Top GM In baseball

[OregonDuck1989]

He sucks.

[haveacigar]

I'm still waiting for TNP to come back and tell me what money DD spent on Kyle Farnsworth. Because I'm pretty sure the Tigers have never actually signed him to a contract.

[OregonDuck1989]

I'm still waiting for TNP to come back and tell me what money DD spent on Kyle Farnsworth. Because I'm pretty sure the Tigers have never actually signed him to a contract.

Maybe he meant this Farnsworth

[200tang]

I'm still waiting for TNP to come back and tell me what money DD spent on Kyle Farnsworth. Because I'm pretty sure the Tigers have never actually signed him to a contract.

TNP is insane.

[dickay]

I'm still waiting for TNP to come back and tell me what money DD spent on Kyle Farnsworth. Because I'm pretty sure the Tigers have never actually signed him to a contract.

agree...and the knocking of Willis is kind of unjust since he came along with a little bat named Miguel Cabrera.

[HoustonGM]

agree...and the knocking of Willis is kind of unjust since he came along with a little bat named Miguel Cabrera.

The knock isn't because he acquired Willis. The knock is because he signed him to a lucrative 3 year extension, which was after he was acquired. I criticized that deal at the time because Willis's peripherals were all trending downward and he had a heavy workload (and I believe I was criticized for my criticism lol).

The Tigers have a bunch of very expensive, wasted contracts on their books - Bonderman, Robertson, Willis. Dombrowski isn't a terrible GM but he also has a few big mistakes to his name. TNP was wrong on Farnsworth, but he was right on Renteria and Willis.

[dickay]

The knock isn't because he acquired Willis. The knock is because he signed him to a lucrative 3 year extension, which was after he was acquired. I criticized that deal at the time because Willis's peripherals were all trending downward and he had a heavy workload (and I believe I was criticized for my criticism lol).

The Tigers have a bunch of very expensive, wasted contracts on their books - Bonderman, Robertson, Willis. Dombrowski isn't a terrible GM but he also has a few big mistakes to his name. TNP was wrong on Farnsworth, but he was right on Renteria and Willis.

Which comes with long term tenure. He also has two WS titles, three appearances and a long long history of being one of the best eyes for young talent, drafting/developing.

I'm not trying to get into a serious debate on this because its a subjective poll of course. I'm just trying to be a bit loud because I think many voting aren't aware of his accomplishments. I say that because I people not being aware of his long term accomplishments is the only thing that makes sense with him getting so few votes in this poll IMO. I suppose if the poll asked "who's the best GM over the past 5 years"....but it didn't.

A guy like Friedman who has had one real good season, taken few chances and got burned on two he did (burrell & jackson) and has many of his talent from the prior regime just doesn't equate to a higher ranking for me.

[HoustonGM]

A guy like Friedman who has had one real good season, taken few chances and got burned on two he did (burrell & jackson) and has many of his talent from the prior regime just doesn't equate to a higher ranking for me.

I don't think you're too familiar with Friedman's resume.

Carlos Pena, Ben Zobrist, Jason Bartlett/Matt Garza, good chunks of the Rays bullpen (Balfour, Howell, Choate)...all guys picked up either on the cheap or in shrewd trades....plus, he's built one of the strongest and deepest farm systems in the game.

I evaluate GM's through a mixture of their team's success and their overall body of work. I don't think you need on-field success to know if someone's a good GM. Friedman and Zdurencik are both easily amongst the best in the game imo. Dombrowski is very good, too, not denying that.

I suppose if the poll asked "who's the best GM over the past 5 years"....but it didn't.

It also didn't ask "Who's the best GM over the last 15 years?" It's just simply...who's the best GM. I don't think you need a long history to evaluate the newer GM's.

[200tang]

Tigers payroll for 2010

Ordonez - 18M w/ 15M vesting option for 2011
Guillen - 10M
Bonderman - 12.5M
Willis - 12M
Robertson - 10M

The Bonderman & Guillen one weren't terrible at the time, but he's basically paying 62.5M to 2 laughable pitchers, an okay DH, a pitcher who's in desperate need of a bounceback and an old OF who they'll try their best to keep from vesting his option.

He's a good GM, but he clearly fell in love with his core in Florida and signed them long term without really thinking about it.


It also doesn't strike you as odd that you're the only person who's voted for him? Either everyone else is dumb or you're the smartest person on the forums. Hint : You're not the smartest person on the forums.

[HoustonGM]

Oh, and I should also mention that Friedman signed Evan Longoria to what is perhaps the most team-friendly long-term contract in the history of the game.

[200tang]

Oh, and I should also mention that Friedman signed Evan Longoria to what is perhaps the most team-friendly long-term contract in the history of the game.

It should also be mentioned that his AAA team is almost better than the Kansas City Royals (sorry KK).

[etothep]

Hint : You're not the smartest person on the forums.

Yeh, sorry dickay, I already called that title

[haveacigar]

As a Tigers fan who pays a lot of attention to this sort of thing, and someone who constantly defends DD, I think tang and HGM are pretty much right on this thing. I think Friedman, Zduriencik, and Epstein are essentially 1a, 1b, 1c in baseball. In Friedman's case, his tenure was completely spotless until the Matt Joyce/Edwin Jackson trade.

DD is pretty good, and I like that he has been willing to change his approach when he realized it wasn't working, but there's a good 2 year stretch where he just didn't make good decisions and just got greedy. The Willis and Robertson signings were completely pointless considering they were guys still under team control. I thought trading for Renteria was a good idea at the time, but I cringed when he traded Jurrjens.

Most of his other signings (Bonderman, Sheffield, Guillen) were more bad luck than anything. Sheffield was playing great and then he collided in the field and tore his labrum. Bonderman had to have a rib removed. Hard to see those things coming.

[OregonDuck1989]

Can I rep Dan O'Dowd? I'm gonna rep Daniel. So listen, I wouldn't consider him a great GM, but he's not even close to bad. Top half.

He told the fans in Colorado to be patient. This team would make it's move. It was difficult sometimes when the team was awful. But in 2006 they finished strong and then in 2007 magic happened. Then, 2008 happened and I think if it was repeated Dan might have lost his job. The players he developed weren't performing.

But 2009 happened and look at this he drafted Tulo, Francis, Cook, Ianetta, Stewart, Smith, Fowler, Hawpe, Barmes, Jimenez. That's 5 or 6 of your opening day starters. He traded for CarGo, Street. Kept the best Rockie ever Helton around. Created a lucky team in 2007, but an actually very good team in 2009. In 2010, the team can make noise and I think they could win the division. Dan O'Dowd is an outstanding youth development GM and with the constraints the Monforts put on him I think he's done a damn fine job.

[HoustonGM]

O'Dowd certainly has done a good job constructing this Rockies team.