In the NL East, only the Braves were successful. The other four front offices hurt their teams. Here are our 2020 MLB GM Ratings: NL East.
The 2020 season was not an especially enjoyable one for the NL East’s five front offices.
Only one MLB GM, Alex Anthopoulos of the Atlanta Braves, saw his team play a post-season game. The Braves also had the only front office whose moves actually helped their team.
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This is the second part of a division-by-division review of MLB GM personnel moves leading up to and during the 2020 season.
Our ratings are based on the collective short-term impact, as measured by Wins Above Average, of every personnel move made by every front office since the conclusion of play in 2019. A positive number represents a front office success. In a few cases, those marked by an asterisk, the front office really succeeded; it generated a more positive impact than the margin by which the team qualified for post-season play.
If a rating is negative, that means the team’s front office reduced the club’s talent base during 2020. And woe betides a front office that gets an asterisk for negative performance; that means the team’s execs dealt, promoted, or signed their way out of the playoffs. Those rare instances are marked by an X.
As a general proposition, front offices influence their team’s performance in five ways:
- By the players they acquire in trades, purchase, or waiver claims with other teams.
- By the players they lose in those deals.
- By the free agents they sign.
- By the players they release or lose to free agency.
- By the rookies they promote.
Findings for the AL East have already been reported. Teams in this analysis of the NL East front offices are not presented in the order of their final standing, but rather on the extent of the front office’s positive or negative contribution to the team profile.