The last week of spring training is always the hardest, but not just for the players, how about the general managers of 30 baseball teams?
How many sleepless nights do you think the teams GMs have had this spring? Think about it.
For starters, it was the first time the World Baseball Classic was held. For a general manager, this was truly a nightmare. Yeah, it was great for baseball, but how about if you just signed someone like Johnny Damon. You see him for a few days in camp with his new teammates and then boom, he's playing in the tournament. Then you get a phone call, "Hey my arm is sore and I can't play." That's got to make you sick.
Then there's the trading for new guys, trying to build a winner, trying to get players to make it through spring training healthy. How would you like to be J.P. Ricciardi with the Toronto Blue Jays? You sign some big name free agents more on promise than on talent. One of those players has had a history of arm injuries and then he gets hurt in spring training. How does that $55 million dollar signing feel now?
Thankfully it was some scar tissue breaking up in A.J. Brunett's elbow but do you think J.P. slept the night before the MRI? Brian Cashman of The New York Yankees has a few rings to fall back on, but how about if you're Bill Stoneman with the Los Angeles Angels, and your players are dropping like flies, some guys are in The World Baseball Classic and you haven't even started the season?
Tough job isn't it?
It's not fantasy baseball, this is for real. Real money, real players and really big worries.
I just talked to Jim Hendry on the radio show I do with Kevin Kennedy on XM. The Cubs haven't won a championship in almost 100 years and his two star pitchers, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, must give him plenty of rest. Yeah right. One or both might start the year on the DL, and he's in the last year of his contract, he traded three young pitchers for Juan Pierre, who is hitting .273 this spring and is coming off a down year. Plus he will be starting young players in the field and really doesn't have a front line closer.
Still, I respect the hell out of Jim because he doesn't make excuses; he says they should still win the NL Central. He also had to cut players to get down to the 25 man final roster and long time star Marquis Grissom decided to hang it up.
Imagine having to call players in and say you aren't good enough to play anymore, or we have to send you down, or you need more seasoning. I have to tell you, I have nothing but respect for GMs because I felt it was tougher on them than it was on me when they had to tell me it was hard to leave.
Let me leave you with this, for 14 straight years the best GM has been John Schuerholz of the Atlanta Braves. Last year he had 13 different rookies play during the season and the Braves won the division again. Now some will say, but they've only won one championship despite 14 consecutive division titles. I say they've left spring training 14 times and done just exactly what Mr. Schuerholz gave them a chance to do.
Being a GM may be the toughest job in the big leagues. OK it is.
Hey Rob, nice to see you bounce back from the "steroids don't help you hit home runs" debacle of a month ago. Nice timing on that one.
The Braves don't win in the postseason because Bobby Cox plays every regular season game as if it is the only game of the season. Tony Larussa does the same thing. Both are great managers, but when it comes time for their teams to turn it up a notch in the postseason...there's nothing there. So when teams like the Marlins of 2003 go into another gear and play with more intensity come October, the Braves just look like they're out of gas.
Those people that talk about how the Braves have only won 1 WS are wishing their teams were in the hunt every year. Another WS title would be nice, but the season is what I live for and in.
Beats being a Mets fans!
Last edited by BravesFanSince67 on March 29th at 10:08 PM.
You are right. The GMs do have a tough job, as do GMs and other Managers in normal everyday jobs. They make the decisions that affect not only the employees themselves, but how the company responds and make money. John Schuerholz and Bobby Cox have done a splendid job over the last 14 years. Even if they only won one championship, they have brought a solid run to a franchise who decades before were the perennial cellar dwellers. The one thing that impresses me is how they have developed and used a great farm system. Last year was probably their best managing jobs in my book; to win with what they had. I'm from Cincinnati where the previous two GMs have depleted the Reds' farm system and always traded good to decent players for minor leaguers and players to be named later, who by the way, are still remaining to be named it seems. I envy the Braves, Yankees, Red Sox and others who annually make the playoffs.
Also, I'd hate to be a GM who signed great players and for a lot of money, then have them injured or non-productive. Not really the fault of the GM, but it reflects on him.
Being a GM is a tough job no doubt, but I am sure it is also a lot of fun too. If people didn't think it was so fun there would not be all these fantasy leagues out there.
Keep up the good work, I enjoy your comments keep them coming.
Rob Dibble was named a full-time co-host of BEST DAMN SPORTS SHOW PERIOD in April 2005. The outspoken, all-star reliever is a perfect fit for the most irreverent sports show on television.
Dibble, who is best known as one of the Reds' hard throwing "Nasty Boys," along with Norm Charlton and Randy Myers, won a World Series with the Reds in 1990.
