Tyler Kepner of The Athletic published their yearly survey of MLB executives on Wednesday, in which they are polled on how they’d rank baseball’s 30 front office groups. The Tigers didn’t quite make the top ten, but they’re clearly regarded as a team on the rise.
Leading the way was the Los Angeles Dodgers. From scouting both in the States and overseas, player development at all levels, and their ability to leverage their massive payroll and location advantages, the Dodgers do everything as well as anyone in the game. Of course, having a fortune to spend certainly helps. No one but the Yankees can really compete on that scale as both clubs regional sports networks and huge revenue streams put the the two behemoths in a league of their own.
Respect for the small market teams that keep getting it done followed once Andrew Friedman’s group in Los Angeles was out of the way. The Tampa Bay Rays and the Milwaukee Brewers were ranked the second and third best front offices in the game. Sustained success on meager payrolls is tough to achieve, but both clubs have done it despite executives and other personnel getting poached regularly by the bigger spending clubs.
In the same vein, the Cleveland Guardians were next as the fourth ranked front office. President of baseball operations Chris Antonetti has built a regular contender in the AL Central for over a decade now. Despite some turnover, they rarely seem to miss a beat. Last year, after Terry Francona “retired” and Stephen Vogt was hired as a first time manager, they won the division anyway and advanced to the ALCS yet again. They can’t quite close the deal with a World Series, and ownership rarely spends much money, but the consistency in Cleveland speaks to the whole organizational culture Antonetti has created.
The New York Yankees are fifth, and personally I think that’s a bit rich. Despite running monstrous payrolls, the Yankees are nowhere near the Dodgers in terms of scouting and player development and continue to live and die by signing a ton of free agents. Nothing wrong with that, but with all their advantages they haven’t won a World Series in 16 years. A very average front office under Brian Cashman with massive advantages, in my estimation.
Cashman has been the GM of the Yankees since 1998, and at the time was the youngest in the game. He’s worked under George Steinbrenner and is the main remaining link to the last great era of Yankees baseball in the 90’s and early 00’s. He did win a title with a team fully of his own construction in 2009, but that’s a long way back now. The advantages of the Yankees also come with a fair amount of extra pressure, and it’s as impressive as anything else he’s done that Cashman has survived so long. One wonders how much longer the organization will be patient if he can’t finally get the Bronx Bombers back to the mountaintop soon.
The Braves and the Phillies tied as the sixth ranked front offices, and as you’d expect, Dave Dombrowski has a ton of respect after nearly 40 years of success through multiple eras of the game. His ability to evolve with the game has made him perhaps the game’s best top executive over the last 30 years.
A key quote on Dombrowski and the Phillies front office.
“Have they made some bad free-agent signings? Sure, I guess, one out of every five. But they don’t swing and miss that often and they never miss on trades. Ever. They evaluate their own players better than anyone. When was the last time Dave got burned on a young prospect? It just doesn’t happen.”
The Diamondbacks, Orioles, and Padres round out the top ten.
Scott Harris and the Detroit Tigers check in 12th overall in this poll, up from 14th a year ago. Noted is the culture the club has built that saw Jack Flaherty happily return at a modest price after the big free agent deal he was hunting for didn’t materialize.
“They’ve really made strides under Scott Harris,” said one president of baseball operations. “They’ve made smart moves and been aggressive when opportunities exist, and they haven’t tied themselves down with long-term contracts.”
A key theme of the poll is the respect given for consistent success over long periods of time. Scott Harris and his group are still pretty new and 2024 could prove a bit of a flash in the pan. However, the ongoing success in the draft and consistently good trades for prospects has them lined up for exactly the type of sustained performance that other presidents and GM’s around the game respect the most.
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