Model Franchise/best GM

[NievesNoNO]

With some of the criticisms of Doug Melvin, I got to thinking of who I'd rather have as a GM. Since I don't know a whole lot about individual GM's I turned my thinking to what franchises I think have it figured out.

 

1. Red Sox -They win, they develop their own talent, they have hit on key free agents. What's not to like.

2. Twins -The most underrated franchise in baseball in my opinion. They seem to be in contention every year with a limited budget.

3. Cardinals -They seem to be in contention every year with a different group of players. Seem to do a lot of little things well on the field.

4. Angels -Good owner, good manager, good group of young talent and solid FA signings.

5. Marlins -They do have 2 championships with probably the worst economic situation in all of baseball. I would hate to be a fan though with basically their entire roster turned over every 3-4 years.

6. Yankees - I despise them, but wins are still the bottom line so I have to respect them.

 

I think the Brewers fall somewhere in the top ten right now. I like Melvin as a GM and Attanasio is a blessing as an owner. Now just some consistent results would be nice.

Feel free to take the GM or franchise route on this one. Some of you probably have more insight on the GMs than I do.

[cwolf2012]

I could GM the Yankees to the playoffs. They are a model money franchise. If you have it, spend it, I guess.

 

Red Sox are the Yankees light. Epstein is a good GM, but he's blessed with a large payroll too. It's hard to screw it up (unless you're the Mets).

 

Twins/As/Cardinals/Marlins: Good GMs lead these teams. As much as the A's have sucked the last couple seasons, I still would take Beane in an instant as my GM. Same goes for the Marlins. I think if the Marlins could field an 80 mil payroll, they would make the playoffs every season.

[pingman]

I like the Twins & Marlins.....they squeeze a lot from their budget, know how to scout and acquire other teams young talent, and develop their own draft choices...also, the kids they promote from their farm system are generally fundamentally sound & know how to play the game

[DougJones43]

The Yankees are not at all a model franchise, IMO. They missed the playoffs last year, and finished 3rd in their division -- all with a $209M payroll, which was over $70M more than the next closest team. To get those results with that kind of advantage is embarassing.

 

I envy the Twins quite a bit. Imagine if they had the stadium, attendance, and payroll resources that Melvin has.

[Oldcity]

I also have to say the Twins. They really screwed up their recent trades though. Garza/Bartlett for Young/Harris was an abomination, and trading Santana for a bag of crap was just as bad.

[NievesNoNO]

After further deliberation maybe I'd give the 6 spot to the Phillies. They've put a lot of talent on the field recently and most of it is home grown. It is very difficult to compare the Yankess to almost any team considering the difference in payroll.

[NievesNoNO]

Stevo[/b]]I also have to say the Twins. They really screwed up their recent trades though. Garza/Bartlett for Young/Harris was an abomination, and trading Santana for a bag of crap was just as bad.

Those are definitely two forgettable deals. It will be interesting if they can maintain their success without Terry Ryan as GM. Neither of those deals were made by him were they? The best pitcher in baseball should've brought more back.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

I'd give the Red Sox more credit than that cwolf. Plenty of big money franchises haven't completely capitalized on their pocket books. Not just the Mets...look at the Cubs, Orioles and Dodgers. Certainly there's been some playoff appearances in there, but nothing like the Sox. Not only have the Red Sox been able to acquire the high priced talent, they have done a much better job of bringing up home grown players, a credit to their farm system.

[Oldcity]

Terry Ryan wasn't GM, but I'm almost certain he was in an advisory role with the team when they were made.

[Never Outhustled]

The Twins are falling apart without Tery Ryan. Their farm system is getting weak in a hurry, and their big league club is getting expensive. The Phillies are ultra-imprssive.

[joepepsi]

I don't think the Twins are any better off than the Brewers. They have done well at developing their own talent, both marquee hitters and quality pitching, but they never try too hard to get much above average. Their division has been competitive the last couple seasons, but hardly strong. If Toronto and Minnesota switched divisions I suspect their w/l records would change accordingly. I like the Twins but they have drawn 800,000 fewer fans than the Brewers this year. I think in part this is because fans know they will seldom make a big move to get them to the top of the division. They prefer build a competitive but not championship team, then hope for luck and their weak division to help them to the top.

 

The Braves, Cardinals, and Phillies seem like good stable, well run organizations in the NL these days.

 

The Red Sox deserve a lot of credit in the AL. Yeah, they have a lot of money, but Theo has switched the emphasis in the last couple years to the farm system, defense, pitching. Their 2009 payroll is $12 million less than last year, $20+ million less than 2007. Their winning pct is pretty constant these past 3 years. The Angels are also well run and committed to winning. I have admired the A's in recent years, but they have been floundering the last 3 seasons. (Ever since Ken Macha left!)

[Invader3K]

The other problem with the Twins is that while they seem to be competitive every year, they play in a somewhat average or even weak division where it's not that tough to be "competitive". Also, while they occasionally make the playoffs, they haven't been to a World Series in many years. It seems like they never have the capability to make one big move to get them "over the hump."

 

I'd have to give the nod to Theo Epstein as the best GM in baseball currently. Multiple playoff appearances and two World Series Championships this decade. Like others mentioned, they have the cash to pay big free agents, but also have a loaded farm system...a pretty potent combination.

 

I would also mention Kenny Williams of the White Sox. I kind of like how he does things. He is aggressive and has shown he's willing to take risks, though sometimes too much. The White Sox are usually in the thick of things each year, and again have had multiple playoff appearances this decade, as well as a World Series Championship. They also don't seem shy about cutting ties with older players when the time is right, or making a deal to better the club for a playoff run.

[joepepsi]

I think the Twins are such penny pinchers they don't really care about making the World Series. They want to appear just good enough to be competitive, but don't seem too interested in "going for it" on any given year. In 2006 they looked like the best team in baseball in the summer, thanks to Cy Young type performances from Santana and Liriano, along with solid innings from Radke. When Liriano got injured in late July they stood pat and didn't make the push to get another starter. I think sometimes you have to go for it, like the Brewers did with CC. The Twins don't seem to believe that.

[nate82]

The biggest wart the Twins have had is not going for it when they should have been going for it. As others have pointed out their GM was hesitant on trading away their young talent when they had a legitimate shot at the World Series. I'm not sure we should be modeling ourselves after the Twins or the Marlins. The White Sox and even the Dodgers are good models to follow.

 

I don't believe the Twins would ever make a big trade like the Brewers did last year with Sabathia. I just don't see them parting with their young talent unless it is for young talent. That is the biggest wart the Twins have/had.

[paul253]

My vote is for St. Louis. Boston is right up there, but they're payroll and financial flexibility certainly helps. The big difference between Boston and a team like, say, Milwaukee, is money. The reason I say that is because while Milwaukee drafts and develops guys like Braun, Sheets, Fielder, and Gallardo, they don't have the money to keep them all. If the Brewers could afford to resign Fielder and Gallardo like they did with Braun, they'd look a lot better than they no doubt will when they are forced to trade Fielder. If Sheets didn't get hurt, and the Brewers could have re-signed him, they would probably be in wild card contention again this year. With Sheets and Gallardo heading the rotation for another 3 or so years and a lineup built around Braun and Fielder for another 5, it's a lot easier to make your organization succeed.

 

Anyway, my point is St Louis seems to do a lot more with a lot less than Boston does. Boston also has the east coast advantage and gets a lot more national exposure, which certainly doesn't hurt.

[BrewersSuperCollector]

The model franchise has to be the St. Louis Cardinals. They get 2.9 -3.4 million in attendance every year. They do this in one of the smaller markets.

[JJHardy7]

This might be a stupid question...but does anyone know/or where to find some sort of splits in regard to home grown talent vs. free agents/trades? I guess without knowing this I still have to give the Red Sox some credit. I don't know if I'd put them number 1, but they do have a lot of home grown guys and/or players that they traded for using minor league guys (Beckett, Ortiz, etc). It does cost more to maintain some of these guys, but they've had the minor league depth to make deals like that. I don't know if it's fair or reasonable to use that model in Milwaukee though.

[Invader3K]

The model franchise has to be the St. Louis Cardinals. They get 2.9 -3.4 million in attendance every year. They do this in one of the smaller markets.

Don Walker has a new article out that points out that while Milwaukee gets compared to St. Louis a lot, Milwaukee is the 35th largest TV market while St. Louis is 21st...so they are quite a bit bigger and not as small as some would make them out to be. They also have a huge regional fan base due to being the only team out "west" for years and years, and huge exposure on their old AM flagship station (KMOX, I think).

[BrewCrewForever]

I believe Epstein and the Red Sox are the model GM/franchise. Yes they have money and can spend, but they spend smart. Unlike a lot of the Yankees spending. Also they develop players and don't trade all of their prospects. And when they do trade them the trades usually work out well. Two World Series titles the last five years also helps.

[Invader3K]

Plus the fact that, like the Cardinals, they also have a huge regional fan base. The real coup for Boston is also having an unofficial national TV network on ESPN...

[rluzinski]

We need a graph of team payroll vs winning%, so people appreciate just how much cold hard cash plays into the equation.

[logan82]

That is over in the competitive balance thread.

[Tbadder]

I think the Twins are the model for the Brewers, and the best at getting what they can from near hopeless circumstances. They have a model. It works, and they don't deviate from it. No model is going to work every year, but the twinkies have had enough World Series Championships where they don't have to apologize to anyone. Their real strength is not going out and making CC-type trades. That trade if you recall didn't work. And as exciting as it was, and as much as it did help last year, the Brewers would be in a better position now, and in the future, with the young players it jettisoned. it would be nice if teams could "go for it", but I don't think that: 1) it's a guarantee, and 2) is in the best interests of the team long term. The best trades are like the Jow Nathan trade. Small market teams need to search out long term solutions. And the pipeline of young players cannot stop under any circumstances.

[Invader3K]

The CC Sabathia trade absolutely did work. It ended an embarrassing 26 year playoff drought. Nothing will ever make me (and I would guess the vast majority of Brewers fans) think otherwise about that trade. It was the right move at the time. I guess some would be content about talking about a 28 year playoff drought next year. I would be furious as a fan, personally.

 

As far as the Twins "have had enough World Series Championships," they have a grand total of two. The last in 1991. I don't think their fans these days are probably ecstatic about that. That said, I do agree the Brewers are probably forced to follow their "model" as closely as possible. I just think doing that relegates your team to probably never being truly great.

[Tbadder]

The CC trade absolutely didn't work. We didn't win the World Series. Just a difference in expectations I guess. Cool.