Purges begin
DMZ · October 10, 2005 at 3:21 pm · Filed Under General baseball
Ed Wade is out in Philly. In the short term, I expect a rise in Ryan Howard rumors.
In Baltimore, Jim Beattie’s not going to return. He was as close to a GM as the team’s had in years. Mike Flanagan might be next.
This comes only a couple days after the Devil Rays finally firing Chuck LaMar, who by any reasonable standard did an awful job in Tampa, and the Rangers got a new GM as well.
Who’s next?
Comments
30 Responses to “Purges begin”
I’d say that’s about it. Unless Baird gets the axe.
Maybe Jim Hendry too, but I doubt it.
DMZ, what do you think of the new Rangers GM?
I was thinking Hendry would be my sleeper candidate, too.
Purges Begin
Seems appropo considering the number of teams that choked this year.
3. There was a post on this about a week ago when the change went made. Another one of those young sharp Harvard breed kids who looks to have a good head on his shoulders. The AL west just got a bit smarter, the article was titled.
Seems like whomever is the new GM in Philly will need to have a defined strategy for dealing with Thome’s contract before accepting the job.
Either the owner knows exactly how much of Thome’s contract he’ll swallow to move Thome, or he wants the new GM to move Howard. The third option is to keep Howard and Thome, but I can’t see the reasoning behind that.
If Howard wants to wear the left-handed sock as DH/1b in Seattle, I’d take him.
RE #6,
Uh Oh. You just touched on a very tense subject.
I suggested that the M’s should inquire about Howard last offseason, and was promptly lambasted by just about everyone on this blog.
I still think that he would be a great addition, especially now that he has developed into a more complete hitter. However, that will really drive up the price for him. He would be a great addition, but it would cost a ton.
If I were running the Phillies, I would consider keeping both, keep my fingers crossed that Thome gets healthy, then look to move him. Either way they go on this one, they are likely going to get hosed. It might be best to just not do anything until they have more info.
6: True, Dave already posted on Jon Daniels’ new job with the Rangers, but I was wondering if DMZ had anything to add. Two heads are better than one, y’know, all that stuff.
Ooops,
I meant #7
If anyone’s interested in potential replacements for sacked GMs, I suggest checking out a piece Will Carroll wrote on future GMs earlier this year:
http://thejuice.baseballtoaster.com/archives/179056.html#fold
One interesting note is that he left Grady Fuson off the list.
#1: Glass has already announced that Baird has the job for one more year – Baird’s contract runs through 2006. If Baird doesn’t get the team to .500, Baird is gone.
Which must have Rob Neyer and Rany Jazayerli close to catatonic. ‘Cause Baird just might get lucky and the Royals get to .500. Baird then gets reupped for another three or four years, and the disaster in KC is prolonged.
This from the AP story about Wade’s firing:
Wade worked his way up to general manager from public relations intern. He once shared an office with Dave Raymond, who was an intern in the promotions department and went on to become the Phillie Phanatic.
Wow. I guess *anyone* can be general manager.
how about Bowden in DC?
interesting that the D-Rays are alreading looking at a new field manager before they hire a GM…. or do they already have one, in a sense: “Rays director of baseball development Andrew Friedman will play a prominent role — with, perhaps, a new title — in the front office hierarchy. Friedman, 28, has spent the past two years representing [new owner]Sternberg’s interests on the baseball side of the organization, learning from the inside. While Friedman is expected to have the authority to make the baseball decisions, the possibility remains that the team will hire an experienced former GM in an advisory role. “There are lots of names that are being thrown out there,” Silverman said. “Some of the younger, more quantitative-focus guys, obviously. There are people that have communicated [their interest] directly and also through the press that may have more experience, and more traditional general managers. We’re going to look at all of them and see which ones make sense to bring in here.”
Speaking of GMs on the hot seat, what are the odds JP Ricciardi is still in charge in Toronto at this time next year? I say not very good because after winning 87(?) games in 2003, they haven’t made enough strides to further compete with Boston and the Yankees. Plus he’s already on his third manager. You can’t act like Billy Beane too long unless you start winning. Halladay’s injury hurt this year and they lost Delgado’s production to free agency but those can’t be excuses in 2006. And now that hockey is back, the Black Jays (doesn’t look like they wear blue anymore) will become even less relevant unless they get off to an an amazing start next year. On a selfish note, I do hope former Mets backup catcher John Gibbons can lead the turnaround before Ricciardi whacks him to save his own hide.
If anyone cares, I heard today that Theo Epstein’s contract runs out the last day of this month.
jason
I think Theo’s job is pretty damn secure.
Will any of these owners consider a guy who has played the game and been in the trenches and understand about chemistry and what goes on inside the clubhouse are will they all be these snotnosed smart kids from the ivy league?I say hire a old player that is smart and give him a brainy assistent who can do the paper work and know all the rules it seems to work in oakland.
Cashman’s contract is up October 31. He looks like a good candidate to take over in Philadelphia.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/11/sports/baseball/11pins.html (reg probably required) speculates, “Stottlemyre May Wind Up in Seattle Next Season.”
I was thinking more “fired” than “leave for other job” but yeah, Cashman puts up with so much crap from Steinbrenner if he left to prove that he can win without George’s payroll and work in a healthier environment, I don’t know anyone that would blame him.
Grady Fuson, btw, is in San Diego where the Padres are inventing a new super-powerful player development position for him to occupy (they may have done it by now, now that I think about it). While he might leave for a GM position eventually, it’s unlikely he’s going to leave San Diego soon after what they’ve done for him.
Fuson’s been officially given almost total control of their player development now.
PIrates hire yet another retread in Jim Tracy. Bleah.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AmvqVbjH7qX5dIxe0biqEqE5nYcB?slug=ap-pirates-tracy&prov=ap&type=lgns
Article mentioning Bavasi’s possible ouster (and a quote from USS Mariner, too, regarding Lincoln). Go half-way down…:
http://www.bootlegsports.com/cgi-bin/bs4_content.cgi?id=4538
Speaking of the Phils and Ryan Howard, lots of rumors floating around some philly boards that a Thome + David Bell for Beltre trade is in the works. As a Phillies fan, I’m still deciding on this one. Any corroboration from any sources in Seattle?
That’s why you don’t read message boards. What a joke.
Regardless of the source, which is really all you need to know on that rumor, the Mariners are in no hurry to get rid of Beltre. Even in a bad year, he was just slightly overpaid. This is a great contract for the team.
And Thome is just an awful contract. The Phils will be lucky if they get a major leaguers in return for Thome, unless it’s one who’s similarly horribly overpaid.
Thome and Bell for Beltre. Huh. Not unless you throw in Mike Schmidt, Dick Allen, and Nap Lajoie.
Dave said: “Fuson’s been officially given almost total control of their player development now.”
I wonder if that is where the “Towers out?” rumors come from….