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MLB: Rating front offices of the AL West

By Bill Felber

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - SEPTEMBER 23: (L-R) Seattle Mariners President Kevin Mather, majority owner John Stanton, Marco Gonzales #7 and general manager Jerry Dipoto of the Seattle Mariners pose for a photo with Kyle Lewis' Most Valuable Pitcher award for the Seattle chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America Awards before their game against the Houston Astros at T-Mobile Park on September 23, 2020 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - SEPTEMBER 23: (L-R) Seattle Mariners President Kevin Mather, majority owner John Stanton, Marco Gonzales #7 and general manager Jerry Dipoto of the Seattle Mariners pose for a photo with Kyle Lewis' Most Valuable Pitcher award for the Seattle chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America Awards before their game against the Houston Astros at T-Mobile Park on September 23, 2020 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images)
(Photo by Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images) /

Oakland Athletics

Billy Beane, executive VP of baseball ops; David Forst, GM: -0.9 games

When Billy Beane was elevated to the more lofty-sounding role of executive VP, he made Forst his general manager and the two have functioned as a team since the end of the 2015 season. Statistically, the arrangement has had its ups and downs.

The Athletics did win the AL West in 2020, but that championship was not greatly impacted by what the team’s front office did. To the extent they moved the needle at all, Beane and Forst moved it in the wrong direction.

The truth is that like several other AL West front offices, Beane and Forst didn’t really do much at all in 2020. They made only 21 personnel moves of substance, nine positive, 11 negative, and one neutral.

From a dollar standpoint, the most important was the puzzling decision to extend struggling one-dimensional slugger Khris Davis for two more seasons.

Perhaps the explanation lies in the fact that while the $33.5 million contract went into effect in 2020, it was actually finalized in April of 2019 before the full extent of Davis’ decline became obvious. Whatever the reason, Davis repaid their faith with a .200, two home run season that amounted to -0.6 WAA.

Substantively, the big move was the promotion of catcher Sean Murphy to full-time big leaguer. Murphy’s seven home runs and .821 OPS translated to +0.7 WAA. Reliever Jake Diekman, re-signed prior to the season, added another +0.9.

Beane’s legendary trade acumen betrayed him in 2020, dragging down the front office’s rating. He and Forst acquired nine players in deals with other teams, only two of whom produced any positive value, none more than +0.3.

Meanwhile, his decision to ship Jurickson Profar to San Diego backfired when Profar produced a solid +0.7 season for his new team.

Related Story. 2020 MLB GM Ratings: The National League East. light

Here is the annual short-term performance rating of the Athletics’ front office since the Beane-Forst team was created in 2016:

  • 2016:     -10.8
  • 2017:     –   2.1
  • 2018:     +  0.1
  • 2019:     +  5.9*
  • 2020:     –   0.9

*This was a greater improvement than the margin by which the Athletics qualified for post-season play.

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