the Giants’ roster.
Yet another swing and miss by Sherman.
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I love bashing Sherman too. But unless you meant “found” as in Reese scouted all the players on the Giants roster, then I think you’re slightly misinformed.
Reese’s 8 draft picks all made the team. Toss in OLB Kawika Mitchell and you’ve got the main thrust of Reese’s successful first year as GM. But Manning, all five starting offensive linemen, both starting receivers, the starting running back, Jeremy Shockey, 3/4 of the starting defensive backfield, all four down linemen, and Pierce/Torbor (as well as the injured Kiwanuka) were all drafted by or signed by Ernie Accorsi.
I love bashing Sherman too. But unless you meant “found” as in Reese scouted all the players on the Giants roster, then I think you’re slightly misinformed.
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He was the player personnel director, so finding players, or at least cross-checking scouting reports, and then rating them for the draft board was an integral part of his job.
From Giants.com:
http://www.giants.com/team/front_office_member.asp?front_office_id=5
“…He had spent the previous four seasons as the team’s Director of Player Personnel. Reese coordinated the Giants’ college scouting, was in charge of the team’s draft preparation and ran the draft room during the two days of player selections.”
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So he did in effect find most of the players on the roster, keeping in mind that the Giants are the third youngest team in the NFL.
So he did in effect find most of the players on the roster, keeping in mind that the Giants are the third youngest team in the NFL.
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That’s kinda flimsy. Fairly or unfairly, credit goes to the GM on these matters. While Reese certainly played a role in identifying talent for Accorsi, he was still Accorsi’s apprentice and final authority on signings and draft picks were the GM’s.
Please don’t misinterpret this as a diss to Jerry Reese. As a lifelong Giants fan, I couldn’t be more thrilled with the job he did in the 2007 draft (Aaron Ross, Steve Smith, Ahmad Bradshaw, Kevin Boss) and in free agency (signing Kawika Mitchell; cutting Luke Pettitgout).
The point is that Cash is far more integrally involved in the Yankees’ player personnel acquisition process than Accorsi ever was with the Giants, although I can’t disclose how I know that.