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Oakland A's

My GM Can Beat Up Your GM

By Jon Morrill

    We all know, or at least should know, by now that Oakland Athletics GM Billy Beane is one of the best, if not the best, in baseball. The only argument one would have against him is that he hasn’t won anything yet; and sure, winning is the biggest criteria when judging the performance of just about anything in sports. Whether it be playing the game, coaching, managing, anything–the first thing people look at are the wins and the championships. While Beane obviously doesn’t have any rings or trophies just yet, the one thing Beane can claim is the fact that he’s perennially put together a young, exciting team that has finished no worse than second in the AL West since 1999, Beane’s second year on the job; winning the division 3 times in 4 years. What’s more is that Beane has done this with a payroll of practically peanuts; forcing Beane to try and squeeze what he can out of all his players in the 3 to 4, sometimes 5 year timeframe–often having to either trade away his prized superstars for younger, more raw talent or just let it walk when the time comes for the respective player’s big payday (see: Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Tim
Hudson, Mark Mulder, Keith Foulke, Johnny Damon).
The following is a quick run through of baseball’s current GMs who some will argue have the edge over Beane in the all too familiar game of “My GM Can Beat Up Your GM”:

John Schuerholz, Atlanta Braves. It’s certainly hard to argue with 15 years of dominance. Ever since 1991, there has only been one team to come in first place in the NL East, and I’ll give you a hint: it sure as hell ain’t the Phillies or the Mets. And it’s also hard to call it a coincidence that Atlanta’s climb from pauper to prince in the National League just so happened to ascend once Schuerholz was named GM after the 1990 season. Just to give the reader an idea of how long ago it was since the Braves weren’t perpetual favorites to take the division, on the day that John Schuerholz took the Braves GM job, October 10th, 1990; George Michael sat atop the US Pop Charts with “Praying for Time”. Oh, those were the days. Whether it’s been with a payroll ranging from plump to paltry; with a lineup chock full of 1st ballot Hall of Famers or first to second year players; in shabby Fulton-County Stadium or less shabby Turner Field–all eyes should be on the Braves and Schuerholz at all times, never to be taken likely. What’s the most impressive about Schuerholz and Co. is the fact that the Braves always find a way to pull off the big, smart deals with the fanfare like that of a Carrot Top movie marathon. I could tell you where he pulled the trade for Edgar Renteria out from, but I like to keep this a family-friendly column.

`Theo Epstein, Boston Red Sox. Though technically he’s not in the game right now after stepping down from the position this past Halloween, it’s hard to deny the fact that the Boy Wonder did more for his birthplace of New England in 3 seasons than Hershey did for chocolate; or what Les Paul did for the electric guitar. Not only did he finally bring the city of Boston a Word Series title in 2004 for the first time since 1918, but he also left the franchise in much better shape than which he received it–revamping a farm system that had been decimated by former Sox GMs, namely Dastardly Dan Duquette. Theo’s detractors have two points of contention worth noting, however. First, Boston has an astronomical payroll year after year, second only to one certain diabolical Empire; and second, a lot of the key cogs to Boston’s machine had already been in place by the time Theo took the job. Pedro Martinez, Jason Varitek, Derek Lowe, Manny Ramirez, Johnny Damon, and Trot Nixon had all been Red Sox prior to November of 2002. Two key components that Epstein are solely responsible for, though, are the ankle-dangling heroics of Curt Schilling and the clutch mashing of former Player to Be Named Later, David Ortiz. (A quick sidebar: On August 29th, 1996, the Seattle Mariners sent a player to be named later to the Minnesota Twins for 3B and former ’93 Phillie Dave Hollins. In September of that year, the Mariners completed the trade, sending the then-unknown Ortiz to the Twin Cities.)

Kenny Williams, Chicago White Sox. Everybody LOVES a one-hit wonder while they’re on top, and this writer is no exception. At this point last year, Kenny Williams was secretly building his own weapon of mass destruction–putting together a team compiled of players nobody outside of Baseball America had heard of. But after a postseason of bringing a title to Chicago for the first time since 1917 and making household names out of players like Joe Crede, Aaron Rowand, Mark Buerhle and Paul Konerko; those who once pondered what Williams was thinking now contemplate why they didn’t think of the same thing. Williams has finally made the White Sox the top team in Chicago, after being the long time low man on the Windy City totem pole under the hapless Cubs; and has already gone back to work on his next big hit: the 2006 Sahhhhhhhks. He’s brought back slugger Konerko for lead guitar; he’s brought in guest star DH Jim Thome for some back up vocals; and just Wednesday he traded for starting pitcher Javier Vasquez to help write songs that make all of Chicago sing.

Alright, so stacked up against the likes of John Schuerholz, one would be hard pressed to say that Beane would be the outright better GM; in fact, trying to do so would most likely be an exercise in futility. But maybe what’s to come in 2006 could push Beane over the edge.

This past week, Beane tried his hand a new brand of general managing when he acquired troubled bad boy outfielder Milton Bradley from the Dodgers. With GM Beane being the latest to roll the dice in “Milton Bradley: The Game” (as forced of an analogy as it is, I couldn’t resist), he embarks on a new way of putting together a ball club. Rather than doing the `Moneyball’ norm and signing, drafting or developing players based solely on sabremetrics and a focus on team chemisty, the A’s have taken a chance on a player who could easily put them over the top in the divisional race with the Angels, but who also could completely obliterate the years of chemistry that Oakland has worked so hard for over recent years (Terrell Owens, anyone?). But if this works, the continuing crazy experimentation of a low-budgeted mad scientist; if Beane ever wins a championship in Oakland despite his putrid payroll, there’ll be no doubt in the world that Beane has won the Battle Royale of Public Opinion when it comes to just who is today’s greatest General Manager.

3 replies on “My GM Can Beat Up Your GM”

comment Awesome article. Whoever voted for Brian Cashman in the poll was under the influence of drugs/alcohol, or they feel sorry for him for having to deal with George Steinbrenner. GM’ing the Yankees could possibly be the EASIEST GM job available (just listen to George whine all year and hope your all star cast wins a lot of games).

Beane as best GM in baseball If, and only if, one of Beane’s teams wins the World Series is he the best GM in baseball when he forms a World Series-winning team.

Beane I think he’s the best when you take into account the payroll restrictions he has had to deal with.  This year may be Beane’s year though as the payroll was lifted to the mid 60s and the A’s went out and got Milton Bradley and Esteban Loiaza.  Figure those two improve a 90 win ballclub and Dan Johnson, Nick Swisher, Huston Street, Joe Blanton will only get better in their second year and the A’s might have the best team in the AL on paper.

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