Sidney Ponson and Ramon Ortiz get you a 1st place rating?

its funny how in the list they say larry beinfest is underrated then they go ahead and under rate him anyway..for me its 1.beane 2. beinfest

No top ten for Bill Bavasi?

Seddrah,

Wait, was that a joke? I truly can't tell.

Omar Minaya?

Shapiro seems to be a notable omission.

OMAR!!!!

How can Omar Minaya not be on that list. Incredible. Say what you want about the "unlimited money" but the man turned a mediocre Kris Benson into John Maine, El Duque, and Oliver Perez. That alone is impressive, but he also stole Duaner Sanchez, not to mention acquiring guys like Jose Valentin, Endy Chavez, Pedro Feliciano.

Oh, and convincing that Pedro guy to come to NY, which led to all of this.

The roster turnaround since Doug Melvin took over as Brewers GM is nothing but astounding. I would rank him over almost half of those guys.

The Giants GM. His name escapes me at the moment. However, he is standing tall for demanding that Bonds reduce the # of his entourage, and other distracting clubhouse activities. Plus, signing Zito--who should flourish in the NL--a weaker league.

The Giants GM. His name escapes me at the moment. However, he is standing tall for demanding that Bonds reduce the # of his entourage, and other distracting clubhouse activities. Plus, signing Zito--who should flourish in the NL--a weaker league.

Sabean? Really? The same Sabean who never met a washed up 35+ year old he didn't want? Especially one that he could sign early in the offseason so he would lose draft picks?

Kevin Towers seems to always manage to grab some relievers from the scrapheap and turn them into valuable bullpen pieces (Linebrink, Embree, Seanez, Hammond before that Bochtler and Bryce Florie and Doug Brocail) Beingh a GM of a small-market team requires knowing how to win in the margins (bullpen, bench, #4-5 starters, etc.) and Towers would seem to be very good at that.

At least the Fox guy talks about numbers a little bit. Would rather see an update of the table on page 16: Are General Managers Generally Wrong? A Study of Pay, Performance, and Win Shares

At the time, this would have been your list based on marginal cost of adding wins in the system the GM managed:
LaMar
Minaya (montreal at time)
Beane
Dombrowski
Beinfest

The model isn't quite right -- but it's closer than pulling names out of your gut.

Of course, I am biased as the former webmaster/writer of www.hiremetheo.com - but I find it hard to rate anyone above Epstein. With the exception of the Piniero deal, and perhaps the Tavarez signing, I've found it pretty easy to follow what I think was his rationale on just about every signing he's made (and, more importantly perhaps, the signings he hasn't made). There are many things that haven't gone right (Renteria being the most obvious, I guess), but as a GM - as in gambling - all you can do is maneuver yourself into the biggest slice of the pie before the wheel gets spun. The rest is up to luck.

Hey Jake,

Convincing Pedro to come to NY was very easy. Omar simply gave him more money, and here is the kicker, a fourth year that no one else would.

No one expects Pedro to pitch a full fourth year.

Byrnes is seriously underrated. He has built up a fantastic farm system and is about to take the major leagues by storm.

I was suprised that Byrnes and Shapiro weren't higher up. Perhaps Byrnes just hasn't had enough time to establish himself. But Shapiro is the best GM in baseball, IMO.

Byrnes doesn't deserve all the credit for the Arizona farm system since he just started as GM in Nov 2005. Mike Rizzo is the one who did most of the farm building and he got tabbed to be the Assistant GM in Washington for his success. Talk about going from riches to rags.
Byrnes does deserve credit for not trading the prospects off haphazardly and giving them playing time, and he has been pretty sharp in his trades so far, but it's hard to compare against other GMs who have a longer track record.

Sabean? Really? The same Sabean who never met a washed up 35+ year old he didn't want? Especially one that he could sign early in the offseason so he would lose draft picks?

My thoughts exactly. No offense Berdell. What's your rational for including him?

Beinfest is likely undervalued; he was my pick for NL Executive of the Year last year. I'd also put Shapiro in my top ten.

Had this list been compiled five years ago, I think Brian Sabean's name would have been high. After all, the first five or so years of his regime turned out very well for the Giants, who were essentially a two-man team (Bonds and Matt Williams) when Sabean took over in late 1996. The Williams trade for Kent, vilified at the time by Bay Area fans, turned out very well. So did trading Allen Watson for J.T. Snow, acquiring Brian Johnson for peanuts, ditto Robb Nen and Livan Hernandez, turning Daryl Hamilton into Ellis Burks, and of course picking up Jason Schmidt for two players who aren't even in the majors anymore (last I checked).

Since then, of course, far more of his decisions have gone wrong than before, and most sabermetric-minded Giants fans have turned decisively against him. The infamous Pierzynski trade, of course, stands as a black mark but how many people clamored against it at the time?

Sabean's biggest weakness, in my view, is not forgoing first round draft picks or preferring older players. Rather, it was inability to see how signing Vladimir Guerrero after the 2003 season would have been a better choice than throwing a bunch of money at mediocre veterans who were replacement-level quality at best. The signing of Barry Zito, if nothing else, shows that he isn't afraid to take a deep plunge into the free agent market.

I'm an enormously biased Giants fan, of course, so take my ramblings with a grain of salt :)

I agree with you that Sabean did very well early on. However this is what have you done for me lately. He needs to get with the times, adapt and adjust. Foregoing all those draft picks showed zero foresight. It's time for a new direction. This is the big leagues and if you can't keep up, you need to be replaced. But apparently, the owners choice in GMs is a lot like their GM's choice in players.

I agree with others that Shapiro and Towers belong on this list, probably at the expense of Cashman and Gillick. Also, Beinfest should be higher.

It's a bit like a modified Hall of Fame judgment. Are we talking career, peak or current GM performance?

If one is talking career, Gillick is right up there. He did a marvellous job in Toronto. If one is talking current, Gillick's not in the top 10.

Among current GMs, Josh Byrnes would be very high on the list I'd want to see as the GM of my home club.

My top ten GMs right now:

Schuerholz
Beane
Dombrowski
Jocketty
Ryan
Cashman
Williams
Epstein
Shapiro
Minaya

A lot of this is based on "fit"... is Cashman a great GM, or just a great GM for New York? (Special circumstances, but I didn't like Minaya helming the Expos' fire sale.) And Beinfest--a potential top ten candidate, no doubt--couldn't behave like that as GM of the Yankees.

I think Towers might be the most overrated GM in the game today.

Sabean bid against himself in trying to re-sign Bonds this year. What's the contract right now, $18 million? Who else was bidding for Bonds? That move drops Sabean to the bottom of the list. Never overpay when you don't have to. There was no way Bonds was leaving SF.