The Politics of Baseball’s General Managers

Super Tuesday is not a significant date on Major League Baseball’s calendar, but it’s worth acknowledging as a reminder that today’s General Manager jobs include many of the daily challenges of a presidential campaign. Constant travel, early wake-up calls, and numerous off-field commitments are only the beginning. The scrutiny from the media and fans is inescapable, and most first-time GMs are not rewarded with four-year terms.

Camp David? Month-long vacations on The Ranch? Hawaii? Forget it.

Jeb Bush was mocked for his spending. He doled out $130 million on his ill-fated campaign and has nothing to show for it today. He outspent his party rivals mightily, and he went bust. Remind you of any recent baseball teams and what happens when expenditures create expectations that are not met? Those GMs, just like ol’ Jeb, watch from their couches.

There aren’t too many other jobs in which a privately owned company employs someone who can be lauded or criticized — with or without good reason — in person, on talk radio, on television, and throughout social media, and have his job status (and often salary) freely discussed by both casual and passionate, if not at times misinformed, fans of its product.

GMs aren’t elected officials, but attaining and sustaining the position can be similar to campaigning for and holding public office. While a GM is accountable to his owner and other high-ranking team officials, the daily opinions of the fans and media can be even more impactful. Everybody has a voice, and nobody has to wait until age 18 to make it count. The right endorsements are vital. Every article written about a team is a reflection of the GM. It doesn’t matter if it’s a game report, a columnist’s opinion, or a profile of the team’s scouting director, farm director, or training staff — it all falls under the GM’s auspices.

The job is no longer only about fielding a winning team within budget constraints, and it really hasn’t been for a while. It’s about managing up, managing expectations, and managing the media. In other words: politicking. Whether they know it or not, GMs promote their policies through the media. Sometimes it’s carefully measured and implemented subtly over time; other times it’s revealed unwittingly. It can be an attempt to mask problems on the field, or it can be a generous invitation for any and all to look inside cloaked operations.

A favorable reception from the most influential writers can be as beneficial for a career and legacy as multiple division titles or a World Series championship. History is being recorded before it plays out. One shrewd move may be remembered for years. Some bad deals are excused as the cost of doing business. Failure in the standings can be spun as success simply for competing against teams with greater financial muscle, a more talented roster, or even a healthier roster. Conversely, if a GM has a target on his back, trades will be deemed foolish and shortsighted before having a chance to play out.

In one of his recent blog entries on espn.com, Buster Olney praises Billy Beane and the Athletics franchise for trying to win in a time when some organizations’ multi-year plan is predicated upon losing — and losing often — in the immediate future. Olney recognizes that the trades of both Josh Donaldson and Addison Russell did not yield the desired results, but he doesn’t crush Beane for the deals. Instead, he presents the facts and offers gentle commentary as a segue to his thesis: The A’s possess a good ability to revamp, a tireless drive to improve, and they won’t accept short-term losing as part of a long-term strategy.

Billy Beane has earned quite a bit of equity in baseball for fielding competitive teams without a competitive payroll. He is well liked, admired, and has been immortalized on screen by Brad Pitt. Unlikeable people, regardless of the market and its obstacles, do not get free passes on trading MVPs. A writer with a different agenda would have jumped all over this opportunity and ignored or questioned some of the challenges Beane and his office face regularly.

Don’t get me wrong; what happens between the lines has been and will always be the most important part of the game. By far. There are now more games within the game, and sometimes it’s a game of politics.

Olney credits Beane for trying, while others from Yoda to Tommy Lasorda may have a different opinion on the matter.