25 Initial Questions for the Next O’s GM

Buster Olney / ESPN tweeted tonight that the O’s are forming a group to conduct interviews for the prospective General Manager candidates. Olney listed the current candidates as Thad Levine, Josh Byrnes, J.P. Ricciardi, Tony LaCava, Gerry Hunsicker, and Dan Jennings. Olney also stated there maybe more. It is worth noting that WNST’s Drew Forrester has heard Scott Proefrock is an option.

Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun tweeted that Orioles Manager Buck Showalter & Majority Owner Peter Angelos are expected to meet tomorrow to formulate the GM candidates. Connolly also stated that the O’s have not asked permission yet for anyone, and to expect five for fewer interviewees.

If Olney is correct, I am extremely pleased that the O’s are forming a group to conduct the interviews. The question is who will comprise that group? Will there be former players like Palmer, Ripken, Murray, and Anderson? Will there be former Executives such as Gillick, Robinson, Hemond? (Gillick and Hemond are still advisers elsewhere). Will a former Manager (and O’s announcer) like Buck Martinez get a call to help out? Will the O’s reach out, and contract third parties like Baseball Prospectus, FanGraphs, or Baltimore native Dan Szymborski (ESPN / Baseball Think Factory)? Okay, I have no real expectation of the O’s reaching out to those sources – just saying rhetorically, what would prevent them from doing so?

I hope Connolly is wrong that only five or fewer will receive interviews. There are some good candidates listed above, but there remains other qualified options that I know are interested in coming to Baltimore. Again, I hope the search is opened up further. I’d like to seven to ten people receive initial interviews. Let’s say the interviews started Monday, the 17th. During Monday through Friday, you could interview two candidates per day. For those that advanced in the process, a second interview could be conducted Saturday the 22nd, and Sunday the 23rd. The final interviews and decision could be announced by Wednesday the 26th.

This would provide time for full Organizational meetings prior to the November 14th – 15th General Manger Meetings in Milwaukee. (The Winter Meetings are scheduled December 5th to 8th in Dallas.)

Whenever the interviews start, and regardless of who is being interviewed; below are some 25 basic questions that I hope are asked of the candidates.

1) The existing Department heads are Joe Jordan – Amateur Scouting, Dave Stockstill – International Scouting, John Stockstill – Player Development, Lee MacPhail IV – Pro Scouting, Matt Klentak – Baseball Operations.  Would you take the job, if you had to maintain the existing staff?

2) How many Department heads would you want to replace with your own contacts? Would you want to hire an Assistant GM? If so, who?

3) How would you address any potential disharmony between the Scouting and Player Development Departments?

4) During this 2011 season, Showalter regularly met with Angelos. Are you comfortable with the Manager meeting the Owner without you? Signed through 2013, Showalter is interested in immediate improvement at the Major League level, and is also obviously not going anywhere. Are you comfortable with inheriting a Manager? Can you take the Orioles from the 69 wins here in ’11, to 90-95 wins within the next two years? If you do not believe that is possible, and that a deeper rebuilding is required, how will you balance that with current roster improvements sought by Showalter?

5) Tampa has proven over the past four seasons that a franchise which excels in Scouting and Player Development can exceed in the American League East, despite having far less resources than the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. If you are provided with a $100M budget, how would you expect to allocate those funds? What percentage would you anticipate going to the Major League roster, what percentage would go to Amateur Scouting, International Scouting, Player Development, Pro Scouting, etc?

6) Following-up on the last question, the O’s spent $8.8M on the Draft in ‘09, a similar amount in ‘10, and just over $10M here in ’11.  Large portions of those draft spends have been bonus dollars. Do you think this spending has been sufficient? If hard-slotting does not come into play with the subsequent CBA, what are your feelings about going over-slot?

7) During 2005-11 period the O’s have had 20 picks during the first 3 rounds of the Draft. In that same period the Yankees have had 21, Tampa 34, Toronto 35, and Boston has had 36. What are your thoughts here? What would you specifically do to gain or protect compensatory draft-picks?

8) Andy MacPhail stated publicly that he did not believe it to be an issue that the O’s employ less scouts than the rest of the AL East. MacPhail made the point about diminishing returns, and noting the difference between ceremonial and full-time scouts. Joe Jordan agreed to a point, stating that hiring 15 more scouts would be overkill, and confuse the process. However, he also said investment in Baseball Operations was necessary, and that the number of scouts you have is important as you try to get the most complete coverage possible. Last Winter it was announced that the O’s had hired former Texas Rangers Scouting Director Ron Hopkins as a Cross Checker, a move Jordan enthusiastically endorsed. Hopkins was the only net-addition to the Department. Do you believe more resources need to be allocated to Scouting? How many scouts do you believe would be ideal? If you were hired, how many scouts would you want to bring with you?

9) In an interview with Fox Sport’s Ken Rosenthal (http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/baltimore-orioles-farm-system-lacking-022911), MacPhail was asked about the minimal foreign talent in the system and responded, “Philosophically, I’m not as committed to making the same commitments that we do in the (amateur) draft if it’s just going to be a workout. If you can’t see the guy play in a game, I think that is fraught with peril.”  Do you agree with those comments? Are the signing bonuses for Dominican and Venezuelan talent rising faster than the draft-eligible US born talent? If so, and if the average Dominican and Venezuelan signed player is 16/17 vs. drafted 18/19 year old Americans, is the risk considerably larger with the Latin talent?

10) In their 2010 organizational reviews, Keith Law / ESPN ranked the O’s 24th overall, and Baseball America ranked the O’s 21st.  Last week Baseball America stated (https://baltimoresportsandlife.com/?p=3047) they did not anticipate the O’s moving to the middle of their 2011 rankings. Part of those ranking can be attributed to the players who have graduated from the system to the Major Leagues within the couple of years. Part of that ranking can also be attributed to the lack of International talent in the system. The Toronto Blue Jays General Manager Alex Anthopoulus let go of their Pacific Rim / Asia Scout Rob Ducey in October 2009 stating they would increase their focus on Latin America along with their Amateur and Pro Scouting. Correspondingly they would be decreasing their focus on Europe and Asia. Should the O’s have a similar philosophy? Where can the O’s improve in the Dominican and Venezuela between now and the 2013 All-Star break?

11) According to Baseball America, in 2010 Seattle led baseball in International Bonuses ($6.5M) as compared to the O’s $1.5M spend (good for 6th lowest). Cuban signings were not included. If you spent $10M a year for the next 3 years Internationally, would you have the premier International department in the game?

12) What were the International Scouting philosophies of your organization in areas outside of Latin America?  With proper investment, what do you feel can reasonably be accomplished in the next year, 3 years, and 5 years out in:

South Africa – It has been estimated that there are 300,000 South African kids playing baseball due to the partnership between Major League Baseball and the South African Government.
Australia – I know the game suffered after the disbanding of the Australian Baseball League in 1999 (since restarted). Despite that, it is a country which has produced Major League talent before.
Europe – Particularly Italy, and The Netherlands?
China – Is the China Baseball League catching-up to the level of play in the Taiwanese League?
Taiwan – Did your organization have a presence here?
Korea – Would your organization employ a full-time scout to cover the Korean League?
Japan – Do you believe Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball is between AAA and the Bigs? If so, would you want multiple full-time scouts there?

13) There seems to be some belief that the unsigned amateur talent of Latin America is less polished than they were a generation ago. Does your current organization agree with the argument that ‘buscones’ (Guides) are getting to players at younger ages, leading to better athletes but players who have played the game less than their predecessors?

14) Prior to the ’09 season, the O’s offered Teixeira a 7 year $145M dollar contract. At the time, the Organization deemed this an extraordinary contract due to the special (local angle) circumstances surrounding Teixeira. Would you advocate similar prospective marquee talent only be pursued, if you believe that player was capable of putting the O’s ‘over the top’?

15) If you did want to pursue a marquee Free Agent, would you be aggressive in your pursuit, or would you want the market to set itself first?

16) Even if there was a player you valued, would you be fundamentally opposed to paying a substantial posting fee for a player from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball?

17) How would you go about building a bullpen?

18) How have you incorporated Sabermetrics into your decision making process? Boston employs Bill James. Another organization employs ‘Tom Tango.’ Would you want to hire another recognized Sabermetric leader? Would you purchase information from 3rd party sources? Would you want to house your own department full of Sabermetric types?

19) What do you see as the primary reasons the Baltimore Orioles have not had a winning season since 1997? Would you have any reservations about taking the job?

20) Angelos typically works out of the Warehouse once or twice a year. With his Law Practice, he can at-times be difficult to reach – yet requires consultation and sign-off on larger decisions. Provide an argument of how you would effectively communicate with the Owner. Are you willing to take the job knowing you will not have full autonomy? If not, provide an argument of why that would be required.

21) If you are hired, what changes will you bring to the organization between now and the start of Spring Training?

22) What has been your experience with contract negotiation and the arbitration process? How much direct interaction have you had with Agents? Do you feel Agents present a wedge between Organizations and players?

23) Would you encourage discussion and dissenting views from your leadership staff? Would you encourage consensus? Are you comfortable with providing decisive decisions that might go against portions of your staff?

24) What have you read which has influenced your perspectives on the game? What sites and commentary are you reading on a daily basis?

25) You have just been hired, and are being ushered upstairs here in the Warehouse for an introductory news-conference with the local media. What do you tell the rest of the organization, media, and a disillusioned fan-base that best articulates your strategy, and vision? What have been your prior interactions in dealing with the media?