2022 MLB front office rankings: The American League East
Brian Cashman, New York Yankees
Impact: +9.1 games
Division ranking: first
MLB ranking: second
Completing a quarter-century as head of perhaps the game’s flagship front office, Cashman enjoyed one of the best seasons of his career. Statistically, only his 2002 (+9.5) and 2009 (+9.2) seasons were more productive.
The Yankee front office chief’s moves affected 43 members of the team’s MLB roster, of which a striking 27 had a positive impact on Yankee fortunes. At least twice he made headlines at the trade market.
The first time came in March when he shipped third baseman Gio Urshela and catcher Gary Sanchez to Minnesota for Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and minor leaguer Ben Rortvedt. Then at the August 2 trade deadline, Cashman packaged pitcher Jordan Montgomery to St. Louis in a straight-up swap for outfielder Harrison Bader.
Although both trades drew harsh criticism, Cashman’s trade and free agent moves generally were productive. Nine of them involved players who produced at least 1.0 games of value as measured by WAA for the acquiring team, an exceptional percentage of highly impactful personnel moves. Six of those nine highly impactful decisions worked out to the benefit of the Yankees.
Here are the most impactful personnel decisions made by Cashman this season.
May 26: Signing free agent Matt Carpenter. He batted .305 in 47 games and produced +1.9 WAA for New York.
March 13: Trading third baseman Gio Urshela to Minnesota. He produced -1.3 WAA for the Twins.
July 14; Acquiring infielder Tyler Wade in a trade with the Angels. Wade generated -1.3 WAA for New York before being released at season’s end.
March 13: Acquiring shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the trade with Minnesota. Kiner-Falefa produced +1.2 WAA for New York.
April 2: Acquiring catcher Jose Trevino from Texas for Albert Abreu and a minor leaguer. Trevino became the team’s regular catcher and produced a +1.1 WAA.
August 17: Promoting outfielder Oswaldo Cabrera from the team’s minor league system. In 44 games, Cabrera generated +1.1 WAA.
The totality of Cashman’s trades netted the equivalent of +4.5 games of WAA to the side of the Yankees. That ranked second among the 30 major league front offices for impact in deals with other teams in 2022. In his dealings with free agents, Cashman added 4.2 games of value to New York’s cause, the third-best performance by an MLB front office. He ranked seventh for farm system impact.
Mike Elias, Baltimore Orioles
Impact: +2.8 games
Division ranking: second
MLB ranking: sixth
If the turnaround in Baltimore proves to be legitimate, we’ll be able to look back and say it began with Elias in 2022.
The Orioles’ chief executive made moves affecting 43 members of a major league roster. Four of those moves injected at least +1.0 games of WAA improvement.
Easily the most notable was the no-brainer decision to promote 2019 No. 1 draft pick Adley Rutschman to the major league club in mid-May. Rutschman rewarded that sagacity by producing +3.7 WAA for the Orioles, which happened to be the most impactful move made by any AL East exec in 2022 and the fifth-most impactful in all of Major League Baseball.
Not at all coincidentally, he also established himself as Baltimore’s catcher of the future.
Here are the most impactful personnel decisions made by Elias this season.
May 21: Promoted Adley Rutschman, +3.7.
Nov. 30: Signed free agent infielder Rougned Odor, -2.0
Nov. 24: Acquired pitcher Cionel Perez as a waiver claim from the Cincinnati Reds, +1.9.
April 10: Promoted outfielder Felix Bautista from the minor league system, +1.6.
August 1: Traded veteran outfielder Trey Mancini to Houston as part of a three-team swap that also involved Tampa Bay. Mancini produced -1.2 WAA for the Astros.
Due largely to the arrivals of Bautista and Rutschman, Elias’ farm system was the third-most impactful on any major league roster in 2022, trailing only the Braves and Mariners. He ranked fifth in trade impact, but only 26th in free agent impact.
Ross Atkins, Toronto Blue Jays
Impact: +2.4 games
Division ranking: third
MLB ranking: seventh
Atkins’ season was replete with personnel triumphs that, unfortunately, he kept offsetting with clunkers. He made eight personnel decisions impacting the Jays’ major league roster by at least 1.2 games, but the problem was that those eight split right down the middle: four positive and four negative.
Atkins did end the season with a positive impact on Toronto’s effort to keep pace with the Yankees. Of his moves affecting 44 members of a major league roster, 22 worked out to Toronto’s benefit against only 15 that turned out negatively.
Here are the most impactful personnel decisions made by Atkins this post-season.
December 1: Lost infielder Marcus Semien to free agency when Semien signed with Texas and produced a 3.4 WAA for his new team.
March 14: Signed free agent Yusei Kikuchi. He generated -2.0 WAA for the Blue Jays.
March 24: Traded Randall Grichuk to Colorado for Raimel Tapia and a minor leaguer. The trade was doubly painful for Toronto; Grichuk produced +1.5 WAA for the Rockies; Tapia generated -1.2 WAA for the Jays.
March 16: Acquired third baseman Matt Chapman from the Athletics for four players. Chapman produced +1.5 WAA for Toronto.
December 1: Signed pitcher Kevin Gausman as a free agent. Gausman produced +1.5 WAA for the Jays.
August 2: Acquired pitcher Mitch White from the Dodgers. White hurt Toronto to the tune of -1.5 WAA.
With a net impact of +4.5 games, Atkins ranked second among all MLB front office execs in impact at the trade table. He ranked eighth for farm system impact but his free agent decisions proved to be so hit-and-miss that he ranked only 21st in that category.
Erik Neander, Peter Bendix, Tampa Bay Rays
Impact: -4.2 games
Division ranking; fourth
MLB ranking: 18th
The Rays were one of five teams to qualify for postseason play in 2022 despite a negative performance from their front offices. To explain how that is even possible, it is important to keep in mind that most teams do not derive the bulk of their value from new personnel but from “core players,” defined as carryovers from previous years.
That was true of the Rays, who netted +6.9 WAA from 26 players under contract prior to the restructuring that joined Bendix with Neander. Those holdovers included such stalwarts as pitchers Shane McClanahan and Jeffrey Springs, infielders Wander Franco and Yandy Diaz, and outfielder Randy Arozarena.
Several of the Neander-Bendix tandem’s most impactful work during 2022 involved players they walked away from. Six members of the 2021 Rays were allowed to walk to free agency prior to the 2022 season, and four of those six generated impacts in excess of 1 game, either plus or minus, for their new clubs.
Those four were DH Nelson Cruz (-1.5 for Minnesota), pitcher Collin McHugh (+1.3 for Atlanta), David Robertson (+1.5 for the Cubs and Phillies) and Michael Wacha (+2.2 for Boston). The Rays also traded away infielder Joey Wendle (+1.3 for Miami).
No one can accuse Neander and Bendix of not trying. They made a division-high 49 moves affecting 2022 major leaguers. But their record was hit-and-miss. Only 21 of those moves impacted Tampa Bay positively, compared with 24 that worked out against the Rays.
The problem was that few of the Rays’ personnel acquisitions provided substantive impact. Only three registered in excess of 1.0 WAA in either direction. Those three were:
March 17: Signed free agent pitcher Jason Adam, +1.7 WAA.
April 5: Acquired Isaac Paredes (+1.1) from Detroit in exchange for Austin Meadows.
April 24: Promoted rookie Vidal Brujan (-1.1) from the minor league system.
The net result was indifferent performance in all areas. Neander-Bendix ranked 12th in the net impact of their dealings with other teams, 22nd in free agent dealings, and 13th for farm system production. The holdover talent base was good enough to keep the Rays in a postseason position, but the front offense was unable to supplement that talent base.
Chaim Bloom, Brian O’Halloran, Boston Red Sox
Impact: -7.4 games
Division ranking; fifth
MLB ranking: 23rd
Considering how many headlines the Bloom-O’Halloran team generated, particularly in the offseason, the 2022 result was disappointing. This was a Boston front office that landed Trevor Story to play infield and Michael Wacha to supplement the rotation, yet never contended.
The Red Sox made 40 moves affecting 2022 major leaguers. But only 15 of those moves proved productive for the Red Sox, while 23 actually hurt the team. None were as painful as the decision to close the door on re-signing pitcher Martin Perez, who went to Texas and delivered +3.3 WAA for his new team. That made Perez the seventh-most valuable individual addition to any team in 2022.
Here are the other Boston moves that carried impacts of at least 1.1 WAA.
Nov. 27: Signed free agent pitcher Michael Wacha (+2.2)
Nov. 3: Granted free agency to reliever Adam Ottavino. He signed with the Mets and generated +1.6 WAA for his new team.
March 23: Infielder Trevor Story signed a seven-year, $159 million deal with Boston. In his first year, Story produced a +1.2 WAA.
April 7: In their fourth season of trying to extract value from rookie pitcher Darwinzon Hernandez, the Red Sox got a 21.60 ERA in seven appearances, amounting to -2.1 WAA before a torn meniscus sidelined him for the season.
Next. The Toronto Blue Jays and the cursed homer history. dark
The totality was the worst front office season in Boston since 2013, and the third-worst since the mid 1980s. The Bloom-O’Halloran tandem ranked 20th among the 30 teams in trade impact, 13th in free agent impact, and 30th in rookie impact. There were 10 such rookie qualifiers in uniform for Boston at one point or another during 2022, and their collective WAA was -4.5 games.