Every NL West general manager's performance in 2021, ranked

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The National League West had the majors’ two winningest teams, and also the three best performances by a National League general manager in 2021.

It also had the only mid-season front office shakeup in MLB in 2021, that occurring in Colorado.

Our standard for evaluating the performance of a general manager (or other chief executive who holds a functionally similar title) is simple. We attach a value to every personnel move made by the since the conclusion of the 2020 season last October. The sum of the values is the GM’s rating.

The value is determined by the Wins Above Average (WAA) generated by the player during 2021. WAA is an offshoot of WAR, and it is ideal for this purpose because unlike WAR it is zero-based. That means if we say a GM impacted his team by +2.5 games in 2021, he cumulatively improved his team’s fortunes by that many games.

Conversely, a GM with a negative cumulative WAA can be said to have hurt his team’s pennant prospects by that amount.

General manager rankings evaluation, explained

Broadly speaking, a general manager can impact his team in any of five ways: by the trades, purchase and waiver claims he makes, by his free agent signings or extensions, by his farm system callups, by the players he trades away, and by the players he releases or loses to free agency.

Each general manager should, of course, be judged in the context of what they are attempting to accomplish. As an example, Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer conducted a mid-season tear-down of his roster that was virtually guaranteed to produce a negative rating for Hoyer by season’s end.

Hoyer would probably be OK with that; the moves were designed for future, not present impact.

In the end, the best way to understand the rating is this: It tells how much better or worse a GM made his team’s roster compared with what would have occurred had he (or in the case of the Miami Marlins, she) done nothing at all.

For that reason, the ratings do not necessarily correlate with the final standings. Some GMs are starting from a better position than others.

With that as an explanation, here’s how the six NL West general managers scored in 2021.

General manager Scott Harris with Giants field manager Gabe Kapler in 2020. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images) /

NL West GM rankings: 1. Scott Harris, San Francisco Giants general manager

+4.8 WAA

Harris completed his second season as chief aide to team president Farhan Zaidi. Their Giants obviously were the surprise team of 2021, winning 107 regular season games and dethroning the Dodgers as divisional champions.

In large measure they did it by relying on an existing cast that turned in an unusual profusion of exceptional years. But Harris played a role in enhancing that product, starting with his winter decision to sign free agent pitcher Anthony DeSclafani, who had been released by the Reds.

DeSclafani went 13-7 with a 3.17 ERA in 31 starts, good for a +2.6 WAA.

The other uplifting pickup was free agent reliever Dominic Leone, whose 57 appearances amounted to +1.2 WAA.

For the year, Harris made 42 player personnel moves impacting the Giants’ major league roster. He got a positive return on 20 of those – that’s 48 percent, with negative results on just 16 (38 percent).

The Giants may have been baseball’s least reliant team on first-year farm system callups. Over the course of the season, Harris called on just three – relievers Camilo Doval, Conner Menez and Kervin Castro. Of those three, only Doval – who grew into the closer’s role – saw prominent duty. The sum of their contributions amounted to +0.5 WAA.

Andrew Friedman. Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports /

NL West GM rankings: No. 2 Andrew Friedman, Los Angeles Dodgers president

+4.3 WAA

The Dodgers were so statistically good – and Friedman did such a neat job of enhancing the product – that it’s hard to explain how they failed to overtake the Giants.

The team’s president – Friedman has no general manager – made 56 personnel moves impacting the major league roster. He hit on 29 of those – 52 percent – while missing on just 20 – 36 percent. With eight of those player moves, Friedman impacted the Dodgers by one full game or more, six of those eight times positively.

The team’s search for supplements to its already imposing rotation illustrates that point. That search began with the off-season signing of free agent Trevor Bauer (8-5, 2.59 in 17 starts, +2.1 WAA).

Then when Bauer was sidelined by a domestic violence allegation, Friedman acquired Max Scherzer (7-0, 1.98 in 11 starts, +2.11 WAA) as a high-end replacement part. In the process, Friedman also landed infielder Trea Turner (.338, .950 OPS, +2.5 WAA).

The long-term contract Mookie Betts (+2.4) signed with the Dodgers kicked in during 2021, as did an extension for Justin Turner (+1.6) and a new deal for reliever Blake Treinen (+1.4)

Friedman’s only true bungle was his late-October decision to make Kiki Hernandez a free agent. Hernandez (+3.0) left for Boston, where he became one of the heroes of that team’s push to the ALCS.

For the first time in several seasons, the usually mega-productive Dodger farm system largely failed Friedman. He called on 11 first-year players, all for supplemental roles, and they cost him a collective -3.2 WAA.

Padres general manager A.J. Preller. Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports /

NL West GM rankings: No. 3 A.J. Preller, San Diego Padres president of baseball operations and general manager

+3.7 WAA

Preller spent millions trying to set the Padres up to challenge the Dodgers for the NL West title. But his team collapsed over the final two months finished an unimpressive third, and got manager Jayce Tingler fired.

Having said that, Preller’s 2021 contribution turns out to be pretty decent. He had a positive impact both via his trades and his free agent decisions; only a desultory performance by the team’s rookie class undermined Preller’s overall score.

For the season, Preller made 40 moves impacting the major league roster, 17 of them positive, 19 negative and four neutral.

The attention-getters were the extension given shortstop Francisco Tatis Jr. and the acquisitions of pitchers Yu Darvish and Blake Snell from the Cubs and Rays respectively.

The following statement makes no judgment about either the length of the Tatis deal nor the amount the team will eventually pay him. In the short-term anyway, the Tatis extension was idiot-proof. Tatis hit a league-leading 42 home runs, had a .611 slugging average and piled up a 4.8 WAA.

Darvish came over with personal catcher Victor Caratini in exchange for pitcher Zach Davies and some minor leaguers. He made 30 starts, but was a shaky 8-11 with a 4.22 ERA good for a disappointing -0.1 WAA. Factor in the other guys and the Padres did “win” the trade, but by an uninspiring -1.3 to -2.3.

It was the same story with Snell, acquired for pitchers Francisco Mejia, Luis Patina and two minor leaguers. He made 27 starts but recorded only a 7-6 record, 4.20 ERA and +0.3 WAA. Considering all the parts of that deal, it may as well not have been made: the Padres won it by an inconsequential +0.3 to +0.2.

New Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt. Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /

NL West GM rankings: No. 4 Jeff Bridich/Bill Schmidt general manager

Bridich: -0.6 WAA

Schmidt: -1.0 WAA

Bridich traded Nolan Arenado to St. Louis in an apparent budget-driven February deal. What follows is speculation, but the move appears to have set off a front office revolt because by late April Bridich was no longer a part of the operation. Since GM changes almost always occur in October, the timing was indictable.

Schmidt, who headed the team’s scouting office, was named interim general manager, the interim title being removed near season’s end.

Under Bridich or Schmidt, and with the notable exception of the Arenado deal, the Rockies spent 2021 in a largely somnolent state. Bridich made only 21 personnel moves affecting the major league roster, Schmidt only 12. Only 12 of those combined 33 moves worked out to the team’s short-term good, 19 hurt and two were neutral.

About the Arenado trade: His .255 average, 34 home runs and 105 RBIs for the Cardinals worked out to +1.9 WAA. What did the Rockies get for that loss of their star? They got pitcher Austin Gomber (-0.2) and four minor leaguers. In the short-term, then, the trade cost the Rockies 2.1 WAA. Long-term? Check back in five or 10 years.

For Schmidt, the major challenges lay ahead. The contracts of star shortstop Trevor Story, pitcher Jon Gray and first baseman C.J. Cron all expired at season’s end. Beyond that, the Rockies – who operated in the $130 million payroll range since 2017 – pared back to $105 million in 2021. Will Schmidt have more resources this winter? Only he and the Monfort brothers know.

Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen (right) with field manager Torey Lovullo. /

NL West GM rankings: No. 5 Mike Hazen, Arizona Diamondbacks general manager

-8.6 WAA

The Diamondbacks entered 2021 with the majors’ worst returning talent base. Players whose status with Arizona had previously been affected by Hazen produced a desultory -17.3 impact on the team in 2021, undermining anybody’s efforts to make something of the D-Backs. Hazen certainly couldn’t.

The general manager made 48 personnel moves in an effort to turn his team into a presentable club. But only 17 of those moves generated positive value, only one of them amounting to as much as +1.0 WAA.

Meanwhile, 29 of the moves deducted performance.

At -5.6 games of WAA, the D-Backs had the National League’s worst farm system production, and the fourth worst in all of baseball. Hazen gave 13 first-year players a chance in 2021; only three made a positive contribution, those three topping out at +0.2 games.

He signed or extended 14 players, some of them — Brad Peacock, Joakim Soria, Tyler Clippard, Asdrubal Cabrera — with lengthy major league pedigrees. As a class they generated -3.6 WAA, the fourth worst total in the NL.

The dozen players Hazen obtained via trade, sale, waiver or draft cost Arizona an additional -3.2 games. Among National League teams, only the Cubs and Pirates – who both spent the season’s second half dumping assets—had worse scores at the trade table.

But Hazen’s overriding problem was the talent base he began the season with. That base had been severely handicapped by the departures of former D-Backs who starred with other teams in 2021: guys like Starling Marte (+3.0 for Miami and Oakland), Robbie Ray (+5.0 for Toronto), Andrew Chafin (+2.0 for Chicago and Oakland) and Paul Goldschmidt (+3.2 for St. Louis).

Next. NL Central GM rankings. dark

Aside from having strong 2021s, those players shared one other attribute: Mike Hazen denuded the Diamondbacks of all of them.

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