Serious? Smoke screen? Or proving a point?

[pravata]

The lineup for the GM search looks like this so far,

Jim Beattie, former GM of the Expos (1996-2001) and Orioles (2003-05),
Ed Wade, former GM of the Phillies from 1998-2005,
Muzzy Jackson, a former assistant GM for the Reds and current special assistant to the general manager for the Kansas City Royals.

Each interview lasted between 2 and 2 1/2 hours.

On Thursday, the Astros will meet with more GM candidates.
Phillies assistant GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has been widely reported to be on the schedule. (I heard they're interviewing 3 today from Tal Smith on the radio, I can't find more names.)

Next week the Astros will interview three more candidates:
current Astros assistant GM Dave Gottfried
current Astros assistant GM Ricky Bennett,
former GM Bob Watson, who currently is serving as the vice president of on-field operations for Major League Baseball.
Link

McLane, Smith and former president of business operations Bob McClaren sat in on all three interviews, (No Pam?) Link

Robert S. McClaren, President & CEO
Bob McClaren founded McClaren Sports after more than a decade of service to Drayton McLane and the Houston Astros. As the Astros' President of Business Operations, he was responsible for all revenue functions of the team, financial disciplines, customer service, legal affairs, ballpark operations, technology and media relations. He played a leading role in the Astros move to Minute Maid Park in 2000. Before moving to Houston, he was Vice President and General Counsel of McLane Group, LP. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Memorial Hermann Healthcare System - Continuing Care and at Second Baptist Church and is a former member of the Board of Trustees of Houston Baptist University. Bob graduated from Texas Tech University School of Law and received his BBA-Accounting from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Link

Ed Wade?  Seriously? Or is Tal Smith trying to prove to the media that there are many people lining up to work for Drayton Mclane?

 

[BudGirl]

Anyone know anything about Ruben Amaro Jr.?

[MusicMan]

Ed Wade?  Seriously?

This was my reaction upon seeing his name.

OF course, anyone who acquires Bobby Abreu for Kevin Stocker can't be all bad.

[pravata]

Anyone know anything about Ruben Amaro Jr.?

I think he might be one of the names that is obligatory when scouting a GM.  He became assistant GM in Phil. in 99 right after he retired.  Since then, the Phil Inquirer notes "He previously had interviewed for GM vacancies with the Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles."  It's hard to tell what he's done, being the assistant.  But he does do a lot of the talking.  Way more than the Astros assistant.  Philly fans hate him, but they are also on the fence about their mothers.

[Noe]

This was my reaction upon seeing his name.

OF course, anyone who acquires Bobby Abreu for Kevin Stocker can't be all bad.

Ed Wade and Tal Smith are very close, as close as father/son relationship as you can find in the MLB.  Yeah, Randy Smith was where the rumors were flying, but they were off on the name.  It should be Ed Wade.  Wade was with this organization in the late 70s and early 80s that were the highlights of the team's success.  Wade learned under then GM Tal Smith, who was named Executive of the Year in 1980.  Smith was then fired that offseason and Ed Wade quit because of it.  His association with Smith never went by the wayside though and when in Houston, Wade would stay with Gerry Hunsicker, another Tal Smith protoge.

Ed Wade, however, was notorious in Philly (by the fans primarily and some of the media) for being incompetent in evaluating the right mix of players/talent to build a team.  He knew how to make good trades, he knew how to sign good veteran players... he just didn't know how to put together a "team".  That was his knock.

[Noe]

The lineup for the GM search looks like this so far,
McLane, Smith and former president of business operations Bob McClaren sat in on all three interviews, (No Pam?) Link

Robert S. McClaren, President & CEO
Bob McClaren founded McClaren Sports after more than a decade of service to Drayton McLane and the Houston Astros. As the Astros' President of Business Operations, he was responsible for all revenue functions of the team, financial disciplines, customer service, legal affairs, ballpark operations, technology and media relations. He played a leading role in the Astros move to Minute Maid Park in 2000. Before moving to Houston, he was Vice President and General Counsel of McLane Group, LP. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Memorial Hermann Healthcare System - Continuing Care and at Second Baptist Church and is a former member of the Board of Trustees of Houston Baptist University. Bob graduated from Texas Tech University School of Law and received his BBA-Accounting from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Link

Bob McLaren no longer works for the Houston Astros but he most certainly works for Drayton McLane.  The best thing to a right hand man you'll find in a good ol' boys network.  And he was Pam Gardner's boss and mentor.  Pam may not be there, but what she would bring to the table in these interviews is there with Bob McLaren.  A business man all the way and well versed in the needs of customer service.

[pravata]

Ed Wade and Tal Smith are very close, as close as father/son relationship as you can find in the MLB.  ...

And here's a quote from Ruben Amaro Jr.

"I learned a lot from Ed Wade and owe a lot to what he's done for my career. I couldn't have been more fortunate to have worked for him."

Round and round.

[Noe]

And here's a quote from Ruben Amaro Jr.

"I learned a lot from Ed Wade and owe a lot to what he's done for my career. I couldn't have been more fortunate to have worked for him."

Round and round.

Amaro Jr. may be the candidate that Wade is putting out there in case he's eliminated for Tal Smith to consider.  The more ammo Smith has, the better he'll do for the baseball side of operations in McLane-ville.

[pravata]

The Houstonist Link has it's own review of the GM conga line, and links to our very own solid wall of crap.  Also includes an excellent seperated at birth for the Acting Like a GM Tal Smith. 

[Astroholic]

The Houstonist Link has it's own review of the GM conga line, and links to our very own solid wall of crap.  Also includes an excellent seperated at birth for the Acting Like a GM Tal Smith. 

Exxxxxxxellllllent!   M. Burns

[Astroholic]

Exxxxxxxellllllent!   M. Burns

That link reminded me of another site to waste some precious work time.

http://www.thesimpsonsquotes.com


Still my Fav by far.

Homer: Are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Pork chops?
Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal.
Homer: Heh heh heh. Ooh, yeah, right, Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal.

[DVauthrin]

The Houstonist Link has it's own review of the GM conga line, and links to our very own solid wall of crap.  Also includes an excellent seperated at birth for the Acting Like a GM Tal Smith. 

if it's a wall of crap, how can it really be solid?

[pravata]

if it's a wall of crap, how can it really be solid?

You're going to have to trust me on this one.

[Andyzipp]

Leave it out in the sun for a couple of days...

[Mr. Happy]

Braun's a rookie, buhe hould have known better. Aomeone hit dot him over that.

[BudGirl]

Braun's a rookie, buhe hould have known better. Aomeone hit dot him over that.

Are you and Fredia becoming a couple?  She seems to have rubbed off on you.

[homer]

Braun's a rookie, buhe hould have known better. Aomeone hit dot him over that.

Your impersonation of Fredia needs some work.

[pravata]

Leave it out in the sun for a couple of days...

Entire civilizations have prospered or declined based on their ability to judge the density of various kinds of crap.  Bet the Houstonist is regretting that link right about now.

[homer]

Phillies assistant GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has been widely reported to be on the schedule. (I heard they're interviewing 3 today from Tal Smith on the radio, I can't find more names.)

Three today:

"The Astros met with Phillies assistant GM Ruben Amaro Jr., Cleveland Indians director of player personnel Steve Lubratich and Cardinals assistant GM John Mozeliak."

Also a rumor of:

"Logan White, a Dodgers assistant general manager in charge of scouting."

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070906&content_id=2193564&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou

[Noe]

Three today:

"The Astros met with Phillies assistant GM Ruben Amaro Jr., Cleveland Indians director of player personnel Steve Lubratich and Cardinals assistant GM John Mozeliak."

Also a rumor of:

"Logan White, a Dodgers assistant general manager in charge of scouting."

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070906&content_id=2193564&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou

Looks like a bunch of Tim Purpura lights when he was heir apparent for a GM job back in 2004.  Do they really want to go through a GM rookie going through the learning process of how to make a deal with the veteran GMs?

[pravata]

Three today:

"The Astros met with Phillies assistant GM Ruben Amaro Jr., Cleveland Indians director of player personnel Steve Lubratich and Cardinals assistant GM John Mozeliak."

Also a rumor of:

"Logan White, a Dodgers assistant general manager in charge of scouting."

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070906&content_id=2193564&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou

Quoting Butch and/or Sundance, "who are these guys?"

Lubratich’s CV
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/execdb/showperson.php?idx=LubraSt01&fname=Steve&lname=Lubratich

10 years in the minors, http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/L/Steve-Lubratich.shtml

Mystery solved,

Steve Lubratich quote,

“That's perfect for a GM, a baby to be named later.”

Commenting on Tigers GM Randy Smith being late returning from an out-of-town meeting to be with his wife in time for the birth of their second child and waiting until the next day before naming their son Shane
http://quote.webcircle.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?idPlayer=381

He’s a FOT “Friend of Tal.”  (Or FOS? Friend of the Smiths?)

John Mozeliak, fan site lurker
http://www.thestlcardinals.com/INVMozeliakJohn.html

In this interview with a fan site, he answers the question, "How could you assess signability when some of these kids didn’t even have representation yet?"

"Well, a lot of that is through the parents and the player themselves and through representation.  But, the latter had kind of dirtied up the water a bit when guys got drafted and then afterward chose to get some agent help.  So, that kind of made it a little sloppy, but overall, it did seem to work out."

Wrong answer John, just sign em.  But he's a sport, he even talked to THIS guy http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/spring/2006_01_22_default.asp Barely escaped Cincinnati "Chili".

[Noe]

The Cardinals raised eyebrows when they actually signed a "fantasy baseball" group to do evaluations for them.  Jeff Luhnow headed that group, until they let all of them go.  Well, truth be told, they basicaly left because nobody took them seriously.  Was Mozeliak one of those who thought "fantasy baseball" would help?:

Q: Speaking of tools, last winter’s high profile addition to the front office was the hiring of Jeff Luhnow and the establishment of the sabermetric view of the game.  How is that meshing with your more traditional methods of evaluation?

I think it is going very well.  Obviously, for what I did this year in the draft, I leaned heavily on Jeff and his staff.  That’s the nature of how we set this whole thing up.  In terms of the draft, I realize that when you go totally off scouting reports, then you’ve opened yourself up to such a subjective scenario of results.  The one thing that I wanted to do is validate what we do.  That’s where his staff was just invaluable.  I think it’s a great direction we’re moving in.  I think as far as the draft goes, I think it is something that we will replicate for next year.  I think both Jeff and I feel there are some things we can tweak on to make it that much better.  And that is actually kind of why I am here now.

From an interview with Luhnow:

BW:  How does fantasy baseball relate to your job?

JL:  When you’re an owner of a fantasy baseball team, you operate within a certain budget, you have to produce certain outcome and you’re competing against other teams for those players.  It’s all about how you evaluate one player versus another and who’s more valuable for your team.   In some ways, that is similar to the environment that we operate in.   We have budget constraints.  Now, granted in rotisserie, everybody has the same dollars to spend and in baseball, that is not the case; not the case at all.  (laughs)  However, we’ve seen that teams with much more limited budgets still can be successful, and the same thing happens in rotisserie.  Some people spend their money wisely and some people don’t. 

BW:  How is it different?

JL:  Defense isn’t a part of rotisserie generally speaking, though that is a huge part of major league baseball performance.  We’re not optimizing against five or ten statistics.  We’re optimizing against wins and making the playoffs and making money.  The formulas are somewhat different but the fundamental philosophies that someone like Ron brings, which is to look behind the numbers; look at the skills indicators as opposed to the results.  Those are things that I believe and have believed for a long time.  Those are things that the Cardinals are beginning to think more seriously about in terms of how to evaluate players.  Clearly there are other teams in major league baseball that have taken steps in that direction.  We’re not the first.  But it’s time to not only catch up but go beyond.  That’s our goal here.

I hope Mozeliak kept the talk about fantasy baseball in his interveiw to a 10 second conversation, especially in terms of the draft.

[pravata]

truth be told, they basicaly left because nobody took them seriously.  ...

Tony, Patron Saint of the Stop Light, remarked that the money would have been better spent on more camera equipment.  Tal Smith is a member of SABR, he knows bullshit when he sees it. 

[Noe]

Tal Smith is a member of SABR, he knows bullshit when he sees it. 

Yeah, but is Smith a member of FSTA?  (is that pronounced Fist-ah?).

Baseball HQ Resumes

I dunno, if a hire like Mozeliak brings his whole network like that guy in the commercial for Verizon, then maybe it's not a bad thing!

[MikeyBoy]

Tal Smith is a member of SABR, he knows bullshit when he sees it. 

I'm willing to bet Tal's bullshit meter blew a fuse when he (allegedly) met with Mr. 3 Percenter.

[pravata]

Yeah, but is Smith a member of FSTA?  (is that pronounced Fist-ah?).

Baseball HQ Resumes

I dunno, if a hire like Mozeliak brings his whole network like that guy in the commercial for Verizon, then maybe it's not a bad thing!

HolyMaryMotherofGod and All Her Wacky Nephews.  Wow.  Just Wow.

[MikeyBoy]

Yeah, but is Smith a member of FSTA?  (is that pronounced Fist-ah?).

Baseball HQ Resumes

I dunno, if a hire like Mozeliak brings his whole network like that guy in the commercial for Verizon, then maybe it's not a bad thing!

Please tell me this is satire. Please?

[Noe]

HolyMaryMotherofGod and All Her Wacky Nephews.  Wow.  Just Wow.

Dayn Perry likes them.  I don't know if that's good or bad.

Testimonials

"BaseballHQ.com and the Baseball Forecaster are, of course, essential tools for roto players. However, the methods and research used in both are tremendously valuable to anyone who cares about making sound baseball decisions or approaching the game with intelligence. There's simply nothing else like it."
- Dayn Perry, Baseball Operations Consultant, San Diego Padres

[pravata]

Dayn Perry likes them.  I don't know if that's good or bad.

Testimonials

"BaseballHQ.com and the Baseball Forecaster are, of course, essential tools for roto players. However, the methods and research used in both are tremendously valuable to anyone who cares about making sound baseball decisions or approaching the game with intelligence. There's simply nothing else like it."
- Dayn Perry, Baseball Operations Consultant, San Diego Padres

Good or bad?  Are you contemplating opening a branch office of the United Nations?  OF COURSE IT'D BE BAD!  It's a continuation of Drayton's cruising the stands.  "...essential tools for roto players. ...There's simply nothing else like it."  No, I can't imagine there would be.  At least not on purpose.

[Noe]

Good or bad?  Are you contemplating opening a branch office of the United Nations?  OF COURSE IT'D BE BAD!  It's a continuation of Drayton's cruising the stands.  "...essential tools for roto players. ...There's simply nothing else like it."  No, I can't imagine there would be.  At least not on purpose.

Call me "Ambassador"!  Anyway, it's interesting the relationship the Baseball HQ, especially Ron Shandler had with the Cardinals organization.  It lasted all of one year.  Sandler quit because of "integrity".  Not the Cardinals, but his own.

The Bird House reports Shandler quits!

Yet, over the recent months, some of Shandler’s Baseball HQ customers and others who are potential customers directly questioned his integrity, making some ridiculous and embarrassing accusations in the process.  For example, one reader actually accused him of tanking his projections on Mark Mulder in an attempt to lower the pitcher’s perceived market value, easing the Cardinals ability to acquire Mulder via trade.

Maybe so, but some people I know from the Bird Nation say he quit because no one acknowledged his work much.

[strosrays]

HolyMaryMotherofGod and All Her Wacky Nephews.  Wow.  Just Wow.

That site would have a lot more creditability (relatively speaking) - instantly - if they took down the photos of those individuals on the staff.

As it is, it kind of resembles a National Lampoon satire circa mid-1970s.  Either that, or is a set of reunion photos from the Forest Park H.S. "rag" (i.e, non-athletic) P.E., 2nd period, Class of 1978.

[pravata]

Call me "Ambassador"!  Anyway, it's interesting the relationship the Baseball HQ, especially Ron Shandler had with the Cardinals organization.  It lasted all of one year.  Sandler quit because of "integrity".  Not the Cardinals, but his own.

The Bird House reports Shandler quits!

Maybe so, but some people I know from the Bird Nation say he quit because no one acknowledged his work much.

Either way, this guy quit, not was fired, a major league team because he was worried about maintaining his integrity in front of his customer base - not baseball teams, fantasy players. 

[pravata]

That site would have a lot more creditability (relatively speaking) - instantly - if they took down the photos of those individuals on the staff.

As it is, it kind of resembles a National Lampoon satire circa mid-1970s.  Either that, or is a set of reunion photos from the Forest Park H.S. "rag" (i.e, non-athletic) P.E., 2nd period, Class of 1978.

I'm intrigued by the bios and the careers that these guys left to make money in the fantasy baseball business.

[strosrays]

I'm intrigued by the bios and the careers that these guys left to make money in the fantasy baseball business.

As I believe you have pointed out previously, only two things on the internet have ever actually consistently generated real profits.  And meantime, the thin line between fantasy baseball stat mongers and the purveyors of internet pornography just grows thinner and thinner. . .

[pravata]

The Astros also have asked permission to speak with Logan White, a Dodgers assistant general manager in charge of scouting.
http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070906&content_id=2193564&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou

White is a widely recognized scouting and drafting genius, I find no FOT connection, he worked with DePodesta but there may have been some conflicts, here's some of White's philosophies,

On why he likes signing the kids of former big leaguers:
"It definitely is a tendency for me. You guys watch a lot more Major League Baseball maybe than I do even, and you see bloodlines show up here all the time. They've been in the locker room, they've been in the clubhouse, they've been around all the things that you have to get used to at the major league level. If you've never been around that, it can be intimidating. I think these guys adjust to it well, they're not intimidated by it. So from that perspective, I think they're ahead of the game....
...We put a lot of emphasis on intangibles. I call them 'markers' that we look for. Whether it be the kind of student that they are, bloodlines and all that, I have a list of these markers that we try to do. We don't give any psychological tests. A lot of clubs do it, I've never given one. It's worked out good for us. ...
http://sportsblogs.latimes.com/sports_baseball_dodgers/2006/06/draft_wrap.html

White, an Orioles crosschecker before coming to Los Angeles in December 2001, was allowed a free rein with the draft by former Dodgers GM Dan Evans. In his first two drafts for the club, he has had 22 choices in the first 10 rounds and used 16 of them on high school players. White hasn't tabbed a four-year college player before the seventh round.
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/columnists/040224callis.html

For the third consecutive season, (2004) the Dodgers’ draft, under the direction of Logan White, Director of Amateur Scouting, has been ranked among the best in baseball. In White’s three seasons, the Dodgers draft was ranked fourth in 2002, first in 2003 and second this season. The Dodgers are the only team to have their draft rated in the top five in each of the last three years and only one other organization (Toronto) has been named in the top five twice.
http://dodgers.scout.com/2/311754.html

White nearly kept (Clay) Buchholz away from the Red Sox. He pushed hard to get the Dodgers to take the right-hander with the 40th pick in the 2005 amateur draft, ...The Dodgers ultimately used the 40th pick to get pitcher Luke Hochevar, (apparently DePodesta's call) who never signed with Los Angeles
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/baseball/red_sox/view.bg?articleid=1029247

[Noe]

Either way, this guy quit, not was fired, a major league team because he was worried about maintaining his integrity in front of his customer base - not baseball teams, fantasy players. 

Yes.  And I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

[pravata]

The Astros also have asked permission to speak with Logan White, ...

Dodgers said, "go ahead, see if you can get anywhere with the boy, lord knows we've tried."

Astros interviewed one general manager candidate on Friday -- Logan White,

Afterwards, White hit the high points, "honor to be interviewed" ... "(Astros have) a great baseball tradition"... "It's a wonderful city"...."great state of Texas."  All he forgot to get in was a "The good Lord willing..."

[pravata]

It remains to be seen whether the Pittsburgh situation will force the Astros to accelerate their timetable for replacing Tim Purpura. It's unclear what Amaro's preference would be if he had offers from both teams, although Houston appears to be much closer to being ready to contend than the Pirates, who are on the way to their 15th consecutive losing season.

It would also be interesting to see, if Amaro gets an offer from either team, whether the Phillies make an effort to keep him considering that general manager Pat Gillick turned 70 last month.
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/sports/20070910_Amaro_may_be_in_line_for_Pirates_GM_job.html

And they may be interviewing non-FOTs

Tony LaCava, who lives in Oakmont and currently is the director of player personnel for the Toronto Blue Jays, could be a GM candidate.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07252/815927-13.stm

If Coonelly (Major League Baseball's Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Labor Relations,) is hired, (as the Pirates CEO) as expected, Chicago White Sox assistant general manager Rich Hahn would be considered one of the frontrunners to be hired as GM. ...Hahn is considered one of the shrewdest young executives in the game when it comes to the business side of baseball operations. He has degrees both from Harvard Law School and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. http://www.timesonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18798172&BRD=2305&PAG=461&dept_id=478568&rfi=6

[Noe]

If Coonelly (Major League Baseball's Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Labor Relations,) is hired, (as the Pirates CEO) as expected, Chicago White Sox assistant general manager Rich Hahn would be considered one of the frontrunners to be hired as GM. ...Hahn is considered one of the shrewdest young executives in the game when it comes to the business side of baseball operations. He has degrees both from Harvard Law School and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. http://www.timesonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18798172&BRD=2305&PAG=461&dept_id=478568&rfi=6

Hmmmm... interesting.  He doesn't seem to be on Houston's radar, but then again, he would be a major threat to Pam Gardner with his set of degrees.  Northwestern *AND* Harvard.  Business side of baseball.  Hmmmmm.

[jbm]

Apparently, there are lots of Harvard connections in baseball.  This guy Hahn y'all mentioned.  The sunday JDJO article mentioned Forst who was listed as a "Harvard graduate" and Woodfork who was described as a "four year starter on Harvard's baseball team."  I am a lame googler but it appears that Selig is a Harvard alum also.

[jnh]

don't know about his postgraduate work, but looks like bud's a badger.
http://www.nndb.com/people/226/000025151/

[pravata]

Bob Watson says that they told him round two of the GM search starts in about 10 days (from Wed. makes that the 21st) Watson talked with them for 90 minutes, the other interviews have been for 2 1/2 hours.  I wonder if we've seen all the candidates?
Link

[pravata]

Another FOT, but he's seen the problems that ails the Astros before,

"We have just gone through an all-year slump," (2003) says Dan Evans, the Dodgers' general manager, and he's not joking. "In run-producing situations, we've been very inefficient. Overall, we've just been very disappointed."

Some of his moves, from hopscotching around the web,
The Dodgers traded 1B Eric Karros, 2B Mark Grudzielanek and $2 million to the Cubs for C Todd Hundley and OF Chad Hermansen. "Our first and foremost goal was to gain some roster flexibility," Dodgers GM Dan Evans said. "This trade doesn't give us an unlimited amount of money (roughly $5 million in savings for 2003), but it gives us some freedom."

Gary Sheffield got his wish Tuesday when the Los Angeles Dodgers traded him to the Atlanta Braves for Brian Jordan, Odalis Perez and a minor league pitcher.

(Kemp, Billingsley, Loney, Martin, Young, ..etc) were drafted by Evans.

Chicago radio station nicknamed him "Chemical Dan" for what they considered his "moves of mass destruction"

Evans' background
· Spent most of last season in an advisory capacity with the Mariners, primarily scouting the California League and the Mariners minor league system
· Executive in the Dodgers organization from 2001-2003, two as GM and one as a senior advisor
· 19 years in the Chicago White Sox organization, including serving as Assistant GM and Director of Baseball Operations
· Acted as a baseball operations consultant with the Cubs
· Assisted in arbitration cases for Major League Baseball
· Spent time as a studio analyst in Chicago with Fox Sports Net

[GreatBagwellsBeard]

Holy crap.  ESPN (and others) are reporting that Terry Ryan is out in Minny.  I don't know if he'd be willing to come down to Texas, but if Drayton and Tal haven't at least placed a call to his people, then they're bigger idiots than I thought.

Hell, Ryan's phone had better be ringing nonstop today.

[cc]

Holy crap.  ESPN (and others) are reporting that Terry Ryan is out in Minny.  I don't know if he'd be willing to come down to Texas, but if Drayton and Tal haven't at least placed a call to his people, then they're bigger idiots than I thought.

I was thinking the same thing.  He's still young, too, at 52.

[Mr. Happy]

Another FOT, but he's seen the problems that ails the Astros before,

"We have just gone through an all-year slump," (2003) says Dan Evans, the Dodgers' general manager, and he's not joking. "In run-producing situations, we've been very inefficient. Overall, we've just been very disappointed."

Some of his moves, from hopscotching around the web,
The Dodgers traded 1B Eric Karros, 2B Mark Grudzielanek and $2 million to the Cubs for C Todd Hundley and OF Chad Hermansen. "Our first and foremost goal was to gain some roster flexibility," Dodgers GM Dan Evans said. "This trade doesn't give us an unlimited amount of money (roughly $5 million in savings for 2003), but it gives us some freedom."

Gary Sheffield got his wish Tuesday when the Los Angeles Dodgers traded him to the Atlanta Braves for Brian Jordan, Odalis Perez and a minor league pitcher.

(Kemp, Billingsley, Loney, Martin, Young, ..etc) were drafted by Evans.

Chicago radio station nicknamed him "Chemical Dan" for what they considered his "moves of mass destruction"

Evans' background
· Spent most of last season in an advisory capacity with the Mariners, primarily scouting the California League and the Mariners minor league system
· Executive in the Dodgers organization from 2001-2003, two as GM and one as a senior advisor
· 19 years in the Chicago White Sox organization, including serving as Assistant GM and Director of Baseball Operations
· Acted as a baseball operations consultant with the Cubs
· Assisted in arbitration cases for Major League Baseball
· Spent time as a studio analyst in Chicago with Fox Sports Net

Thanks but no thanks.