2013 General Manager of the Year

[Andy Barnes]

Please post any teams that you wish to nominate in this thread. You can discuss/debate here and we will put up a poll after the nomination period is over.

Current Nominees:
Kyle Pulek- OAK
Brad Zill- STL
Tom Predhome- BOS
Jeff Broderick- MIN
Shelby Fike- HOU

[Deleted]

GM of the year should be a team with a good record who made shrewd moves via the waiver wire and trades while giving their team the best chance to succeed both this year and in the future. Zill had the best record in the league in 2013. He drafted Matt Carpenter for $2 (likely top 2B in baseball this year), traded for Beltre and Wainwright and did not have to give up 2 of the best prospects in baseball in Wheeler and Russell to do so. His team is stacked for the future and not for some untimely injuries/slumps would likely be the champ.

[Andy Barnes]

I agree to an extent Rob. However my biggest contention with your philosophy is that it's the GM of the Year, and i don't put too much consideration on next year's team. Except for the obvious outliers, like a manager that mortgages his entire farm just to win this year. My reason for that is because on the flip side of the coin, we can look at a few managers that made some shrewd moves to acquire top flight prospects, but they don't have the winning record to bring them to the forefront.

[Deleted]

It's a dynasty league, you HAVE to put consideration for the future. For the GM of the YEAR my considerations are
1). Record
2). Good trades
3). Savvy pickups and timely moves
4). Future outlook

Just because the award is technically "General Manager of the Year" doesn't mean we take the "year" part literally. Do we start keeping tabs January 1st and stop December 31st? No, that's silly (we wouldn't be able to vote until 2014 in that case). I think not putting "too much consideration on next year's team" is disservice to what we attempt to do in a dynasty league. The goal is to compete at a high level from year to year so how a team performs this year without sacrificing their future is a huge factor for me.

I love what Kyle did in his smart budgeting. He has a ton of cash to use in 2014, while maintaining a very competitive team. Not only is he in the championship now, he puts himself in the driver seat for 2014 as well. Brad set himself up with arguably the most talented team for 2014 without going over budget. His team got stronger with additions without forfeiting any future considerations. I think that's the mark of a very smart GM.

Just my 2 cents but just because the term "YEAR" is technically in the title we shouldn't limit ourselves to just a small window of time when the decisions that were made will likely resonate for years to come.

[Andy Barnes]

Would you like General Manager of the Dynasty? See i think that would be one trophy and one trophy only. The reason for this trophy was to highlight managers that have had an above average season. Since next year, we will be doing the same thing all over again. Are we going to nominate Brad and Kyle again next year regardless of record because of their team construction?

My point was simply that if we look ahead, we should also look back. The transition a team goes through from really bad to really good has to have bearing here. Like Kyle pointed out, Jeff took a 1-6 Twins team (when he took over) to the World Series against you last year, and then proceeded to win his division and make it back the World Series again...

And its not like he has any horrible contracts. Yes Upton, Braun and Hosmer are ballooning his payroll, 3 players for $98. But his roster management has been top notch, and its not like he bid on those 3 players in the inaugural auction.

Not to take away from any candidates or lobby for anyone in particular. Just wanted to bring up some very strong points for other managers in this discussion.

[Deleted]

Yea, you missed my point completely. Your initial point was that you "don't put too much consideration on next year's team". That was what my issue was with. In a redraft league you'd be right, but since we're discussing a dynasty league award you need to consider the effect of what teams did to achieve their record on their future. I never said we can't look backwards as well, because you inherently need look back to determine a manager of the year. It's not my only consideration, but I think it's very important when determining which GM did the best overall job this year.

[Andy Barnes]

Sept 18, 2013 12:33:34 GMT -5 @russom89 said:

In a redraft league you'd be right, but since we're discussing a dynasty league award you need to consider the effect of what teams did to achieve their record on their future. I never said we can't look backwards as well, because you inherently need look back to determine a manager of the year. It's not my only consideration, but I think it's very important when determining which GM did the best overall job this year.

To me, best overall job is about 65% W/L record. Teams like PIT and WAS who overhauled their farm systems may have actually impacted their teams on a much larger scale moving forward. But their poor records this season will exclude them from the conversation. If i was to list out my criteria it would look like this:

1) Criteria A
2) Criteria B

kidding...but seriously though.

1) W/L Record
2) MLB roster improvement from last year
3) Farm system improvements
4) Day-to-day and week-to-week roster management
5) General activity levels in league discussions/events

[Deleted]

Andy, now it really is like BBWAA with everyone having their own preferences for criteria. Because of that, I'd like to nominate Keith. Quick count shows he has 3 Gold Glovers this year (Jeter, Pujols, Miggy) and also a clear front runner for this year's Cy Young (Sabathia). What? Obviously I'm joking, only the real BBWAA votes like that.

[Deleted]

I think when you are looking at GM of the year, you have to look at what the team was, what the team is, and what the team looks like for next year because as a dynasty league we are not just building for this year, but for multiple years. But the body of work that you are judging this on would be during this season. When looking at trades, my trade for Chris Davis shouldn't have any bearing on this year. Just the fact that Chris Davis is on my team. While it is impressive that MIN took a 1-6 team to the playoffs last year, for GM of the year you should be looking at MIN as a playoff team from last year.

[Andy Barnes]

Sept 18, 2013 12:52:35 GMT -5 @utmbrad said:

While it is impressive that MIN took a 1-6 team to the playoffs last year, for GM of the year you should be looking at MIN as a playoff team from last year.

I agree Brad. Minnesota would have been a top contender for the GMOY award had we done this last season. But there is still something to be said about making it to the World Series in back to back seasons. Especially when he lost Braun (highest paid player) for half of the season and Hosmer (3rd highest paid) was barely replacement level to start the year.

[Deleted]

That seems to be the consensus for the executive awards I'm looking at. Here's the recent winners (I just put the team b/c GM's aren't necessarily recognizable by name anyway):

Sporting News's version
2012-Oakland A's
2011-Brewers/Tigers
2010-Reds
2009-Rockies
2008-Rays

Baseball America's version
2012-Not on wikipedia, so it must not exist
2011-Brewers
2010-Rangers
2009-Rockies
2008-Red Sox

So the common thread seems to be that it's primarily for teams that make strong turn arounds but there's more than just that in their equations. The Brewers went from 77-85 in 2010 to 96-66 in 2011 so they were vastly improved. The Rangers, however, went from 87-75 in 2009 to 90-72 in 2010, so that one seems to be more about how Jon Daniels improved the team over a multiple year stretch. Really it comes down to just whatever you want it to come down to. As for me, I'm still trying to decide if it's more important that a team sounds like it's from a different state than it's actually from or that their name and colors are the same.

[Deleted]

I figured the Braun thing was a death sentence for my season so to speak. Things like this are what I appreciate about this league. Although I don't participate as much as I would like to in the larger discussions that are brought up on occasion (Bo Jackson-Puig my favorite with a side of Addison Russell) I do read them all. You gents tend to have these on days where I have a lot of work going on . This league is filled with knowledgeable great owners I have enjoyed every minute in the league. I am humbled enough to be in the conversation and any number of the candidates are very deserving in my opinion.

[Deleted]

If you do this again, you should make everyone put forward their own case as to why they should be manager of the year.

[Deleted]

I don't put TOO much weight on future outlook because all it takes is one Chris Davis to change PIT from 5 win team to a 13 win team. But I do put weight into successful budgeting and teams who have strong farm systems. The majority of my weight goes into this seasons production, with the second lesser portion of that being the team's relative increase from last season. And on top of that, as the tiny layer of icing, I tab any extraneous things like not drafting your own team or making great trades as a tie breaker

[Trent Sherman]

I voted for Kyle. The list of candidates is a good one. All five guys have been great to deal with and have proven themselves solid managers. What tipped the scale and lead me to vote for Kyle was the fact that Puig was in Oakland's farm system all year. As phenomenal as Puig was and as tempting or seemingly necessary it may have seemed to call him up, Kyle made do without him, all the way to the championship. Retaining that extra year of control over Puig and still winning it all equates to GMOY, to me.