Major League Baseball’s regular season concluded two weeks ago, though no front offices have experienced significant shakeups since then. The Red Sox shockingly fired president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski in early September, less than a year after the roster he helped assemble won 108 regular-season games and a World Series title, but no other team has made a change since then. With the offseason just a few weeks from commencing, it’s doubtful any club will join Boston in seeking a new head of baseball ops prior to the winter.
While almost all front offices look stable right now, the story could be totally different a year from now. We’ve seen mass departures in the dugout in recent weeks, and several clubs may end up in position to ax their top front office minds in roughly 12 months. As Joel Sherman of the New York Post observed over the weekend, at least 10 teams could wind up seeking new front office heads by 2021 if things go haywire next season.
Going by Sherman’s list, the Cubs, Mariners, Rangers, Mets, Rockies, White Sox, Pirates, Padres, Angels and Phillies each have executives who could be in do-or-die positions next year. It would be especially earth-shaking to see the Cubs make a switch, as president of baseball ops Theo Epstein has largely delivered wonderful results since he exited Boston for Chicago prior to the 2012 campaign. Of course, manager Joe Maddon also did mostly brilliant work for the Cubs from 2015-19, but that didn’t prevent them from going in another direction after this year’s so-so 84-win showing. With that in mind, perhaps Epstein will meet a similar fate if the Cubs don’t rebound in 2020.
Aside from the Cubs, every team Sherman mentioned has been embroiled in a multiyear playoff drought. With the possible exception of the Mariners, whose owner, John Stanton, seems to be exercising patience with GM Jerry Dipoto, all of them could conceivably hire new front office leaders within a year. The Rangers’ Jon Daniels, the Mets’ Brodie Van Wagenen, the Rockies’ Jeff Bridich, the White Sox’s Rick Hahn, the Pirates’ Neal Huntington, the Padres’ A.J. Preller, the Angels’ Billy Eppler and the Phillies’ Matt Klentak do indeed seem especially vulnerable going into 2020. The same could apply to Reds president Dick Williams and-or GM Nick Krall if the team doesn’t make a leap up the standings after what it hopes will be an active offseason. The Marlins are so devoid of talent that they have almost no chance to compete in 2020, which could finally cost president Michael Hill his job (bear in mind co-owner Derek Jeter inherited Hill; he didn’t hire him).
There could also be other execs in trouble by next offseason, though the Dodgers (to some of their fans’ chagrin) look as if they’re on the cusp of locking up pending free-agent president Andrew Friedman after another year loaded with regular-season wins but lacking a World Series title. The Blue Jays could extend oft-maligned president Mark Shapiro, meanwhile, and the Twins might award chief baseball officer Derek Falvey a new pact in the wake of an eminently successful campaign.
The above bunch aside, it’s fair to guess the Astros, Yankees, Athletics, Rays, Indians, Royals, Orioles, Braves, Nationals, Cardinals, Brewers and Diamondbacks are perfectly happy with their front office alignments. Near-term changes likely aren’t in the offing for any of those clubs, then, but what of the rest?
(Poll link for app users)
Klentak has been neutered. It’s not altogether unwarranted either.
Huntington most certainty. If you aren’t going to spend big, then you have to grow through your farm system. The Archer trade alone should put him on the hot seat. Now that doesn’t mean that Huntington hasn’t had his bright spots (Cutch trade for instance), but the amount of bad trades outweighs the good trades. Plus the lack of action taken each year. I’m not saying that they have to go after every single big named free agent, but he went the entire 2017-2018 off season without signing a single player to a major league deal. Last year, their two MLB deals were Jung Ho Kang, and Lonnie Chisenhall. At the very least if you are in the situation the Pirates are in, you sign a few guys on cheap one year deals who have a bit of upside to trade later on in the season, or at the very least to fill in depth.
Huntington’s mistake was trading Cole away, signaling a rebuild, and than at the first sign of success, trading the players he should be using to build around for archer.
@xSpecBx
You can criticize HUntington for WHO he acquired in the Cole trade but you certainly can’t blame the guy for trading Cole when he did. Cole is set to be a $200-$250 mil dollar pitcher. No way should they held on to him and certainly there was no way for them to know that the same pitcher who had 3 consecutively declining years would then have the elite years he had in 2018 and what he’s done thus far this year. He went from a 2.66 ERA to a 3.88 to a 4.26 and once traded to Houston back to back ERA in the 2’s.
And I give credit to the Houston’s front office analytics team and to the mentoring of Justin Verlander. You can give me 30 different trade scenarios of teams Cole could mathematically be traded to and I’m sure he would not have had anywhere near two elite seasons on almost half of the mlb teams. For a number of reasons teams like Houston, Atlanta, Dodgers and Oakland just seem to be fertile ground for bringing out the best in a pitcher.
You can criticize HUntington for WHO he acquired in the Cole trade but you certainly can’t blame the guy for trading Cole when he did.
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The issue I had with the trade is that he traded away Cole, and then traded FOR Archer within about 6 months. So he got the worst of the two pitchers, and the worst of the players in return. He essentially traded away:
Cole, Glasnow & Meadows
for
Archer, Musgrove, Feliz & Moran
That’s a flat-out beatdown.
Thanks for saying it all for me.
That is really the key: Gerit Cole was traded to a team that can bring out the very best in a pitcher. But isn’t it Huntington’s job as GM to ensure his team and coaches too can bring out the best in their players?
Isn’t it an indictment against the Pirates coaching, development staff, analytics department–all areas Huntington as GM oversees–that Gerit Cole went from so-so pitcher to possibly the best pitcher in baseball?
Joe- Two separate transactions for different reasons.
We have to assume that he got as much as he could for Cole at the time of the trade.
NH had no choice but to trade him.The question there is should he have waited for the trade deadline in 2018 to trade him.
The main attraction to Archer was his control which is very important to the small market Pirates.
The main problem is NH did not do his homework and gave up clearly too much for him.
Saint Chris-I would say yes and no.
This is not a black and white thing.
There are various reasons why Cole was not almost the best pitcher in baseball with the Pirates.Some they had some control,some they did not.You have to remember that he was a young pitcher with them.
As others have said,Houston seems to be very good at this type of thing.
No,it is not an indictment,any more than in similar situations a player clearly improves with a new team.
It is not that cut and dried.
NH has had many more good trades over the last 8 years than bad ones.Too many people concentrate on the Archer deal and do not look at any others.
I am not sure that they should not do better as far as scouting and coaching in the minor leagues but he seems to have realized some of that problem also.
I think that they have needed a new manager for at least two years.
We do know that his hands are tied regarding money for free agents.That being said he needs to change his tune on signing second tier ones as the lack of pitching depth killed them this year.
I think that he is on a warm seat and needs to show some progress this year as his last year or two have not been real good.
What were the good trades? I admit I am critical of Huntington but if he had some good ones I dont know than I am curious.
Cervelli for Justin Wilson.Burnett for no one.Melancon for Handrahan.Melancon for Vasquez.Crick and Reynolds for McCutcheon.Nova for no one.Morton and Locke for McLoth.He picked up guys like Liriano,Martin,Joyce, as free agents.
Yinzers forget the pluses and concentrate on the Liriano and Walker trades,which were both pushed by money,and were not bad at the time.
If he waited a year on Cole what happens if he gets hurt?They have four decent major leaguers now and would Cole have given hem a title?
The Archer trade was made out of desperation because he was being pushed by the fans to compete.
The Kela deal looks like a steal.
Several of these posters just do not have a clue.Typical negative nabobs who do not have anything good to say so they focus on the negative.
Cutch for Reynolds and Crick seems like we fleeced them after the fact. (at the time of the trade seems iffy)
The liriano trade, wasn’t the worst, Reese looks okay in a very small sample, Ramirez looks okay but probably a 4th OF if trends hold. i doubt either trend would hold, but still would be nice to have Reese now. drew was horrible. would’ve rather had a lower end prospect or two. Then picking Liriano back up at a cut rate price (compared to before)…. I’d call it more even (after the fact) At the time… ick.
Walker seemed okay on the surface at the time of the trade and walker was “expendable” though most of use would’ve liked him to stay. Jon seemed like he could be a lower end rotation guy but then fell apart. after the fact down right horrible.
“The Archer trade was made out of desperation because he was being pushed by the fans to compete”.
If you think like the fans, you’ll be sitting there with them.
Thanks for your comment Joe.Knowledgeable unbiased fans see pluses and minuses in every manager and gm.
I agree that the Archer trade should not have been made,especially for those reasons,but was so so on it at first because I thought like NH that Archer was a lot better than what he has been.
I would have liked to have kept Walker too but he averaged $14m per year for the next two years and only played I think 180 games for the Mets.
It is easy to criticize the Cole trade after the fact based on his dominance with the Astros but those of us who follow him know that he was not mature enough with Pittsburgh to pitch this well.
It always intrigues me on this site that when I answer someone’s question they rarely acknowledge it.
NH can be criticized for several things,but his recent trades can be compared in a positive manner to anyone’s as far as I am concerned.
Trading Gerritt Cole for a package of second tier prospects with Cole having two years of team control remaining, and then, trading a package of prized Pirates prospects for David Archer were terrible trades that define clueless GM, Neal Huntington. The oft forgotten trade is of Francisco Liriano with 2 of the then top-ten team prospects for a AAAA pitcher Drew Hutchison. The trade of Corey Dickerson late in 2019 for international bonus money sends a message throughout baseball that NH is truly a simpleton when assessing major league player value. Despite the many losing seasons and a very poor minor league player development program, it is amazing that Huntington is employed as a GM anywhere..
Neal is probably safe unless he makes a Major fubar this season. Like trading marte in the offseason for a box of rocks.
The trades when they happened where not bad. They didn’t perform here, so try something new. When the new guys fail and the old guys do well.. then the problem likely isn’t the players.
Hind sight is 20/20.
Considering it’s come out that the Angles knew of Tyler Skaggs drug use I would have to say that Billy Eppler would have to be on the hot seat
not sure he knew but he has other reasons, too.
With PR guys plus multiple people involved, I’m sure he heard. Knowing and hearing are different, obviously.
You can never be sure what the top brass know and don’t know. Those who knew had good reason to keep it to themselves. The bigger the organization, the more isolated individual departments are from other departments. It’s easily possible in such organizations for several people is a specific area to know what’s going on, and not have that knowledge spread to other areas of the organization. Saying “the Angels knew” is not so much a broad brush, but a paint sprayer on full power.
Again, hearing and knowing are not the same thing. Broken telephone effect. There isn’t much that can be done unless they can prove something to be true. Otherwise they cannot make an assumption of that magnitude. Ultimately the player has to be accountable or seek help before they fall too deep. Upper management can’t babysit or constantly monitor grown men 24/7 either.
Plus, what if the player was being tested and continued to beat the test? Upper management’s hands are tied if the player can prove they aren’t doing drugs. They would look really bad and lose their job in a second if they blew the whistle with zero proof.
What kind of angles we talking ?
Caught that too…
eppler has to build a winner in ‘the offseason and see if he is extended.
I voted Huntington #1.
With Preller. Bridich. & Eppler following.
I think a few of the other guys still have another season to rebound. Phillies Mets Cubs.
Mariners White Sox Rangers. They’re just lucky to be alive. Any progress is good progress. But the White Sox should begin knocking on the door.
Klentak no doubt= should’ve been gone with Kap
So many good choices.
If the Team Presidents want cheap obedient Managers to help the compensation scale tip in their favor in a self-serving way, they too should be on thin ice. Plenty of know-it-all MBAs for hire can make that the new trend.
Still not sure how Preller has a job at this point. Any one know why?
A 5 year rebuild implies 5 years.
Preller is entering his 6th year.
He’s had plenty of time. He has yet to show he knows anything about winning or building an ML roster.
6th year as GM but the rebuild didn’t start until after 2015
That’s not quite accurate.
It’s completely accurate.
No it isn’t. He had to add payroll to have capital to acquire prospects. Then he fired Black 60-ish games in, and replaced him with a AAA manager knowing full well that was historically a losing move. He followed a plan outlined in a Fangraphs article from 2012 (Is rebuilding worth it?).
Every move he made prior to the Joaquin Benoit trade weakened the farm system and was intended to make the team a contender immediately.
Just do some reading. There was zero intent to win – that would have been a bonus. Why do you think he fired black? He needed to increase payroll to be able to use those contracts to BUY his own prospects … after decimating a pretty good farm system.
Well that’s a silly thing to say. Of course there was intent to win. You don’t trade a bunch of prospects for established players if you don’t intend to win. And the only contract he was able to use (and ever would have been able to use) to buy prospects was Kimbrel and even that was only because he didn’t attach a bad contract to him when he shipped it out like the Braves did. The farm system and long-term would have always looked better if he had made none of those trades.
He ate all those contracts, including Shields and Kemp to buy prospects. Do some reading. He followed the advice set forth in that Fangraphs article I referenced. Preller was even quoted as saying he obtained those guys with an eye toward how valuable they would be to other teams in trades.
Use a little deductive reasoning before you call something silly.
Prospects? What prospects did he supposedly get for Matt Kemp? Hector Olivera was not a prospect. He was a sunk cost. He signed Shields to use him, not to trade him. If he liked Fernando Tatis Jr so much the smart play would have been to not sign Shields and then just outbid the White Sox for Tatis (I believe he only signed for $700k but I’m not 100% sure on that one).
“Preller was even quoted as saying he obtained those guys with an eye toward how valuable they would be to other teams in trades. ”
Where? I never read that. And they certainly weren’t more valuable to other teams in trades than what Preller initially paid to acquire them. And they were never going to be. He bought high on all those guys and then some like Justin Upton and Shawn Kelley were free agents so he wasn’t able to get anything for them.
please please please please PLEASE post this narrative in a thread that isn’t already dead.
Great farm system.
Cleveland—stuck in successful mediocrity.
i thought indians were making into playoffs.
I thought you were taking grammar lessons.
GMs don’t suddenly lose their ability. You either agree with one’s way of doing business and style or you don’t. Stick by ones that you agree with through unsuccessful years, because if they are good at what they do then things will turn around.
Brian Cashman is a good example, there have been times during his tenure where he looked bad and many called for his head. The yankees were patient and stuck by him and look at where he is now.
I just read Cashman has been with the organization since ’86. He grew up there.
Not to discount anything you said. I agree and disagree when it comes to Cashman.
I agree patience has been the best virtue when it comes to his tenure.
But also the infastructure for the team was well in place by the time he took over in ’98. Plus the Yankees have had the highest payroll throughout.
Also the guy is no slouch. A HOFer for sure when all is said and done. . .
P.s there is a reason Hal took over managing control. He’s known as the patient one of the kids.
Rick Hahn’s accumulated a solid core of young talent on a $24MM payroll for 2020. Explain to me how he belongs on anybody’s hotseat list. If anything, the pressure’s on the owner, not the GM.
Well you can take that up with the owner.
Terrible track record in the draft, J2 and Major League free agent signings. 2 terrible manager hires done with no interview process. Poor recent track record with player health. Zero player development successes beyong top consensus top 50 prospects. The smallest analytics dept in baseball. Steverson, Boston, McEwing, Vizquel, Cooper. Failed miseably with a cheap, 18 fWAR core of Eaton, Abreu, Sale and Quintana. No foresight. No innovation. .Embarassing stories of unprepared players coming from the clubhouse. The Sale fiasco. The Eaton fiasco. The LaRoche fiasco. Loss of corporate sponsors and a short term, bottom 10 TV deal.
It seems to me that you are aiming your wrath more at Jerry Reinsdorf and Kenny Williams than Rick Hahn. If not, you are the one lacking “foresight” here.
One thing is for certain Paulie, you continually lambast this organization and I for one cannot wait until you eat crow in the next 5-10 years. Why don’t you just take your advanced analytic mind and head over to the team on the northside of town who actually subscribe to your philosophy, especially since the White Sox will be starting a new trend in MLB that will see teams returning to a more traditional approach that values small ball and contact just as much as shifts, HR’s and SO’s? You don’t have to take my word for it either. Just pay attention to the wise preachings of Steve Stone.
Blaming Kenny for what’s transpired since 2012 is lazy and fraught. JR OK’s or vetos what Rick sells him on. The failures of the last 6 years are at Hahn’s feet.
And I’m sure you’ll get one right someday. As the stopped clocks saying goes…
It would be nice to actually eat some crow re: the Sox. But you’ve been the one feasting on it since our days in the Smerkin comment section, so many of your user names ago.
BTW-I’m not sure why you keep linking HR’s and K’s to me and analytics. Those are counting stats,
Steve Stone has turned into Garfein, Merkin and you.
Paulie, you are more an idiot than Joel Sherman considering you live in Chicago and see how the White Sox operate under Jerry Reinsdorf. Rick Hahn clearly has tremendous influence with JR since it was he who suggested a proper rebuilding in the first place after famously saying the “team was mired in mediocrity” with their usual annual method of retooling and reloading. That philosophy was created by Kenny Williams and JR and also adopted by RH until he said enough was enough.
As for Hahn’s accomplishment thus far, the White Sox just completed season #3 of their rebuild and are now ready to fully abandon tank mode and begin their window to contend this offseason. Most rebuild take up to 5 years including the successful ones that happened recently in Houston and the northside of Chicago. Wake up and smell the roses or at least the coffee since it is mid-October in Chicago.
That escalated quick. Save some of that venom for differing opinions on their choice of FA signings/trades!
1) Are you blaming Hahn for any draft pre-2013? He’s replaced the amateur department. They draft better than before MLB put bonus restrictions in place.
2) New international dept in place.
3) Not a good track record with free agent signings.
4) Just typing “terrible” in front of Rick Renteria does not make it so. He’s actually been a bit above average this season.
5) Yes, the Sox have become average in health maintenance.
6) So, minus the players they have developed, they haven’t developed anyone. This one is pretty dumb.
7) I’m guessing you have a recent source for smallest analytics dept. in MLB?
8) You typed the names of 5 coaches/minor league managers. Is there a point here?
9) They couldn’t supplement a cheap core, correct. Partook the rebuild in reaction.
10) No foresight or innovation. Take a tranquilizer dart and explain, please.
11) Stories of unprepared players? Please expound. I don’t feel embarrassed. Perhaps something to discuss with your therapist.
12) Sale was a hot head, and we got a first division 3B and top pitching prospect for him. Again, I’m not embarrassed by that.
13) Unsure what the Eaton fiasco is. Probably something you feel embarrassed about.
14) LaRoche was a ding dong who screwed the organization. Not handled well.
15) Umm. Loss of corporate sponsors?
16) The Sox remain on free TV. I’m guessing Reinsdorf did a well as he could. I giggle at the narrative of Reinsdorf doing everything to maximize profit, but he constantly whiffs on everything. Evil genius who fails at everything. Not credible, pplama.
pplama – so, I’ll give you bad FA signings, Ventura as manager, slow uptick on analytics, mini-rebuild failed, no transparency, and the LaRoche clique was weird. They’ve also gotten caught short on SP during a rebuild. Surprise! Everything else you listed is crying about a problem 7 years ago, or having personal embarrassment issues.
The Sox are on the right track, and it merely remains to be seen if pro scouting is up to the next FA foray, and Renteria can keep up the good work with heightened expectations.
pplama also forgot that it was Jerry Reinsdorf who suggested to Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn that laid-back Robin Ventura would be a good replacement for tempestuous manager Ozzie Guillen.
As much as I like Ozzie, he was a renegade embarrassment to the team and our country. Anyone of high stature sees this and writes out a slip. If you don’t, you’re either a blazed out fool or a third class ticket.
And as much as I’d love to give Hahn all the credit for the massive rebuild undertaking he’s accomplishing, if Sale didn’t slice up the jersey like a psycho, none of this would have happened as it has.
Ideas, turned to plans, plans to accomplishments – but let’s not forget the causes. If you asked anyone in 2012 about what to do with Sale, we mustn’t forget this.
The concern I have for Hahn, is he sometimes sounds like a hand-holder. Like the upcoming players need to be cradled onto the field and he’s setting up an organization to nurture them into the league. This is BS. These guys want to play and will adapt to challenges ahead of them. He’s on the hotseat if he doesn’t start evaluating his risks better, and giving all the young players we have legit chances, instead of farting around talking about someone not being ready yet for two more years. Here, smoke this!
Some of that stuff regarding Ozzie Guillen occurred after he left the White Sox and became the Marlins manager. The Castro comments offended many of the Cuban Nationals in Miami along with a whole lot of other fans in America. Ozzie’s issue with the White Sox mostly were with Kenny Williams and stemmed from the bad blood that occurred with his older son and his tweets.
As for Chris Sale, he was another White Sox who had an oil-water relationship with Williams that involved more than the cut-up jersey incident. Sale and Adam Eaton managed to get on Williams bad side with their support of Adam and son Drake in the LaRoche fiasco that was actually caused by KW and the front office because of the clause they agreed to put in his free agent contract when he left the Nationals to play with the White Sox. This created a rift with many of the other White Sox players who rightfully couldn’t comprehend a deal that gave one player a privilege nobody else had.
Not to mention that White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf has always shown loyalty to a fault with his front office executives including those with the Bulls. Him being on this list shows that Joel Sherman is totally out of touch with baseball on the southside of Chicago. Perhaps he should just stick with writing articles and making suggestions regarding NY teams.
This was going to be my reply. That Hahn makes this list suggests Sherman has little familiarity with the workings of the White Sox FO.
But lists are total clickbait.
Nailed it.
Just one thing to add. Each year Hahn went the FA route during the winter the consensus opinion seemed to be that “the White Sox won the off season”. While those FAs didn’t end up succeeding, they couldn’t have been that bad given the opinion of his peers at the time.
the consensus opinion seemed to be that “the White Sox won the off season”
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The ‘consensus opinion’ is made up by writers who are often low BB-IQ types. The off-season ‘winner’ is usually the GM with the biggest signings or the most action. When Toronto traded for all of Florida’s overpriced players, and then acquired the knuckleballer from the Mets in exchange for Syndergaard, etc., every writer said the won the off-season.
It’s a really meaningless phrase.
What does Andy McPhail do and how much does he get paid for that?
Good question, U cannot believe he is still around and still living off his success from the 87 and 91 twins teams
Actually did some good things in Baltimore, laying the foundation for some very good Oriole teams.
Just like Joe Buck, he’s just riding out his mediocrity on his daddy’s coat tails.
Brodie should be all over that hot seat
Theo is safe, he is a type who will evolve and adapt to the industry.
He will do better if he hires Ross. If he brings in Girardi he’ll be gone in two years.
Angels, Rangers , Padres. How long do you get? These 3 need to go today
Al Avila is not on the list? I thought he was the most hated man in the universe the way some people on here talk about him. Of course, he got an extension last summer, but still he could be fired. (Not that I think he should. Rebuilds take time.)
I would give Dipoto until the end of the 2021 season to make the playoffs. If nothing, give him and Servais the ax.
Shapiro turned a winning team into trash. Did the same with Cleveland.
Mike Rizzo is in the last year of his contract. The Lerners have a way with undervaluing the staff.
You know I agree with you. I’ve never liked Rizzo but right now just doesn’t seem like the time to say so with the Nationals on the cusp of a pennant.
Huntington is the worst of the bunch in my eyes. His Pirates were under 500 heading into the deadline and he still insisted they were a playoff team. Getting that one wrong looked really bad when your team was bellow .500
I heard that Nutting refuses to allow Huntington to rebuild. It doesn’t matter who the GM is as long as Nutting is owner.
I’ll speak for the O’s and say they are perfectly happy with their new regime.
As for Seattle, I can appreciate that they have some patience but there will need to be demonstrable strides forward this year or that patience likely runs out in a hurry.
DiPoto just started rebuilding that team last year. He was told to try and make the team a contender previously. It’s easy to joke about all the deals he made but he inherited a team with a real crappy farm system. Essentially an old Orioles type of crappy farm system. He did what he could to try and piece together a winning team and it didn’t happen. He wisely chose to tear it down last year and has this team stocked up with more prospects than they’ve had in a long time. I think it’d be a shame to can him now. He shouldn’t be in any danger until after 2021.
Rick Hahn being on this list shows that NY baseball writer Joel Sherman is totally out of touch with baseball on the southside of Chicago. Aside from Hahn doing a speedy and quick rebuild of the White Sox organization through shrewd trades, drafting and international signings, owner Jerry Reinsdorf has always shown loyalty to a fault with his front office executives including those with the Bulls.
You cannot make a safer bet than to wager that Hahn will remain in the White Sox front office so long as Reinsdorf owns the team. Only a Supreme Court Justice has more job security than RH!
The only move I could imagine would be Hahn getting kicked upstairs as special asst. to the president or owner, and Hostetler becoming GM.
Similar to what Jerry Reinsdorf already did with Kenny Williams who was promoted from GM to Executive Vice President with Rick Hahn assuming his role after being the Assistant GM. Unlike with the Cubs where President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein still has final say on most of the roster building, the White Sox have given that responsibility to Hahn. Williams was “kicked upstairs” so that he could return to his passion of scouting talent while leaving the day-to-day operations and media headache of the GM role to Hahn.
I do believe that if Hahn eventually replaces Williams as VP he will still retain primary authority with the ballclub and assume the “Theo” role under JR.
the only reason i didnt pick Huntington is because he “should” be in the hot seat, but is a yes man so he is not. only way he’s removed is to save face with the fans.
additionally i would say that beyond Colorado, Philly, SD, Angels, and Mets GMs, the Brewers and Nats GMs should also feel the pressure as well. i would think Rizzo is gone if he can’t retain Rendon after losinh Harper, though perhaps them making the world series may save him.
No way Rizzo is out. They’re one game away from the World Series. He has built some great teams. He’s drafted very well (Straus, Harper, Rendon, etc), had good free agency (Scherzer, Corbin ), done well on the international market (Juan Soto, Victor Robles), made good trades (Trea Turner, Eaton, Gio Gonzalez) and has done well with the media. The only other GM’s that have a similar track record are Friedman and Theo who are regarded as the best in the business.
And not signing Harper is not on him. Contracts the size of Harper’s have to be approved by ownership. The only way GM’s can give those contracts is if ownership 100% signs off on them and/or pushes for them. The Nats made their best offer. Harper went somewhere else. It is what it is.
Rizzo is okay imo, but he doesn’t get credit for Harper of Strasburg. They were generational talents that I would’ve drafted.
Joe-The Nationals were awful in 2008 and 2009,every bit as bad as the Astros of that era.
Harper and Strasburg were no brainers as you say.
Interesting to note that the next year the Pirates grabbed Cole with the first choice.
Not sure but that may have been the best three year run of first draft choices in history.
He definitely gets credit for drafting them. Yes, they both had a lot of hype going into the draft but teams miss #1 picks all the time…and many guys that were considered “generational talents” flamed out or never met expectations.
Rizzo’s team is about to make the WS, he has a couple of hose job trades on his resume and Harper leaving is a blessing in disguise if we are being honest.
Not sure what a “ yes” man means.He follows the money line and financial plan that the owner gives him.
In business if you do not do that you are quickly fired.
I’m not a Rockie fan, but I voted for Jeff Bridich (Rockies). The Rockies have a great core that is one of envy (Arenado, Blackmon, Story, Dahl, Rodgers, Gray, and Freeland) that Bridich should definitely get credit for but he has absolutely hamstrung that team with terrible contracts (Ian Desmond, Wade Davis, Daniel Murphy, Shaw, McGee) and now with the Arendao and Blackmon extensions, they have no more powder. This should be a borderline World Series team if they made smarter moves in Free Agency but every time they’ve gone to the market to make additions to the team, they’ve actually hindered it more. So now Rockie fans will watch as that core ages and gets more expensive and likely will never see it reach the potential it should have.
This guy gets it.
I’m not a Rockies fan either, but Bridich, Klentak, and Huntington got my votes.
Neal is safe unless he does something remarkably dumb, or decides he wants to leave.
He works on a confined budget and isn’t the worst at it. This off season he is replacing what is now clearly the biggest issue (coaching) and hopefully some scouts. What every they have been doing clearly isn’t working and should have been done a year or two ago.
Should and is are different. Many of the GM’s on this list are not on any owner’s hot seat but Sherman and certain fans think they should be. GM’s work for the owners and as long as the owner is happy they’ll have a job.
Epic fail by the SF Giants GM…. This team is bad, the farm is bad, and the GM had a chance to make some gains by moving Bum and some relief arms at the deadline. Instead he offered the fans Kool-Aid and they greedily drank it down only to find there was no playoff magic at the bottom of the cup. Epic fail.
Worst 3 each category: BOS and SFG don’t qualify.
1) Who doesn’t appear to have a direction (What type of target team)?
PHI Matt Klentak, SDP A.J. Preller, NYM Brodie Van Wagenen
2) Who is most responsible for a poor MilB system?
TEX Jon Daniels, CHC Theo Epstein, WSN Mike Rizzo
3) Who has the least success making trades?
MIA Mike Hill, DET Al Avila, PIT Neal Huntington
4) Who’s free agent signings were the least successful?
COL Jeff Bridich, DET Al Avila, LAA Billy Eppler
5) Least autonomous, micro manager, (my impression)
NYM Brodie Van Wagenen, WSN Mike Rizzo, PHI Matt Klentak
I voted PHI Matt Klentak because he’s bottom 5 most categories
I’d segregate it into a couple of categories:
Hot Seat-
Theo-Has had success, but has also ramped up costs. Same process as with the RS, though some of that might’ve been forced by ownership. And it coincides with the end of his contract, and he will have his pick of landing spots.
Huntington-He’s done ‘okay’, but Archer’s failure will be in the paper every day if he doesn’t turn it around.
Bridich-Good farm, but his FA signings have been awful, not to mention inexplicable.
Klentak-Health killed him, but that also is a result of a lack of depth.
Preller-Great farm, but he needs to translate that into wins. His signings/extensions of Myers & Hosmer were awful. Hosmer in particular, since they could’ve played Myers at 1st and avoided the corner OF glut.
Warm Seat-
BVW-I think the NYMs should be better than they are, but the awful, awful Cano trade will be in the papers every day, should anything go wrong.
Eppler-He’s in a unique position in the he has both the best player in BB, but also the worst contract in BB. It’s a little like paying Trout $60M.
Cold seat-
Hahn-He’s had some issues, but the WS have accumulated some good talent. It could go south, but I think it would revolve around his off-season signings. I think the owner feels like it is the WS time to start winning.
Not sure why DiPoto is included. He basically did exactly what he said he would do. He got rid of the high-priced players, and replaced them with prospects. If/when they do, he will have ample payroll room to augment them.
Excellent Assessment. You should have wrote the Joel Sherman article and clearly would have left Rick Hahn and Jerry Dipoto out of the conversation.
Why in the wild wild world of sports would the Pirates GM be on that list? Half of the star players in the playoffs came from that team/system. Another case of a hardworking GM getting thrown under the bus because of a cheapskate owner. Most sportswriters aren’t a particularly perceptive bunch. Fans even less so.
Since his arrival to Toronto Mark Shapiro has traded, released, or let go of almost all of the Blue Jays veteran assets, including a number of all-stars, A necessary move for a rebuilding franchise. That said, many see the returns as underwhelming. Prospect capital is certainly harder to ascertain than big-league talent but if the end result is middling…fire up the grill.
Declining veterans won’t bring much back.
Jerry Dipoto is a bum. Are they rebuilding or not? Making 50 trades a month to make it look like you’re doing something isn’t a recipe for success.
Your comprehension of what’s been going on under Dipoto for the last 12 months is baffling.
John Mozeliak of the Cardinals isn’t on the “Fire and replace” list. The Cardinal Fans HATE him. The owners love his yes man attitude. Washed up players love him. Rookies love him. Here’s what that equals; over matched, former All-Stars and non-major League ready players. Mo has to go. But that will not happen.
The Cardinals John Mozeliak is on borrowed time. Fans hate him for his do nothing and Arrogant attitude. However, the owners love him.