Knowing that Andy MacPhail did not have a contract for the 2012 season, we have asked numerous Baseball Analysts during the year who they think would be a good fit in Baltimore – should MacPhail not return.

Our typical question to these Analysts, was a variation of:

“Should MacPhail not return, some of the candidates I would like to see considered are:
Paul DePodesta, Mets Vice President of Player Development & Scouting
Josh Byrnes, Padres Vice President of Baseball Operations
John Coppolella, Braves Director of Baseball Administration
Bob Miller, Reds Vice President and Assistant General Manager
Rich Hahn, White Sox Vice President and Assistant General Manager
Allard Baird, Red Sox Vice President Player Personnel
Charley Kerfeld, Phillies Special Assistant to the General Manager
Logan White, Dodgers Assistant General Manager / Director of Amat. & Intl. Scouting (Former O’s West Coast Supervisor)
Ben Cherington, Red Sox Vice President of Player Personnel
Gord Ash, Brewers Vice President and Assistant General Manager
Tom McNamara, Mariners Director of Amateur Scouting
RJ Harrison, Rays Director of Amateur Scouting
Gerry Hunsicker, Rays Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations
Kim Ng, Major League Baseball Vice President of Baseball Operations
Tyrone Brooks, Pirates Director of Baseball Operations (Maryland native)
Amiel Sawdaye, Red Sox Director of Amateur Scouting (Baltimore native)
AJ Preller, Rangers Senior Director of Player Personnel

Who do you like on that list, who else should be considered?”

Here are the compiled responses:

Mark Healey, Baseball Digest
“In my opinion, no first-year GM is going to be able to succeed with a hands-on owner like Angelos and a high profile skipper like Buck. However, Logan White could do it. That would be a great fit. However, given the extent of the work at hand, I think a guy lke Gerry Hunsicker would be my choice, Whether he not he wants to be a full-time GM again is anyone’s guess.”

Peter Schiller, Baseball Reflections
“I’d like to see them go with either Kim Ng, Major League Baseball Vice President of Baseball Operations, Paul DePodesta, Mets Vice President of Player Development & Scouting or Josh Byrnes, Padres Vice President of Baseball Operations.”

Brandon Warne, FanGraphs
“I think it’s safe to say that Hart or Cashman would be an ideal fit for the job, but I don’t know how serious either would be about taking over the club. My understanding is that Hart is still employed in some sense of the word with the Rangers until 2013, so I don’t know if that will hamper his ability to make a move. Similarly, I don’t know that Cashman is looking to move on from the Yankees, but with his contract up at season’s end, anything is possible. I think if I were to select an executive to run this franchise going forward, Kim Ng would be near the forefront of my short list. Not only would the waves of hiring a female GM be good from a PR standpoint, but as someone who knows the ins and outs of the game from working in the major leagues for 20-plus years, she’s aptly equipped to take over a club that quite frankly could use a GM’s stamp on it. There are other very good names on that list – including former GMs DePodesta and Byrnes – whom I might consider, but if I’m the one making the final call, it’s Ng for me.”

Brittany Ghiroli, MLB.com
“Buck Showalter is probably the favorite at this point, for reasons that have been written about by myself and the other Orioles beat reporters. While there’s a lot of good candidates on this list (and a few that aren’t on here as well) Showalter clearly has the ear of Peter Angelos and that’s something that can’t be understated. I wouldn’t rule out a scenario where Showalter stays in the dugout – I think he’s mulling it over because he still enjoys managing – but his biggest impact would be in the front office. He wasn’t ready in Texas years ago when they tried to move him upstairs, and he seems to be on the fence now. But who else could come in and have cart blanche to do whatever is necessary to turn things around?”

Jason Parks, Baseball Prospectus
“I would like to see John Coppolella get the job because he’s a friend and a very, very sharp baseball mind. AJ Preller would be an excellent choice as well. He’s one of the men behind the Rangers surge in talent acquisition, and one of the best evaluators in the business. If you want to build the farm, Preller is the man for the position.”

Matt Klaassen, FanGraphs
“Lots of good names up there, and I don’t know enough to say I can give you more info than anyone else. Let me make a few comments: Allard Baird is a nice man and a great AGM, who worked under horrible ownership conditions in Kansas City. But he should never run a team. That was the Peter Principle embodied (cf. Moore, Dayton). Ng is intriguing as always, I’m curious as to how she’d do, does anyone know much about her philosophy of team-building? Good names up there, my favorite my be Hahn. His name comes up a lot, probably because he’s a smart guy with a scouting background who also is friendly to newer developments. But I’m biased, we had a FanGraphs event with him in Arizona this last spring and dude was awesome — no cookie-cutter answers, not only hilarious, but informative. If you ever have a chance to see Rick Hahn talk, take it.”

Bob Nightengale, USA Today
“I would go with Allard Baird among that group, or Logan White. Baird is a workaholic and has the experience. White is brilliant with his drafts but doesn’t have experience. DeJon Watson of the Dodgers would also be an excellent choice. And one day, Ben Cherington and Tyrone Brooks will get their cracks. I just can’t see John Hart going back to the GM role in this time of his life.”

David Pinto, Baseball Musings / Baseball Analytics
“DePodesta or Byrnes.”

Satchel Price, Beyond the Boxscore
“I’m not totally familiar with all of those guys, but Byrnes and DePodesta never quite got fair shakes as GMs in their early runs. I’d really love to see DePodesta get another shot to run a team.”

Dan Szymborski, ESPN / Baseball Think Factory
“I’d probably knock Baird off that list based on his previous experience.  Logan White is someone I’d like to see overlooking the minor league system with a lot of authority to build the organization, though I’m not so sure as GM. I get the impression that DePodesta would get frustrated with Angelos pretty easily. Given the Angelos factor, you’d probably need an experienced GM with enough clout to deal with Angelos that also won’t muck things up too badly, so Hunsicker is probably the most realistic candidate. But you could say the same about MacPhail.  The Orioles being a good team again is more reliant on a change in how the organization is run from the very top rather than who the next GM will be.”

Danny Knobler, CBS Sports
“It’s always going to be difficult in Baltimore, as long as Peter Angelos owns the team. But I give Andy credit for sticking with his plan to develop the young pitchers. There is potential there, but young players, and particularly young pitchers, require patience that is hard for teams and harder for fans. Andy’s weakness has been in making good judgements on filling out the major-league roster. That made the O’s a worse big-league team than they should have been last year, but it probably doesn’t affect the long-term chances of success. I think there are plenty of execs in baseball capable of running teams, guys like Rick Hahn with the White Sox, Allard Baird of the Red Sox, Charley Kerfeld of the Phillies. But with Angelos sticking his hand into all major decisions, running the Orioles isn’t easy.”

Kevin Goldstein, Baseball Prospectus
“If they’re going to go new, I think they should go young and find a new name who can stick around for a while.  John Coppolella with the Braves would be a great person to give that opportunity to.”

On June 24th, Jeff Zrebiec of The Baltimore Sun reported (http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/2011/06/orioles_news_notes_and_opinion_5.html#comment-9448934) that current MLB Network commentator John Hart – formerly GM of the Indians, and Rangers (and previous O’s employee) was the name he was hearing most often as a potential replacement.

On August 19th, Bob Nightengale of USA Today sent out a tweet stating that Brian Cashman is a very strong candidate to replace Hendry in Chicago, but that the Orioles were also a possibility.

Ken Rosenthal from Fox Sports commented during the first week of September(http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/mlb-playoffs-seeding-races-news-and-notes-090511) about how Scouts were talking about Florida’s Asst. GM Dan Jennings, or Toronto’s Asst. GM Tony LaCava as possibilities.

On October 3rd, Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun provided a listing of names to consider (http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/2011/10/names_and_things_to_consider_i.html).  Among those on that list were Dan Jennings, Tony LaCava, and JP Riccardi.

The Orioles organization has had plenty of time to compile a listing of the best and brightest potential options throughout baseball. They can use this Will Carroll article (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/will_carroll/07/13/baseball-gms/index.html) from Sports Illustrated, if they are in need of a cheat-sheet.

Here is additional information on some of the names mentioned above:

Paul DePodesta, Mets Vice President of Player Development & Scouting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_DePodesta
http://itmightbedangerous.blogspot.com/
http://www.metsblog.com/2011/06/29/recap-paul-depodesta-conf-call-with-bloggers/

Josh Byrnes, Padres Vice President of Baseball Operations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Byrnes
http://www.azsnakepit.com/2009/2/9/751089/the-josh-byrnes-interview
http://www.azsnakepit.com/2009/2/11/755538/the-d-backs-gm-speaks-josh

John Coppolella, Braves Director of Baseball Administration
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=10375
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/interview-john-coppolella-of-the-braves/

Bob Miller, Reds Vice President and Assistant General Manager
http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110317&content_id=16992762&vkey=news_cin&c_id=cin

Rich Hahn, White Sox Vice President and Assistant General Manager
http://nybaseballdigest.com/?p=29593

Allard Baird, Red Sox Vice President Player Personnel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allard_Baird

Charley Kerfeld, Phillies Special Assistant to the General Manager
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Kerfeld
http://articles.philly.com/2010-03-30/sports/24957050_1_citizens-bank-park-phillies-lefthander-charley-kerfeld

Logan White, Dodgers Assistant General Manager / Director of Amat. & Intl. Scouting (Former O’s West Coast Supervisor)
http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/la/community/executives/white.html
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=10385
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=10388

Ben Cherington, Red Sox Vice President of Player Personnel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Cherington
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=7852

Gord Ash, Brewers Vice President and Assistant General Manager
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gord_Ash

Tom McNamara, Mariners Director of Amateur Scouting
http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20081110&content_id=3673242&vkey=pr_sea&fext=.jsp&c_id=sea

RJ Harrison, Rays Director of Amateur Scouting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._J._Harrison

Gerry Hunsicker, Rays Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations
http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/tb/team/exe_bios/hunsicker_gerry.html
http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/gerry-hunsicker/

Kim Ng, Major League Baseball Vice President of Baseball Operations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Ng
http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/news/story?id=6192991
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dodgers/2011/03/dodgers-kim-ng-joe-torre-ned-colletti-frank-mccourt-divorce-.html
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2460

Tyrone Brooks, Pirates Director of Baseball Operations (Maryland native)
http://www.sportsinfo101.com/baseball/meet-pittsburgh-pirate-tyrone-brooks
http://www.pressboxonline.com/story.cfm?id=5830
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110209&content_id=16601062&c_id=pit

Amiel Sawdaye, Red Sox Director of Amateur Scouting (Baltimore native)
http://news.soxprospects.com/2010/09/q-with-amiel-sawdaye-red-sox-scouting.html
http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/tag/amiel-sawdaye/

I personally know that there several well regarded Executives that would have interest in coming to Charm City. I’ve spoken to four of them. With MacPhail now officially leaving the organization, I hope the team is willing to cast a wide net, and have an extensive search. It would seem logical to me that if you were going to through a leadership change at the top of an organization, you would be bringing in as many qualified candidates as possible and speaking to them directly. Getting an understanding of what those individuals believe in, and what has made the organizations of the prospective candidates successful. There is a reason why when you speak to people throughout the game, the same names come up over and over again as someone that should be considered.

Chris Stoner
Chris Stoner

Owner

Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.

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