Three Headed Rays

Via BBTF, Marc Topkin discusses the Rays GM triumvirate:

The days of an old-school GM single-handedly running a team are long gone, given the complexities, higher stakes and advances in information and technology. Several, if not most, teams have gone to a two-man leadership structure, with a president and a GM. The Rays, not atypically, are the ones taking it further with a trio.

For trade talks, each of the three is responsible for talking to one-third of the teams based on each’s strongest relationships, such as Neander with Mariners GM Jerry DiPoto, with whom the Rays have made multiple deals. Then they reconvene or electronically share information. There is a similar approach to dealing with free agents. Major decisions are going to be a group effort, with principal owner Stuart Sternberg “the ultimate authority.”

For negotiations or issues with their players, the split is more ad hoc. Neander called to tell Logan Forsythe he’d been traded; Bloom informed Enny Romero he was dealt. Media responsibilities have been shared, sometimes alternated. And another top executive, James Click, headed up the arbitration cases.

The focus, compared to the more autonomous regime of former baseball chief Andrew Friedman, is clearly on inclusive decision-making. Silverman insists their process is good and that any chatter around the game about them being slow to respond “may get confused with us just being deliberate.”

This seems to work because there is autonomy in the group. I suspect this setup might not work well in most situations due to competitiveness and jealousy.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2lJxinh