Executive Hierarchy

There’s an excellent article in today’s Post Dispatch, written by Joe Strauss, covering some of the hardships that the new GM of the St. Louis Cardinals will face. It got me thinking whether or not the position really is “a premium job in baseball,” as Dewitt says it is. It raised a lot of questions.

First, what kind of control and authority will the new GM actually have, and for that matter, is it any different than what Walt Jocketty had this past season? It seems that the club’s scouting, drafting, and minor league farm system, will all be under the drection of Jeff Luhnow, the VP of player development, with little or no influence from the GM. Many general managers like to either oversee those departments themselves, or hire their own personnel to do so. Any candidate for the open position with the Cards, won’t be allowed to do that.

Secondly, we all know that Dewitt and company want Tony La Russa to return to manage the team. Tony will make a decision after a GM is in place. Assuming La Russa does return, with his preference for an experienced, veteran team, the new GM also won’t be able to hire his own manager, or control much of the roster.

Bernie Miklasz described it best:

"“So: the new GM can’t be in charge of scouting and drafting and player development … and he can’t build the major-league team the way he’d like to. That doesn’t sound like a great situation to me.”"

It sounds like a bad situation to me. Is it normal for clubs to have their general manager, or potential general manager, in this type of situation? From the quotes of some previous candidates in Strauss’ article, it doesn’t sound like it.

So, why are Dewitt and the Cardinals sticking with this model? Why the love affair with Luhnow? Although the resources for scouting and player development have increased, he has yet to put a player in the major leagues.

Strauss indicates that the new GM might never have run his own department before, and quite possibly could be younger than some of the veteran players on the roster. Hold on Cardinal fans. It could be a bumpy ride.