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Ranking baseball’s general managers for 2018: Part 3

By Bill Felber

OAKLAND, CA - AUGUST 13: General Manager David Forst of the Oakland Athletics sits in the clubhouse prior to the game against the Seattle Mariners at the Oakland Alameda Coliseum on August 13, 2018 in Oakland, California. The Athletics defeated the Mariners 7-6. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA - AUGUST 13: General Manager David Forst of the Oakland Athletics sits in the clubhouse prior to the game against the Seattle Mariners at the Oakland Alameda Coliseum on August 13, 2018 in Oakland, California. The Athletics defeated the Mariners 7-6. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images) /
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MILWAUKEE, WI – MAY 04: Manager Craig Counsell of the Milwaukee Brewers and general manager David Stearns meet before the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Miller Park on May 4, 2018 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /

How well each general manager did his job during 2018: Places 10-1

A baseball general manager’s job is to improve his team. But that doesn’t always happen.

This concludes a three-part series assessing how well each general manager did during the 2018 season. The ratings are based on the total number of Wins Above Average generated by each player brought to the major league roster either by trade, purchase, free agency, waiver claim, or promotion from the minor league. It also factors in the value – again measured by Wins Above Average – of each player lost to the team due to sale, waiver or free agency.

Wins Above Average is a variant of Wins Above Replacement, the principal difference being that while Wins Above Replacement measures a player against the baseline established for a minor league replacement, Wins Above Average uses the average of all major league players as its baseline.

Because the Cincinnati Reds changed general managers during the season, there are 31 general managers evaluated for their performance during the 2018 season.

At the outset, it is worth acknowledging that not every general manager’s goal is to win immediately. That means some GMs whose goal was long-term restructuring may actually assess themselves  as having accomplished what they intended – by moving costly stars for upcoming prospects — even if the result was a talent drain during 2018.

This measurement rates GMs only for the extent to which they improved or damaged their team’s performance during the 2018 season.

This segment rates the elite of GM performance, those between No. 10 and 1. It includes the GMs of three teams that failed to reach post-season play as well as the only general manager whose moves actually maneuvered his ballclub into the playoffs.

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