Upon the recent firing of Astros GM Ed Wade, which many baseball fans probably saw as the greatest GM firing of the century thus far, I feel I must justify all the firings that led up to Wade's exit. While Astros fans are happy, I can safely say that the worst GM in baseball is now gone, but Wade was only considered the worst, in my opinion, as a result of the three who left before him.
One year ago the title of worst GM would have no doubt went to the Chicago Cubs Jim Hendry, who in my opinion, held the position of GM way longer than he deserved to. Behind Hendry, I would have elected the Angels Tony Reagins and the Orioles Andy MacPhail ahead of Wade for the title of the worst GM. Now, Hendry, Reagins, MacPhail, and Wade are all gone, not to mention the nearly pointless firing of the Twins GM Bill Smith. My post for best/worst GMs in baseball will come shortly after this one, but in the mean time, here is the reasoning for all the GM firings/resignations that have happened so far this off-season.
The case for Jim Hendry's Termination:
-The needless to mention Alfonso Soriano signing
-Following success in 2007 and 2008, Hendry traded utility infielder Mark Derosa and starting pitcher Jason Maquis, two players who yielded barely any return. Marquis went on to have a stellar 2009 and Derosa went on to preform adequately for the Indians, even landing the Indians their all star closer in a trade with St Louis…but the Cubs faltered, and still have not regained their form
-Ted Lilly for four years and 40mil?
-Quade as manager over Sandberg was the final straw, but his failure should have been seen way before this.
Basically what is important to see in Jim Hendry's case is how he rebounded from an awful 2006(Soriano, Lilly, Marquis, etc.) and then how he dealt with success with awful and pointless trades. Case in point, the Cubs are a long way away from their 2003 success, and now, even longer away from their 1908 success, AKA, their last world series title.
The case for Tony Reagins' Resignation:
-Didn't even attempt to bring back John Lackey
-Didn't even attempt to bring back Chone Figgins
-Didn't even attempt to bring back Francisco Rodiguez
-Gary Matthews Jr
-Traded away Mike Napoli
-Admired the 2008 Yankees by signing Bobby Abreu and Hedieki Matsui
-The Mark Teixeira fiasco
Really, this doesn't seem all that bad in retrospect as Figgins and Lackey turned out to be awful on their new teams. Reagins was kinda a lame duck of a GM however as Mike Scioscia runs the Angels, and keeping this aspect in mind, it makes me wonder if the manager should really have this much say in any example. Don't get me wrong, Mike Scioscia is an amazing manager, his administration has contributed to more managers elsewhere than anyone else's administration(Madden, Black, Roenicke) and of course, the 2002 World Series works strongly in his favor. I think Reagins failed as a GM however because of his lame duck way of running the Angels, who were unable to return to a world series under his reign, and they did come close several times.
The case for Andy MacPhail's Walking Away:
-Too many expectations from young starters
-A weird man-crush on Miguel Tejada
-Injuries in a tough division
There isn't much to say about Mr MacPhail, he wasn't that bad, he is the man who led the Twins to two World Series and largely built the Cubs team that, in 2003, almost made it to the World Series. Just looking at what we all knew would be his final season(2011) however, I think he attempted to make Baltimore into a great team. He got JJ Hardy to be his shortstop, Derek Lee to be his first baseman, Mark Reynolds to be his third baseman, and Vladimir Guerrero to be his DH…how can anyone say these were bad decisions? First of all, home runs hit by the Orioles should now go up, oh I don't know, 150%. (Reynolds hit 32 in 2010, Lee hit 12, Hardy hit 6, and Vladdy hit 29). Factor in the trends that would have made a Hardy comeback obvious, and Nick Markakis and a healthy Brian Roberts/Adam Jones at the start of the lineup, and you have quite an offense. What's the problem though? Jake Arieta and Zach Britton are not ready for the big leagues! With that in mind, no matter what bullpen you put behind them, you've still got a Triple A pitching staff led by Jeremy Guthrie, who I like but he is no ace. Basically Guthrie, a number 3 pitcher on a good team, heading a triple A rotation, backed by a decent bullpen doesn't win you the AL East. This is what MacPhail did wrong.
The case for Ed Wade's Firing:
-Traded the struggling Lance Berkman
-Traded the unhappy Roy Oswalt
-Traded the struggling Brad Lidge
-Got fed up being considered the worst GM in baseball, so he traded away Hunter Pence and Michael Bourn
-Massacred the Astros farm system
Yes, the Astros have no minor league anymore, yes their seemingly future franchise players not named Carlos Lee have all been traded away, but I think Wade gets too much ridicule for his job. Berkman was on the decline, I doubt many people expected him to have a comeback 2011 season. OswaltLidge was not as good as he once was, and even though he had a perfect season with the Phillies in 2008, he subsequently had three poor ones, and got Michael Bourn to the Astros as a result. And the trades of Pence and Bourn were more or less his response to criticism, knowing that he, like MacPhail, would be out of a job come year's end. Wade also got JA Happ to the Astros, who I personally think will have a good career eventually.
The case for Bill Smith:
-Traded Matt Garza for Delmon Young(amongst others)
-Traded Johan Santana to the Mets for NOTHING (well it was actually a year of JJ Hardy and the winning run in the 163rd game of 2009 named Carlos Gomez)
-Signed Joe Mauer forever
-Let his entire bullpen walk away following the 2010 season
The Twins were a surprisingly good team for most of this decade which mostly centered around a gritty home field advantage in an awful stadium; the Metrodome is not an easy place to play unless Ron Gardenhire tells you how to play there. But they got a new stadium and suddenly Twins fans realized that no matter how fundamentally sound your team is, the Metrodrome played a bigger role in their team's success than keeping Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, and Joe Mauer together did. Of course the Santana trade hurts but I think that stands as Smith's lone bad decision, as no one could have seen Target Field as being quite the bummer it turned out to be for a team that walked into the playoffs so many times before. Smith tended to rely on his young pitching staff too much as well, I mean, Baker, Slowey, Blackburn, Bonser, etc. I'm yet to name a future star here. Pavano was a good signing as Pavano was a veteran presence the club wasn't getting from an injured Liriano. The best bullpen in baseball helped their young starters a lot, and a Joe Nathan Tommy John season even demonstrated Smith's utilizing of trades to continue being significant as he traded for Matt Capps and Jon Rauch. It was the Twins 2011 season that decided Smith's fate as Nathan was back and confused, Guerrier wasn't setting up anymore, Pavano wasn't pitching good, and Mauer and Morneau were not around, not to mention the new ballpark. I would not have put Smith anywhere near the bottom of a list ranking GM performance, but Twins management saw different and Smith is gone.
To compare what I have considered awful GM performances, I will give you the case for who I consider the worst GM of the decade by far, former Mets GM, Omar Minaya, who, in my opinion, didn't even follow the sport judging by some of the deals he made:
-Got rid of Mike Adams, Heath Bell, and Xavier Nady
-Signed Oliver Perez long term
-Signed the 42 year old Moises Alou long term
-Replaced Paul Loduca with Brian Schneider
-Signed the 38 year old Damion Easley
-Signed Luis Castillo long term
-Murdered his minor leagues
-Fired Willie Randolph
-Oversaw the worst collapse of the decade
-Had the audacity to sign a 3 year extension in 2008
-Made Jerry Manuel a manager
-Signed Jason Bay long term(This could still work out well)
-Failed to a acquire bullpen help for Pedro Feliciano, overworked Felicano
Need I say more about Minaya's failures?
Basically with Wade's firing the title of Baseballs worst GM is up in the air. A lot of people will argue that it should go to Kenny Williams of the Chicago White Sox and others may argue that it should go to someone like Dayton Moore of the Kansas City Royals, but I will figure this out myself in my next post when I rank all the GMs in baeball from worst to best, judging by the 2011 season.
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