Takin' the Good with the Bad - 1

SSI has tentatively pegged Jack Zduriencik as one of the best GM's in baseball.

This is not because SSI views Jack Zduriencik's IQ as >140 and other GMs' IQ's as

Dr. D has been many sordid and unflattering places in his 47-odd years, and among the seamiest of those places have been the halls of Fortune 500 corporate America, as a consultant / assistant / gofer / whipping boy of executives from level 2 up to level 5.

Believe him, when he tells you, there is no such thing as a dumb executive.  Not when you are talking about u-p-p-e-r management in a large company. 

Dr. D has seen really brain-challenged first-level supervisors, and a few disappointing second-level senior managers.   But when you are talking about a 3rd-level director in a large American firm, you are talking about guys who have already hit 320/450/600 as senior managers running large budgets.  It's like saying that  there are MLB players who aren't good athletes.  The selection process forbids that occurrence.

Maybe it would be a few months sitting in a few corner offices to get a feel for it.  ALL of these guys are extremely sharp, and ALL of them are intimidating.  

The idea that Bill Bavasi, or Jim Bowden, or Pat Gillick, or Sarah Palin running the government of Alaska, or Joe Biden dominating his Senate spheres of influence, or Hillary Clinton, or Christine Gregoire, or Chuck Armstrong, or Howard Lincoln, the idea that any of those people could be mediocre intellects, is incredibly naive.  That is not what you see, once you get inside.

...............

Neither is it realistic, in 2009, to say that any of the 30 MLB teams are making decisions -- without -- an analytical team behind them that looks like the crowd behind the Verizon geek.  :- )  President Obama, and Bush behind him, had teams behind them that in many cases make the Presidents themselves only lightly relevant.  The same is true with Bowden, or Bavasi, or Zduriencik.

.............

This is the internet age.  When you're coming up against a pro sports franchise grossing $300,000,000 per year, you're coming up against a considerable business force.

The idea that Bill Bavasi was stupid, and that Jack Zduriencik is smart, is fun.  It makes for entertaining comments threads.  But it is not in contact with reality.   The differences between one MLB team, and another, in 2009, are subtle.

If the Brandon Morrow trade helps cyber-Seattle come to grips with that -- if it helps cyber-Seattle to take more nuanced views of its heroes and its villains -- it will be worth it, from where I sit.

.............

Zduriencik, like every other GM in baseball, is smart.  But he is also thunderously decisive, and he has a Banzai-tree Vision that he imposes onto the chaos.  This is precisely the difference between a chess master and an amateur.  The amateur has the same IQ.  But the master imposes his vision on a turbulent world.

In the NBA you'll see this, a new GM come in and just swap out all the parts.  But I don't ever think I've seen it in baseball.  Not this fast.

Hopefully the Morrow trade ends the myth-building legend that Zduriencik, uniquely, is a sabermetric GM, and begins the era of real critical thought regarding Zduriencik's moves.

It says here that, dispassionately considered, you'll admire Zduriencik a lot more than you did when seeing him as a Disney character.  ;- ) 

He is a rookie GM, and here he is stepping out onto the asphalt shouting I Got Next!  He's not the kind of guy who speaks up when among his lessers, and who gets very, very quiet when among men who challenge him.  He's the kind of guy who steps up to the playground Top Dog and says, Let's see what you've got.

Remember Crossroads?  Final battle for Daniel-san's soul?  Demon says, "Little man can't talk?  Bet can't play none, either."  Daniel-san says not a word.  He plugs his guitar in.   Demon goes, "uh-HUH!" and they throw hands.

There are very few men who are as confident and decisive as Jack Zduriencik.  Fewer still whose decisiveness is driven by a coherent vision.  Zduriencik is a special manager.

My $0.02,

Jeff

Comments

1

...is a bad trade made for a good reason.  Zduriencik doesn't dwarf Bavasi for IQ points, but his feel for the game of baseball DOES dwarf Bavasi's IMHO.  I think Zduriencik is going down his checklist and checking things off as decisively and quickly as he possibly can.
Lose Bavasi's bad contracts (CHECK!)
Get yourself on-base threats at the top of the order (CHECK!)
Get yourself guys further down who take a lot of pitches and tire out opponents (CHECK!)
Get an ace to back up King Felix (CHECK!)
Get some depth for your bullpen (CHECK!)
Get a power reliever to replace Aardsma if he fails (CHECK!)
Get maximum value possible in return for as many of Bavasi's inferior scouting calls as you can (CHECK!)
He has a couple more CHECKs to get and he's running out of money now so he might have to beg the bigwigs to let him finish his plan on a slightly higher budget (he needs a bat for first base and a fifth starter on the cheap...a Washburn or Garland that can eat innings and that pushes the payroll to around 103 million instead of 98 million)...
The good news is...he did all of this decisively enough and with enough concern for the budget that the bigwigs will surely be impressed and consider his request for increased payroll room seriously.
I think Morrow for League is a TERRIBLE play compared to Morrow for Jackson.  But he knew we were probably getting Lee and couldn't afford to ignore his need for relief help if he wanted to win in 2010 so he took the goodies he could get in both cases.
It makes Z seem infinitely more organized and decisive than Bavasi and that'a a good thing.  Even after a bad trade.

2

That was five separate (excellent) front-page articles in 200 words.
:golfclap:
I see the same things you do, mate.  (Time for you to get worried.)
....................
I think Z is infinitely more organized and coherent than Bavasi, or a lot of GM's.  Part of that, is that Howard and Chuck handed him the reins.  I seeeeeriously doubt that Chuck Armstrong walks into Jack Zduriencik's office and starts writing plans on his white board.

3

Hey Doc,
If you look at the deals Herzog made in a very short order you'll see that he made as bold and dramatic moves as Z. From December 1980 to December 1981 Herzog changed the culture, the intelligence and the talent of the Cardinals.
He didn't care who won a trade.  He cared about did his team get better.  Are they more likely to win after this trade than before.  A lot of these trades might not of looked good at the time but it set the team up for the decade.
I have always judged an offseason in a similar light.  The Mariners are significantly better and well balanced than they've been in years.  If Z thinks that Morrow isn't a player he can win with then he trades him.  Remember, Morrow was the same pitcher who asked out of the starting rotation due to diabetes only to later say that it shouldn't be a problem.  Morrow is also a pitcher that I have seen buckle under pressure more than just about any.  Once a batter got on base in the 9th inning, when he closing, you could just see the stress in his mannerisms. 
I hope Morrow does well but I don't think it was going to be a huge success in Seattle.
 
Traded Terry Kennedy, John Littlefield, Al Olmsted, Mike Phillips, Kim Seaman, Steve Swisher and John Urrea to the San Diego Padres. Received a player to be named later, Rollie Fingers, Bob Shirley and Gene Tenace. The San Diego Padres sent Bob Geren (December 10, 1980) to the St. Louis Cardinals to complete the trade.
December 9, 1980
Traded a player to be named later, Leon Durham and Ken Reitz to the Chicago Cubs. Received Bruce Sutter. The St. Louis Cardinals sent Ty Waller (December 22, 1980) to the Chicago Cubs to complete the trade.
December 12, 1980
Traded Rollie Fingers, Ted Simmons and Pete Vuckovich to the Milwaukee Brewers. Received David Green, Dave LaPoint, Sixto Lezcano and Lary Sorensen.
October 21, 1981
Traded Bob Sykes to the New York Yankees. Received Willie McGee.
December 10, 1981
Traded a player to be named later, Sixto Lezcano and Garry Templeton to the San Diego Padres. Received a player to be named later, Steve Mura and Ozzie Smith. The San Diego Padres sent Al Olmsted (February 19, 1982) to the St. Louis Cardinals to complete the trade. The St. Louis Cardinals sent Luis DeLeon (February 19, 1982) to the San Diego Padres to complete the trade.
December 29, 1981
Signed Joaquin Andujar as a free agent.
 

4

I totally forgot about Whitey with the Cards.  In The White Rat, he wrote about calling the Brewers' GM (forget who it was) and saying, Hey, Bob, how would you like to win the pennant next year.  "He said he'd like that fine."
Whitey's trades were about baseball chemistry first.  He remade the Entitled Vet clubhouse into a cage full of hungry young tigers.
I mean, Fingers, Simmons, and Vuckovich were all legit stars.  Look at what Whitey accepted back.
...............
Yeah.  Whitey would roll over a roster in a year's time, too.  Zduriencik is pulling a White Rat here, the more so because chemistry is a huge part of the equation.
I daresay that cyber-Seattle is having a hard time perceiving the attitudes behind a Herzog Rollover.

5

...that those Cardinals were big on speed, athleticism and defense too.  And won a WS with that theory.  And got a SS into the HOF for his glove only. :)

6

I'm going to have to go with Cameron and Churchill and say that this is most likely just part of the Lee/Halladay swap. What are the odds that this is a stand alone trade, and that it is with the team we were just involved in a three-way with the week earlier? Not great. Jack probably agreed to send Morrow to the Jays for League and a prospect, but wanted to time to decide on the prospect. That makes the trade:
Brandon Morrow, Juan Ramirez, Phillippe Aumont, Tyson Gillies
for
Cliff Lee, Brandon League, Johermyn Chavez
That's still a good deal.

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