WELL-RUN, WANNA BE OR TRAIN WRECK?

by Holly Horning

It’s an interesting time of year in baseball.  The news is filled with playoffs and when there is an off-day, there’s an insider story about a team’s inner troubles that sneaks out.  And since the end of the season, there’s been multiple reports of dysfunction within franchises.

For the second year in a row, a GM has been punished by the owner despite getting their team to the playoffs.  That, of course, was Marlins GM Kim Ng who did not receive the expected contract extension after taking her team to the playoffs for the first time in over 20 years. To top it off, she was told that going into next year, she would no longer be the top person in charge of the organization.

Ng declined her contract option and followed Jerek Jeter out the door (less than 2 years later), along with multiple other Front Office execs over the past couple years.

But the Boston Red Sox take the cake and crown this year after firing Chaim Bloom, their Chief Baseball Officer.  Both he and his predecessor, Dave Dombrowski, were fired 3 years into their jobs.  Dave just months after winning the World Series.

Now the Red Sox are looking to replace Bloom.  The problem?

Over 10 people, including Ng, have turned down an invitation to interview for the job.  Ten!

Can you imagine?  The Sox are unable to find any qualified people who are interested in the job.  A position so exclusive that there are only 30 of them in the world.

Last month, I wrote a blog about how some owners are obstacles to their teams’ success.  How they have the ability to thwart the best efforts of their Front Offices.

OWNERS AS OBSTACLES

Which, given the latest news about the Marlins and Red Sox, begs the question about just how many teams are dysfunctional.  And how many are just rudderless.

Then again, which MLB franchises are run well?

All of this got me thinking about how the 30 organizations would be grouped.  And how?

So I came up with 4 categories based upon their actions – or lack thereof – and defined them as such:

Stable and Steady – Teams that are run consistently well and generally competitive from year to year.  Little to no controversy and a standard strategy for how they operate that shows proven results.

Trying Harder – These are organizations that have struggled for a number of years with little to no progress.  But now, they are making significant and serious changes in an effort to become competitive for more than a year or two.

Stuck in Place – Teams that are generally disappointing from year to year and show no signs of wanting to make real changes in order to improve how they are run.

Dysfunctional – They are organizations fueled by drama and endless bad decisions.  They are their own worst enemy and don’t operate on a rational level when making decisions.  They tend to favor emotional decisions rather than adhering to proven business strategy.

So does this mean that the better teams are all constant winners?  No, not always.

Does it mean that the most dysfunctional teams are the cheapest ones?  Not at all.  Currently the team with a payroll double the size of the next runner up is one of the most dysfunctional in MLB.

How a team ranks is really based upon the soundness of their decision-making and consistency in turning out a quality product.  There will be some better-run teams that have a bad or disappointing year but have the capability to correct things and right the ship more efficiently.

The biggest factor in whether a franchise is well-run or a train wreck is often associated with the owner.  In most cases, the corporate culture of a team flows from him/her.  They set the tone and expectations – except when they are hands-off.

The other important factor is the leader of the Front Office whether that be the President of Baseball Operations, Chief Baseball Officer or GM.  They are the day-to-day leaders and enforcers.

So now you’re all wondering where the Tigers fit.

It is still really too early to comfortably call it.  Definitely a “stuck in place” team since 2016 and holding MLB’s longest playoff drought.  But now they are making major changes to the entire organization.

We know Chris Ilitch – but we really don’t know him.  He took over an organization that was consistently in the red for over a decade.  His father made a lot of bad business decisions that had to be mitigated.

And while many fans don’t want to hear it, firing Al Avila before 2022 would have been an illogical move.  Sometimes the move you don’t make is the best one.

Before you can fire anyone, you need to know you can find a suitable replacement.  And no one – no one – with any real skills would take a position in which their primary job was to tear down an roster.  Let’s remember that both Dave Dombrowski and Jim Leyland quit the Marlins when it was announced the team was being torn down.

And if you do hire a new person to tear down a roster, they won’t have the right skills to build one up again. Which then means that you will have to hire yet another new person to run things.

Ilitch had a ready-made person named Al Avila who would do all the dirty work.

We also have to be cognizant that Covid upended the sport for 2 full years – from 2020 through 2021 – and teams were in a holding pattern as a result.  Major decisions weren’t being made back then.

Which now brings us to the 2022 – 2023 years.  An increasing glimmer of signs that the Tigers were moving beyond their old status and trying to create something better.  The hiring of A. J. Hinch and then followed a year later by Scott Harris.  Now, Jeff Greenberg.  A brooming of multiple departments, proof that new people were creating positive results and a year of better performance.

There is hope.  There are good signs so far.  But there is still a ways to go.

Which is why the Tigers have moved from “stuck in place” to “trying harder.”  For now.

So where do they rank overall in the pecking order?  Where do all the other teams sit?

I’ve ranked each according to their records, records of how each team is run and the stories associated with each.

STABLE AND STEADY

Braves

Cardinals

Cubs

Dodgers

Giants

Rays

Yankees

TRYING HARDER

Blue Jays

Diamondbacks

Mariners

Orioles

Padres

Phillies

Rangers

Reds

Tigers

Twins

STUCK IN PLACE

Brewers

Guardians

Nationals

Royals

DYSFUNCTIONAL

A’s

Angels

Marlins

Mets

Pirates

Red Sox

Rockies

White Sox

You will notice that there is 1 team missing.  The Astros.

And that’s because they sit squarely between “dysfunctional” and “unknown.”  Yes, a team that has seen huge success these past couple of years can also have some serious organization issues.

It started with the cheating scandal that was green-lighted by a GM, numerous front office personnel and implemented by several coaches and players.

But despite the firings of both Jeff Luhnow (GM) and A. J. Hinch, those most involved in the cheating remained with the team or lost their new managerial positions when they left.  Owner Jim Crane took over the GM role during the most important time during the off-season despite not having worked in baseball.  He made trades and signed contracts.

He then hired James Click but fired him 2 years later.  The Astros had just won 106 games and the World Series.

It’s not a sign of a stable organization.  It’s a team that has been going through major drama for the past 7 years.

It’s the talent currently that was developed by a former Front Office that is seeing them through all this turmoil.  Once that talent ages or is gone, don’t expect the Astros to be one of those “stable and steady” teams.  They are more likely to become officially “dysfunctional”.

In the meantime, once this World Series is over, expect the curtain over some organizations to be raised once again. Let’s just hope it’s only good news when it comes to the Tigers.

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