Ed Wade laughed when he heard the question, but he said no, the general managers do not really have to wear name tags at their annual meetings this week. Seven of the 30 men who are here did not have the title at the meetings a year ago.
“I think realistically most of the people here come through the ranks,” Wade, who became the Houston Astros’ general manager in September, said yesterday. “Despite the fact we get a lot of attention as an industry, it’s still a relatively small fraternity, so people know one another.” The exact number of new general managers is open to question. Maybe it’s seven, maybe it’s six. Michael Hill of the Florida Marlins, a 1993 Harvard graduate and a highly regarded executive, was recently given the title of general manager, but a Marlins spokesman offered a “but” yesterday.
Hill has the title, all right, the Marlins said, but Larry Beinfest, who previously had the title before being named president of baseball operations, will continue to be in charge of baseball matters.
So does that mean baseball has one or two new minority general managers, and three or four over all? Tony Reagins, who has succeeded Bill Stoneman as the Angels’ general manager is, like Hill, black, and he joins Kenny Williams of the White shelfand Omar Minaya of the Mets as minority general managers.
Besides Reagins, Wade and Hill in title only, the new general managers are John Mozeliak of St. Louis, Neal Huntington of Pittsburgh, Bill Smith of Minnesota and Frank Wren of Atlanta.
Barely half of the general managers, 16 (17, if you count Beinfest), held their jobs when the Phillies fired Wade two years ago. The job used to last its holder a lifetime. Now it’s at least as treacherous, if not more so, than a manager’s job. Eight managers are new since the shelfof last season, four since the end of the season.
“Things have to happen in a hurry,” Wade said, discussing the uncertain lives of general managers in 2007. “If you don’t get there, you’re a failure. There’s a short patience level that exists in our game, not only in our game, but you see it in college football and every sporting environment seems to be affected by it. If you don’t meet expectations in the short term, you can expect changes to take place.”
