For the third year in a row, we did a project where 30 people took over the roles as the 30 MLB GMs and conducted the offseason in a week. We did arbitration, made trades and signed free agents. At the end of the week, we were supposed to submit 25-man rosters and budgets and that information will be posted here.
This project cannot ever hope to replicate results in the real world. If this is the only way you can think of this being a success – please stop reading immediately. The 30 of us put a lot of time and effort into this and we know that it’s not in any way, shape or form indicative of how things will play out in real life. Don’t play the Captain Obvious role and point out things that wouldn’t happen in MLB. Any pointless posts such as this will be deleted with extreme prejudice.
However, please look at the individual teams and see what their owners thought were the proper ways to go. Did the Mets owner address the too many lefty sluggers issue? Did the Braves owner get more starting pitching? Did the Angels owner address their sorry farm system? There are storylines for each club and the thought process behind the moves is just as important, if not more important, than the moves themselves.
But feel free to criticize the moves, too. Did anyone pull an AJ Preller and try to trade a team into contention and make horrible deals? Did a squad a pitcher away from contention focus only on hitting? Did an owner trade a top prospect for pennies on the dollar? These things and others are certainly up for praise, criticism and debate.
This post will stay at the top of the page for about a week and I will update as the owners send me their information. Click on the hyperlinked owner names to view their recap. Thanks for reading and we look forward to your thoughts on our project.
Atlanta Braves- David Groveman
Miami Marlins – Stephen Guilbert
New York Mets – Matt Netter
Philadelphia Phillies – Dan Spiro
Washington Nationals –
Chicago Cubs –
Cincinnati Reds – Joe Vasile
Milwaukee Brewers – Matt Bruce
Pittsburgh Pirates – Jim Keller
St. Louis Cardinals –
Arizona Diamondbacks – Jon Williams
Colorado Rockies –
Los Angeles Dodgers – Bob Lowe
San Diego Padres – Dan Kolton
San Francisco Giants –
Baltimore Orioles – Greg Jarvis
Boston Red Sox – Joe Barbieri
New York Yankees – Mark Healey
Tampa Bay Rays – Julian McCarthy
Toronto Blue Jays –
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Indians – Brian Kobil
Detroit Tigers – John Coppinger
Kansas City Royals – Ray Kuhn
Minnesota Twins – Peter Kreutzer
Houston Astros – Brian Mullen
Los Angeles Angels – Brian Joura
Oakland Athletics – Scott Ferguson
Seattle Mariners –
Texas Rangers –
Finally, I’d like to thank the 29 other people who participated in this. I hope you had fun and that you will consider doing it again next year.
I’ve been looking forward to checking this out. Very kool.
Is there an overarching purpose that you guys are trying to achieve for each team? For example, is it a requisite that each team try to get a balance between active roster and minors? What about a team desperately in need of a rebuild? Would a GM in this exercise be encouraged to pursue a “rebuild” model?
I hesitate to evaluate any GM moves without knowing against what standard they are being measured.
It’s entirely up to the individual owner.
Last year I had the Brewers. By the rules of the project I had a healthy payroll where I could have been a player for the David Prices and Zack Greinkes of the free agent world. But during the previous season, the real Brewers were ditching salary and starting a rebuild. I opted to do the same.
The focus of the piece is the Opening Day 25-man roster. However, there are teams that surely should be focusing at least as much as adding to their minor league talent. I had the Angels this year and I tried to do both.
Missing 9 grades at this point.
I’ve got a few more 25-man rosters but those owners have promised to send an article.