22 replies to this topic

[ashbury]

 I always like the most qualified candidate arguments..... It is hard to determine qualifications.

It probably wouldn't be hard to reel off half a dozen major qualifications for being a GM. A GM needs good public relations skills; a grasp of analytics; an ability to be decisive; strong negotiating skills; strong organizational/people skills. There, that's 6 right there and I'm sure another 6 are low-hanging fruit as well, plus another dozen or two of lesser importance.

 

And it's not as if stellar abilities in one area will necessarily hide deficiencies in another - each of these categories is a potential career-killer. OTOH, it would be a rare candidate who didn't have a deficiency or two that will need to be managed. Two great candidates could have very different profiles.

 

So, even if we could determine qualifications from our outsider vantage points, the bottom line is that "most qualified candidate" is way more linear and analytic than even this linear-and-analytic writer is willing to be limited to. There can be more than one right answer to the question of whom to hire.

 

Was Ng the most qualified candidate, or even the right choice? The question is for me a giant red herring, relative to the post that kicked off this thread. Congratulations and good luck to the new hire, that's the farthest down this tangent I would want to go.

[Trov]

Congrats to her.The most important thing to remember is even if she is not amazing at the job, does not mean the next woman will not be.Every candidate is their own person.I hope her great success at the job to help keep the door open for the other women to follow, because for some reason people like to think how she does will reflect on all women in baseball. 

[old nurse]

 

It probably wouldn't be hard to reel off half a dozen major qualifications for being a GM. 

There is only one qualification that you have to be a GM.  All the qualities you mentioned are probably there for these candidates. Probably. There is one qualification that you missed. In the end wins count more than anything. Terry Ryan would still be running the Twins except for the lack of winning. 2015 or so Dayton Moore was considered good in many of theGM articles, now not so much. Beane, Friedman and Cashman have built sustained winners. The guy with the Cards, too Not many others have. When the teams they built begin to lose, the GM is gone. The smart ones leave as the team starts to fade without the pipeline working. 

Good luck to Ng. Hill appears to have developed the pitching staff, as fickle as that can be. That gives her a start. A winning team might be the unfair determinant of talent as a GM. Anywhere but Florida winning brings fans. Fans bring cash to the owner.  That bottom line always wins.