With a stadium that struggles to generate revenue (largely because of its co-football tenants), cash-conscious ownership and ever-stiff competition from other teams, this major league general manager makes tough decisions every year, keeping his team in contention the last few seasons and earning multiple playoff berths along the way. The similarities between Billy Beane and the latest in Baseball Prospectus’ series of GM Q&As mostly end there.
Terry Ryan’s scouting background and the success of his scouting and player development staff have helped the Minnesota Twins build one of the best farm
systems in the game. A staunch proponent of defense, athleticism and aggressive play over power and patience, he strives to tailor the Twins to the quirky
Metrodome and its unique characteristics. Ryan recently chatted with BP about the challenges of running the small-revenue Twins, the importance of makeup in ballplayers, the trade-offs of offense for defense, and more.
Michael Lewis’ Moneyball and the fallout from the best-selling book have given rise to what some have deemed the great statheads vs. scouts debate. While some reactionary members of each camp have assumed their battle stations, by and large it’s a false argument.
“The goal is the same in either case–identify players who’ll help you win at the big league level,” said Joe Bohringer, amateur scout for the Seattle Mariners. “Both methods will help you make your evaluation.”
Every team relies on scouting of some kind. Scouting budgets and tie-breaking decisions may vary from team to team, but every club relies on scouts, in some form, to evaluate talent. Likewise, every team uses performance analysis to shape its decisions. Statistics are simply a record of a player’s performance. Even the most tools-informed scout on the planet won’t throw out results entirely.
Lost in the glitz of Sosa, Wood and Prior among Cub stars is the club’s All Star-caliber third baseman, Aramis Ramirez. Jim Hendry pulled off a steal of a deal last July, snagging Ramirez, Kenny Lofton and enough cash to cover a big chunk of Ramirez’s leftover ’03 salary for the forgettable Jose Hernandez, B-level pitching prospect Matt Bruback and player to be named later Bobby Hill, who while possessing the most upside of the trio, also had ample holes in his game and is now a 26-year-old semi-prospect, still waiting to click.
The beauty of the deal wasn’t just the Cubs’ ability to land two key contributors for last year’s playoff run. It was securing Ramirez for the affordable rate of $6 million in 2004. While he’d struggled badly in 2002 and early ’03, much of those struggles stemmed from injuries, including a bad ankle injury that took him far longer to overcome than most expected. Still, this was the same Ramirez who hit .300./350/.536 in his first full big league season at age 23, the same Ramirez who showed huge power as he climbed the minor league ladder. He could stand to ratchet up his plate discipline a bit, but you’re still talking about an elite player at a key defensive position who turns 26 this season, won’t break the bank this season and could be the rare free agent worth paying to retain long-term. Railing against Pittsburgh owner Kevin McClatchy and his money-hoarding reign of error won’t win any pennants. Having the presence of mind to fleece the Pirates in their stupor just might.
After starting his baseball career as a beat writer, Fred Claire moved on to public relations with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He’d go on to spend 30 years in the Dodger organization, capped by his stint from 1987 to 1998 as general manager. Following 11 years as GM, including a 1988 World Series victory, newly-minted Fox ownership fired Claire soon after the landmark Mike Piazza trade of ’98. Claire now works as a consultant for Performance Health Technologies of Boulder, Col., marketing a shoulder rehab device called SportsRac to pro athletes and weekend warriors. BP recently spoke to Claire about his career in Dodger Blue, the death of family ownership in the game, the Pedro Martinez trade, and the Dodger Way.
A two-sport star at Stanford University, Joe Borchard chose a professional baseball career in the Chicago White Sox organization over a career as an NFL quarterback. Now 25 years old, with talented outfielders in front of him (Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Lee) and behind him (Jeremy Reed), Borchard faces a pivotal point in his career. Told earlier this week that he’ll begin the year at Triple-A Charlotte, he hopes to get back up to the big club soon, with an eye on claiming a starting job. BP recently spoke to Borchard–before news of his demotion–about his off-season training regimen, his quest for a steady job in the big leagues, his choice of baseball over football, and more.
Freddy Garcia was coming off a down year, but you chose to bring him back at a considerable salary. What was behind that decision? What will it take for him to back to where he once was? Bavasi: How will it happen? Greater focus on his part, and more focused instruction working with the pitching coach. This is a young guy who’s a good pitcher who’s had good years and only had one down year. His stuff is good, his strength is good, physically he’s fine. There’s no reason he can’t come back and be better than he was last year. How much better is open to discussion. Our approach to him in the off-season–considering him as a possible non-tender–as we went through that decision, thinking about throwing him into the pile of non-tendered players, we would have his salary to spend. Having analyzed potential players in the group of remaining free agents and potential non-tenders, if you threw all those guys together and threw Garcia in that pile, the best guy in there was going to be Freddy Garcia. Once Lee made the deal with his agent, to bring him back at the same salary, it was a no-brainer.
The Seattle Mariners hired Bill Bavasi as their new general manager Nov. 7, replacing Pat Gillick. Bavasi spent 19 years with the Angels, working his way up from his first job as a minor league administrator. As general manager from 1994 to 1999, the team finished below .500 in four of six seasons. But the farm system that Bavasi presided over during that time would generate much of the core for the Angels’ 2002 championship team, including Troy Glaus, Troy Percival, Darin Erstad and others. Bavasi spent the last two years overseeing the Dodgers’ farm system as director of player development. He takes over the Mariners coming off four straight years of 90+ wins, with Gillick staying on as a consultant. BP spoke to Bavasi about the team’s off-season signings, the risk of long-term contracts, the changing nature of major league talent and more.
The American Sports Medicine Institute kicks off its 22nd annual “Injuries in Baseball” course Jan. 29 in Orlando. Today we continue from Part I of our discussion with ASMI’s Smith and Nephew Chair of Research, Dr. Glenn Fleisig.
Dr. Glenn Fleisig is the Smith and Nephew Chair of Research at the American Sports Medicine Institute, an organization founded by noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews dedicated to improving the understanding, prevention, and treatment of sports-related injuries through research and education. Fleisig has worked closely with players and coaches at all levels, from youth leagues to the big leagues, teaching performance optimization and injury prevention methods. With the 22nd annual “Injuries in Baseball” course starting Jan. 29 in Orlando, Fleisig chatted with BP about the growth of ASMI, warning signs for pitching injuries, and the challenge of generating awareness among major league teams.
Josh Lewin, 35, is a play-by-play announcer for Fox TV’s Saturday Game of the Week and the television voice of the Texas Rangers. As an announcer, he’s worked with legendary broadcasters Jon Miller in Baltimore, Harry Caray in Chicago, and Ernie Harwell in Detroit. He’s also a job-hunting survivor of the winter meetings. His first book, Getting in the Game: Inside Baseball’s Winter Meetings, published by Brasseys, tells the tale of three go-getters seeking their first paying jobs in professional baseball at the 2002 meetings in Nashville’s Opryland Hotel. With this year’s event starting this weekend in New Orleans, BP chatted with Lewin about the challenge of baseball job-hunting, the scene at the winter meetings, and how he found his own broadcasting career.
Kim Ng started her baseball career straight out of the University of Chicago as an intern for the Chicago White Sox. After rising to take over arbitration duties with the Sox, she took a job with the AL league office. Ng then spent four years with the New York Yankees as an assistant GM, where at age 29 she was the youngest in that position in baseball when hired. After completing her second year as vice president and assistant GM for the Los Angeles Dodgers, she’s now one of only two women to hold such a position in baseball operations and the highest-ranking Asian-American executive in the majors. She was mentioned as a candidate for several GM jobs this off-season. Ng recently chatted with BP about learning the business, taking lessons from different mentors, and what it takes to succeed in baseball.
BP: You’ve been the Padres GM for nine years, and you got your start in scouting. How have some of the scouting and player evaluation principles in the organization changed over the years? Towers: I think it’s cyclical. Between ’96 and ’98, we drafted younger players; we felt there was time to develop them. Bill Gayton came on board (as the new head of scouting), and we said then that we had to improve the system. We got too high school-happy in the mid-90s–it takes high school players a long time to develop. We also drafted pitching heavily in the early and mid-90s. It got pretty slim when it came to positional prospects after a while. We’ve switched the emphasis to position players, preferably college ones, where we feel we’ll get more of an immediate return. More clubs are now going the college route, doing what Oakland’s done, what Toronto’s done, what we’ve done–everybody’s starting to jump on the bandwagon. We may end up going back to high school kids after a while. In the next couple of years if we see heavy drafting of college players, we might then be able to land a Cole Hamels. When more and more clubs are doing the same thing, you’re going to have less to pick from among college players, so you might be able to get those kinds of pretty good bargains with high school talent. As far as our timing goes, we’re going to go with fewer younger players at the big league level, so we may use some college-drafted players and prospects to make trades, as we did this year to get Giles. In that sense, it’s more of a Giants philosophy. Hopefully we’ll have a run of four or five years where we don’t need many new, young players making major contributions, where we’re able to keep our core players on field. We could then use the added revenue from the new park more to sign players and use some of our drafted talent to trade for plugging holes.
Kevin Towers completed his ninth season as General Manager of the San Diego Padres this year. Since advancing to the World Series in 1998, the Padres have traded or let go of several big names, while investing in the draft and farm system as part of the rebuilding process. The team now looks ahead to a higher revenue stream with the opening of Petco Park for Opening Day 2004. Towers recently chatted with BP about the future of the team, the new ballpark, and the Brian Giles trade.
Barry Bonds, best player of his generation and maybe ever, vs. Jeff Conine, as average a player as you’ll find. Peter Magowan, hands-on owner, vs. Jeffrey Loria, carpetbagger extraordinaire. Pac Bell Park, jewel of the Bay Area, vs. Pro Player Stadium, football stadium of the turnpike. The Giants and Marlins look like a mismatch in all these areas. But delve a little deeper and you’ll find an intriguing first-round matchup that could yield its share of surprises.
BP: What’s the number one skill the Giants look for in their players? Colletti: It’s our view you can never have enough pitching. If you’re short in another area, you can always trade pitching, because it’s the toughest commodity to find. Our drafts have been pitching-heavy. The last couple of years we’ve started drafting more position players, but the percentage is still high on the pitching side. We’ve seen this year how it’s paid off, with (Jerome) Williams, (Jesse) Foppert, (Kevin) Correia, (Kurt) Ainsworth…Joe Nathan is one of our own, we used (Ryan) Hannaman to get (Sidney) Ponson, (Russ) Ortiz for (Damian) Moss. BP: Which do the Giants favor, high school or college pitchers? Colletti: We prefer college pitching. College pitchers are further along in terms of maturity and life experience. That doesn’t mean we haven’t taken high school kids. But when you’re 18 years old and you’re going away from home for the first time, it can be tough–there are a lot of different things that occur in a young person’s life. If a pitcher goes through the right college program though, we’ll know that he hasn’t been misused, and that he’s also been taught well. We do as much research as we can to make sure we don’t get a pitcher coming out to the draft who’s misused and might be injured. And that can easily happen at the high school level, sometimes the college level too. A major league club has a different level of investment in a player, to where you wouldn’t have used him the way he might otherwise get used at the high school or college level.
Ned Colletti’s finishing his seventh season as Assistant General Manager of the San Francisco Giants. A former sportswriter who got his start in baseball in the Cubs public relations department, Colletti cut his teeth under Dallas Green and Jim Frey in Chicago and Bob Quinn and Brian Sabean in San Francisco. One of the most prolific contract negotiators in the game, he’s completed about 350 player contracts worth $750 million during his career, including the last two Barry Bonds contracts for the Giants. Colletti and GM Brian Sabean have presided over a Giants team that’s been eliminated from playoff contention for a total of 11 days over the last seven years, on track for a fourth playoff appearance this season. He recently chatted with BP about the role of an assistant GM, the Sidney Ponson trade, and why the Giants sign and trade for the players they do.