While many O’s fans have the expectation that the GM search is going linger on past Thanksgiving, I have the sense that someone will be in-place by early next week. While he was interviewed, it appears unlikely that John Stockstill will get the position. I know what happens when you assume, but it also seems apparent that Matt Klentak will not be taking the reigns any time soon.

The O’s have interviewed Scott Proefrock, and are interviewing Dan Duquette today. They have received approval to interview Allard Baird, and Damon Oppenheimer. My current thinking is that the new hire will be one of these four names. Though it bears mentioning that Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun has mentioned Mike Radcliff, and Roch Kubatko of MASN has reported the O’s have sought permission to speak with David Forst.

Let us take a deeper look at these potential hires.

Scott Proefrock: Phillies, Asst. General Manager
http://www.philsbaseball.com/Articles/2009/Season/scott_proefrock.php

“Proefrock began his baseball career with the Pittsburgh Pirates in August of 1987 as a marketing intern. Working under Chuck Lamar, he became Director of Marketing information systems in November 1987 and then a scouting and player development assistant in December 1989. He would also work with Chuck Lamar in his next two positions with the Braves and Devil Rays. He worked for the Atlanta Braves from 1991-1995, at first in scouting and player development and later as Assistant Director for Scouting and Player Development.

He joined the Tampa Bay Devil Rays as Director of Baseball Administration on July 27, 1995, four months after the franchise’s inception and two and a half years before the team began playing games. In January 1997, Scott was promoted to Assistant General Manager.

Before being hired in Philadelphia, Scott joined the Baltimore Orioles as the Director of Baseball Administration from 2006-2008. According to the Phillies Media Guide, in his role with Baltimore he interpreted the Major League Rules and Basic Agreement with the MLB Players Association, coordinated the team’s baseball data system and prepared the Baseball Operations budget. He also assisted in trades, free agent acquisitions, arbitration and contract negotiations, and player development and scouting.

Proefrock joined the Phillies on November 17, 2008 as Assistant General Manager along with Benny Looper and Chuck LaMar. He told the UMass Sport Management Alumni Newspaper, “I enjoyed my time in Baltimore and learned a great deal from one of the best executives in the game, Andy MacPhail. But when Ruben Amaro, Jr. asked the Orioles for permission to interview me for the position of Assistant General Manager with the Phillies, it was an opportunity I could not pass up.”

With the Phillies, Proefrock handled 10 arbitration prior to last season (2009). He also planted the seed in the head of Ruben Amaro to sign Pedro Martinez. He has been no-doubt busy this off season dealing with the trade and signing of Roy Halladay.”

Here is a link to an audio interview with Proefrock:
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2011/07/17/exclusive-interview-with-phillies-assistant-general-manager-scott-proefrock/

http://www.delawareonline.com/blogs/2008/11/nov-18-scouting-changes-meeting-scott.html
“Had a chance to chat with new Phillies assistant GM Scott Proefrock last night. He’s an interesting guy. He has worked in baseball operations for the Pirates (1989-90), Braves (1991-95), Devil Rays (1995-2005) and Orioles (2005-08). He has a master’s degree in sports management degree from UMass, and he’s a certified public accountant.”

In May 2005, Will Carroll ranked 10 ‘Up-and-coming’ GM Candidates, with Proefrock appearing at 8th on his list:
http://thejuice.baseballtoaster.com/archives/179056.html
Proefrock“As I asked around the front offices of baseball about who they thought fit into this piece, Proefrock’s name kept coming up. While he’s likely the least known of the group and has been a long time Devil Ray, the story is that he’s a tireless worker, quick learner, and actually has his CPA. He’s another New Englander, though not an Ivy Leaguer – U Mass isn’t shabby. Besides, his name is a headline writer’s dream.”

In June 2010, Carroll updated his list, again including Proefrock:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=11323
Current Position: “Phillies Assistant General Manager (handled 10 arbitration cases in 2009, also instrumental in signing Pedro Martinez, and was involved with Roy Halladay trade-and-sign)
Why He’s Ready: Success is often copied, and the easiest way to do that is to grab a coach or front-office type from a winning team and try to steal some of the mojo. Proefrock scouting background really helps, as he not only gets the benefit of being associated with the Phillies’ wins, but also was involved with some excellent Braves and Rays’ picks that are still helping their respective teams. He’s one of many that have come out of Lisa Masteralexis’ program at the Isenberg School of Management, something you prospective GM’s might want to note. There’s no area of baseball operations that appears to be a weakness for Proefrock with only a low media profile being cited by a few. “You’re not going to put him in New York,” said one writer, “but if it’s a situation like Bill Smith [Minnesota]or even Jack Z[duriencik], Scott would be excellent.”

Interestingly, when Carroll updated his list this year for Sports Illustrated, Proefrock was not included: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/will_carroll/07/13/baseball-gms/index.html

Dan Duquette:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Duquette

Career
A native of Dalton, Massachusetts, Duquette attended Amherst College, where he was a catcher on the varsity baseball team. Duquette got his start in baseball as a scouting assistant with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1980 after a fellow Amherst alumnus, Harry Dalton, the Milwaukee general manager, saw his letter seeking employment in the game.

Montreal Expos
In 1987 he became Montreal’s Director of Player Development. In his three years in that role, the Expos drafted Marquis Grissom, Cliff Floyd and Rondell White and signed Vladimir Guerrero, Javier Vasquez, Orlando Cabrera and many other major leaguers. Duquette replaced Dave Dombrowski as Expos’ GM on September 19, 1991. Under Duquette the Expos acquired elite pitchers Ken Hill, John Wetteland, Jeff Shaw and traded for Pedro Martínez from the Dodgers for second baseman Delino DeShields.

After two seasons in Montreal and after building the 1994 Expos team, the best club in Montreal history, Duquette became the General Manager of his hometown Red Sox and built a baseball operations department which has allowed the Red Sox to be the only team in MLB to set attendance and revenue records every year since 1998.

Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox went 656-574 in the 8 seasons under Duquette, setting attendance records every year after 1998 winning the AL East once and finishing 2nd behind the Yankees 5 other seasons. The Red Sox won the AL East pennant in 1995 before bowing to the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS and made the playoffs as a Wild Card in 1998 and 1999, only to lose to the New York Yankees in the ALCS. Under Duquette, the Red Sox made exceptional strides in improving their dismal history of poor race relations as an organization in the hiring of both coaching and administrative personnel with minority candidates. The Minor League facilities and coaching availability were upgraded at every level during his tenure, and Red Sox favorites such as Nomar Garciaparra and Kevin Youkilis were drafted into the system. Other notable draftees in his Red Sox term were future MLB shortstops David Eckstein, Adam Everett and Hanley Ramirez as well as second baseman Freddy Sanchez.

In 1996 Duquette signed Jaime Moyer to a free agent contract and then traded him to Seattle for outfielder Darren Bragg when Manager Kevin Kennedy didn’t pitch him much and Moyer expressed he didn’t like playing in Boston. Despite being only 66-77 at the time of that trade, Moyer went on to win 139 games in just over 9 seasons with the Mariners and achieved over 250 wins in his career. Duquette is also famously known for his quote about Roger Clemens in which he said that “we had hoped to keep him in Boston during the twilight of his career” in 1996 after Clemens left as a free agent following a 39-40 record over his last four seasons pitching in Boston.[2] Clemens would go on to win the Cy Young award and the pitching Triple Crown in both of the next two seasons. The free agency losses of Clemens and first baseman Mo Vaughn were major points of discontent amongst some Red Sox fans with regards to Duquette. He also did not resign Jose Canseco or Mike Greenwell. At present, Clemens remains under an indictment for lying to Congress that he used performance enhancing drugs (PED’s) beginning in the period immediately following his departure from Boston to Toronto.

Duquette is also noted for several major acquisitions that would ultimately play a part in the Red Sox 2004 World Championship, including acquiring knuckleballer Tim Wakefield in 1995, Pedro Martínez in 1997 from Montreal, the 1997 trade with Seattle for both pitcher Derek Lowe and All-Star catcher Jason Varitek the free agent signings of Manny Ramírez in 2000 and Johnny Damon in December, 2001 and the Sox traded over 35 players in Duquette’s farm system to staff the team including LHP Jorge Dela Rosa traded for Schilling and Hanley Ramirez traded to the Marlins for Josh Beckett. After being fired in 2002 Duquette started a sports academy for children in Hinsdale, Massachusetts. The academy is described by its website as “a sports training center for boys and girls ages 8–18 who are interested in learning baseball, softball, basketball and life skills from distinguished high school, college and professional coaches.”

Honors
Duquette was twice honored as the Major League Baseball Executive of the Year, first by The Sporting News in 1992 with the Expos, and later by the Boston Baseball Writers Association in 1995 with the Red Sox.”

New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/01/sports/baseball-new-owners-of-red-sox-quickly-fire-duquette.html

Baseball Think Factory:
http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/newsstand/discussion/graham_in_defense_of_dan_duquette/

Dan Duquette on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/#!/danduquette

CBS Boston: Who did more for the Sox, Epstein or Duquette?
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/10/21/felger-mazz-epstein-or-duquette-who-did-more-for-the-sox/

Allard Baird, Red Sox Vice President Player Personnel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allard_Baird

During the 2011 season, Baltimore Sports and Life interviewed 12 Analysts across the game, about who could be a good fit to replace MacPhail, should MacPhail not return for 2012. Our typical question to these Analysts, was a variation of:

“Should MacPhail not return, some of the candidates I would like to see considered are:
Paul DePodesta, Mets Vice President of Player Development & Scouting
Josh Byrnes, Padres Vice President of Baseball Operations
John Coppolella, Braves Director of Baseball Administration
Bob Miller, Reds Vice President and Assistant General Manager
Rich Hahn, White Sox Vice President and Assistant General Manager
Allard Baird, Red Sox Vice President Player Personnel
Charley Kerfeld, Phillies Special Assistant to the General Manager
Logan White, Dodgers Assistant General Manager / Director of Amat. & Intl. Scouting (Former O’s West Coast Supervisor)
Ben Cherington, Red Sox Vice President of Player Personnel
Gord Ash, Brewers Vice President and Assistant General Manager
Tom McNamara, Mariners Director of Amateur Scouting
RJ Harrison, Rays Director of Amateur Scouting
Gerry Hunsicker, Rays Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations
Kim Ng, Major League Baseball Vice President of Baseball Operations
Tyrone Brooks, Pirates Director of Baseball Operations (Maryland native)
Amiel Sawdaye, Red Sox Director of Amateur Scouting (Baltimore native)
AJ Preller, Rangers Senior Director of Player Personnel

Who do you like on that list, who else should be considered?”

The compiled responses in their entirety can be found at: https://baltimoresportsandlife.com/?p=3052

Several of those analysts had comments on Baird:

Matt Klaassen, FanGraphs
“Lots of good names up there, and I don’t know enough to say I can give you more info than anyone else. Let me make a few comments: Allard Baird is a nice man and a great AGM, who worked under horrible ownership conditions in Kansas City. But he should never run a team. That was the Peter Principle embodied (cf. Moore, Dayton).”

Bob Nightengale, USA Today
“I would go with Allard Baird among that group, or Logan White. Baird is a workaholic and has the experience.”

Dan Szymborski, ESPN / Baseball Think Factory
“I’d probably knock Baird off that list based on his previous experience. ”

Danny Knobler, CBS Sports
“It’s always going to be difficult in Baltimore, as long as Peter Angelos owns the team. But I give Andy credit for sticking with his plan to develop the young pitchers. There is potential there, but young players, and particularly young pitchers, require patience that is hard for teams and harder for fans. Andy’s weakness has been in making good judgements on filling out the major-league roster. That made the O’s a worse big-league team than they should have been last year, but it probably doesn’t affect the long-term chances of success. I think there are plenty of execs in baseball capable of running teams, guys like Rick Hahn with the White Sox, Allard Baird of the Red Sox, Charley Kerfeld of the Phillies. But with Angelos sticking his hand into all major decisions, running the Orioles isn’t easy.”

Damon Oppenheimer: Yankees, VP & Director of Amateur Scouting
Oppenheimer has appeared on Carroll’s list of top GM candidates multiple times.
In 2010 (http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=11323) Carroll stated:

School: University of Southern California
How he got into baseball: A former catcher at USC, Oppenheimer worked with the Padres, where his mother was the longtime minor-league administrator, and then with the Rangers before joining the Yankees in 1993, becoming the Director of Player Personnel in 2001 and assuming the role of scouting director in 2005.
Current Position: Yankees Vice President, Amateur Scouting (scouting director)
Why He’s Ready: There’s really nothing left for Oppenheimer to prove with the Yankees. His staff has developed players who have come through and have been traded out. There’s the advantage of the big pockets, but with those big pockets comes big scrutiny. The “Joba Rules” have been both a blessing and a curse for Oppenheimer, but he’s had enough successes that even laying that at his feet isn’t going to ding his finish much. Since it doesn’t appear Brian Cashman is going anywhere soon—Cashman is younger than Oppenheimer—it appears that Oppenheimer will have to move on to get his shot, unless the Yankees pay GM-like money to keep him in place.”

In Carroll’s 2011 list, Oppenheimer appears 4th overall (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/will_carroll/07/13/baseball-gms/index.html)

First: Scout, San Diego Padres
Strength: Scouting
Weakness: Ambition
Quote: “You know what, I held that World Series trophy and looked at all the teams listed over the years. Nowhere, not once, does it list team payroll. Same for a World Series ring — I’ve never seen a payroll on a ring.”

“If you think baseball is cruel about aging players, it might be worse in front offices. Baseball may not mind hiring Jack McKeon or Davey Johnson to run a team from the dugout, but several think pushing 50 might work against Oppenheimer. He’s hardly “too old,” but Oppenheimer will have it work against him in what is quickly becoming a young man’s job. The hours required, the time away from home and family, and the pay all conspire against the more established people. “These kids from the Ivys all come in willing to work 20 hours a day for 20 bucks a week,” said one current AGM. Oppenheimer, like Hahn, is often thought to be “in waiting” — not pushing Brian Cashman out the door, but in position to have the biggest chair in all of baseball. Leaving that, with all its advantages, for a small market team in a rebuilding mode is something many can’t imagine Oppenheimer doing. “The thing you wonder,” said one AL exec, “is whether he really wants the job or is willing to keep doing the job he’s doing forever. He’s great and he’d be a great GM, but someone’s going to have to want him specifically.”

Oppenheimer also appeared in the MLB Trade Rumors list at 13th overall:
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/08/mlbtrs-gm-candidates.html

Oppenheimer discussing the Yankees 2011 Draft:
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/yankees/tag/_/name/damon-oppenheimer

Oppenheimer was profiled in the New York Daily News (February, 2008):
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/scoutmaster-bronx-oppenheimer-finds-young-talent-article-1.307198

Interesting backgrounds for each of these prospective candidates. Each deserves respect for what they have achieved. Each of them comes with questions as well though. Of these four, what is your order of preference?

Chris Stoner
Chris Stoner

Owner

Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.

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