With Wade gone, Monty must think outside box

A list of potential general manager candidates has been posted on Philly.com, including a surprising number of young poindexters. Unfortunately, Beerleaguer is not listed.

If you're hoping for a youth movement, the chances are slim if team president David Montgomery selects a popular choice. The loudest voice in radio, Howard Eskin, is already calling for Jim Duquette or Montgomery County product Gerry Hunsicker. Along with Yankees GM Brian Cashman, these are the names I hear and read most often.

My gut tells me Montgomery will indeed side with the majority and select the "Jim Thome" of candidates, a veteran with a name, either Duquette, Hunsicker or Cashman. Theo Epstein is also coming up on the end of his contract, though re-negotiations are already in the works.

That's not to say I disagree with those choices, but I'm very apprehensive of settling for "the people's choice." Like Thome, they sound comfortable at first, but could turn into albatrosses in the end.

I said it once and I'll say it again: the Phillies don't think outside the box and too often take cues from their fans. Though today's decision to fire Ed Wade was a long-time coming, rest assured it was fueled by fandom. 

To prep for this decision, Montgomery should cancel his subscription to the paper and turn off his radio. Instead, he should listen to what the top minds in baseball have to say, and they're not in Philadelphia. Call Peter Gammons. Call Billy Beane. Call the Indians. Call the Blue Jays. Call all the teams that aren't National League rivals, and then take John Schuerholz to dinner at a far off location.

Monty's list of candidates must be extensive, wide ranging, and the decision should not be hasty.

Best quote on today's firing
Tom Goyne of Balls Sticks & Stuff: "Firing Wade is a waste of time if you aren't going to replace him with someone better."

Comments

[That Dude]

If they go inside (Arbuckle/Amaro) brace for armageddon. This move scares me somewhat, since the devil u know is better than the devil u dont know. Personally, I would go with someone well versed in sbaremetrics, but I get the feeling Monty wont go that way, which from one extent is surprising since it is USUALLy more cost effective.

Once veteran name I havent seen is former Mets GM Steve Phillips. I always kinda liked him.

[Tom G]

Thanks for the award Jason, it will grace my mantle.

[Bob]

Theo Epstein's contract expires on the 21st. He would be someone I would like Monty to look at. Voros McCracken just left Boston. I am not certain I'd want him as a GM, but I would definitely want him advising.

Make him an offer. That he and Epstein have worked together should be a plus.

[J. Weitzel]

Bob:
As a follow up, I see Philly.com has a list of candidates you can vote on and Epstein is listed. He got my vote, and currently ranks second behind Cashman. The other choices are Duquette, Hunsicker and Amaro, Jr.

[George S]

I've posted my opinion on Shallow Center, but focusing on Epstein/Cashman is a mistake. These are guys that have worked with unlimited budgets. The Boston WS win was bought and paid for, not won by astute number-crunchers. (Cashman is an interesting choice: how much of his performance comes from him and how much comes from the 'other' George S??)

On the other hand, small market GMs are also a danger in my opinion. While they have been forced by low budgets to be creative in building their teams, they run the risk of falling into the same trap that I think Wade initially did: suddenly faced with having money to spend, Wade temporarily lost sight of the value-$$ relationship and overpaid and signed too many longterm deals. Now he's trapped himself and started to swing the other way.

Bring in some sabermetricians into the player development area area, or as an Asst GM, but not to run the show. Not this year. The jury is still out on the Moneyball GMs. You like what the Dodgers have done?

The Phillies HAVE TO go outside the organization. No question about that.

If I have to vote right now, I pick Gerry Hunsicker.

[J. Weitzel]

George:

I looked at Hunsicker's resume back in May with the intention of posting it just for kicks. The part that impressed me most was his knack for knowing when it was time to let players go, something that would be new to this organization.

[HE Pennypacker]

As I posted earlier, Hunsicker is also my pick, but the fact that Eskin is also touting Hunsicker as one of his choices is making me think twice about that...

[That Dude]

This morning it was reported that Dan Duquette had lucnh with one of the minority owners and was quoted yesterday as saying he would be interested. Please God No.

Also, I agree with George S in that I think you need to keep the sabremetric guys in support roles and probably have a GM who is is kind of a bridge between the old and the new.

If we had to do a study of sabremetric GM's who would we list? Beane, Ricciardi, podesta, Epstein. Are there others I am missing? I think drop epstein off since he has a big payroll and you're left with two of three have done a very nice job. Ricciardi is often underrated.

[ae]

i'm sure that cashman will be the name on everyone's lips, but i for one can't understand why. he came on as yankee GM in 1998; since then the franchise has gone from the envy of baseball to a nightmare of bloated salaries and and deals gone bad. they're paying $46.5 million to six pitchers who aren't even on the postseason roster, which makes our salary troubles look like peanuts. look at the lofton-for-rodriguez trade - you want someone who was swindled by ed wade? some of the blame is probably on steinbrenner's head, but i still look at cashman and see a guy who's never met a problem he couldn't spend his way into.

[theragtopguy]

After all the smoke clears, I believe it will be Gerry Hunsicker.