BBTF's Newsblog Discussion :: AZ Snakepit, McLennan: How have the Diamondbacks done under Kevin Towers

Baseball Primer Newsblog
— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand

Friday, December 28, 2012

AZ Snakepit, McLennan: How have the Diamondbacks done under Kevin Towers

But as we saw in reactions to the Bauer trade, a GM’s reputation is the absolute epitome of, as Janet Jackson (or Eddie Murphy, depending on taste) put it: “What have you done for me lately?” That the Diamondbacks came within a squib of the National League Championship Series last year, while spending only more than the Pirates and Padres in the league, has apparently all been forgotten. Instead, Towers has often been dismissed as “lucky” at best, and incompetent by many. Let’s see if the past two seasons have provided anything to back up those assertions, focusing for data on the simplest input and output: budget and team record.

To do so, we’ll introduce the concepts of Marginal Wins and Marginal Payroll, which was originally developed by the late Doug Pappas, for Baseball Prospectus in 2003.

ShoeGrit Posted: December 28, 2012 at 11:30 PM | 2 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: diamondbacks, general, general managers, sabermetrics

Reader Comments and Retorts

Go to end of page

Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.

1. KT's Pot Arb Posted: December 29, 2012 at 04:17 AM (#4334097)

Are you kidding?
Towers inherited Goldschmidt, Upton, Drew, Parra, CY, Montero, and Roberts, in all 22.8 of the 23.4 Offensive WAR the 2011 team produced.

he also inherited Kennedy, Hudson, Saunders, Collmentor, Demel, and others for a total of 10.1 of around 13 positive WAR the 2011 pitching staff generated.

And almost all of these players were and are CHEAP.

He made one great trade and one good signing to fix the bullpen, and it was enough for Byrnes /Dipotos team to win the West and make the NLCS. Giving Towers credit for that season is like giving Ronaldd Reagan credit for building the space shuttle.

Since then Towers has made a series of lousy trades and signings to slowly erode the pile if cheap tablet he inherited, both in the MLB team and farm seem.

The Parker trade raised payroll to make the team worse.

Signing a DH to play raised payroll to bench a better outfielder and cripple the outfield defense.

Trading a valuable CF for a no hit shortstop, then trading a top pitching prospect to get a younger no-hit short stop.

Signing a declining platoon outfielder who is worse than the CF you traded for $28M.

Overpaying to have 2 of the worst offensive players of the last decade on your bench.

KT has misspent money on nearly every deal, is slowly making the team and organization worse, while increasing payroll in the worst ways possible.

2. KT's Pot Arb Posted: December 29, 2012 at 04:36 PM (#4334236)

The 2011 NLCS Diamondbacks were a mix of players inherited from the DiPoto & Byrnes regimes (and Montero from Joe Jr.), and additions made by Kevin Tower. So how much did Kevin really contribute?

2011 Diamondbacks Team WAR/Salary

Byrnes/Dipoto acquisitions WAR/Salary
Position Players: 23.6 WAR/$29M
Pitchers: 6.7 WAR/$12M

Kevin Towers acquisitions WAR/Salary
Position Players: 0 WAR/$17M
Pitchers: 0.6 WAR/$13M

You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.

<< Back to main

Friday, December 28, 2012

AZ Snakepit, McLennan: How have the Diamondbacks done under Kevin Towers

Reader Comments and Retorts

BBTF Sponsor

Support BBTF

Bookmarks

Hot Topics