Last week, the Phillies announced that they had hired Chuck LaMar and installed him as the director of pro scouting. My first reaction? WHY???? And that’s partly when I didn’t mention this earlier, because I needed some time to assess the situation, assess LaMar fully, and then try and figure out the ramifications of the entire ordeal. My negative first reaction is based simply on his inability to handle major league talent and make proper moves for his franchise. Then I began to think that maybe his job here would simply allow him to evaluate talent and advise Gillick, and that was the role they had for him. Then I remembered that Gillick is likely going to walk away from the team after 2008. When he does, we’ll need a new GM. Most people who tend to have a pessimistic outlook on the Phillies general decision making process assume (rightly or wrongly) that Ruben Amaro is the man to take over the job. Some people (like myself), hope that they look outside the organization, maybe to a guy who believes in 21st century baseball. But now, Chuck LaMar adds another twist to this impending situation, and with that, we’ll take a look at his ledger.

We can look at LaMar’s body of work by examining his 3 major job posts. He served as the Farm Director for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1989-1990, Director of Player Development in Atlanta from 1991 to 1995, and the GM of the Devil Rays from 1995-2005, though the Rays didn’t start playing until 1998, and his real task was the expansion draft in 1997. Since it’s tough to really know what his main responsibilities were in his first two gigs, we’ll just touch on them briefly and focus most of the work on his GM tenure in Tampa Bay, where he was calling the shots.

Farm Director, Pittsburgh Pirates (1989-1990)

So, this is where we start. From my understanding, the job of a farm director is to oversee all of a team’s minor league affiliates. I don’t know if the farm director dictates callups/send downs, if the farm director has any impact on future drafts, or any other specific tasks. If the farm director does not have an influence on the draft, then it’s hard to really draw any kind of information from this post. The Phillies current director of minor leagues is Steve Noworyta. What do you know about Steve Noworyta? Probably as much as I do. If you want to look at the drafts for Pittsburgh during this time, I guess you can. Their 1989 drafted netted almost zero in terms of guys who would contribute at the major league level. Willie Green was taken in the first round and logged 2,000 AB in the majors, with 86 HR. Only 6 of the other 47 players drafted even made it to the majors, and none had any kind of success worth noting. The 1990 draft was slightly better, netting two decent middle relievers in Brian Shouse and Rick White (curtail the laughter), as well as Kevin Young, who was a slightly below league average corner infielder. A total of 7 out of 41 draft picks eventually made it to the majors. Again, it’s tough to really know what LaMar was doing in Pittsburgh, so it’s also kind of tough to hold it against him.

Director of Player Development, Atlanta Braves (1991-1995)

Here we should have some more tangible information to work with. LaMar came to Atlanta at the same time John Schuerholz, with the latter taking over as GM and LaMar serving as Director of Player Development. So you may ask, what does a Director of Player Development do? Well, I went to my trusted friend google to try and get a better idea. I found one interesting result, an interview with Blue Jays Director of Player Development Dick Scott. He was asked that exact question, and provided this answer

I am in charge of overseeing all the minor league players and staff, as well as move the players up and down the system. A big part of my job is evaluating player for JP regarding potential call-ups or trades. JP has input on what we are doing, and so does Tony Lacava. We have a number of people looking at our minor league guys and making decisions on them

So, his job is basically talent evaluation and determining which players are good enough and which players should be traded, as well as which players should be called up. Seems like a pretty important gig, and one that I suppose is taken currently by Mike Arbuckle, who is Director of Scouting and Player Development, as well as the Assistant General Manager. I guess Steve Noworyta might also have a hand in here, but all members of the front office work together on many of these tasks. In any event, LaMar oversaw quite a bit of talent in his 5 years in Atlanta, and his final year on the job saw the big league team win the World Series with a nice collection of home grown talent. Baseball-Reference lists the following “notable” players traded and traded for by Atlanta from 1991 to 1995;

Traded: Jimmy Kremers, Joe Roa (!!!), Tony Castillo, Turk Wendell, Yorkis Perez (!!), Nate Minchey, Seth Ross, Melvin Nieves,  Donnie Elliott, Deion Sanders, Roberto Kello, Tony Tarasco, Esteban Yan, and Andre King

Traded For: Otis Nixon, Boi Rodriguez, Alejandro Pena, Damon Berryhill, Mike Bielecki, Jeff Reardon, Fred McGriff, Roberto Kelly, Roger Ethreridge,  Marquis Grissom, and Mike Devereaux.

Clearly the two best players on this list are Fred McGriff and Marquis Grissom, and they never gave up any premium talent that I can see. I guess you have to consider his job here successful. The big league team won the big prize and made the playoffs every season that LaMar was there. How much of their success is attributed to him is unknown, but he didn’t hurt his resume here.

General Manager, Tampa Bay (1995-2005)

Now it’s time to get down to business. LaMar was the first general manager for the Devil Rays, and was appointed in 1995. The Devil Rays began to draft players in the June draft in 1996, so I guess this is where we’ll start. Instead of just going year by year in his tenure, I’m going to focus mainly on the amateur draft and then player acquisitions.

1996 Draft; Alex Sanchez (5th round), Kyle Snyder (27th round), Dan Wheeler (34th round),  Jason Michaels (44th round).

Their first four draft picks were complete busts, and they only found a total of 8 players who made the majors in 97 rounds worth of picks.

1997 Draft; Jason Standrige (1), Toby Hall (9), Heath Bell (69)

What a haul here, huh? Their first 5 picks were Standrige, Kenny Kelly, Barrett Wright, Todd Belitz, and Marquis Roberts. Not a good draft when the 3 best players you nab are a #6 SP, a backup catcher, and a middle reliever, and Bell certainly didn’t help the Devil Rays franchise.

1998 Draft; Aubrey Huff (5),  Joe Kennedy (8), Brandon Backe (18)

The Rays didn’t pick until the 4th round, and their 4th round pick Josh Pressley was a flop. Huff was a solid pick, and Joe Kennedy and Brandon Backe have had at least some success in the back end of major league rotations. A total of 6 players of the 44 taken made the majors, again not a good ratio.

1999 Draft; Josh Hamilton (1), Carl Crawford (2), Doug Waechter (3), Seth McLung (5), Matt Diaz (17), Ryan Raburn (18)

Everyone knows about the Hamilton saga by now. He clearly has the ability, but was his own worst enemy until 2006. The Rays cut bait on him, and maybe the fresh start is what helped him. Crawford has a much higher perceived value than actual value, but he’s a valuable commodity for Tampa now, and was a nice hit. Waechter hasn’t been very good, McLung the same, and he was traded to Milwaukee this past season. Diaz didn’t do much in Tampa, but has found a home in Atlanta as a 4th OF now. Raburn didn’t sign and eventually was drafted by Detroit in 5th round 2 years later. 7 out of 50 made it to the majors, not a great percentage again.

2000 Draft; Rocco Baldelli (1), James Shields (16)

The 2000 draft was not a particularly good draft. Baldelli, like Crawford, has always been more hype than substance, and now he can’t stay healthy. 2 years ago, he’d have brought a lot in a deal. Now? Not so much. Nabbing Shields in the 16th round now looks like a move of brilliance. Outside of these 2, the draft was almost a complete miss, with only 4 of 50 players making it to the majors.

2001 Draft; Dewon Brazelton (1), Dave Bush (4), Jonny Gomes (18), Joey Gathright (32), Chad Gaudin (34)

2001 was a much better draft, all things considered. Brazelton pitched well in the minors, was rushed to the majors, and ultimately never amounted to anything, but it wasn’t an awful pick at the time. Bush didn’t sign, which wasn’t a good thing, but they picked up 3 good guys in Gomes, Gathright and Gaudin after the 15th round. They also added organizational arms in Chris Seddon (5) and Jason Hammel (19), and all told, 8 of 50 guys picked made the majors, 9 if you count Dave Bush who made the majors elsewhere, but you shouldn’t really count that.

2002 Draft; BJ Upton (1), Elijah Dukes (3), Mike Pelfrey (15), Jacoby Ellsbury (23)

A poor draft overall here. Upton looks like he’s on his way to becoming an all star, Dukes is likely on his way to a mental institution, and Pelfrey and Ellsbury didn’t sign of course. Wes Bankston (4) is still a prospect to some degree, so they might get another major leaguer out of this eventually, but all told, not good, and only 3 of the 50 players taken have made appearances in the bigs.

2003 Draft; Delmon Young (1), James Houser (2), Andrew Miller (3), Chad Orvella (13)

Another poor draft after round. Young is going to end up a better major leaguer than his brother, but after him, the Rays have almost nothing to show for this draft (yet), unless you count erratic middle reliever Chad Orvella as “something”. Houser was a good prospect 2 years ago, but has had some arm troubles, and they failed to sign Andrew Miller, who is now pitching with Detroit after going in the first round in 2006.

2004 Draft; Jeff Niemann (1), Reid Brignac (2), Wade Davis (3), Jacob McGee (5), Matt Walker (10), Andy Sonnanstine (13)

Ironically, this could end up being LaMar’s best draft, and only Sonny has made it to the majors, and his results haven’t been good. Niemann is a bit of a hype case at this point, but Brignac is one of the best SS prospects in the minors, Davis and McGee profile as legit #2 starters, and Walker a good back end of the rotation candidate in a year or two. All of these guys might flame out and never contribute, but the elite talent prospect is there, and if one of them works out, then the draft will be close to previous drafts, if more than 1 works out, it could be their best draft.

2005 Draft; Wade Townsend (1), Chris Mason (2), Bryan Morris (3), Jeremy Hellickson (4)

As much upside as the 2004 draft provided, this draft could have set the team back. Townsend made his name at Rice, and came out with a shredded arm. Mason is a finese righty who looks like a #4, Morris didn’t sign in a well publicized debacle, and Hellickson looks the most promising of the bunch, but is still 2-3 years away. Was this the draft that undid LaMar, or did he have it coming already?

The D-Rays are lauded for their young talent, but if you look closer at these drafts, you have to say they weren’t very good. You can’t expect a team to grab 5 major league all stars from every draft, but when you’re picking 1st or 2nd every year, you should be landing “can’t miss” talent. The list of 1st rounders for Tampa Bay from 1996-2005

Paul Wilder, Jason Standridge, Josh Hamilton, Rocco Baldelli, Dewon Brazelton, BJ Upton, Delmon Young, Jeff Niemann, Wade Townsend.

You have to think they maybe could have done a bit better. But the more important note is how few players they accumulated in rounds 2-5, and only plucking a handful of sleepers past round 15 in 10 years.

Player Aquisitions

The second phase is to look at the moves LaMar made. I think it’s really difficult to judge how good or bad he was at this aspect, because Tampa Bay was dealing with a very small payroll during his entire tenure as GM. He’ll forever be remembered by two moves, one good and one bad. The bad move was trading Bobby Abreu, at the time a mediocre OF prospect, to the Phillies for Kevin Stocker. The good move was trading Victor Zambrano, who appears to have been damaged goods, to the New York Mets for Scott Kazmir. Much of what came in between constitutes marginal moves at best. Let’s have a brief look

1997-1998; Traded Dmitri Young to Cincinnati for Mike Kelly. Young would go on to have a number of good seasons and generally be an above average 1B, while Kelly was complete garbage. Signed Roberto Hernandez, that’s never a good move. Signed Wilson Alvarez, who had a good year in 1999. Signed 40 year old Wade Boggs, presumably as a PR stunt, considering Boggs was past it at that point. Signed Jorge Cantu, which turned out to be a good signing, and LaMar had nothing to do with trading him for minor league relievers. Claimed Cory Lidle on waivers, which was a nice move, but getting Ben Grieve for him wasn’t such a good move.

1999-2000; Traded Jason Johnson to the Orioles for two scrubs. Johnson pitched one season and wasn’t very good for Tampa. Signed Brendan Donnelley out of the Atlantic League, a nice find. But then they released him a few months later. Well, so much for that. Traded Joe Oliver and Humberto Cota to Pittsburgh for Jose Guillen and Jeff Sparks. Ok, that’s not bad. But then they didn’t re-sign Guillen, who has bounced around since, and Cota is at least a marginal backup catcher now. Took Chad Ogea and Chris Reitsma in the Rule 5 draft….two decent finds here I guess, but Reitmsa was returned to Boston. Signed Norm Charlton and Juan Guzman, only about 9 years too late. Signed Steve Trachsel, who they then traded mid season for Brent Abernathy. I like the idea of signing a free agent, getting value out of him, then flipping him for something of more future value. The problem is, Abernathy was awful. Traded Todd Belitz and Jim Mecir for Jesus Colome. Mecir was a junk baller, and Colome had big upside. It’s a shame Colome now pitches for Washington, while Mecir was actually good for Oakland. Signed Paul Spoljaric as a free agent. Great move.

2001-2002; Traded Cory Lidle and Roberto Hernandez for Ben Grieve. Lidle helped Oakland to the playoffs, and Hernandez is just crap. The problem is that Grieve was good, not great, and Oakland ended up winning this 3 team trade by a huge margin, also getting Johnny Damon and Mark Ellis in the deal, giving up only Angel Berroa and Ben Grieve. The Royals are as much at fault as anyone here. Traded Fred McGriff to the Cubs for Manny Aybar and Jason Smith. McGriff was raking in 2001 when he was traded, and he was 37, so the time to trade him was right. But getting Manny Aybar and Jason Smith? That sucked. Signed Ryan Freel as a free agent, but he was released a year later, and then signed with the Reds, where he’s been a somewhat valuable commodity. Signed Sal Fasano and Kevin Brown…..lol. Selected Jorge Sosa off waivers….nice, but they never got value out of him. Signed Emil Brown as a free agent. Brown played one season in Tampa, then was released and he didn’t really get on track until landing in Kansas City. Traded Randy Winn for Antonio Perez. Winn was mediocre for his first 4 seasons in Tampa, had a nice year in 2002, and was the traded. I don’t mind him being traded, but damn, Antonio Perez?

2003-2004; Signed Travis Lee as a free agent. Why? Signed and then released Wayne Gomes…..why?  Traded Jason Conti for Javier Valentin. Gotta say that was a clear win for Tampa, except they released him after 2003, and like Ryan Freel, he was snatched up by Cinci. Signed Julio Lugo as a free agent. This was a decent move, and smartly, the Rays decided to trade Lugo, but we’ll get to that trade later. Traded Evan Rust and John-Paul Davis for Tino Martinez. Again with the collecting of players who were great 6 years ago. Martinez had a decent season in Tampa before heading back to New York to finish his career. Traded Brandon Backe to Houston for Geoff Blum. Not a good deal. Traded Joe Kennedy to Colorado, received Mark Hendrickson from Toronto in the 3 team deal. Doesn’t really make sense, trading a finesse lefty for another. Signed Danys Baez as a free agent.  Baez was decent for Tampa, and he wasn’t really missed when he was traded, and LaMar wasn’t the one to trade him. Traded Antonio Perez for Jason Romano. So, really, it was Randy Winn for Jason Romano. Here’s the best part…Romano was claimed off waivers 3 weeks later by Cinci. Then, IT happened. The Mets, acting either out of desperation or stupidity, or some combination, traded Scott Kazmir to Tampa for #5 starter Victor Zambrano. Some have attempted to argue that the deal wasn’t as lopsided at the time, blah blah blah, but it certainly is. Kazmir had dynamite stuff, and his strikeout numbers in the minors backed it up. This trade, while the best of LaMar’s tenure, was also maybe his undoing. You’d often read in newspapers how teams had a hard time dealing with LaMar, because he wanted the moon for every player after getting Kazmir for Zambrano.

2005; Signed Hideo Nomo as a free agent. There ya go. Signed Denny Neagle as a free agent….now we’re talking. Traded Jorge Sosa for Nick Green. Green had one bad year for Tampa before moving on. Sosa was great in 2005, and then fell apart in 2006 before Atlanta traded him to St Louis. Traded Bobby Seay to Colorado for Reggie Taylor….yes, that Reggie Taylor. Signed David Coggin…yes, that David Coggin.

There you have it. If you think I missed something, let me know. The big problem, besides signing guys who are past it performance wise, is that when they did sign low risk talent and then trade them, they didn’t get anything close to value for them. It’s tough to look through these moves and find an apparent strategy, and it’s tough to find any deals outside of the Kazmir robbery where the D-Rays got the better of another team. Drafting wise, they had their share of good picks, but most of them came in the first round, where teams are expected to hit much more frequently than miss. Outside of a few organizational arms, they haven’t produced a lot except for the 2004 draft, and the jury is still out on those guys.

So that’s a summary of LaMar’s work, but how does it apply here? Well, we don’t really know who exactly he is replacing, or what his real job is going to be. If he’s here to just scout talent, I guess that’s ok, but he hasn’t exactly had an eye for hidden talent, has he? If he’s here to scout for the draft, I guess that’s ok, but he doesn’t have the greatest 10 year track record there. On the other side, the majority of work done in the time leading up to the draft is done by area scouts and crosscheckers, and the GM then just has to make the final call. He served the same job for the Nats last season, and they had a pretty spectacular draft, all things considered.

So where do I personally come down? I don’t like it. If he’s here simply to scout, and there are no plans for him to eventually assume the GM job, then I’m okay with it. If the plan is to ease him in and have him take over, I’m firmly against it. People will argue about the payroll he was given to work with in Tampa, but that argument doesn’t hold a lot of weight for me. I’m not convinced you can take a guy used to working with a $30M payroll, give him $95M, and expect him to really know what to do with it. Deep down, I don’t think he’s the guy, at least I hope. The Phillies, as we all know, are extremely PR conscious (though they still make lots of errors), and you can posit that Gillick was hired because he’s a “winner”, and would be easy to sell to the fans. LaMar is not a winner, unless you reach back to his Atlanta days, and I don’t think the average Phillies fan is going to look past what happened in Tampa.

It should be interesting to see what the Phillies have to say on this going forward.