The Best G.M. In Baseball
Posted by Steve L. on February 29th, 2012 · Comments (16)
Please consider taking the following poll:
{democracy:121}
Thanks in advance. And, please feel free to add comments on your opinion in the comments section.
Wow. Some people really do believe that Brian Cashman is the best G.M. in all of baseball.
Steve L. wrote:
When you look at this list, he’s certainly closer to the top than the bottom.
Now, whether you attribute that to his own skils or the fact that his peers might be worse at his job than he is (depending on your perspective), that’s a different story.
MJ Recanati wrote:
*his peers might be worse at their jobs than he is…
Damn typos…
FWIW I voted for Friedman.
Bet most people don’t even know Jed Hoyer is the Cubs GM
Steve L. wrote:
It’s not that hard of a stretch. Let’s face it, if he were as incompetent as you and others think he is, he wouldn’t have had the success he has had as GM.
Hard to argue with
4 World Series titles
6 AL Pennants
11 AL East titles
2 AL Wild Cards,
Not a bad run.
A related question: Who is the best bullpen coach in baseball?
Raf wrote:
How much of that is Cashman’s skill as a GM as opposed to the cadre that he inherited from Stick/Watson and then, later, the Steinbrenner Family Checkbook (to offset mistakes and overpay for wins)?
Jim TreshFan wrote:
Oh, that’s easy. It’s Mike Harkey. Why? Simple. He’s a Yankee. And, the Yankees are the best at everything.
Steve L. wrote:
That cadre wrapped 2 first round exits (one where they blew a 2-0 series lead) around a WS win.
And what, Harding Peterson gets no love?
Gene Michael and Bob Watson didn’t use the Steinbrenner Family Checkbook? News to me… I could’ve sworn Wade Boggs, Spike Owen, Tony Fernandez, Danny Tartabull, etc, etc, etc were bought
@ Raf:
You know the value of RCAA, RSAA, WAR, and other metrics that bring relativity to numbers and provide context.
Don’t you think the same should be applied to GMs? Something like Wins/Salary or something like that. If there was such a stat, then you would see the real value of Cashman in terms of how he gets the job done.
Wins/Salary would make as much sense as pitching wins, even less so, especially when you consider things like variances in salaries, contracts and team worth.
At the ML level, the Yankees are fine. At the MiL level, the Yankees are fine. I’m sure their finances are fine. I’m confident their brand is fine.
Raf wrote:
Bingo.
Doing it for cheaper doesn’t do anything but pad an owner’s wallet. The Yankee business model doesn’t contemplate doing it for cheaply because, if it did, that $1B monument to excess wouldn’t have been built on the other side of the street from the old ballpark.
The bottom line is that Cashman may not be the best GM — that’s entirely subjective — but he’s done a very good job and the results speak for themselves. His methods — the same methods as his predecessors and, increasingly, the same methods as other teams whose fortunes have been raised over the past decade — may offend some but that’s really a subjective issue and nothing more.
Raf wrote:
Agreed that wins can sometimes be BS for pitchers, just as RBI can be for hitters.
However, for teams, or a franchise, it’s more than acceptable to judge them in terms of wins.
If not, what would you suggest – instead of wins and losses in the standings rank teams by wOBA and xFIP? Really?
@ Steve L.:
Judging by wins isn’t the same as tying wins to salary for the reasons I mentioned.