Hiring a new GM today — if he’s the right one, of course — wouldn’t just impact a deal or two this summer, or the next draft; it would set us up for a good future. The longer we go with management pointing the club off target, the further away we get. And management today IS off target; we’re doing better in some things than the old regime, like drafting, but we’re still doing a ton of things wrong. We’re still evaluating players wildly inaccurately, for one thing. If a new caretaker GM can at least avoid doing more Vidro deals in the next nine months, that’s a plus right there.

Yeah, but with a caretaker GM, changes WON’T be done–it’ll be business as usual. That’s just part and parcel of being a caretaker—you don’t do major shifts in the way you go about business. And, as we point out, the organization needs some significant changes in the way they do business in a number of areas.

Bavasi wasn’t a scouting director with the Dodgers. He was the farm director. There’s a big difference.

While the Dodgers had nothing bad to say about Bavasi in that role, the man has never excelled at any baseball job the way Logan White has as the Dodgers’ scouting director.

I’m not necessarily saying the Ms should rush out to hire him as soon as the job opens up, but if Bavasi’s firing doesn’t trigger an organizational overhaul, White might be the best option of those candidates most likely to appeal to the front office.

I’m certainly not an expert, but I’m quite sure there’s a lot more to being a GM besides sitting with your feet on the desk, smoking a big cigar, and pulling the trigger on big deals. A GM has to build an organization; the drafts and the deals don’t mean anything unless they’re part of a bigger framework. He’s got to gain an understanding of what players he has, at all levels, what coaching he has, at all levels, what other tools like scouting he has, and then mold those into something he can lead.

Hiring a new GM today — if he’s the right one, of course — wouldn’t just impact a deal or two this summer, or the next draft; it would set us up for a good future. The longer we go with management pointing the club off target, the further away we get. And management today IS off target; we’re doing better in some things than the old regime, like drafting, but we’re still doing a ton of things wrong. We’re still evaluating players wildly inaccurately, for one thing. If a new caretaker GM can at least avoid doing more Vidro deals in the next nine months, that’s a plus right there.

I do that all the time

Dave, what about Kim Ng? Worth a look?

Something tells me that the M’s aren’t the most likely team to break down that barrier and let a woman run the show.

But Seattle is the kind of town that could get behind it.

It’s like buying a car because just because it has insanely good handling. Sure, it can turn on a dime, take corners tighter than you’d ever imagine, and move with the fluidity of a ballerina, but what if it got 10 MPG? Or went 0-60 in 45 seconds?

Look for the whole package. Look at strengths and weaknesses. Antonetti may be the best candidate, but it’s not because he’s an incredible talent scout or great at finding budget talent. It’s because he can do both.

and I would not expect him to equate loyalty with voluntary unemployment.

A few years back, when the Blue Jays fired Buck Martinez, I know that at least one of his coaches resigned out of loyalty to Buck, so it happens.

But, honestly, I’m not sure he’s what this organization needs. He loves athletes, guys with huge amounts of potential, and isn’t afraid to take risks in order to land the guy he thinks could turn into a superstar.

His draft picks bear this out – Chad Billingsley, Matt Kemp, Jonathan Broxton, taking James Loney as a 1B when most teams had him as a LH pitcher, hard-sign Luke Hochevar, and Clayton Kershaw. These guys are all high ceiling guys that come with their fair share of downside. White believes in their tools, and he’s almost always been right.

But I’d suggest that this organization needs to stop gambling on people’s tools, and start evaluating major leaguers in an entirely different way. Logan White is cut from the same cloth, analytically, as Bill Bavasi. It’s probably a much finer type of linen, but it’s still the same scout-for-potential mindset that the organization has been using, and failing at, for most of their history.

I’m not totally against Logan White, and he might turn out to be a shrewd judge of major league talent… but his hiring would make me nervous.