Twins Tab Astros Assistant to be Youngest GM in Majors (30 years Ago)

[Teflon]

Fellow by the name of Andy MacPhail. Twins owner Carl Pohlad pinned the design of the next Twins teams on a forward-thinking 32-year-old from outside the organization. Carl didn't amass a fortune without having a fair amount of moxie and his bringing MacPhail to the Twins was as progressive a front office hire as you will find in Reagan era baseball.

 

Fast forward to today where fortunes and the ball club have been inherited - not built and not attained. Decisions are based on risk avoidance. All evidence is that moxie is a recessive trait that disappears in the second generation. Hope that isn't the case.

[Bark's Lounge]

At first I was intrigued because the title is not in it's entirety on the front page. That's all. False alarm.

[Rosterman]

But where did we go wrong from there?

 

[nicksaviking]

Not sure that I like the fake out, but assuming the new GM is not coming from within and assuming it will likely not be someone many of us are familiar with, I like the preemptive parallel.

 

The McPhail name was widely known though, I'm guessing if Epstien has kids they're probably still in school?

[twinsnorth49]

Fellow by the name of Andy MacPhail. Twins owner Carl Pohlad pinned the design of the next Twins teams on a forward-thinking 32-year-old from outside the organization. Carl didn't amass a fortune without having a fair amount of moxie and his bringing MacPhail to the Twins was as progressive a front office hire as you will find in Reagan era baseball.

 

Fast forward to today where fortunes and the ball club have been inherited - not built and not attained. Decisions are based on risk avoidance. All evidence is that moxie is a recessive trait that disappears in the second generation. Hope that isn't the case.

Carl never fired his GM, mid season no less. Maybe Jim does have some of the moxie gene.

[old nurse]

Howard Fox was promoted by Carl. The Griffith organization was so bareboned that when Carl bought the team and the relatives left, the only executive left was Fox. It was not some bold move by Fox to hire MacPhail, there was nobody to promote.

 

Bill Smith would be the fist GM ever fired by the Twins, although he wasn't really fired, just reassigned.

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

Fellow by the name of Andy MacPhail. Twins owner Carl Pohlad pinned the design of the next Twins teams on a forward-thinking 32-year-old from outside the organization. Carl didn't amass a fortune without having a fair amount of moxie and his bringing MacPhail to the Twins was as progressive a front office hire as you will find in Reagan era baseball.

 

Fast forward to today where fortunes and the ball club have been inherited - not built and not attained. Decisions are based on risk avoidance. All evidence is that moxie is a recessive trait that disappears in the second generation. Hope that isn't the case.

 

Not sure about that Moxie thing. Jim didn't build the Twins, he inherited them. Perhaps he does have business acumen, but so often in that scenario you have someone who thinks they have it due to the hard work put in by their predecessors. That scares me a bit, especially reading some quotes from Jim of late that at best indicate he's out of touch with the fans and at worst appears that he's clueless.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Howard Fox was promoted by Carl. The Griffith organization was so bareboned that when Carl bought the team and the relatives left, the only executive left was Fox. It was not some bold move by Fox to hire MacPhail, there was nobody to promote.

Good point.

 

Also, the only thing really progressive about MacPhail in the 1980's was his young age.  Was he really that "forward thinking" in other ways?

 

MacPhail's name also had a pretty strong legacy at the time, I could totally see Jim Pohlad choosing a notable name, regardless of age, as his new GM for much the same reasons as Carl.

[DaveW]

Carl never fired his GM, mid season no less. Maybe Jim does have some of the moxie gene.

According to reports it was TR who chose to be fired mid season. The Pohlads offered him the choice a month ago on when to leave.

[twinsnorth49]

 

According to reports it was TR who chose to be fired mid season. The Pohlads offered him the choice a month ago on when to leave.

When to leave as long as it was before 2017 though, lets not forget that.

[Teflon]

 

Good point.

 

Also, the only thing really progressive about MacPhail in the 1980's was his young age.  Was he really that "forward thinking" in other ways?

 

One way I would credit MacPhail with forward thinking would be the inclusion of a player option year in contracts. Not really done before and one of the big reasons the Twins were able to get Jack Morris in 1991 - although Morris then chose to use it the next year when his value was at a peak.

 

Credit MacPhail too for moving on from the 1987 team when it became apparent that the same pieces would be lacking. Bruno for Herr was a whiff but it still took balls to make that move. Viola for Tapani, Aguilera, and West was not a whiff, however, and Tapani and Aguilera were significant parts of the 1991 success. Hard to compare, but I don't see the more conservative TR making either of those moves.  

[diehardtwinsfan]

I do see TR making those moves.  Viola for Tapani/Aguilera isn't much different than AJ for Nathan/Liriano.

 

The problem I see is that organizations are much tighter with their prospects now than what they were.  I'm guessing that's part of the reason why TR hasn't been nearly as trade happy.  He rarely gets the value he wants for the risk he's taking as the market has repriced itself. 

[Mike Sixel]

Wasn't the Morris deal one of the biggest ever? He didn't sit on using a guy like Tyner as his DH either.....

 

Night and day, imo.

[Bob Sacamento]

I know Twins fans treat MacPhail like a god:

 

I didn't grow up a Twins fan, but I grew up a Cubs fan so I'm all too familiar with Andy MacPhail and how he runs an organization.  Like most Chicagoans I drank the MacPhail koolaide: it was touted he's got a system, he's going to rebuild the farm, he has a 5-7 year plan, look what he did in little ol' Minnesota, however I came away very unimpressed with Andy's 12 year run (94-06) on the Northside.  He was lauded for building a farm system, shrewd trades, free agent signings, and the future Savior of Wrigley.  Needless to say, none of that happened, Andy put together a poor organization from the top down, one that was heavy on free agent signings and low on farm talent.  Granted the Cubs made the playoffs twice in his tenure once in 98 by accident and once in 03 by design, still left the organization in shambles when he left.

 

He'll always be MacFail to me.

[Mike Sixel]

Ya, his post Mn time has not been too great.....

[prouster]

 

Fellow by the name of Andy MacPhail. Twins owner Carl Pohlad pinned the design of the next Twins teams on a forward-thinking 32-year-old from outside the organization. Carl didn't amass a fortune without having a fair amount of moxie and his bringing MacPhail to the Twins was as progressive a front office hire as you will find in Reagan era baseball.

 

Fast forward to today where fortunes and the ball club have been inherited - not built and not attained. Decisions are based on risk avoidance. All evidence is that moxie is a recessive trait that disappears in the second generation. Hope that isn't the case.

 

This is romanticizing the Carl Pohlad era a bit, isn't it? You know, the guy who nearly helped MLB contract our favorite team if he didn't get a publicly financed stadium, among other notorious gripes?