I want a younger GM

[24fps]

As for the GM, I want somebody that knows how to build a winner and is willing to be aggressive in doing so in what ever method they choose.

Age doesn't matter.

Exactly right.

[DrungoHazewood]

Pretty bizarre...younger? what does age have to do with it? I'd rather have competent but I digress

Running a baseball team has changed pretty dramatically in the last 20-30 years. People who were raised on and learned the system from the powers-that-were 30 years ago (who were in turn tutored by the guys from the 1950s and 60s), are much more likely to hold on to outmoded ideas and ways of doing business. I think this is more true in baseball than a lot of other businesses because of the emphasis baseball places on tradition.

I'll take any proactive, innovative GM, I just think it's far more likely to find one of those who is younger.

[scOtt]

And they are directly connected to age how?

Not to speak for Pedro... I think younger implies more active, faster, more in tune with new stats and such, more in tune with texting, twitter, the whole electronic gadgetry thang.

Like was said, anyone could fit those things.

[24fps]

Running a baseball team has changed pretty dramatically in the last 20-30 years. People who were raised on and learned the system from the powers-that-were 30 years ago (who were in turn tutored by the guys from the 1950s and 60s), are much more likely to hold on to outmoded ideas and ways of doing business. I think this is more true in baseball than a lot of other businesses because of the emphasis baseball places on tradition.

I'll take any proactive, innovative GM, I just think it's far more likely to find one of those who is younger.

I think you should leave it at that. The bias implicit in the remainder of your sentence becomes self-justifying very quickly. I see this every day in my line of work.

[El Gordo]

Apologies to our "older" members here but I sure am sick and tired of having older GMs that don't seem to be adapting to the new age of baseball. Ever since Sid Thrift I feel like our GMs have either been young and stupid or old and slow (or some even more lethal combination).

I'm sick of the slooooooooooow MacPhail waiting and waiting and waiti....zzzzzzz

WAKE UP! Give me a Theo Epstein or an Andrew Friedman or an Alex Anthopolous.

Give me someone that is young and energetic with a plan and has the ambition and drive to get it done.

I'd be delighted with such old fogies as Schuerholz or Gillick. You wont get a young GM until you get a younger owner.

[Burg]

Peter.

Angelos.

Until that changes, the GM is simply irrelevant. In fact, until that changes, I see no reason to get angry or excited about this team. We will continue to suck so why get upset?

[Pedro Cerrano]

I think you should leave it at that. The bias implicit in the remainder of your sentence becomes self-justifying very quickly. I see this every day in my line of work.

If you owned a $150,000 car would you rather have a 35-year-old or a 75-year-old drive it?

P.S. What is your line of work?

[Pedro Cerrano]

Not to speak for Pedro... I think younger implies more active, faster, more in tune with new stats and such, more in tune with texting, twitter, the whole electronic gadgetry thang.

Like was said, anyone could fit those things.

This is a large part of it. And you can speak for me anytime, ScOtt.

[ShaneDawg85]

Such a thing will not happen with Peter Angelos as owner.

[BaltimoreTerp]

If you owned a $150,000 car would you rather have a 35-year-old or a 75-year-old drive it?

Is it a 75-year-old Mario Andretti or AJ Foyt or Richard Petty versus a 35-year-old with a DUI and poor eyesight?

[SouthRider]

I want a younger owner.

[Satyr3206]

I want a younger wife.

[24fps]

If you owned a $150,000 car would you rather have a 35-year-old or a 75-year-old drive it?

P.S. What is your line of work?

What on Earth does your question about cars have to do with the subject at hand?

I'm in the television and motion picture post-production business in LA, and I regularly see a lot of solid 50 & 60 year old pros getting clobbered by age discrimination. The people I'm referring to - the ones who are relevant to this conversation - are every bit as energetic and facile with software and technology as people half their age, in many cases more so because of the lessons of experience. They've changed professional paradigms not once, but twice - from film to linear videotape and finally to computer-based post that requires a good 10 hours a week of continuing education for the freelancers. Adaptability is a learned skill - not a function of age, but of intelligence and these people have it in spades.

Are there parallels to this example in the MLB executive suites? Of course there are, because ill-informed stereotyping, be it about race, or gender or age applies equally to all aspects of life. The history of baseball has a wonderful cautionary tale about the pitfalls of the road you wish to travel.

Just Google "Al Campanis" and "Nightline" and substitute ageism for racism and see if this is a philosophy you really want to be associated with.

[Pedro Cerrano]

What on Earth does your question about cars have to do with the subject at hand?

I'm in the television and motion picture post-production business in LA, and I regularly see a lot of solid 50 & 60 year old pros getting clobbered by age discrimination. The people I'm referring to - the ones who are relevant to this conversation - are every bit as energetic and facile with software and technology as people half their age, in many cases more so because of the lessons of experience. They've changed professional paradigms not once, but twice - from film to linear videotape and finally to computer-based post that requires a good 10 hours a week of continuing education for the freelancers. Adaptability is a learned skill - not a function of age, but of intelligence and these people have it in spades.

Are there parallels to this example in the MLB executive suites? Of course there are, because ill-informed stereotyping, be it about race, or gender or age applies equally to all aspects of life. The history of baseball has a wonderful cautionary tale about the pitfalls of the road you wish to travel.

Just Google "Al Campanis" and "Nightline" and substitute ageism for racism and see if this is a philosophy you really want to be associated with.

I almost didn't start this thread because I knew a holier than thou would jump down my throat. Congrats.

Look, this is all very simple. Much simpler than you're making it out to be. The characteristics in a GM that I want I've already described earlier. Those characteristics, in my view, are more commonly found in a younger generation of the current crop of GMs. Whether you agree with that or not is fine -- I don't really care either way.

And if you think "ageism" and "racism" are on equal levels you should probably have your head examined. Everyone ages. Not everyone is black.

[Sports Guy]

There is one older GM I would be in favor of...John Shuerholz.

Other than that, give me the younger GM...They are just more advanced at this point in the way things work now than the older GMs.