Former New York Mets general manager and ESPN baseball analyst Steve Phillips provided Examiner.com with a precise definition of what it means for a big league club to hire a GM that plans to rebuild through a focus on scouting and player development.
Phillips was intrigued by the recent pool of general manager candidates that interviewed for the Astros' position and how owner Jim Crane plans to restore the team in order to sustain success.
He believes newly-hired GM Jeff Luhnow fits "the Astros' way."
"My sense is the Astros wanted to hire a guy that is focused on what a small-market GM would do," Phillips said. "It's not going to be somebody who spent their time looking at major league free agents and spending money on big time players. The Astros have more of a commitment of growing it all from within.
"In their words, it's probably having an Astros' way of doing things. They want to develop players with an understanding of what the expectations and consequences are. They want youngsters with an understanding of what the development process is like, how to go about doing things and letting it all play out."
Phillips possesses a strong understanding of the assortment of philosophies a front office in Major League Baseball may take in building and maintaining big and small market clubs over the long run.
His background includes being a ballplayer, director of player personnel, scout and the general manager who constructed the Mets squad that won the NL pennant, but lost in the 2000 World Series.
He wasn't surprised with the Astros' hiring, stating Luhnow's background gave him the best training in becoming a general manager.
"It's kind of a copycat league," Phillips said. "Where there is success in some places, people think it will translate well into someplace else. Small-market GMs with successful ballclubs tend to have assistant GMs that become candidates for the other small-market teams. Somebody from New York City, or a place where they're spending a lot of money by doing it a different way, may not correlate to that exact same level of success.
"Assistant GMs with player development backgrounds have experience in developing things at the lower levels. Whether they come through as scouting or farm directors, that is an important part, as well. I've always believed that somebody who's been a farm director has the best training in becoming a general manager. Why? Well, they're serving as a general manager for seven minor league teams by being in that type of role."
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