General managers

From Wiki Gonzalez

Q. Who are baseball's best and worst general managers?

A1. In reality, general managers are extremely tough to rank since, as with field managers, there is no generally accepted ranking system.

Also, the job responsibilities of GMs vary widely from team to team. Some GMs have full authority to go for wins now, others are ordered to cut payroll and rebuild, and still others like Brian Cashman often have their duties usurped by others in the organization.

A2. Generally speaking, most Primates agreed that the sabermetrics-influenced GMs are the best in baseball. Billy Beane and his followers Paul DePodesta (who lost his job in LA at least in part due to communications difficulties) and J.P. Ricciardi head the list. Theo Epstein is up there due to his good looks and the 2004 Red Sox' World Series win, although his 2005 and 2006 seasons have not entirely lived up to Sox fans' expectations. Ricciardi has not built the Blue Jays into a winner, but every other name has had some success. There has been dispute over how "saber-friendly" Ricciardi actually is, and many Jays fans such as John Brattain are ready to cut him loose.

The GMs who have had success but do not publicly adhere to sabermetrics principles -- John Schuerholz, Cashman, Brian Sabean, Bill Stoneman, Walt Jocketty, Terry Ryan -- do get their props from Primates when their success is pointed out.

The Cubs' Jim Hendry does a good job, but got criticism for allowing Dusty Baker to keep playing his crappy veteran utility players from the F-Troop instead of actual prospects.

Kenny Williams got a lot of grief for years, mostly for his many goggle-inducing mid-season and off-season trades and his hiring of manager Ozzie Guillen, but then he won a World Series in 2005.

Omar Minaya attempted to placate Mets fans by getting to the 2006 postseason, but was sometimes criticized for his off-season player acquisition sprees and being more interested in making back-page headlines in the New York papers. Some identified his midseason 2006 acquisition of outfielder Shawn Green as a key blunder in the team's failure to get to the World Series that year.

The rest of the GMs are mostly considered crap, and are regularly subjected to "free-fire" virulent attacks on Primer. This sentiment has been reformulated by J. Cross in the statement (paraphrased) that we could outperform 80-90% of GMs if we were given their jobs.

Currently on the shit list:

1. Jim Bowden, for fondness of toolsy outfielders and toolsy shortstops and replacement level pitchers
2. Ed Wade, for looking the wrong way at Larry Bowa

Formerly on the shit list (now that they are no longer employed by their clubs):

1. Dave Littlefield, for general all-around suckitude, especially in situations involving young players
2. Bill Bavasi, for ridiculous trades and free agent signings that turned his club into a $100 million boat anchor
3. Beatagan, for being utterly directionless
4. Joe Garagiola Jr., for a veteran presence fetish and yet trading Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson for virtually nothing
5. Chuck LaMar, for career futility
6. John Hart, for being overly willing to trade prospects for veterans
7. Allard Baird, for various offenses, real and imagined (mostly from psycho Royals fans)

The jury is out on several "young guns" -- Josh Byrnes, Andrew Friedman, Jon Daniels, Dayton Moore -- who have recently taken over organizations trashed by their former GMs.