Clubhouse Connection has blown it again with their GM rankings. SABR Metrics geek Brian Kenney and Co. chose Tampa Bay GM Andrew Friedman as the best GM in in MLB. Clubhouse Connection voted him 4 places ahead of San Francisco Giants GM Brian Sabean (who just won two of the last three World Series championships.) So what the fuck has Andrew Friedman ever won. With a virtual freight car of draft picks the last few years, Friedman's drafts have been terrible. In 2008 Friedman chose SS Tim Beckham with the #1 overall pick, in the same draft Sabean picked C Buster Posey. Beckham has been a bust, we all know what Posey has done. In 2009 Friedman failed to sign both first round picks, and Baseball America graded their draft a lowly D. They graded their 2010 draft C+. Even the Matt Garza trade to Chicago has not turned up much so far (though to be fair it's still early.) So why does Clubhouse Connection think this guy is such a genius? Doesn't winning the World Series count for anything?
Clubhouse Connection also had overrated Oakland A's GM Billy Beane at #3. Beane has also won nothing during his reign in Oakland. His knee jerk trades with Tim Hudson, Carlos Gonzalez, and Nick Swisher have brought back nothing to Oakland. Most of Beane's draft's have been mediocre to just plain awful. Billy Beane couldn't carry Sandy Alderson's bag across the street, yet Alderson is nowhere to be found on Clubhouse Connection's Top GM list. All Alderson did was pick up Tony LaRussa, Dave Duncan, Dave Stewart, Dennis Eckersley off the scrap heap. Made brilliant trades for Bob Welch, Mike Moore, Carney Lansford and Rickey Henderson. Not to mention developing Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Walt Weiss, Ben Grieve, Miguel Tejada, Jason Giambi etc.
Reds GM Walt Jocketty was also not in the top 10. All Jocketty has done is put the Cardinals in the post season every year, won a World Series, and now won two division titles with the Reds. But somehow Jon "Fucking" Daniels is a better GM. It's clear the Clubhouse Connection has a bias against GM's who have a track record of winning, in favor of unproven SABR Metrics geeks.
