Ownership, management and operations thread

[Olerud363]

I wanted to start a thread about the ownership, and orginizational heirarchy for the Toronto Blue Jays and other organizations.

 

I find this stuff fascinating and important.

 

For example I was just looking at the Rays organizational chart and the top dog is principle owner and former wall street guy Stuart Sternberg. Sounds like a similar background to red sox owner John Henry.

 

In my opinion this is what the Jays need. Somebody above the president (Beeston) who has an analytical background, has never been involved in politics in any way, and is deeply (even pathologically) obsessed with winning.

 

How do you get a guy like this when you have coorporate ownership??

 

The guys above Beeston are Phil Lind and Keith Pelley. Who are these guys?? How much time do they spend thinking about baseball?? How much do they really care??

 

It seems like we are at a disadvantage when you have these guys (Lind and Pelley) going against John Henry and this Stuart Sternberg guy and the Streinbrenners and even Peter Angello.

 

Every other team in our division has an alpha male at the very top. We have a coorporation.

[eastcoastjaysfan]

Too bad Balsille wasn't a huge Jays fan. That would've been fun. Although he likely would've had to sell the team seeing as how BBRY is as irrelevant as it's ever been.

[eastcoastjaysfan]

And I wouldn't go as far as praising Angelos. Read a bit about him. He's a meddler. Always sticking his nose into operations.

[declan_44]

I doubt we'll see the Jays in private hands in our lifetimes. I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing foreign based ownership groups move heavily into North American sports franchises, given the obvious value they accrue (Well, except the Coyotes). Which team will the Chinese buy first? Across any of the sports?

[Olerud363]

Too bad Balsille wasn't a huge Jays fan. That would've been fun. Although he likely would've had to sell the team seeing as how BBRY is as irrelevant as it's ever been.

 

Yeah... that would be the kind of character who could be a successful owner.

[Flashman]

The Rogers people and Beeston appear to have done their jobs just fine: a $120m payroll, strong marketing of the team, stadium upgrades, the promise of grass etc.

 

The buck stops with AA. He has been given plenty of freedom, time and resources by upper management. Whether it's the handling of Snider, the new uniforms, the bolstering and restructuring of the scouting system, high ticket signings, extensions, or the state of the farm ... everything about this organisation has AA's fingerprints on it.

[Olerud363]

And I wouldn't go as far as praising Angelos. Read a bit about him. He's a meddler. Always sticking his nose into operations.

 

He's leading Rogers 3-0 in playoff appearances.

 

But your right. Day to day meddling can be bad. I'm looking more for a guy who will ask tough questions. A guy who AA will be a bit nervous when he has a meeting with him.

[Chappy]

The Rogers people and Beeston appear to have done their jobs just fine: a $120m payroll, strong marketing of the team, stadium upgrades, the promise of grass etc.

 

The buck stops with AA. He has been given plenty of freedom, time and resources by upper management. Whether it's the handling of Snider, the new uniforms, the bolstering and restructuring of the scouting system, high ticket signings, extensions, or the state of the farm ... everything about this organisation has AA's fingerprints on it.

 

The offseason actually stinks of Beeston influencing AA. No one really knows for sure, but it seems retarded that AA would develop the farm so well, keep contracts team friendly for the most part and focus on controllable players only to f*** everything up over a few months.

[Olerud363]

The Rogers people and Beeston appear to have done their jobs just fine: a $120m payroll, strong marketing of the team, stadium upgrades, the promise of grass etc.

 

The buck stops with AA. He has been given plenty of freedom, time and resources by upper management. Whether it's the handling of Snider, the new uniforms, the bolstering and restructuring of the scouting system, high ticket signings, extensions, or the state of the farm ... everything about this organisation has AA's fingerprints on it.

 

So if the buck stops and starts with AA maybe that's the problem... In other organizations there is more of a system of mentorship, support, feedback and evaluation for the GM.

 

For example Tampa Bay, it sounds like the ultimate vision, philosaphy and values of the organization are established by Sternberg. In Boston it's Henry.

 

In Toronto it's ... AA?? Beeston??

[Olerud363]

The offseason actually stinks of Beeston influencing AA. No one really knows for sure, but it seems retarded that AA would develop the farm so well, keep contracts team friendly for the most part and focus on controllable players only to f*** everything up over a few months.

 

It's an important question. If this is how it went down then AA shouldn't be fired. Need to get a new president then go from there... If the new president thinks he can work with AA, then AA stays.

[CHRIS]

The offseason actually stinks of Beeston influencing AA. No one really knows for sure, but it seems retarded that AA would develop the farm so well, keep contracts team friendly for the most part and focus on controllable players only to f*** everything up over a few months.

 

This honestly wouldn't surprise me, however I can't see why Beeston would have influenced the Snider/Lincoln deal, etc. Beeston is probably a large part of the problem, but I don't think AA is blameless here by any stretch.

[Tuco]

To me this biggest issues with whats going on with this organization are 2 things.

 

-They have created a culture where you can act out, be disrespectful, whine and show a total lack of regard for team play and its tolerated. They have built a workplace where you can show up late, jerk off during work hours, totally underperform and there will be no consequences. If you create a culture where you can slack off and take shortcuts, most humans will always take that and run especially when you continue to be rewarded by the company. This org has shown a real lack of professionalism on the field the past 2 seasons and it doesnt seem like its going to change anytime soon.

 

We have a bunch of egomaniacs, self absorbed, dumb or just uncaring types.

 

Egomaniacs (Bautista, Lawrie, JPA)

Dumb (Lind, Rasmus, Davis, Boni)

Disinterested (Lind Rasmus,Izturis)

 

Add in the fact Melky has been rumoured to be a underwhelming teammate and the bad apples or all about themselves types are all over the roster. To me this rosters overall baseball IQ is laughable and its getting exposed routinely the past 100 games or so. It doesnt look like any of our young players are getting better. It doesnt look like any of our players are making the necessary adjustments (maybe besides Lind). Maybe having a team full of misfits would work if you had a lead dogg who could keep all these guys in order and put them in there place but we dont and whats worse is our supposed "leader" is one of the culprits and doesnt set a good example by constant whining and making silly selfish mistakes in the field.

 

Good organizations get the most out of players while bad organizations get mediocre to awful performance. We currently look like a organization that has no clue how to develop prospects or even ML talent.

[Flashman]

The offseason actually stinks of Beeston influencing AA. No one really knows for sure, but it seems retarded that AA would develop the farm so well, keep contracts team friendly for the most part and focus on controllable players only to f*** everything up over a few months.

 

I don't know about that. It started with the Marlins trade, which by AA's own admission started out as a small deal and snowballed into something else. So presumably he went to Beeston for the OK to take on the extra payroll, and our destiny was shaped by that transaction.

 

It's also worth noting that AA never went into Tank Nation mode, such as the Astros (or even the Rays) to stockpile high draft picks, nor did he trade off any of our high value players -- other than Halladay who wished to leave. He maintained a competitive team over the past few seasons, in part to get extra draft picks, but also having a roster that was primed to compete with a single blockbuster trade.

[Olerud363]

This honestly wouldn't surprise me, however I can't see why Beeston would have influenced the Snider/Lincoln deal, etc. Beeston is probably a large part of the problem, but I don't think AA is blameless here by any stretch.

 

Beeston uses Cito Gaston and George Bell as his consultants. Maybe they told him that Moises Sierra was better then Snider and to get whatever they could for the fat kid...

 

Perhaps that comment was to sarcastic. (And I shouldn't diss George Bell. I have no idea what his philosaphies are... he had some terrific years.. the only concern I'd have is if his idea of a good team involved a lot of players who are like him but don't have the talent to swing at everything).

 

But there were obviously discussions about Snider's future potential at various points and those discussions led to the eventual trade. It would be interesting to know who was involved in those discussions and what was said,

[Tuco]

Beeston uses Cito Gaston and George Bell as his consultants. Maybe they told him that Moises Sierra was better then Snider and to get whatever they could for the fat kid...

 

Perhaps that comment was to sarcastic. (And I shouldn't diss George Bell. I have no idea what his philosaphies are... he had some terrific years.. the only concern I'd have is if his idea of a good team involved a lot of players who are like him but don't have the talent to swing at everything).

 

But there were obviously discussions about Snider's future potential at various points and those discussions led to the eventual trade. It would be interesting to know who was involved in those discussions and what was said,

 

I'm pretty sure it was The Hurl who said last year that this team has too many old school/ex player voices speaking when they shouldnt.

Either that or AA has problems overriding some of the more senior management people.

[GeorgiaPeach]

The Rogers people and Beeston appear to have done their jobs just fine: a $120m payroll, strong marketing of the team, stadium upgrades, the promise of grass etc.

 

The buck stops with AA. He has been given plenty of freedom, time and resources by upper management. Whether it's the handling of Snider, the new uniforms, the bolstering and restructuring of the scouting system, high ticket signings, extensions, or the state of the farm ... everything about this organisation has AA's fingerprints on it.

 

As a non-baseball man, I'd have to say Beeston had a little too much input as to what type of players to target or his conversations with Alex centred around 1993 & 1992 too much.

[o2cui2i]

As a non-baseball man, I'd have to say Beeston had a little too much input as to what type of players to target or his conversations with Alex centred around 1993 & 1992 too much.

 

most of the info that has come out has Beeston more interested in making big deals and spending more money NOW, than what AA was looking at.

 

but AA needs to keep his changes liquid. he has said to many things to the media that are making it hard for him to continue building right now. he needs to eat some crow and move on.

[Boxcar]

I'm pretty sure it was The Hurl who said last year that this team has too many old school/ex player voices speaking when they shouldnt.

Either that or AA has problems overriding some of the more senior management people.

 

AA is no different from them.

[o2cui2i]

the ghost of Cito still haunts the Rogers Center. pretty scary considering he's not dead yet.