We still obviously know very little about if/when the ultimate decision is going to be made on the employment status of Jim Bowden. While we are waiting to see what happens, I want to offer up some of the more popular GM candidates-in-waiting. Back in June 2008, Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus provided a top ten list of just such individuals (Note: One of the names is already off the market as Jack Zduriencik took over as the GM in Seattle this off-season). The name that most Nats fans assume is the clubhouse favorite is Mike Rizzo, Assistant GM & VP, Baseball Operations. Here is what I wrote about him when he was hired in July 2006. Rizzo was the Director of Scouting for the Diamondbacks from 2000 through 2005 and served as Vice President, Scouting Operations in Arizona in 2006 prior to coming over to Washington. The question that surrounds Rizzo is how he would handle the media as the guy up front. Additionally, I wonder how much of the mess here with the Nats sticks to him and whether any change the Nats made would be a wholesale turning of the page.
Rizzo is the logical in-house choice at this late date, but here are some non-Nationals names that jumped out to me (alphabetical):
- Jed Hoyer, Assistant GM for the Boston Red Sox. Hoyer has spent his career with the Red Sox, starting off as a Baseball Operations Assistant in 2003-2004 (he was part of the group that visited Curt Schilling over Thanksgiving of 2003) before becoming Assistant to the GM (Theo Epstein) in 2005. He briefly served as co-GM with Ben Cherington while Epstein and the Sox did their contractual dance in the fall of 2005. He was in charge when the Red Sox acquired Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, Mark Loretta, and Andy Marte. He has been a key player in decision making regarding players and their contracts for the past several seasons in Boston.
- Tony LaCava, Assistant GM and Director of Player Personnel for the Toronto Blue Jays. His job includes overseeing both amateur and professional scouting. He has spent time in several organizations, starting off as a scout for the Angels for ten years. He took over as the Braves National Scouting Supervisor in 2000 (Note: Kasten was President in his year there). After Atlanta, LeCava moved onto Montreal where he served as the Director of Player Personnel for one season under then-GM Jim Beattie. He moved onto the Indians in 2002 as a Scouting Supervisor (Note: Rumors are that he suggested the Bartolo Colon trade to Mark Shapiro in 2002 that got them Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips and Cliff Lee from the Montreal Expos … take that for what it’s worth). Since 2003 he has worked for the Blue Jays as an Assistant GM; he was has served as the Director of Player Personnel since 2004. As Carroll mentioned in his linked piece above, LeCava has drawn raves for his talent evaluation and he is considered one of the most well-liked candidates. LeCava is a solid outsider candidate whose talent evaluation skills would be a welcome addition to the Nationals.
- Kim Ng, Vice President, Asst. General Manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ng’s name has been very popular in many of the recent GM searches as the only woman under consideration. She is a highly qualified candidate who has spent time in the MLB front office and the White Sox, Yankees and Dodgers organizations. From wikipedia … “[she] began her career as a special projects analyst with the Chicago White Sox after graduating from the University of Chicago. She became the youngest person, and first woman, to present a salary arbitration case in the major leagues when she worked for the Chicago White Sox, regarding the case of pitcher Alex Fernandez. She then worked in the offices of the American League, where she was director of waivers and records, approving all transactions. In 1997, she was hired by the New York Yankees as assistant general manager, which made her youngest in the major leagues, at age 29. She joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2001 as assistant GM. In 2005, Ng was interviewed for the vacant position of Dodgers general manager. No female has ever been a GM in any major sport, and she is believed to be the first female ever to even interview for a baseball GM position. The Dodgers hired Ned Colletti as their GM, who immediately kept Ng on as his assistant. In 2008, she was interviewed for the General Manager position with the Seattle Mariners, but the position went to Jack Zduriencik.”
#1 by Sue Dinem - February 24th, 2009 at 12:23
Well, there’s always Paul DePodesta, who was not given a fair shake with the Dodgers. He is a DC-area native and has considerable experience with both scouting and working with small budgets.
#2 by estuartj - February 24th, 2009 at 12:23
I think IF JimBow is gone they will name Rizzo the interim GM, let him handle the roster for ’09, supervise the draft and signings etc. I’d expect him to get a Kasten guy with lots of contract experience to be an assistant GM.
At the end of the season you can interview a whole host of prospective GMs, including Rizzo and make that person the permanent GM for the off-season.
I think this blends continuity with change and give you the chance to see what Rizzo would do with the job before making him a fixture.
A lot depends on how Kasten feels about Rizzo (and Brown) and who besides the “Usual Suspects” might be available, especially someone Kasten is more familiar and comfortable with than any other mentioned possibilities.
#3 by Pilchard - February 24th, 2009 at 12:32
Either the director of player personnel or assistant GM for the D-backswent to St. Albans is from DC. IIRC, when the Lerners won the bidding to become the Nats’ owners, Theo Epstein, who had drifted away from the Red Sox, wanted the job.
#4 by WebberDC - February 24th, 2009 at 12:55
@Pilchard – The GM of the Diamondbacks, Josh Byrnes, went to St. Albans. He definately would have been interested, but he recently reupped with the Snakes until 2015 so that isn’t going to work.
@Brian – Staying with the Snakes, you have to add Peter Woodfork (who has a ring from Boston and came over with Byrnes) and Jerry DiPoto into that mix, though I would prefer the former to the latter.
Either Hoyer or Woodfork would work for me.
#5 by Sue Dinem - February 24th, 2009 at 12:58
Actually, it was the opposite: When Epstein walked out on the Red Sox in 2005 (in a gorilla suit, no less) Bowden interviewed twice for the GM position.
#6 by Pilchard - February 24th, 2009 at 13:57
Sue, I remember that Bowden interviewed with the Red Sox, but there were alos rumors that Epstein was interested in becoming the Nats GM:
“November 2005: Rumors circulate that Epstein is about to be named Washington Nationals GM once new owners are announced.”
This is from this link: http://raggedthots.blogspot.com/2006/03/baseball-conflicts-on-steroids.html
#7 by Todd Boss - February 24th, 2009 at 14:16
Another name to throw out there: Brian Cashman. DC guy (Georgetown Prep and Catholic). At some point you have to think he’ll clash with the new Steinbrenner regime and move on.
#8 by Sue Dinem - February 24th, 2009 at 14:39
Pilchard, I dug deeper on that URL and discovered its source was a DC Examiner columnist, which is only a step above a (community) college newspaper op-ed. Your point’s taken that DC folks may have wished for Epstein, but I assure you, if it were remotely true, the Boston newspapers would have reported it (first).
Everybody there knew that Epstein was merely making a power play against Lucchino and betting (correctly) that John Henry would intercede. The soap-opera similarities to the current triumvirate in DC are there, if that’s your implication.
#9 by Just Curious - February 24th, 2009 at 14:54
My theory is that Rizzo actually may not want the GM job, and without an obvious successor to move to this may be delaying the firing of Bowden absent any reasons of cause. Why might Rizzo not want the job? Well, aside from the already mentioned public-facing aspects of the GM job, just because he is a supreme evaluator of talent does not mean he would necessarily want to be the organization’s point man on trade negotiations, FA negotiations, etc, which are the main tasks of a GM. There is no shame to someone just wanting to be one of the supreme organization men in baseball without ever holding the top spot. If they do fire Bowden for any reason other than for cause, they need to have someone ready to move in and fill the roles a GM has to play. Maybe part of the reason they’re slow to push Bowden out, even to a leave of absence, is because they haven’t yet been able to convince Rizzo that he’s the guy to fill those shoes on even an interim basis.
#10 by Pilchard - February 24th, 2009 at 15:08
To my knowledge, front office moves are typically made on the off-season.
For the sake of argument, lets say that Bowden gets dumped as GM in April. Would other MLB teams be OK with losing their Assistant GM during the season to take the Nats job? Or, would the Nats likely have an interim GM for the season and then look to hire a GM in the 2009-10 off-season? I would think that the number of available candidates would be greater in the off-season than during the season, but that could be wrong.
#11 by VladiHondo - February 24th, 2009 at 15:46
Plus, making a GM move now means you are stuck with what you got in the Org at the moment. No “fixing” the Farm, changing emphasis, coaching techniques; cuz the only people out there now are scraps.
#12 by Andrew Stebbins - February 24th, 2009 at 16:43
I think they get it done before the beginning of May when the draft really starts to take shape and teams really begin to narrow things down…that also means an in house candidate replaces Jim (and it wouldn’t be Bob Boone). If it’s done before Opening Day I think they could get another teams’ guy. Probably not until after they sign the number one pick either, if they wait that long.
#13 by estuartj - February 24th, 2009 at 17:30
I’m hoping the lack of updates today at NJ means Chico is working on getting the scoop on JimBow’s exit, but the longer this goes the less likely (IMO) he goes at all.
It could be months before any more news/info comes out from the FBI and there is no reason to think anything from the skimming investigation will implicate JimBow anyway.
If they were going to fire JimBow (And Rijos) over Frowny they wouldhave done it already, that case is open and shut. If they were going to fire JimBow for being a distraction they would have done it already.
My guess is that some in the organization want him out, but they don’t have the power to do it and don’t have the ammo needed to convince the guy(s) who do, so they leak stories in hopes of taking him down that way, but the longer it takes the less likely this hit job has to be successful.
And by the way, yes I just implicated Nats insiders as the source for both Segura pieces and Chico’s piece.
#14 by Marcus - February 24th, 2009 at 19:47
off topic, but i figure since this is the top story it’s the best way to get my ? answered:
Does anyone know why Burgess is not in camp early like Hood and Marrero are?
#15 by estuartj - February 24th, 2009 at 20:27
Rumor has it being invited to big league camp was part of Hood’s contract. Marrero is there on merit.
#16 by Andrew Stebbins - February 24th, 2009 at 21:17
Yep. Burgess wasn’t in camp last year but still got a “big league” AB…a double, following one off the bat of Marrero – who was in the same situation.
#17 by Danny - February 25th, 2009 at 06:03
For the past three weeks Graham has been in Viero working with Spin Williams and the major league pitching coaches. He has been working in the weight room with the big league pitchers already there and has added 10 lbs. to his 6’5″ frame putting him at 172″. He is throwing bull pens Mon., Tue. and Fri. Beginning this week he is throwing his slider, change up and fastball. Graham told me last night the coaches are very pleased with the control he has for both his slider and change up as well as the added velocity on his fastball. As i said in an earlier post his is paying his on way over there because spring training doesn’t start until next month. Graham, his mother and I appreciate the interest everyone is showing in him.
#18 by Brian Oliver - February 25th, 2009 at 07:13
Danny – The updates on Graham are much appreciated. Good luck to him.
#19 by Steven J. Berke - February 25th, 2009 at 08:41
I’m frankly surprised that Brian’s list did not include two people who have (unlike the people who were on his list) done the GM job before and with some success. I am thinking specifically about Bob Watson (who was offered the Expos job when Minaya bolted to the Mets, but did not take it because MLB, understandably, would not give him a multiyear contract), and Paul DePodesta (who, IMHO, never should have been fired by the Dodgers). Much as I like Hoyer and LaCava, and especially the notion of making history with Kim Ng, truth is you never have an idea of how well a person can do as GM until they do it.
#20 by Marcus - February 25th, 2009 at 08:42
Thanks for the update Danny and we all wish Graham the best!!
#21 by Brian Oliver - February 25th, 2009 at 09:36
Steven – Those guys are also possibilities. My focus was more on new faces.
I can see the value of bringing a known quantity into the job. But, my gut tells me that it’s easier to sell this challenging situation to a person who has never had the job before.
#22 by Pilchard - February 25th, 2009 at 10:03
Bob Watson is a great man, but he will turn 63 in April and has not been a GM in more than 10 years. When he left the Yankee’s GM spot in 1998, he “retired” as GM and then took a less taxing position with major league baseball. Watson would have been a good candidate at one time, but I don’t think he is the best candidate right now, and doubt he would even have much interest.
Agree that DePodesta would be worth a look.
#23 by Wally - February 26th, 2009 at 09:34
I wonder if Chris Antonetti would be interested. It seems like he generally has been the #1 ‘new’ guy sought after for GM positions the last few years. He hasn’t wanted to leave Cleveland, but maybe Kasten can convince him. Cleveland has done a consistently good job for quite a while.