GM: In which sport does the GM have the hardest time

[Capt. Tuttle]

picking players who will ultimately be successful? I think it’s baseball, by a wide margin, but would be interested in what others think. I could see a case being made in each of the 4 major sports, but baseball is the only one that I know of where the amateurs don’t use the same equipment as the pros.
I started thinking about it when comparing the success of the Orioles current GM with that of prior GMs. They seemingly have MLB star talent at every level. Not long ago, they had the worst minor league system in baseball. Now, it is largely considered the best.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

picking players who will ultimately be successful? I think it’s baseball, by a wide margin, but would be interested in what others think. I could see a case being made in each of the 4 major sports, but baseball is the only one that I know of where the amateurs don’t use the same equipment as the pros.
I started thinking about it when comparing the success of the Orioles current GM with that of prior GMs. They seemingly have MLB star talent at every level. Not long ago, they had the worst minor league system in baseball. Joe’s it largely considered the best.

Mike Elias has done a great job but the O's are going to need to step up and pay some of these guys at some point.

What the Orioles have at shortstop alone is scary considering who most think the best of the bunch ( Holliday) is 19 and hitting close to .400 in A Ball right now. The O's need to bolster their starting pitching.

I am hoping they lock up Adley somewhat soon though. He really has the making of a franchise player that you want to keep around for a long time. He really been great since the day he came up to the majors which I believe was year to the day this past Saturday/ Sunday. all the intangibles of a long term team leader as well.

Extremely fun team to watch. Henderson is going to be a good one as well although he has struggled at the plate he has been rather unlucky at times. He was robbed yet again yesterday of what have been an extra base hit. Canon of an arm at 3rd base too.

Not sure what they will do with these shortstops though because I think Holliday may only be a year away. Mateo, Ortiz and there is one other who I will never remember the name of.

And what Cano has done this year is nothing short of incredible. That said, the starting pitching although better as of late is still wildly inconsistent especially Rodriguez who they are clearly going to let work through stuff and not send down one would think.

All that said, incredible start to the season

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Mike Elias has done a great job but the O's are going to need to step up and pay some of these guys at some point.

What the Orioles have at shortstop alone is scary considering who most think the best of the bunch ( Holliday) is 19 and hitting close to .400 in A Ball right now. The O's need to bolster their starting pitching.

I am hoping they lock up Adley somewhat soon though. He really has the making of a franchise player that you want to keep around for a long time. He really been great since the day he came up to the majors which I believe was year to the day this past Saturday/ Sunday. all the intangibles of a long term team leader as well.

Extremely fun team to watch. Henderson is going to be a good one as well although he has struggled at the plate he has been rather unlucky at times. He was robbed yet again yesterday of what have been an extra base hit. Canon of an arm at 3rd base too.

Not sure what they will do with these shortstops though because I think Holliday may only be a year away. Mateo, Ortiz and there is one other who I will never remember the name of.

And what Cano has done this year is nothing short of incredible. That said, the starting pitching although better as of late is still wildly inconsistent especially Rodriguez who they are clearly going to let work through stuff and not send down one would think.

All that said, incredible start to the season

Yeah. Adley needs a 10 year deal, but I also know they have a catcher in the minors that is very highly rated. However, Adley’s impact appears to reach far beyond what he does on the field. I don’t recall such a drastic demarcation in W/L records between before and after a field player started playing for the big league team. (Maybe a guy like Jeter or Chipper Jones?)

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Yeah. Adley needs a 10 year deal, but I also know they have a catcher in the minors that is very highly rated. However, Adley’s impact appears to reach far beyond what he does on the field. I don’t recall such a drastic demarcation in W/L records between before and after a field player started playing for the big league team. (Maybe a guy like Jeter or Chipper Jones?)

Agreed on Adley. He's that type of player

I heard about the catcher the other day, 19 year old kid from Cuba if I remember correctly

 

[syrBossHogg]

Baseball or Hockey IMO

 

[CanadianSU]

Anything with a set salary cap. NHL for sure IMO.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Anything with a set salary cap. NHL for sure IMO.

i agree with this. The NBA has a cap that you can blow through if your owner allows you to. Baseball has a luxury tax without a cap. Football is mostly composed of fungible talents that you can jettison and replace with equally adept cheap guys when the older ones get expensive. NHL has the combination of problems being you have to utilize everyone on the roster to a significant degree, the cap is low, the cap is a hard cap. You can pulll some tricks with long term IR and sending people to Robidas Island...but its still quite hard to navigate.

 

[MikeSU02]

i agree with this. The NBA has a cap that you can blow through if your owner allows you to. Baseball has a luxury tax without a cap. Football is mostly composed of fungible talents that you can jettison and replace with equally adept cheap guys when the older ones get expensive. NHL has the combination of problems being you have to utilize everyone on the roster to a significant degree, the cap is low, the cap is a hard cap. You can pulll some tricks with long term IR and sending people to Robidas Island...but its still quite hard to navigate.

NBA has the second apron now. Feels like that may change things a bit.

Not disagreeing with your overall point, though.

In a bizarre way, I feel like the nba is the easiest and hardest at times.

Almost without fail, in the nba you need a top five-ish player to win the title. So you either have to draft well, draft lucky or make a monster trade. These guys aren’t just signing in free agency that are top top guys.

Spurs seem to be a case where they are great talent evaluators, developers and have been insanely lucky. I think I read that they have finished 12th or worst in the western conference three times. They then got David Robinson, Duncan and Wemby those three times.

And then there’s Miami which has arguably the best coach in the league and Jimmy Buckets, who turns into the Terminator in the playoffs.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Anything with a set salary cap. NHL for sure IMO.

My OP was limited to evaluation of talent that will succeed at the highest level. Salary cap stuff is a whole different thing. Hockey #1 guys always seem to pan out (from a very distant observer), but top picks in baseball seem like a crap shoot. MLB Metrics 101: The MLB Draft's Biggest No. 1 Pick Fails (Acouple of failures are injury related, so those are out.)

 

[STEVEHOLT]

My OP was limited to evaluation of talent that will succeed at the highest level. Salary cap stuff is a whole different thing. Hockey #1 guys always seem to pan out (from a very distant observer), but top picks in baseball seem like a crap shoot. MLB Metrics 101: The MLB Draft's Biggest No. 1 Pick Fails (Acouple of failures are injury related, so those are out.)

Making it just about talent evaluation renders a different answer. Then it goes to baseball. In football, it’s hard to completely blow a pick as there is a huge chance your first, second , and third round picks actually play meaningful games for the team. qB is accepted as a boom or bust proposition as it’s the one position where your pick has a significant Risk of being unplayable for their entire career.

In hockey, you can make a guy a third or 4th liner even if they don’t bust out with star potential.

Basketball it’s accepted that only a very few will even carve out a rotation spot.

Baseball.. your pick may never even sniff the league. The bust potential is huge.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Making it just about talent evaluation renders a different answer. Then it goes to baseball. In football, it’s hard to completely blow a pick as there is a huge chance your first, second , and third round picks actually play meaningful games for the team. qB is accepted as a boom or bust proposition as it’s the one position where your pick has a significant Risk of being unplayable for their entire career.

In hockey, you can make a guy a third or 4th liner even if they don’t bust out with star potential.

Basketball it’s accepted that only a very few will even carve out a rotation spot.

Baseball.. your pick may never even sniff the league. The bust potential is huge.

I think the #1 QB is a good analogy to baseball overall. Art Schilster, Akila Smith, etc.

 

[upperdeck]

I thought it was a story on trying to build the syracuse teams..