Thursday, September 13th, 2007 by Adam Wagner
Discussing the GM Situation in Brief
Today, CBS Sportsline reported the names of two “contenders” for the currently open GM job for the Pirates. These names were Reuben Amaro, a name we have already heard, and Tony Bernazard, a name that we haven’t.
I am a little bit worried that this hire will occur the same way that the Jim Tracy hire did, with one strong candidate (namely Amaro) emerging early and staying ahead even as better candidates (Ken Macha in the managing instance and Bernazard and Tony LaCava in the GM spot) are ignored.
Hopefully Frank Coonelly doesn’t pull a Dave Littlefield and hire “his guy,” but instead does right by the team and conducts a thorough search throughout baseball to find the right fit.
Bernazard is much more intriguing than Amaro, if not only because he works for an organization that wins much more than the Phillies do (cheap shot across the state, but the Phillies always seem to underachieve and tend to make stupid front office decisions).
Bernazard is apparently willing to do about anything to get the free agents that he and his team want, as this link reveals. The persistence will be necessary for the new GM, as the Pirates are a team that will take a while to turn around, more than likely.
This link shows the extent to which Bernazard helped build up the Mets’ solid minor league system, including their signing of Latin American superprospects such as Fernando Martinez and Carlos Gomez. The link also emphasizes the extent to which Bernazard and the Mets stress fundamentals, something the Pirates have obviously been sorely lacking.
One interesting facet of the search so far is that the Pirates seem to be looking in the direction of Latin Americans (Amaro and Bernazard). This could show a shift in focus for the organization, as they realize that they can no longer spend money in the draft to convince hotshot prospects to sign with them, but must instead sign in bulk in Latin America by continually pointing to themselves as the “Organization of Clemente.” This would be a very interesting change in philosophy.
Another guy that the Pirates should definitely look at is Paul DePodesta, the ex-GM of the Dodgers and dork of Moneyball fame. The wizkid helped build up the Dodgers’ farm system to the powerhouse status (it is definitely one of the top two in baseball) that it is today. The Pirates obviously must build through the farm system and what better guy to do it than someone who obviously knows what he is doing and is looking for a chance at redemption after failure in a large market like LA? Of course, Jim Tracy failed there, too.
As before, this will be a very interesting search as Pittsburgh is apparently the “job to have” this winter.
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