Red Sox name Mike Hazen GM, Frank Wren Senior VP

[soxhop411]

Gordon Edes
Gordon Edes – ‏@GordonEdes

Chain of command: 1, DD 2, Hazen 3, Wren

 

[mt8thsw9th]

 
Fair to assume Baird is out?  Baird's also a senior VP.

 
If the Red Sox are run like State Street, there's no such thing as too many senior VPs.

 

[soxhop411]

@Sean_McAdam: Baseball source says Wren will serve chiefly as a talent evaluator. Will be based in ATL and scout talent "for acquisition purposes.''

 

[Sprowl]

@Sean_McAdam: Baseball source says Wren will serve chiefly as a talent evaluator. Will be based in ATL and scout talent "for acquisition purposes.''

 
Major-league talent evaluation by scouting? I'm thinking that very soon somebody can bring FineYoungArm the head of Allard Baird.

 

[DavidTai]

I'm not sure I like Frank Wren in the place of Allard Baird.  This strikes me as a lateral move, rather than an improvement.
 
Any particular reason to think well of Frank Wren?

 

[smastroyin]

Wren worked with DD in Montreal and Florida, I think this was fait accompli from the second DD was hired.  Maybe they have a synergy?  That's really the best I can do.  

 

[Van Everyman]

I don't mind this hire in the abstract. But does it suggest that DD wanted Wren, Henry wanted to keep the farm operations and that hiring Hazen as GM w Wren as a deputy was how they split the difference?

 

[foulkehampshire]

Outside of the headscratching signings of BJ Upton, Uggla, and Lowe was he all that bad? Wren drafted some pretty good players during his tenure. 
 
Couldn't the same be said of Cherington?

 

[ji oh]

I'm not sure I like Frank Wren in the place of Allard Baird.  This strikes me as a lateral move, rather than an improvement.
 
Any particular reason to think well of Frank Wren?

 
This lengthy analysis of all his moves suggests there were more hits than misses, and puts them in context:
http://www.talkingchop.com/2014/9/26/6848977/frank-wrens-tenure-in-atlanta-a-deep-dive

 

[alwyn96]

I'm not sure I like Frank Wren in the place of Allard Baird.  This strikes me as a lateral move, rather than an improvement.
 
Any particular reason to think well of Frank Wren?

 
It's pretty hard to tell exactly how much any individual executive does. Is there any reason to think any of them are particularly special? I know we on the internet get pretty excited when an exec mentions WAR or something, but I would guess there's a little more to it than that. Wren helped build some successful teams as an AGM in Atlanta 2000-2007. He helped Dombrowski build that 1997 Marlins team under enormous financial constraints.
 
Still, as a GM he handed out some pretty terrible contracts and employed Jeff Franceour, so maybe his talents are best realized at a lower level. The guy probably understands how baseball front offices work, and I assume he works well with Dombrowski. So there's that.
 
 

I don't mind this hire in the abstract. But does it suggest that DD wanted Wren, Henry wanted to keep the farm operations and that hiring Hazen as GM w Wren as a deputy was how they split the difference?

 
That seems like reading quite a bit into the process. Dombrowski clearly wanted Wren in there somewhere, but I doubt he was forced to keep Hazen or something. Hazen's been interviewed by other reams for GM positions, so it seems he's pretty well-respected around MLB.

 

[nvalvo]

I'm not sure I like Frank Wren in the place of Allard Baird.  This strikes me as a lateral move, rather than an improvement.
 
Any particular reason to think well of Frank Wren?

 
Here's the case for Wren: 

• He worked in the Marlins FO with Dombrowski in the early 90s, and they built a winner from scratch really quickly.
• Peter Angelos hated him.
• He was an AGM with the Braves from '99 to '07, and then GM from '07 to '14, and the Braves were pretty successful in that timespan. 

Now that I think of it, his record with the Braves is a lot like Cherington's with Boston. He made some puzzling big FA moves that ultimately cost him his job, but as an AGM and then GM, he was mostly around for a period of success, especially in player development. The Braves had a very highly ranked farm system for most of his tenure, producing players like Heyward, Freeman, Teheran, Minor, Kimbrell, Saltalamacchia, Simmons, Jurrjens, Vizcaino, Andrus, Hanson, Schafer, etc. He also managed to acquire Michael Bourn just before he had his career year, and then let Michael Bourn walk just before his precipitous decline. 
 
Here's the case against Wren:

• Dan Uggla 5/$62.
• BJ Upton 5/$75.
• Derek Lowe 4/$60. 

 

[nvalvo]

Brimac: Dombrowski said he would love to add Jerry DiPoto on a full-time basis but is waiting until the jobs DiPoto interviewed for are resolved.
 
https://twitter.com/brianmacp/status/647517359607975936

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

 
 
Here's the case for Wren: 

• He worked in the Marlins FO with Dombrowski in the early 90s, and they built a winner from scratch really quickly.
• Peter Angelos hated him.
• He was an AGM with the Braves from '99 to '07, and then GM from '07 to '14, and the Braves were pretty successful in that timespan. 

Now that I think of it, his record with the Braves is a lot like Cherington's with Boston. He made some puzzling big FA moves that ultimately cost him his job, but as an AGM and then GM, he was mostly around for a period of success, especially in player development. The Braves had a very highly ranked farm system for most of his tenure, producing players like Heyward, Freeman, Teheran, Minor, Kimbrell, Saltalamacchia, Simmons, Jurrjens, Vizcaino, Andrus, Hanson, Schafer, etc. He also managed to acquire Michael Bourn just before he had his career year, and then let Michael Bourn walk just before his precipitous decline. 
 
Here's the case against Wren:

• Dan Uggla 5/$62.
• BJ Upton 5/$75.
• Derek Lowe 4/$60. 

 
Even the Lowe deal wasn't totally indefensible.  Maybe he shouldn't have given him four years, but the rotation Wren inherited prior to that off-season wasn't exactly stellar.  He had Jurrjens and Hudson and a bunch of slop.  He picked up Javier Vazquez, Lowe, and Kawakami to shore things up and the team improved by 14 wins over the previous season.  Lowe wasn't terrible (he wasn't great either) but he helped bridged the gap until young guys like Brandon Beachy, Tommy Hanson, and Mike Minor could become contributors. Lowe ended up throwing 575 innings in three years with a 4.57 ERA (3.89 FIP).  Expensive at $45M for those three years, but not useless.
 
I wasn't all that enthused with the idea of Wren being hired to be the GM, in part because he isn't considered big on the analytics side of things and I thought he'd represent a changing of organizational philosophy.  But as a glorified scout and adviser who doesn't have any power to sign anyone, I can't see the harm of having him in the mix.

 

[nvalvo]

I wasn't all that enthused with the idea of Wren being hired to be the GM, in part because he isn't considered big on the analytics side of things and I thought he'd represent a changing of organizational philosophy.  But as a glorified scout and adviser who doesn't have any power to sign anyone, I can't see the harm of having him in the mix.

 
I feel the same way. This is an appropriate role, and it's probably worthwhile for Dombrowski to have an old colleague to bounce ideas off of. 
 
And that Braves farm system was very, very productive during his tenure, so he must have been doing something right. 

 

[joe dokes]

I don't mind this hire in the abstract. But does it suggest that DD wanted Wren, Henry wanted to keep the farm operations and that hiring Hazen as GM w Wren as a deputy was how they split the difference?

I wasn't all that enthused with the idea of Wren being hired to be the GM, in part because he isn't considered big on the analytics side of things and I thought he'd represent a changing of organizational philosophy.  But as a glorified scout and adviser who doesn't have any power to sign anyone, I can't see the harm of having him in the mix.
 

 
Sounds reasonable. DD's entitled to have a consigliere (entitled is not quite the right word . . .)
 
This and the DiPoto comment and the non-upheaval of the organization in general suggest that DD appears to be secure enough to surround himself with people who, in theory, could have his job.  I thinks that's a good thing.

 

[Buzzkill Pauley]

 
And that Braves farm system was very, very productive during his tenure, so he must have been doing something right. 

Especially as regards to pitching. It seemed like Braves perennially had a top-5 staff in the NL during his tenure, although that might just be my faulty recollection.

 

[HangingW/ScottCooper]

 
If the Red Sox are run like State Street, there's no such thing as too many senior VPs.

As a former State Street employee, truer words have never been spoken.