The big news is that Cito signed a 2-year extension, but apparently J.P. is also, according to Godfrey to return.
I’m fine with that - J.P. hasn’t improved, but he hasn’t gotten worse. The key is that Paul Godfrey must be fired or kicked somewhere else within Rogers so that a real baseball man can accede to the President’s chair. The way keeps dangling Ricciardi from the helicopter as a live target for the press is ridiculous, and he doesn’t accomplish anything from the President’s chair. The rumours that Pat Gillick might be brought back as team President had me dancing in my office the other day. Gillick would provide fantastic cover for JP and prevent him from his worst excesses.
Dick Scott definitely needs to be retained and given more power if necessary; perhaps an Assistant GM title. I fear Tony LaCava might be on his way soon; if he doesn’t get a GM job this offseason in one of the few open spots, he might want to make a lateral move as a #2. This would be unfortunate, as I suspect Tony might make a better GM than Ricciardi has been though it’s hard to tell.
But Jon Lalonde, I’m sorry because he’s a smart guy and a young guy and a sweet guy who’s been good to a lot of people I know, he just has to go. He needs to go as of yesterday, actually; the scouting system is a disaster and while Dick’s done a nice job with what he has been given, I don’t have confidence that the scouting department knows a talented from a lugnut. Or a future Lugnut, as the case may be.
And J.P. needs to stop interfering in the scouting department’s evaluations. I don’t have any particular problem with him exercising executive authority over decisions like draft and signings, that’s fine, but he gets too involved in the decisionmaking process and he’s letting his personal peccadilloes overwhelm scouting judgment, and that’s bad; he doesn’t see the same way a cross-checker sees.
Showing posts with label jp ricciardi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jp ricciardi. Show all posts
Friday, September 26, 2008
Thursday, May 8, 2008
The Prince
Much discussion over at Da Box about JP Ricciardi, following on from Robert Dudek's insightful and timely piece on Ricciardi's legacy. In the comments, Robert and the always perceptive Mike Green pointed to intelligence and creativity as the key aspects of a good GM. I think that's missing something, as I replied:
There's a third leg to that GM tripod that gets far, far too little exposure but one which is equally as important as intelligence and creativity. Management.
A general manager has to be (unsurprisingly) a good manager, has to have or develop that specific, rather tight bundle of skills that enables someone to lead, organize, plan and control. Qualities like leadership. Bravery. Trust. Organization. Integrity. Wisdom. The bundle of skills that shows up not in the "what" of an organization but in its "how"; not in the individual decision-trees that we seize on as critical markers in the narrative of a general manager's tenure, but in the forest of continual process, growth and change that the 300 or so members of a major league organization are in the midst of on a daily basis.
If there is one constant in the list of names you mentioned, Mike, it is that they have or had superb leadership skills, to the point that they have built tremendous loyalty within their organizations (as well as without). There are a number of reasons why one organization supposedly loaded with young talent produces four Hall of Fame talents in eight years and another, equally loaded, nearly contemporary to it, produces nothing but heartache and misery. But the central reason is because one is led by John Schuerholz and the second is led by Frank Cashen, both of whom won exactly one world championship but whose organizations could not have been more different. And yes, it pains me viscerally to say nice things about the Braves. :)
Look at Branch Rickey, who had smarts and vision but whose smarts and vision would have come to nothing if he had not inspired (grudging) loyalty, or behaved himself with courage and integrity. All the vision in the world amounts to nothing without the courage to plow a different furrow.
To my view, this is where Ricciardi has fallen down most frustratingly, where he has not built upon his native strengths or worked to remedy his native deficiencies. Ricciardi's management approach has, if anything, grown more timid and afraid of failure since he has come into the job. He has pulled the organization into a defensive, reactionary shell, with the occasional body hurled over the parapet when someone fails to jump on board with his "us vs. them" philosophy. And he has failed to demonstrate the wisdom of acknowledging and learning from his mistakes.
He does do some of these things well. I think he's a good leader (though we're increasingly seeing cracks even in that, keeping in mind his recent comments on Gregg Zaun). I think he is decisive and aggressive and makes his decisions quickly. And he has inspired trust and loyalty from many, not least of which are the twin engines of the team, Roy Halladay and Brad Arnsberg. His willingness to stand up before than fans and be shot at, shows an example of his integrity. But those were his hallmarks when coming in, and he has not notably made improvements in his management skills generally. I thought, five-plus years on, that he'd be a smarter general manager now, and he has definitely accomplished that in my view. But I also thought he'd be a better manager, and I don't think he is.
There's a third leg to that GM tripod that gets far, far too little exposure but one which is equally as important as intelligence and creativity. Management.
A general manager has to be (unsurprisingly) a good manager, has to have or develop that specific, rather tight bundle of skills that enables someone to lead, organize, plan and control. Qualities like leadership. Bravery. Trust. Organization. Integrity. Wisdom. The bundle of skills that shows up not in the "what" of an organization but in its "how"; not in the individual decision-trees that we seize on as critical markers in the narrative of a general manager's tenure, but in the forest of continual process, growth and change that the 300 or so members of a major league organization are in the midst of on a daily basis.
If there is one constant in the list of names you mentioned, Mike, it is that they have or had superb leadership skills, to the point that they have built tremendous loyalty within their organizations (as well as without). There are a number of reasons why one organization supposedly loaded with young talent produces four Hall of Fame talents in eight years and another, equally loaded, nearly contemporary to it, produces nothing but heartache and misery. But the central reason is because one is led by John Schuerholz and the second is led by Frank Cashen, both of whom won exactly one world championship but whose organizations could not have been more different. And yes, it pains me viscerally to say nice things about the Braves. :)
Look at Branch Rickey, who had smarts and vision but whose smarts and vision would have come to nothing if he had not inspired (grudging) loyalty, or behaved himself with courage and integrity. All the vision in the world amounts to nothing without the courage to plow a different furrow.
To my view, this is where Ricciardi has fallen down most frustratingly, where he has not built upon his native strengths or worked to remedy his native deficiencies. Ricciardi's management approach has, if anything, grown more timid and afraid of failure since he has come into the job. He has pulled the organization into a defensive, reactionary shell, with the occasional body hurled over the parapet when someone fails to jump on board with his "us vs. them" philosophy. And he has failed to demonstrate the wisdom of acknowledging and learning from his mistakes.
He does do some of these things well. I think he's a good leader (though we're increasingly seeing cracks even in that, keeping in mind his recent comments on Gregg Zaun). I think he is decisive and aggressive and makes his decisions quickly. And he has inspired trust and loyalty from many, not least of which are the twin engines of the team, Roy Halladay and Brad Arnsberg. His willingness to stand up before than fans and be shot at, shows an example of his integrity. But those were his hallmarks when coming in, and he has not notably made improvements in his management skills generally. I thought, five-plus years on, that he'd be a smarter general manager now, and he has definitely accomplished that in my view. But I also thought he'd be a better manager, and I don't think he is.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Frank Thomas Released
Frank Thomas has been released after he complained about being benched in order to prevent his option kicking in (let's be adults here, it's obvious this is what is going on).
I have defended J.P. Ricciardi for an awfully long time, but it's become more and more obvious as time goes on that he is a very poor manager of risk. Just how getting rid of one of your highest-upside players is supposed to help you win the pennant, I haven't the faintest idea. Ricciardi has become more and more conservative in his decision-making the longer he's been in the job, and the results are the disheartening mess of an attempt at "contention" we've seen the last two years. The original contract to Thomas was an excellent piece of risk management in my view. This latest move, though, repudiates all the good work put into it.
I have defended J.P. Ricciardi for an awfully long time, but it's become more and more obvious as time goes on that he is a very poor manager of risk. Just how getting rid of one of your highest-upside players is supposed to help you win the pennant, I haven't the faintest idea. Ricciardi has become more and more conservative in his decision-making the longer he's been in the job, and the results are the disheartening mess of an attempt at "contention" we've seen the last two years. The original contract to Thomas was an excellent piece of risk management in my view. This latest move, though, repudiates all the good work put into it.
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