Kevin Towers To Receive Extension

i doubt a poll would explain anything anyways...

people are horrible biased against the padres anyways.

we're practically ignored.

im sure theo epstein and cashman would be the top 2 or something lame like that.

best gm? I don't think so. pretty good sure.

True, would be kind of hard to get an objective rating of GMs.

KT would get my vote.

This is a guy who is truly adapting to the game as the game changes. With a scout's mentality, it's remarkable how well he's blended that thought process along with the new statistical approach, represented in the Padres FO by Paul DePodesta.

To be able to equally value guys like Kevin Kouzmanoff and Jim Edmonds on the same team is a solid example, to me, of how he's adapting to the new era of the game, without fully ignoring the benefit of scout's wet dream in Edmonds.

When it's all said and done, his defining move may be bringing in Adrian Gonzalez & Chris Young for Adam Eaton & Akinori Otsuka. Ignoring Sledge & Killian as washes in that deal.

Josh Bard & Cla Meredith for Doug Mirabelli ain't bad either.

All 4 of those guys will play key roles to the success of the '08 Padres.

Pretend your KT!

As a non-Padre fan, he is definitely one of the best. I'm always impressed by his ability to build very good bullpens out of other teams' castaways. This allows him to save him money for other positions.

I think the Padres also do a great job of handling young talents. They don't seem to rush prospects unnecessarily (Cubs, Mariners, Pirates, others) but also don't hold them back unnecessarily (Astros, others). Basically, they do a pretty good job getting the most out of players.

Of course, like all GM's, he's not infallible! Matt Bush and Oliver Perez + Jason Bay for Brian Giles come to mind!

mymrbig, good post, not much to add there. Like you said, he isnt without a flaw or two, but to be fair Jason Bay bounced around a ton as a minor leaguer if I remember it right. But yeah, I think he wouldnt mind having that one back. Petko is probably the best place Oliver Perez could pitch in right now. NL West, warm weather, and a huge park. Definitely in the top 5 imo.

The reason he can come up with a bullpen of scrubs is because of his home park- he makes an average staff look great that way. Heath Bell is the real deal though.

Anyway, I'd put him in the top 3 for sure. Beane is another one. Andrew Freidman could be one no one is talking about.

To be fair, Dombrowski had a lot of money to back himself up. And it took 3 years.

Dombrowski's a good gm, don't get me wrong, however, he is far from "great"

Its hard to get an accurate read on GM's from fan bases. They will always remember a trade, good or bad, that they believe reflects too much on a GM's tenure.

They don't always see the whole as they are clouded by that one or two deals.

my top 5 in order:

mark shapiro
theo epstein
billy beane
kevin towers
doug melvin
(noteable: josh byrnes and dayton moore)

my bottom 5 include:

ken williams
brian cashman
jim bowden
brian sabean
bill bavasi

Cashman is pretty good. Being an O's fan, I'd take a GM that could architect a team that always makes the playoffs. I thought Walt Jocketty was one of the best too.

For worst, I'd add Ed Wade into the mix. He knows how to burn through payrolls and farm systems.

Now that Schuerholz and Ryan have moved on, Towers is up there for sure. He does a great job playing to his team and park's strengths.

I mostly agree with this list

"Mark shapiro
theo epstein
billy beane
kevin towers
doug melvin
(noteable: josh byrnes and dayton moore)

my bottom 5 include:

ken williams
brian cashman
jim bowden
brian sabean
bill bavasi"

The only thing I would argue is that its unfair to say that Cashman is one of the worst 5 gm's. I used to think this for awhile but now its obvious that his control is limited, and he cant do everything that HE wants to do cuz hes not always on the same page as the ownership. Minaya is worse than Cashman.

Cashman's team has won the AL East all but 1 year of his tenure. Sure, he had a lot of money, but at least he was smart enough to use it the right way. I think a legit argument could be made that he is a top 5 GM, and I hate the Yankees. And, even though he signs free agents, and often loses draft picks - he still has a top tier farm system. With Hughes, Tabata, Kennedy, Chamberlain, Wang - I fear home grown Yankees will soon be playing alongside the ARod's.

Speaking of ARod, Cashman was able to work out a deal for the best player in baseball that the consensus #2 GM (Theo) could not work out.

Shapiro is fantastic, but how could Wayne Krivsky escape anyone's notice from bottom 5 consideration.

It's kind of crazy to base your opinion of the best GM's based on WS titles won. To rule out Kevin Towers, Billy Beane, Josh Byrnes, Mark Shapiro & Doug Melvin in favor of Kenny Williams and Walt Jocketty seems silly and if it's about getting to the WS, it's hard to say Tim Purpura is a better GM then the 5 aforementioned men. Bottom line: winning the pennant and winning the title is simply part of what makes a great GM.

I agree with WCB in that titles don't make the best GM, but I think Theo winning two in Boston counts for a lot.

It is tough to compare GMs in small or mid-markets to big market (big budget) GMs. Will someone do a Wins/Dollars (over several years) analysis so we have better stats to support our opinions? I think KTs deserves some first place votes but isn't the goal of a GM to build a team that can win championships?

At the very least I can say unequivocally that KT absolutely deserves the extension.

Kevin Towers is a great GM because he plays to his park's strengths. His team has great clubhouse chemistry and his scouting and ability to make small but crucial trades is amazing. The Young and Gonzalez trade was an example of that. He has made some bad trades, such as Mark Loretta for Mirabelli. Loretta was an All-Star that year, and Mirabelli wanted out from the beginning. He made up for it when he got Meredith and Bard for Mirabelli though. Another bad trade was the Ray Lankford for Woody Williams back in 2001. Williams went a combined 16-5 with an ERA of 2.45 for a season and a half in St.Louis while Lankford tanked for San Diego. Another one was the Bay and Perez deal for Brian Giles, but he can't be blamed for that. Giles was a star at that point and Bay was bouncing around minor league systems, although Perez was a top pitching prospect.

Some other decent deals he made were:

Brewers get:
Ron Villone
Marc Newfield
Bryce Florie

Padres get:
Greg Vaughn

This trade was an odd one at the time seeing as how the Padres already had Ricky Henderson. Vaughn struggled in his first 2 seasons, but exploded in 1998 when he hit 50 HR in leading the Padres to the World Series. He also accounted for 40 total wins in his 3 year career in San Diego while the other accounted for a total of 22.

Another trade was:
Padres get:
John Flaherty
Chris Gomez

Tigers get:
Brad Ausmus
Andujar Cedeno
Russ Spear

This one was another weird one, but Flaherty and Gomez combined for 56 wins for the Padres while Ausmus and Cedeno accounted for 8 wins. Spear never made it to the show.

Towers has a history of making the right deals at the right time. I say he is the top GM out there given his track record. World Series's mean nothing in my opinion.

"It's kind of crazy to base your opinion of the best GM's based on WS titles won. To rule out Kevin Towers, Billy Beane, Josh Byrnes, Mark Shapiro & Doug Melvin in favor of Kenny Williams and Walt Jocketty seems silly..."

While winning a (or some) title(s) is not the sole indicator of who is the best GM (and I never said that), creating good clubhouse chemistry, neatening up a tight payroll, finding guys off the scrap-heap and developing middling prospects into quality major-leaguers is all fine and good, but in the end, all it will get you is a pat on the back.

The ultimate goal for any sports franchise is to win championships. No one remembers in thirty years who had the most efficient payroll in year XXXX, or who had the friendliest clubhouse.

Sorry, but if you're going to be considered "the best" of the GM profession, you have to have (at least) one ring on your finger. Otherwise, you're always just an also-ran.

Talking about who is the best GM seems kind of purposeless, because it all depends on what you value in a GM most. Some GM's will make fantastic trades, but don't do well in dealing with contracts. Some GM's will value winning soon over building a quality farm system. Some GM's will value keeping their jobs and putting fans in the seats over winning.

Because there are so many ways to evaluate a general manager, and so many factors that go into it, I think it'd be almost impossible to determine who is the best GM. You could probably be able to cut the list down to 6-8 guys but after that it'd be hard. And I would have to think that other than Epstein, Cashman and Towers, that Shapiro, Byrnes, Dombrowski, and Dayton Moore would have to be in the mix as well. And don't forget about gems like Colletti, Wade, and Bavasi as well.

My vote goes to Mark Shapiro for best GM in baseball.

What a poll might lack in accuracy it would surely make up for in interestingness ...

I think it's still fairly clear, given everything, that Beane is the best. He's one step ahead of everyone. I'd love to have him as GM of my team. But now that Ryan/Schuerholtz/Jocketty are no longer GM's, I do think Towers is right up there. Theo and Byrnes are also in the running I suppose, though Theo's payroll is duly noted. Ricciardi maybe? Dombrowski in the mix as well, though it is tough to judge him since his payroll is top 5 (I think top THREE this year). Cashman's in the middle to me, or slighly above. I do like Dayton Moore as well.

Bavasi, Sabean, Bowden, Williams are all certainly on the "worst" list to me.

The thing that impresses me about Towers, aside from a couple big deals like Young/Gonzalez, and constructing a bullpen cheaply, is his other small moves. Things like Kouzmanoff, Gerut (which I think was a sneaky signing given his recent winter production), Hairston last year for almost nothing, Bradley for almost nothing, and probably soon to be Murton on the cheap.

All those are excellent "lower" moves in my opinion, and moves that can really help a team, especially a lower budget team. Hell, I'm a Twins fan and I've been hoping for years that the Twins make deals like that. Though Bill Smith seems to be more proactive in that regard already than Terry Ryan was.