Not excited about the Brian Cashman rumors

Yesterday, 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.

I don’t see why what he has done in New York would make him a prime candidate here in Baltimore. While the title of General Manager might be the same in the two cities, and the two teams might reside within the same division, the position is vastly different.

Give credit to Cashman for successfully dealing with the New York press for years, and for the most part being above the daily sensationalism of that market. You want to give him credit for all of the winning New York has done since he inherited the Senior VP / General Manager position in February ’98, more power to you. I want to be fair to Cashman, I’m sure he deserves some of the credit for the organization that was built. I know he deserves credit for the numerous times he stood up to the late George Steinbrenner, and now Steinbrenner’s sons. However, how much credit can you actually give Cashman, when he has started every year with such a financial advantage over everyone else?

Here in 2011, ESPN shows the Yankees salary as $196.8M. That is $24M more than the next highest team (Philadelphia). That is $111.5M more than the 17th highest payroll which is the O’s ($85M). (By the way, that $111.5M difference, is essentially the combined payrolls of Kansas City, Tampa Bay, and San Diego.)

Has Cashman made moves which are so astute, as to believe he would seamlessly handle the transition to such a disparity in funds?  I would argue that he has not. For every nice addition like a Nick Swisher, you could easily point a finger back and ask who is starting Game 2 of the Playoffs behind Sabathia this year? To me, their Scouting and Player Development Operations have not been that impressive, considering their budget. Of course, again to be fair to Cashman; the entire focus year to year in New York is winning now. That mentality does not allow one to spend time developing talent for tomorrow, and the Yankees are always in position to sign players they want and need today. Some would also point out that Cashman has shown a commitment Internationally.

Overall all though, I find what Friedman is doing in Tampa, and Anthopoulos is doing in Toronto to be far more impressive. It is not that I do not believe Cashman is capable of transitioning away from having unlimited funds, it is that if there is a change in leadership in the O’s Front Office; the hire should be someone who has already shown a commitment to building from within, and maximizing every dollar spent.

We have written it before, but with the Orioles now marching towards 100 losses, the Organization should again state publicly (beyond the comments expressed by O’s Majority Owner Peter Angelos in March http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/2011/03/angelos_macphail_isnt_going_an.html) where they stand with MacPhail. The silence coming from The Warehouse basically tells you everything you need to know, but the O’s still owe it to their fans to articulate some direction.

If MacPhail does not return for ’12, 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 else would you like to see considered?

On June 24^th, 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) is the name he hears most often as a potential replacement.

If that move is going to happen, announce it now, and allow Hart to be with the team the last 25% of this year. If Showalter is going to get moved to the GM position, with Randolph taking over as the Mgr., again make that move now. Personally, I could see Showalter having further input on personnel, but I don’t seem being formally named to that position if he remains the Field Manager.

I’ve written before that the ones on the above list I am most familiar with are DePodesta, Byrnes, and White. The rest are the recommendations I’ve received from people I respect. Coppolella is the name that has come up the most. As having an informed discussion of particular names might not be possible, what is the criteria you would use to judge candidates? Do you want someone who has done the GM job before? Are you willing to give the position to a first-timer? Do you want someone that has come from a Scouting background? Do you want someone that has been outside the game, and is more sabermetrically inclined?

To answer myself, I think someone like DePodesta is more attractive as a candidate now. He had the experience of running his own team in LA for two years, and since that point has worked in San Diego, and with the Mets. He has seen multiple organizations, and probably has a good understanding of what works and what does not. Instead of going through everything for the 1st time as the guy in charge, he could be positioned to make adjustments.

Last off-season the O’s hired former Texas Rangers Scouting Director Ron Hopkins as a Cross Checker. If MacPhail returns, who are some names that you would like to see added to the Baseball Operations Department? Last Summer MacPhail was interviewed by MASN’s Steve Melewski (http://www.masnsports.com/steve_mele…gh-scouts.html). In that interview Mr. Melewski asked MacPhail about employing less scouts than our AL East peers, and MacPhail made points about diminishing returns, noting the difference between ceremonial and full-time Scouts.

In response, we asked O’s Scouting Director Joe Jordan, “If you had the opportunity to hire 15 Scouts would you decline to do so?” Jordan replied, “I do understand Andy’s point and I agree with him for the most part. Hiring 15 guys would be overkill in my opinion and would in fact confuse the process more than anything. That being said, I believe we should be investing in our baseball operations now more than ever. The number of scouts you have is important as you try to get the most complete coverage possible. You can only be competitive and also prepared by getting your looks at players.”

The net addition to the Department was the hiring of Ron Hopkins as the Cross Checker we mentioned above. Realistically, how many Scouts should be added to the Department?

What other brain power would you like to see added to the Department?  How about a full-time hiring of Dan Szymborski to a position of leadership? Szymborski is a Baltimore native that grew-up as a fan of the O’s. He is the Editor in Chief of Baseball Think Factory, contributes to ESPN, and is the founder of ZiPS (Szymborski Projection System).

I know Tom Tango is employed by a team full-time at this point. We know about Bill James in Boston. Szymborski should be held in a similar esteem.

Some 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/