Are there people on OH you feel could do a better job than AM or other members of the O's brass?

[OFFNY]

So nobody here could get hired to do the job ? Why even ask the question then ?

Not that I want to make a habit of taking up for EL GORDO, but he wasn't the one that asked the question in the first place. CHAOS LEX did.

[Stotle]

This is exactly what I mean by the politics of the job. You have to know people in the industry and be trusted by them to do the job. Do you feel your connections afford you that level of familiarity?

To be a GM? No way, haha. But I feel that if some of my connections hired me and vouched for me that I would have no issue stepping into a role for which I was qualified. I don't think I'd have any issues as an Area Scout. I don't have direct ties to Directors of Amateur Scouting, so I can't imagine I'd be much appreciated in a role like cross-checker or regional supervisor, since that's a position that a scouting director hand picks and works with closely. Any sort of special assistant position I'd have no issue with. Working in a pro scouting capacity would be more difficult, since a lot of those guys are old ball players and take the "did you play pro ball" question seriously.

[Satyr3206]

How many here are on good speaking terms with all the MLB GM's? How many here have PA confidence or could develop it quickly enough to be effective. How well can you do business with someone you've never met and who never heard of you. The job is more about the politics of baseball, than it is the ability to read scouting reports on line, or look up stats on fangraphs.

I would say very, very, few people have ever had PA's confidence. That's including most of the people on the planet. And I'm half Greek.

I have cold called on Business Owners a long time and if you can't do that find another line of work.

I'm not a stathead so that doesn't matter to me. Statistics lie.

Simple premise: Run your business better, neophytes could do as well.

[Sports Guy]

To be a GM? No way, haha. But I feel that if some of my connections hired me and vouched for me that I would have no issue stepping into a role for which I was qualified. I don't think I'd have any issues as an Area Scout. I don't have direct ties to Directors of Amateur Scouting, so I can't imagine I'd be much appreciated in a role like cross-checker or regional supervisor, since that's a position that a scouting director hand picks and works with closely. Any sort of special assistant position I'd have no issue with. Working in a pro scouting capacity would be more difficult, since a lot of those guys are old ball players and take the "did you play pro ball" question seriously.

Personally, I think you do a hell of a job scouting. Do you think that you could step into a cross checkers position right now and do well?

[El Gordo]

So nobody here could get hired to do the job? Why even ask the question then?

Of course no one could step in and do the job tomorrow. Andy McPhail would suck at my job if he started tomorrow. Regardless, the situation is an organization-wide failure. I would assign more blame on staff that has been here longer than 4 years.

Could a consortium of the OH's best and brightest (should jobs suddenly fall in their laps, and they magically attain a few years in the organization) be an integral part of an O's front office? And could that team beat the franchise's current average over the last 10+ years of 69 wins per season?

Of course. OBVIOUSLY they could. There's a very good chance they could do better than that.

Not so much because of the brilliance of Hangouters (though there's that), but because of the utter ineptitute of the organization over that time period.

Good point. I think it was a patently silly notion to begin with. What nobody seems to get is that restructering the organization isn't just a matter of having an idea of what should be done. You have to have the wherewithall to get it done. I would be surprised if AM didn't have a good idea of what needs to be done, but he is limited by money and bureaucratic dysfunctiomn from completing the task. The wanna be GM's here would have to confront the same intransigence without any clout at all.

[jjnono]

I think this is fairly silly and self-congratulatory thread. A friend of mine once noted, as I complained of not getting some writing gig or another, "you know, if you really wanted a porsche, you'd have one." His direct point to me was I needed to work harder. But the larger and applicable point here being that if any one of us really wanted to be a GM, we'd have undertaken the research to determine what educational qualifications would get us there and pursued those degrees, would have worked the relationship angle to work for a ball club in whatever capacity we could, would have gone out of our way to make ourselves known to the management of that ball club, would have studied ad nauseum all the necessary statistical relevance of major leaguers and minor leaguers, in short would have spent the early part of our lives doing everything we possibly could have to put us in a situation to one day become a MLB GM. But unless any one of us is in fact a General Manager, none of us have done that.

No doubt there are many intelligent people on the hangout, some of whom display an impressive understanding of the game (and many who seem to have a dazzling grasp of statistical wizardry but who at the same time seem to have little knowledge of how the game is actually played - these are two related but very different concepts), and a tiny few that I would think might have a shot at some entry level management position. But for any of us to say, "yeah, I/we can do that!" is not only vainglorious, but proved false by the very simply fact that none of us have done it.

For what it's worth, about the only things I'm qualified to trade are baseball cards.

[Satyr3206]

I think this is fairly silly and self-congratulatory thread. A friend of mine once noted, as I complained of not getting some writing gig or another, "you know, if you really wanted a porsche, you'd have one." His direct point to me was I needed to work harder. But the larger and applicable point here being that if any one of us really wanted to be a GM, we'd have undertaken the research to determine what educational qualifications would get us there and pursued those degrees, would have worked the relationship angle to work for a ball club in whatever capacity we could, would have gone out of our way to make ourselves known to the management of that ball club, would have studied ad nauseum all the necessary statistical relevance of major leaguers and minor leaguers, in short would have spent the early part of our lives doing everything we possibly could have to put us in a situation to one day become a MLB GM. But unless any one of us is in fact a General Manager, none of us have done that.

No doubt there are many intelligent people on the hangout, some of whom display an impressive understanding of the game (and many who seem to have a dazzling grasp of statistical wizardry but who at the same time seem to have little knowledge of how the game is actually played - these are two related but very different concepts), and a tiny few that I would think might have a shot at some entry level management position. But for any of us to say, "yeah, I/we can do that!" is not only vainglorious, but proved false by the very simply fact that none of us have done it.

For what it's worth, about the only things I'm qualified to trade are baseball cards.

There's a Degree to further GM aspirations? Which one? j/k btw

[CA-ORIOLE]

"The job is more about the politics of baseball, than it is the ability to read scouting reports on line, or look up stats on fangraphs."

I disagree and I actually think that's probably what AM thinks. There are sharp young men and women in this world accomplishing amazing things in many industries.

Hoyer/Theo versus AM is a classic example of old versus new. Neither had any amnazing backgrounds. My previous post of AM not knowing what UZR even means and Theo hiring Bill James to develop a proprietary fielding system is a classic example.

In reality there probably would need to be some sort apprenticeship. I get that. That being said, the question is "hypothetical" and your point that the job is impossible/obstructed by political roadblocks rather than an opportunity for sound decision making just doesn't fly.

[Stotle]

Personally, I think you do a hell of a job scouting. Do you think that you could step into a cross checkers position right now and do well?

Thanks very much. Unfortunatle,y no I don't think I'm anywhere near qualified to assist a scouting director as a cross-checker. I have learned a lot in my first year working with an organization, but I don't have the experience to serve in that capacity. I mean, I don't think I'd look like an idiot or anything, but man some of the guys that have been doing this for a while are so impressive. It's not just knowing what to look for, it's accumulating a store of mental images of kids you've liked/disliked and how they turn out. Now, if you allow me to follow around a cross-checker or a scouting director for two years I'm cocky enough () to think I could learn enough to do a solid job as a X-checker, or at least a special assistant.

I would be pretty comfortable serving as an Area Scout, though I'd have a lot of learning to do on the administrative side. Primarily, making the connections with all the coaches of HS/college/JuCo/travel teams in my region (which for my organization is eight MW states), getting a feel for the hot and cold pockets in the region and simple stuff like being able to set a schedule where I can make sure I hit everyone I need to, in the summer fall and spring. I've also never had to personally sell a player to a regional supervisor or scouting director, and I've never had to go into a player's home and try to pull out personality/signability info solely by speakign with the family. The scouting side I think I could handle, but I need at least another year of experience observing how the whole system works before feeling really comfortable that I could step in seamlessly.

Right now my gig is easy. I am focused on a particular pair of states, and the writing/scouting work I do outside of my ML obligations focuses on the top kids in the draft, which I can see at large events, for the most part. At the Area Scout level you have to not only grade out the kids everyone knows about, you need to try and spot the kids that are about to turn into kids everyone knows about. We drafted one this year that both I and my Area Scout think can be that kind of player, but we probably won't have a clear enough picture by the end of the summer to sign him away from school.

[olehippi]

The sound of egos bouncing off the walls in this room is thunderous.

[foxfield]

I do not know anything about him, so this statement is a general statement but baseball, in a lot of ways, is about who you know, not what you know.

And the Orioles are a perfect example of that. I saw it first hand with promotions just at peon level.

I have seen this before...but for those of us who have not been here as long...what exactly did you do for the O's?

Thanks

[Bradysburns]

This can of worms was opened in another thread, so I just had to ask it here.

I do believe there are people on this board who have better baseball sense than AM. He seems lost in a maze of knowledge and presuppositions. If someone like (insert great OH poster here) were to stroll into the Warehouse tomorrow and sit at AM's desk... he could thrive. You use your technical guys around you for rules, knowledge and financial knowledge and expertise. And you ask a lot of questions, and you make decisions. Of course, this is a hypothetical. The difficulty in actually doing this would come from the lack of relationships with your fellow executives, agents and players... You need those, and some trust, to pull off deals.

[Bradysburns]

They wouldn't get tthe opportunity, and there is a good reason fore that. They don't have the qualifications.

I think you're taking the hypothetical too far, perhaps? What I took away was this question: Do you think anyone on this board could make better decisions as GM than AM has made? Forget all the practical questions - of course nobody here could stroll in and start running the team tomorrow. "Hey, uh, you? Where's the bathroom again?" The point, I thought, was to compare the baseball smarts of people on the board with AM's. That's why I voted yes.

[section18]

Some on OH may be overqualified for the GM'S job. The job is not as hard as some on here would lead you to believe. The GM has plenty of assistants that give him updates on a regular basis. If you have capable assistants you can do your job successfully. If you don't you replace them. That is Problem #1 with the organization. Knowing GM'S from other teams may not be an asset. If you have players another team wants in a trade the other team will contact you or one of your assistants and you will contact the other team if you have interest in their players. This is part of the problem. The other teams and agents know how long it takes to get an okay on a deal with the Orioles and this may not be PA's fault. AM is not the speediest guy when it comes to making decisions. Can you motivate people? It's not about being the sharpest guy in the toolshed. AM has plenty of experience. We all agree to this fact. How do you grade his results? A, B, C, D, E ? If it's a C or less he doesn't have the right assistants. Do you need a Management degree? Do you need a degree in Finance? Do you need a degree in Psychology? Do you have to be a former player? The answer is no but it would help if you had one of those degrees. Would it help if you played baseball and followed the game closely since you were a child? Yes! There are some on here that can work side by side with the type of people I just described and some cannot. There are leaders and there are followers. GM'S need to be leaders. How about the heads of different departments? How about the scouts? They need to be leaders as well. Consider the leader qualification. When you listen to interviews with our department heads and FO personnel do you hear leader or follower type personalities? Not everyone can be a leader and that's okay. We have too many follower types working for the organization in my opinion. As we continue to suffer through another losing season it's time for a change and thorough evaluation of the Orioles organization.

Andy's Bio - Andy MacPhail (born April 5, 1953) is the president of baseball operations for the Baltimore Orioles. He was the president/CEO of the National League Chicago Cubs from September 9, 1994 until Oct. 1, 2006. He won two World Series championships as general manager of the Minnesota Twins (1987, 1991). In June 2007, he was hired as the President of Baseball Operations of the Baltimore Orioles by owner Peter Angelos.[1] Andy MacPhail graduated with a degree in American Studies from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA.[2]

[SrMeowMeow]

I think you're taking the hypothetical too far, perhaps? What I took away was this question: Do you think anyone on this board could make better decisions as GM than AM has made? Forget all the practical questions - of course nobody here could stroll in and start running the team tomorrow. "Hey, uh, you? Where's the bathroom again?" The point, I thought, was to compare the baseball smarts of people on the board with AM's. That's why I voted yes.

Exactly. But pedants will be pedantic.