Comments on: Oh boy

By: old_padre

old_padre — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:22:29 +0000

I think a big piece of it is that he wasn’t actually very good to begin with…

By: fifthandlaurel

fifthandlaurel — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:01:22 +0000

I’m pretty sure the general consensus (for those who are in favor of showing Towers the door) is that, as Ray has pointed out, Towers has pretty much nothing positive to show for the past 18 months on the job. I also don’t believe it’s unfair to judge last year’s failures with the additional knowledge that he was given a significant payroll increase prior to the start of the 2008 season.

Say what you want about his past success, but I don’t know how we can concretely hypothesize that Towers still operates in the current market with same efficiency he did a few years ago. He’s not in control of how the rest of baseball adapts.

By: Melvin Nieves

Melvin Nieves — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:55:06 +0000

Fair enough. But it takes more than a hunch to convince me it isn’t true in this case.

By: Ray Lankford

Ray Lankford — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 21:52:04 +0000

I’m not sure that’s a fact.

By: Melvin Nieves

Melvin Nieves — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 20:50:01 +0000

What evidence is there KT hasn’t lost it?

The fact that people don’t randomly forget how to do things.

By: Ben B.

Ben B. — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 00:26:22 +0000

I look at the Khalil trade a salary dump. Khalil’s making $6.5 million next year. If he were a free agent, would he sign for that much? In this economy and with this free agent market and coming off his season last year, probably not. If that’s the case, Khalil had no surplus value and we were lucky to receive any value in return for him.

By: ElectricFriar

ElectricFriar — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:32:23 +0000

You make some valid points. Internal factors are probably playing a role in his “diminishing abilities”. Decisions that once were solely his now have to get approved by Sandy Alderson, Paul Depodesta, et al. Since the arrival of Alderson, KT has seemed to have lost his mojo IMO. Also, John Moores’ divorce/financial situation is probably placing the organization at a serious disadvantage.

I find it ironic that Sandy Alderson is leaving with the impending arrival of Jeff Moorad. I wonder what that means for KT. Didn’t the Dbacks try to hire KT during Moorad’s tenure?

By: R. Lankford

R. Lankford — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:04:40 +0000

I never said Towers was no good anymore, I said the past year and a half has me worried, and rightfully so.

What evidence is there KT hasn’t lost it?

By: Melvin Nieves

Melvin Nieves — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:27:03 +0000

I wonder how much is on lots of other things. Here’s the reasoning I’ve seen laid out:

1. Kevin Towers used to be a good GM
2. No good trades have been made the last 18 months (though there have been good signings, see Jody Gerut)
3. Kevin Towers is no longer a good GM

Ray’s explanation here is that because no good trades have been made recently, and the team does not look likely to win more than 80 games this season, that Towers is no longer qualified as general manager.

While I don’t think that explanation is outside the realm of possibility, I think there are lots of other factors that could be at play. The ownership situation, Sandy Alderson’s influence, the economy / the market throwing up all over itself this offseason. There are also other factors that could be involved that the public are not privy too.

I have yet to see any other evidence as to why Towers has lost it, and just because he hasn’t done something doesn’t mean there’s evidence he can’t.

By: ElectricFriar

ElectricFriar — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:06:33 +0000

Hell, KT even admitted that he “sold low” on Khalil. Plus the situation with the front office vs. Khalil was getting ugly. They probably would have traded him for some extra batting practice baseballs (and gotten much better value at this point).

“He hasn’t made a good trade since Hairston at the 07 deadline…”

You’re right, he hasn’t had a good trade in quite a while. I wonder how much is on him and how much is on Mr. Alderson.