MLB Managers

Quote:

Originally Posted by 200tang

You think a GM has a small affect on a club even though they are the decision makers and have a hand in bringing in every player regardless of if it's coming through the draft/ trade/ or free agency?

Go look at Kansas some time. Dayton Moore has had a huge affect on that team.

And I would suggest that Dayton Moore is the definition of a below-replacement level GM. The distinction isn't between Billy Beane (or your other favorite GM of the day) and Dayton Moore. It is between Billy Beane and the guy that the A's would hire if Beane were no longer there. And that isn't Dayton Moore. The only real question in Kansas City is why Dayton Moore still has a job.

As with managers, I would argue that the distance between the top and the replacement level is not that big, but that teams stick with managers and GM's that are far below replacement level for too long. As an example, how big is the difference between Beane and a guy like Alex Anthopolous in Toronto, or Jack Zduriencik in Seattle. Both those guys were available as GM's (Zduriencik as of a little over a year ago, Anthopolous maybe a few months ago), so they were essentially the replacement level. I'm not sure who it is now, but I'm sure there is somebody out there that is not currently a GM, that would take the job and not do significantly worse than Beane. That is the alternative, and that is why Beane doesn't make a ton of money.