Worst General Manager in any sport

[YourKock'sReallyGreat 0]

Who do you all of you think is/are the worst gm's to ever run a team. Name the gm and state your case. As a diehard Knicks fan I have to nominate Scott Layden and Isiah Thomas.

 

Scott Layden inherited a 50 win team that had been to the playoffs the last 13 years. The Knicks were coming off of an Eastern Conference Championship in 1999 and a loss in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2000. How does Layden maintain and improve the team? Well Ed Tapscott is allowed to choose Frederick Weis in the draft over hometown star Ron Artest. Weis never makes it to the NBA and is traded a decade later for Patrick Ewing Jr. Ron Artest turns out to be an absolute nut job/head case but is one of the best defenders in the league and a decent scorer as well.

 

Layden makes one of the ultimate bone head trades by trading Patrick Ewing and his expiring 18 million dollar deal and Chris Dudley who was a decent backup. These two are traded for Luc Longely, Travis Knight (2 stiffs), Vernon Maxwell and Glen Rice. It should be mentioned that Glen Rice was a has been at this point and the Knicks already had Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell as the SG/SF combo. The Knicks also felt the need to include a first round pick in that trade.

 

The Knicks follow up that trade by sending Erick Strickland and another first round draft pick for Othella Harrington. The Knicks sure do not like to keep a first round pick which turns into a theme for the team for the whole decade. The Knicks then trade Chris Childs and another first round draft pick for the dinosaur named Marc Jackson. Scott Layden really starts to feel generous with the purse by giving Allan Houston a 6 year 100 million dollar deal. Layden follows that up by trading for Howard Eisely and Shannon Anderson who combined made 80 million dollars over the next 6 years.

 

The 2002 NBA Draft was a nightmare for the Knicks. Layden decides to draft Nene Hilario and trade him with Marcus Camby for broken down Antonio McDyess. Amare Stoudemire, Caron Butler, Tayshaun Prince and Carlos Boozer were still available. The Knicks drafted Michael Sweetney in 2003 with Boris Diaw, Josh Howard and David West all still available.

 

Isiah Thomas was next after replacing Scott Layden. Jim Dolan sure knew how to pick his gm's. He trades a bunch of players and two future first round draft picks for Marbury and Penny Hardaway. The Knicks finish below .500 and make the playoffs in 2004 while being swept by the Nets.

 

The Arrival of the Twin Fat Fucks in Jerome James and Eddy Curry. Thomas gives a 5 year MLE contract to Jerome James plus a 1 year player option. Thomas trades a first round pick in 2006 and gives the Bulls the right to switch picks in 2007 plus players for Fat Eddy. The 2006 pick ends up being the #2 overall and the 2007 pick ends up being #9 overall.

 

Thomas ends up trading for one bad contract after another. Jalen Rose, Steve Francis, Malik Rose are all traded for and Thomas gives a huge deal to Jared Jeffries. Thomas and the Knicks were sued by Anucha Sanders who looks like an ape for sexual harrassment by Thomas. The Knicks ended up paying close to 12 million dollars. The only credit that can be given to Thomas is his finding gems late in the draft. David Lee, Nate Robinson, Trevor Arriza and Wilson Chandler were all diamonds in the ruff.

 

Over the course of a decade one of the top teams in the NBA turned into an absolute joke and an embarassment to the league. The Knicks have missed the playoffs the last 4 years and 6 out of the last 7. They haven't had an above .500 year since 2001. Knicks fans finally have some excitement now and are looking forward to the summer of 2010.

 

[yankovic fan 0]

Matt Millen

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

MLB GMs I hear mentioned are M. Donald Grant (Mets), Randy Smith (Tigers), Cam Bonifay (Pirates), and Bill Bavasi (Mariners). I'll go with a darkhorse. Connie Mack from the late 1930s on. Completely oblivious to the importance of a farm system.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Didn't Connie Mack trade all four of his infield starters at one point?

 

I laid out my case for Rejean Houle a few months ago, but surely he's not the worst ever.

[JaMarcus Russell's #1 Caucasian Fan 0]

Elgin Baylor of the Clippers.

 

 

 

 

[strummer 0]

Steve Phillips

[foleyfanforever88 0]

Vickie Guerrero

[bob_barron 0]

Steve Phillips

 

Wasn't he GM when the Mets made the World Series, and drafted Kazmir, Wright and signed Reyes, along with trading for Piazza and Leiter?

[YourKock'sReallyGreat 0]

Steve Phillips

 

Wasn't he GM when the Mets made the World Series, and drafted Kazmir, Wright and signed Reyes, along with trading for Piazza and Leiter?

 

 

I think Strummer was thinking of Burnitz, Mo Vaughn, Robbie Alomar and Art Howe as the manager. He was also foolish for trading for Kenny Rogers. Rogers proved in 1996 and 1997 that he couldn't cut it in NY and was the second coming of Ed Whitson. Bob I am sure you are/were very happy that Rogers pitched for the Mets in 1999 and was on the mound at the end of game 6 1999 NLCS.

[bob_barron 0]

Those were bad moves at the end, you really can't consider him one of the Worst General Managers given the success the Mets had in 99-00.

 

And everyone loved the Alomar trade at the time.

[YourKock'sReallyGreat 0]

Those were bad moves at the end, you really can't consider him one of the Worst General Managers given the success the Mets had in 99-00.

 

And everyone loved the Alomar trade at the time.

 

 

The thing though is that Leiter and Piazza were salary dumps when the Mets traded for them. Steve wasn't the genius who decided lets get Piazza. It was Nelson Doubleday who wanted Piazza and pushed Coupon Fred into making the trade and adding the payroll.

[Guest Czech please!]

The general manager of a team I like which had several bad years.

[strummer 0]

Steve Phillips

 

Wasn't he GM when the Mets made the World Series, and drafted Kazmir, Wright and signed Reyes, along with trading for Piazza and Leiter?

 

Piazza was traded only because of Nelson Doubleday. Fred Wilpon did not want to make the move. It was a pure salary dump by the Marlins. As was Leiter

 

He also traded Jason Isringhausen for Billy Taylor

 

He got Bobby Valetnine fired after the 02 season and brought in a puppet like Art Howe who just towed the line

 

 

[bob_barron 0]

I'm not saying he was a great GM, but I think you can disqualify the guy when he was GM when the Mets made their only World Series in 20 years.

 

John Ferguson kind of sucked in Toronto

[naiwf 0]

I'm going to say it's a toss up between Matt Millen and the 2 headed monster in NY of LaydenThomas. They killed a franchise that was a perennial playoff participant for a decade and the only hope they have of getting back is that a salary dump lands them a franchise player or two. If the Knicks come up empty in 2010, it'll be at least another 5 years before they'd be relevant.

[Guest Czech please!]

While it was under Matt Millen's watch that the Lions fielded the worst team in the history of the NFL, I think he still compiled a better record during his tenure than the Oakland Raiders did, and for all the jokes about drafting too many wide receivers, he fell ass-backwards into Calvin Johnson, who is going to be a real something. Also bear in mind that it's not as if he took a once-proud organization and irreparably drove them into the ground. The Lions have always been shitty. Even when they had Barry Sanders, they were only briefly fooling people into thinking they weren't shitty.

 

I've gotta go with Layden-Thomas for all the reasons mentioned. For extra credit, remember that before Isiah Thomas salted the earth at Madison Square Garden, he also singlehandedly destroyed the Continental Basketball Association. No Hall of Fame player should've stayed on the golf course in retirement more than old Zeke.

[Guest]

I think he still compiled a better record during his tenure than the Oakland Raiders did,

Raiders had 14 more wins and a Super Bowl trip.

[Guest Czech please!]

Well, then strike that. Millen's still terrible, but the worst of recent vintage is Isiah Thomas.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

The general manager of a team I like which had several bad years.

 

Like you're not dying to say John Paxson.

 

Anyway, it's Isiah. I'll let Seth Meyers explain why.

 

"The jury in the Isiah Thomas sexual harassment case found the Knicks coach guilty Tuesday and awarded Anucha Browne Sanders $11 million dollars in punitive damages. Browne Sanders would have gotten more from the Knicks but she's not a washed-up shooting guard with bad knees"

[jimmy no nose 0]

David Littlefield was pretty awful. He famously passed on BJ Upton (and a ton of other guys) to take "potential third starter" Bryan Bullington in his first draft, then decided to one-up himself by taking relief pitcher Daniel Moskos over Matt Weiters in his final draft. He left open spots on the 40 man roster then went crazy when the 5 Pirates prospects were taken with the first 6 picks of the Rule 5 draft. His big free agent signings were guys like Jody Gerut, Matt Lawton, Jeromy Burnitz, Joe Randa, and the infamous 1 month appearance by Raul Mondesi. His trading record includes the big Aramis Ramirez for Bobby Hill and Jose Hernandez deal, and the time he completely inexplicably decided to step in front of a Matt Morris to the Cardinals deal by offering to take on his entire contract when the Cardinals were offering to do something like 40%. There have also been reports that he managed to pass on deals that involved getting back Ryan Howard twice, once for Kip Wells and once for Kris Benson.

[Red Baron 0]

Mike Milbury

[YourKock'sReallyGreat 0]

If the Knicks come up empty in 2010, it'll be at least another 5 years before they'd be relevant.

 

 

I wouldn't go that far. The Knicks will be under the cap and have Fat Eddie and JJ coming off the books in 2011 unless they are able to get rid of them sooner. It would be a miracle. The fact is that the Knicks will have a chance in getting some worth wild and if that doesn't hapen they are still under the cap for the next year or the year after. I rather see the team have a payroll of 40 million and go 41-41 instead of a payroll of 120 million and go 31-51 like they have done the last several years.

 

 

Jimmy, why did the Pirates trade Aramis? I know that he was a butcher in the field 6-9 years ago but it just doesn't make any sense to trade him for a person who is 10 years older. Especially when Aramis had some decent seasons on some pretty bad teams.

[Krankor 0]

John Paxson is a fucking idiot.

 

I know no one that thinks he's doing a great job.

 

The man is in fear of making a major move, and will never be able to sign a free agent of signifcant worth in any off-season. Even the 2010 season.

 

He finally got rid of that massive waste of money Nocioni, that he resigned in the first place.

 

He will not be employed 12 months from now. Take that shit to the bank.

[Crimson G 0]

Bill Bavasi might not win all-out (Thomas/Layden seem to have him beat), but he's certainly not topped in MLB.

 

Here's a timeline of his atrocities to display his incompetence.

 

2003 season - 93-69

11.07.2003 - Bill Bavasi becomes GM for the Seattle Mariners

12.07.2003 - re-signs aging Shigetoshi Hasegawa to exhorbitant 2-year contract after fluke year subbing for Kaz Sasaki at closer

12.17.2003 - signs Scott Spiezio to 3-year contract [2004 - .215 BA, 2005 - .064 BA and released in August]

01.08.2004 - signs Rich Aurilia to 1-year contract [.241 BA/4 HR, traded as player to be named later in July]

01.08.2004 - trades Carlos Guillen [All-Star in 2004, 2007, 2008] to Detroit for two nobodies

06.27.2004 - trades Freddy Garcia [2-time All-Star and staff ace] for Miguel Olivo [terrible defensive catcher, .151 BA in '05], Jeremy Reed [.252 lifetime BA, now accumulated 11 hrs. in over 1000 ABs], and Mike Morse [suspended on steroid results in '06]

07.23.2004 - releases John Olerud [who promptly becomes better upon joining the Yankees]

2004 season - 63-99

12.15.2004 - signs Richie Sexson to 4-year contract [WARP1: 2005) 8.7, 2006) 6.3, 2007) 2.1, 2008) 1.3... released in July]

12.17.2004 - signs Adrian Beltre to 5-year contract [moderate success, but nowhere near what he's paid after a career year in 2004 with the Dodgers]

01.04.2005 - signs Pokey Reese to 1-year contract [never played a game for Seattle due to injury]

07.31.2005 - trades Randy Winn to Giants [3.1 WARP1 for us, 5.3 WARP1 for San Fran the rest of the year---his best year ever] for two nobodies

2005 season - 69-93

12.14.2005 - signs Carl Everett to 1-year contract [.227 BA, 11 HR... released in July]

12.20.2005 - signs Jarrod Washburn to a lucrative 4-year contract [06) 8-14...4.67 ERA, 07) 10-15... 4.32 ERA, 08) 5-14... 4.69 ERA]

07.26.2006 - trades Shin-Soo Choo [raw, young talent] to Cleveland for Ben Broussard [backup 1B, .238 BA, 8 HRs in rest of '06]

08.19.2006 - trades Jamie Moyer to Phillies for two nobodies

2006 season - 78-84

12.07.2006 - trades Rafael Soriano [2.91 lifetime ERA, young setup man] to Atlanta for Horacio Ramirez [7.16 ERA in 2007 for only $1.4M more than Soriano]

12.18.2006 - trades Emiliano Fruto & Chris Snelling [two young, promising prospects] to Washington for Jose Vidro [slow, used-up second baseman to play DH]

01.26.2007 - signs Jeff Weaver to 1-year, $8.3M contract [7-13, 6.20 ERA]

2007 season - 88-74

12.27.2007 - signs Carlos Silva to a lucrative 4-year contract [2008) 4-15, 6.46 ERA]

01.31.2008 - signs Brad Wilkerson to 1-year contract [.232 BA, 0 HRs... released in May]

02.08.2008 - trades Adam Jones [raw, young talent], George Sherrill [31 saves in '08] & 3 prospects to Baltimore for rights to Erik Bedard [injured most of '08]

02.15.2008 - signs Erik Bedard to 1-year, $7M contract to avoid arbitration

06.16.2008 - Bill Bavasi is finally fired

summer '08 - successor, temporary GM fails to dump Jarrod Washburn's $10M 2009 contract because he doesn't think he's getting enough in return

2008 season - 61-101

 

As you can see, there's several trademark Bavasi moves:

 

#1 Trade all young talent for either

a) unproven, aging and injury-prone pitching

or

b) other teams' salary dumps of failed prospects and other never-was's

#2 Trade all proven talent (preferably when slumping) for career minor leaguers

#3 Sign all players for what they would be worth if they reproduce their best major league season (the year before Bavasi signs them if history shows us anything)... if the data sample is too small, make up an amount, but be sure that you pay above market-value

#4 Release players only after you have devalued them beyond any trade value, that way you absorb the enormous contracts you've given them

#5 Put your faith in the slightest tick in a trend without looking at underlying statistical anomalies; play for now, you can always build for the future later

[HarleyQuinn 0]

In Red Sox lore, I'll go with Ed Barrow (1918-1920 Boston Red Sox)/Hugh Duffy (1921-1922). Both were managers but had influential say with Frazee. This is about as good a decimation of a great team as one can do. Barrow arguably raped the Red Sox for his WS wins.

 

Ed Barrow (Note: Joined the Yankees in 1921 for their 1920's run of dominance...)

- Team wins World Series in 1918 with 75-51 record.

- Sends Babe Ruth to the Yankees in January of 1920 for $100,000

- 1919 Season: Trades Amos Strunk to the Athletics for Braggo Roth and Red Shannon. Roth plays half the season with the Sox. Shannon plays half the year and is gone.

- Before the 1919 season, trades Dutch Leonard, Ernie Shore, and Duffy Lewis to the Yankees for $15,000 and 4 players, the best arguably being Frank Gilhooey at the time.

 

Hugh Duffy

- Before the 1921 Season, trades Harry Hooper to the White Sox for Shano Collins and Neimo Lebold. Shano was 35 and never put up an OPS+ of more than 94 and 85. Nemo only played 2 seasons and had OPS+ of 94 and 76.

- Before the 1921 Season, trades Wally Schang, Waite Hoyt, and 2 others to the Yankees for 4 players including Muddy Ruel and Del Pratt. Muddy plays 2 seasons with OPS+ of 82 and 67 and leaves. Pratt was 33 and played 2 good seasons before going to Detroit.

- Before the 1922 Season, trades Sam Jones, Joe Bush, and Everett Scott to the Yankees for 4 players including Roger Peckinpaugh and Rip Collins. Roger doesn't even play a game with Boston. Rip goes 14-11 and bolts after only 1 season.

 

Of note: Herb Pennock was traded to the Yankees before the 1923 Season for 3 guys and $50,000.

 

So the Yankees took from the Red Sox: Babe Ruth, Dutch Leonard (Sent to Detroit by NYY for $), Ernie Shore, Duffy Lewis, Wally Schang, Waite Hoyt, Sam Jones, Joe Bush, and Herb Pennock in a little over 5 years really (1919-1923).

[naiwf 0]

If the Knicks come up empty in 2010, it'll be at least another 5 years before they'd be relevant.

 

I wouldn't go that far. The Knicks will be under the cap and have Fat Eddie and JJ coming off the books in 2011 unless they are able to get rid of them sooner. It would be a miracle. The fact is that the Knicks will have a chance in getting some worth wild and if that doesn't hapen they are still under the cap for the next year or the year after. I rather see the team have a payroll of 40 million and go 41-41 instead of a payroll of 120 million and go 31-51 like they have done the last several years.

 

They're banking everything on picking up someone from the LeBron, Wade, Bosh, Amare grouping. If they don't manage to get one of them, I don't know who they'll be able to get in 2011. I'm not saying they'll be terrible until 2015, but it's going to take a while to put together a team without one (or two) of those guys simply because they'll probably have traded away every other decent piece they had or let them walk to save cap room. If they don't have any of those franchise guys and also lose out on re-signing Lee or Nate because they needed the cap room what would be the draw for a fan to go see the team?

[YourKock'sReallyGreat 0]

If the Knicks come up empty in 2010, it'll be at least another 5 years before they'd be relevant.

 

I wouldn't go that far. The Knicks will be under the cap and have Fat Eddie and JJ coming off the books in 2011 unless they are able to get rid of them sooner. It would be a miracle. The fact is that the Knicks will have a chance in getting some worth wild and if that doesn't hapen they are still under the cap for the next year or the year after. I rather see the team have a payroll of 40 million and go 41-41 instead of a payroll of 120 million and go 31-51 like they have done the last several years.

 

They're banking everything on picking up someone from the LeBron, Wade, Bosh, Amare grouping. If they don't manage to get one of them, I don't know who they'll be able to get in 2011. I'm not saying they'll be terrible until 2015, but it's going to take a while to put together a team without one (or two) of those guys simply because they'll probably have traded away every other decent piece they had or let them walk to save cap room. If they don't have any of those franchise guys and also lose out on re-signing Lee or Nate because they needed the cap room what would be the draw for a fan to go see the team?

 

The fan hasn't had a reason to watch the Knicks since 2000/2001. They could put out a squad of NBA D leaguers and rookies if they are unable to sign anybody. That team would still be better than any team from 2001 to 2008 for the Knicks.

 

[Smartly Pretty 0]

I don't feel like they're "banking" on that, considering there's a good chance they might even make the playoffs this year, and when you consider how many players are actually under contract in 2010 (something like 4) and how many players are actually free agents in 2010, they won't come up empty. Even if it's not LeBron or Wade or Bosh or whoever, they'll add free agents in 2010 just so they can fill out a roster.

[naiwf 0]

The fan hasn't had a reason to watch the Knicks since 2000/2001. They could put out a squad of NBA D leaguers and rookies if they are unable to sign anybody. That team would still be better than any team from 2001 to 2008 for the Knicks.

 

I agree with that. I guess I'm just looking at the Knicks being relevant in the NBA as being something further away than being a playoff team in the NBA given that they're under .500 and in contention for a playoff berth, but there still nowhere near being a factor like they were during the early to mid '90s. It would be nice to have MSG "rocking" again. That place looks like a morgue these days and still will if they don't land one of the big names next summer.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

Randy Smith in Detroit has a good case too given the stars he let go...

 

Team Record: 411-560 (42.3%) from 1996-2001

 

Randy Smith (1996-2002) - Just Some Highlights of his Tenure. Gone 6 games into 2002 Season

- Trades David Wells for C.J. Nitkowski and 2 other players

- Trades Chad Curtis for Joey Eischen and a nobody

- Trades Cecil Fielder for Ruben Sierra and a nobody in July. Trades Ruben Sierra for 2 nobodies in October of that same year

- Trades Brad Ausmus, Jose Lima, and 2 others to Houston. Big names he gets back are Doug Brocail and Brian Hunter

- Trades Phil Nevin and Matt Walbeck to Anaheim. Nevin eventually lands in San Diego.

- Trades Dave Roberts and Tim Worrell to Cleveland for Geronimo Berroa. Roberts eventually goes to Los Angeles. Worrell eventually lands in San Francisco.

- Trades Luis Gonzalez to Arizona for Karim Garcia.

- Trades a slew of guys including Frank Catalanotto, Francisco Cordero, and Gabe Kapler to Texas mainly for Juan Gonzalez. Juan plays one season.