4 replies to this topic

[philly sox fan]

I’ve become interested in scouts over the past year or so and have made some posts about different aspects of the Sox scouting department, primarily amateur scouting and the draft. I think I’ve dumped most of those posts into the Draft Forum. One of the things that I noticed and mentioned is that it seemed like the Sox scouting department had become pretty young and perhaps a bit inexperienced.

In order to answer oddball (ok, and perhaps trivial) questions like that I put together an extensive scouting database going back to 1987 using the Baseball America Directory which includes each organization’s scouting department. So as long as a scout started in 1987 or later, and that’s true for a great majority of area scouts, I can tell how much scouting experience that person and whole department has.

One thing I need to note upfront is that my definition of scouting experience is very narrow. I can only count a year spent working for a MLB team in their scouting department. Scouting is a modestly paying, decidedly unglamorous life. These people are all baseball lifers in one way or another. I think it’s safe to assume that even when these people haven’t been officially working as scouts they have nevertheless been within the game in some capacity. The Sox have an excellent example in Tony Guzzo. He’s going to show up in this report as an inexperienced scout because 2007 was his first year working for an MLB organization. However, he spent the previous 26 years as a collegiate coach. Obviously, a major part of that job is evaluating HS and collegiate players. I’m sure there are some differences between that kind of talent evaluation and what’s needed to succeed working for a MLB team, but Guzzo is not exactly inexperienced.

With that caveat aside let’s look at the Sox amateur scouting department. I’ve split the department into separate tables of the Director and Crosscheckers and then the area scouts.

For each scout I’ve listed his Title, his home Base, the first he year he Started scouting for a MLB organization, his Total scouting Experience, his Sox Experience, and the % of time spent with the Sox.

Sox Scouting Director and Crosscheckers

Table

	Scout	Team	Position	Base	Start	Total Exp	Sox Exp	% Sox
Jason	McLeod	Bos	Director, Amatuer Scouting		2002	6	4	67
Dave	Finley	Bos	National Crosschecker	CA	1992	15	6	40
Mike	Rikard	Bos	East Crosschecker	NC	2001	7	3	43
Danny	Haas	Bos	Midwest Crosschecker	KY	2002	6	6	100
Mark	Wasinger	Bos	South Crosschecker		1996	12	5	42
Fred	Petersen	Bos	West Crosschecker	CA	1991	17	3	18
Daryl	Milne	Bos	Pitching Crosschecker		1994	14	5	36
					ave	11.0	4.6	42

In terms of Total Exp there are two subgroups – one with a lot of experience, at least 12 years, and one with moderate experience (for a supervisor), about 6 or 7 years. All total they average 11.0 years working for MLB teams as scouts. As we’ll see in a bit, that is low for their positions. This group hasn’t been with the Sox very long which is as you’d expect. The Sox changed owners and GM and made revamping the scouting department a big priority. Danny Haas, who was hired by Duquette as an area scout, is the only holdover from the previous regime.

Sox Area Scouts

Table

	Scout	Team	Position	Base	Start	Total Exp	Sox Exp	% Sox
Jim	Woodward	Bos	Scout	CA	1987*	21	6	29
Rob	English	Bos	Scout	GA	1991	17	6	35
Ray	Fagnant	Bos	Scout	NY	1993	15	15	100
Wally	Komatsubara	Bos	Scout	HI	1993	14	11	79
Jim	Robinson	Bos	Scout	TX	1996	12	9	75
Duane	Gustavson	Bos	Scout	OH	1997	11	1	9
Quincy	Boyd	Bos	Scout	NC	1998	10	2	20
Ernie	Jacobs	Bos	Scout	KS	1998	10	10	100
John	Booher	Bos	Scout	WA	1998	9	5	56
Dan	Madsen	Bos	Scout	CA	2003	5	5	100
Danny	Watkins	Bos	Scout	AL	2001	5	3	60
Blair	Henry	Bos	Scout	CA	2006	4	2	50
Jon	Lukens	Bos	Scout	CO	2005	3	3	100
Anthony	Turco	Bos	Scout	FL	2005	3	3	100
Josh	Loggins	Bos	Scout	IN	2006	2	2	100
Laz	Gutierrez	Bos	Scout	FL	2007	1	1	100
Tony	Guzzo	Bos	Scout	VA	2007	1	1	100
Edgar	Perez	Bos	Scout	PR	2007	1	1	100
					ave	8.0	4.8	60

* any scout who I have a Start year of 1987 could have started his scouting career prior to the records that I have.

On average the Sox area scouts have 8.0 years of experience. Again, as we’ll see in a bit that is a little below average. But when I first calculated that average I was a little surprised. That seemed higher than my impression. However, when I re-sorted the scouts by their Total Experience it became clear why I had that impression. In terms of experience the Sox have a real split within their department. Nine scouts have at least 9 years of experience and an average of 13.2 years. The other nine scouts have five or fewer years of experience and average just 2.8 years of experience. That large number of scouts with a handful of years of experience is what gave me the impression that this was a young and inexperienced group.

I think I was also responding to the fact that some of the less experienced scouts are in very important areas. If you think experience is an important factor does it really matter that the Sox Hawaii based scout, who has signed one player in eleven years with the Sox, has a lot of experience? Meanwhile, the two scouts in Florida entered 2007 with just two years of experience between the both of them and two of the California scouts have just five and four (two of which were as a part-timer) years of experience.

I have no idea how much that matters (and no idea how to measure that), but I did want to know how the Sox overall experience level amongst their amateur scouts compared to other teams. That I can do. I didn’t, however, want to do it for all 29 other teams. Instead, I just started picking teams that I thought would be older and more traditional (Twins, Braves, Dodgers), or performance oriented and perhaps younger like the Sox (Oakland and the Indians) and then I rounded out a group of ten with playoff teams with good minor league and scouting reputations (Angels, Rockies, DBacks and of course always the Yankees). We’re not interested in how the Sox compare to the dregs of the league, we’re interested in how the Sox compare to the top organizations in baseball and this group of ten is definitely amongst the better, more interesting teams in baseball.

I’m going to produce tables similar to the Sox ones above for each of those teams, but to a large extent that’s just going to be a bunch of names that even the most diehard minor league follower has never heard of. Believe me, I realize most people won’t care. So we’ll just get right to the summary and see how the Sox compare.

Summary

Directors and Crosscheckers

Table

Directors & Crosscheckers	Number	Total Exp	Team Exp	% Team
Los Angeles	6	19.3	9.8	51
Colorado	4	17.8	13.5	76
Atlanta	6	17.7	11.3	64
Arizona	5	17.2	6.6	38
Minnesota	5	16.6	16.6	100
Anaheim	6	14.2	6.0	42
New York Yankees	6	13.7	8.2	60
Oakland	4	11.8	10.8	92
Boston	7	11.0	4.6	42
Cleveland	6	10.2	8.7	85
	5.5	15.0	9.6	64

The first thing to notice is that the Sox have the most crosscheckers. Most teams have 5 or 6 and the Sox have seven. It hasn’t always been the case that the Sox have had more crosscheckers than their peers, but it is the case this year. In a few threads lately, I’ve talked about how a team with large revenues doesn’t only have a financial advantage at the payroll level. That advantage can and should flow down through an organization. This is one of the ways that that can happen.

As an aside, this has been one of the major changes in scouting departments over the last twenty years. Scouting departments used to be much, much flatter. It wasn’t uncommon for there to be no supervisors between the scouting director and the area scouts. Over time, teams added a single national crosschecker and then more and more regional crosscheckers. The standard setup now is a scouting director, a national crosschecker and three or four regional crosscheckers (usually East, Central, West or East, Midwest, Southeast, West or something like that). This year the Sox have all that and a general pitching crosschecker.

The overall Total Experience for these ten teams was 15.0 years. The Sox 11.0 years ranked 9th. And generally, the teams that I expected to skew old (LA, Atlanta, Minnesota) were – each over 16 years. And the teams I expected to skew young (Oakland, Boston, Cleveland) did – each under 12 years and forming the bottom three.

The Sox had the least Team Exp which wasn’t too surprising given the relatively recent GM change. The real outlier in terms of % Team was the Twins at a nice round 100%. And as it turns out that is the defining characteristic of the Twins scouting department. Not a single scout in their department has ever worked for another organization. I’m sure a lot of teams like to talk about their way of scouting, but nobody can make the claim more convincingly than the Twins. Their scouts are truly and exclusively their scouts.

Area Scouts

Table

Area Scouts	Number	Total Exp	Team Exp	% Team
Minnesota	15	12.3	12.3	100
Arizona*	15	11.4	6.1	54
Colorado	16	11.2	9.4	84
Los Angeles	16	10.9	7.6	70
Anaheim	17	8.9	5.6	63
Atlanta	15	8.9	6.7	75
Boston	18	8.0	4.8	60
New York Yankees	14	7.3	5.8	79
Oakland	12	6.8	5.3	78
Cleveland	15	6.5	4.3	66
	15.3	9.2	6.8	74

* Arizona included their crosscheckers within their area scouts, but I didn’t want to double count them. They also had a scout whose experience I couldn’t determine.

The average team has 15.3 scouts and most of these teams were right there with fifteen or sixteen. The Sox, again letting their financial advantage flow down, have eighteen.

In terms of Total Exp the Sox were more than a year below average. Again, Boston, Oakland and Cleveland are towards the bottom although the Yankees are surprisingly within that group this time. The Twins 100% in the % Team column really stands out here. The 12.3 years that their scouts have averaged working for them is at least double most of the other teams Team Exp.

Since I split the Sox department in half by experience let’s do that for these teams as well.

Most Experienced Half

Table

Most Exp Half	Number	Total Exp	Team Exp	% Team
Los Angeles	8	17.3	12.1	70
Minnesota	8	16.5	16.5	100
Colorado	8	16.0	13.3	83
Anaheim	8	14.5	8.5	59
Atlanta	7	13.6	10.4	76
Boston	9	13.2	7.2	55
Arizona	7	13.1	5.0	38
New York Yankees	7	11.7	9.0	77
Oakland	6	11.3	8.2	73
Cleveland	8	10.3	6.1	59
	7.6	13.8	9.6	70

In this grouping the Sox are just a bit below average. The Yankees join the always young A’s and Indians at the bottom. The Dodgers, Twins (both as expected) and the Rockies are way on top. One thing to note, is that there is some real diversity amongst organizations in terms of scouting experience. The Braves come in right at average and they were less experienced than expected at the area scout level.

Least Experienced Half

Table

Least Exp Half	Number	Total Exp	Team Exp	% Team
Minnesota	7	7.4	7.4	100
Colorado	8	6.4	5.5	86
Arizona	7	5.9	5.7	97
Atlanta	8	4.9	3.5	71
Los Angeles	8	4.6	3	65
Anaheim	9	4.0	3.0	75
New York Yankees	7	2.9	2.6	90
Boston	9	2.8	2.3	82
Oakland	6	2.3	2.3	100
Cleveland	7	2.3	2.1	91
	7.6	4.4	3.7	84

The Sox drop back with the Yankees, A’s and Indians. These organizations have a lot of very inexperienced scouts.

Maybe one of these days, I may go back and see if the number of relatively inexperienced scouts is much greater today than it had been in the past. I would guess that that is true.

A-ha, so the crusty old scouts were right! The new breed of Ivy League geek GM doesn’t understand and respect scouts, so the dinosaurs were pushed aside and replaced (if at all!) by younger, cheaper scouts. These scouts often had never worked for another team (note that the % Team figure is often 100% for the least experienced scouts) and so could be molded into a new breed of scout, one that “scouted” performance as much as tools and had a much greater familiarity with the computer based technology that was being shoved down scouts throats.

I’m pretty sure that kind of thinking based on fear of losing jobs and power within organizations was at the root of much of the anger from the scouting community that would bubble up in various “scouts vs stats” debates. However, it just does not appear to be true in any substantial way. There are more scouts working in MLB now than there were 10 or 20 years ago. It used to be that there were just a couple of scouts between the GM and the area scouts doing most of the leg work. Now with multiple crosscheckers, entire min-departments of pro scouts and advanced scouts, there is a huge scouting infrastructure beneath the GM. The reason there are so many new and inexperienced scouts in amateur scouting departments is that the more experienced scouts have been promoted into these other jobs and their old jobs have been filled by younger, newer scouts.

Luker gnosygnus did an excellent job pointing this out for the Sox, Yankees and Orioles in this post from the minor league forum:

link

Most of those crosschecker and pro scouting positions simply did not exist 20 years ago. We can see that growth just looking at the Sox. In 1987 the Sox employed 25 fulltime scouts. In 1997 that was up to 38 with a lot of that growth in the international department. In 2007 it’s up over 60 scouts. Now, the Sox are wealthier than most so I’d bet they very much have a larger than average scouting department, but there has been that kind of significant growth across the industry. When so-call stat nerd GMs like Epstein talk about valuing traditional scouting they’re not just blowing condescending smoke at the old time baseball men. They’re actively growing their scouting departments.

Anyway, let’s jump to a new post and look a little more closely at the other nine organizations.

[philly sox fan]

Minnesota Twins

Table

	Scout	Team	Position	Base	Start	Total Exp	Minn Exp	% Minn
Terry	Radcliff	Minn	Director, Scouting		1989	19	19	100
Earl	Frishman	Minn	Scouting Supervisor, East	FL	1990	18	18	100
Deron	Johnson	Minn	Scouting Supervisor, West	CA	1994	14	14	100
Tim	O'Neil	Minn	Scouting Supervisor, Midwest	KY	1995	13	13	100
Mike	Ruth	Minn	Scouting Supervisor, Midwest	MO	1989	19	19	100
						16.6	16.6	100
x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Marty	Esposito	Minn	Scout	TX	1987	21	21	100
Bill	Lohr	Minn	Scout	WA	1987	21	21	100
Ricky	Taylor	Minn	Scout	NC	1991	17	17	100
John	Wilson	Minn	Scout	NJ	1991	17	17	100
Brad	Weitzel	Minn	Scout	FL	1992	16	16	100
John	Leavitt	Minn	Scout	CA	1994	14	14	100
Bill	Milos	Minn	Scout	IN	1995	13	13	100
Mark	Quimuyog	Minn	Scout	FL	1995	13	13	100
Kevin	Bootay	Minn	Scout	CA	1999	10	10	100
Hector	Otero	Minn	Scout	PR	1998	10	10	100
Gregg	Miller	Minn	Scout	OK	1999	9	9	100
Jay	Weitzel	Minn	Scout	NY	2000	8	8	100
Mark	Wilson	Minn	Scout	MN	2001	7	7	100
Sean	Johnson	Minn	Scout	AZ	2003	5	5	100
Dan	Cox	Minn	Scout	CA	2005	3	3	100
						12.3	12.3	100

Yes, that’s a whole lot of 100%’s. A Twins scout is a Twins scout is a Twins scout. One of the major themes in the stories about Terry Ryan’s resignation was the extreme continuity of the scouting department and this is what that looks like - lots and lots of scouts with double digit years of experience and all of that experience with the Twins.

There will be some changes for 2008. Radcliff, who was widely regarded as the most respected scouting director in the game, was promoted to a player personnel position. And, of course, this being the Twins one of the Supervisors (I can’t remember which one) was bumped up into the big chair. And likely, one of the area scouts was promoted into the vacant Supervisor position. Or perhaps the Twins let the position go vacant.

The other notable thing about the Twins is the presence of a couple potential legacy scouts in Mark Wilson and Jay Weitzel. That used to be somewhat common, but has fallen off as baseball has become more corporate and perhaps more merit based. The positive way of looking at it, is that scouting is largely an art and there is, for good reason, a long tradition of mentoring apprentices in that type of a profession. It also literally fits with the idea that a Twins scout is a Twins scout born and raised. The negative way is that it’s just nepotism. Is the son of an older scout really the best person for the job?

Note: Wilson is a pretty common name and I don’t know for sure that the younger scouts are the sons of the older ones with the same surname.

Oakland Athletics

Table

	Scout	Team	Position	Base	Start	Total Exp	Oak Exp	% Oak
Eric	Kubota	Oak	Director, Scouting	CA	1990	18	18	100
Ron	Vaughn	Oak	National Crosschecker	CA	1987	21	17	81
Mike	Holmes	Oak	Eastern Crosschecker	NC	2004	4	4	100
Scott	Kidd	Oak	Western Crosschecker	TX	2004	4	4	100
						11.8	10.8	92
x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Rick	Magnante	Oak	Scout	CA	1987	17	12	71
Craig	Weissmann	Oak	Scout	CA	1992	16	2	13
Ruben	Escalera	Oak	Scout	PR	1995	12	12	100
Rich	Sparks	Oak	Scout	MI	1997	11	11	100
Kelcey	Mucker	Oak	Scout	LA	2001	7	7	100
Jeremy	Schied	Oak	Scout	AZ	2003	5	5	100
Jeff	Bittiger	Oak	Scout	PA	2004	4	4	100
Blake	Davis	Oak	Scout	TX	2004	4	4	100
Neil	Avent	Oak	Scout	NC	2006	2	2	100
Armann	Brown	Oak	Scout	GA	2006	2	2	100
Yancy	Ayres	Oak	Scout	FL	2007	1	1	100
Jim	Coffman	Oak	Scout	OR	2007	1	1	100
						6.8	5.3	78

This is by far the thinnest group of amateur scouts with just four supervisors and only twelve area scouts. This might just be a one year blip because previously the A’s had a still low, but more reasonable 14 area scouts. In terms of experience, the A’s do have a handful of pretty experienced scouts including two crosscheckers with at least 17, but they don’t have many mid-experience scouts. Almost everyone has 10 or more years or five or fewer (including two crosscheckers).

With just twelve area scouts the A’s must be a little thin in certain parts of the country. We can look at the home bases of their scouts to get an idea of where that might be. Their scouts are almost exclusively based on the west coast and across the south – OR to CA to AZ to TX to LA to FL to GA and up to NC. Outside of that warm weather, coastal L shape the only other scouts are based in Michigan and PA. Now I’m sure the coastal scouts are pinching inward, but that’s not a lot of coverage of the interior and north of the country. What a team like the Sox has that is missing in this department is a rocky mountain scout, a New England scout, a plains region scout and perhaps a second scout in either the rust belt or the mid-atlantic region. It would be interesting to see if the A’s just haven’t drafted players from those areas.

One of the things that I was interested in noting about the A’s amateur scouting department is the number of holdovers from the 2002 draft that was part of Moneyball. Lewis’ depiction of the A’s amateur scouts was condescending at best and I don’t recall Beane ever substantively disagreeing with that depiction. There are six scouts from the 2002 staff that were still part of the department in 2007. One of these days I’ll have to check to see how that compares to other organizations, but my impression is that it is low for an organization that did not have a GM or scouting director change in the interim.

Cleveland Indians

Table

[td=*]12 [/td][td=*]3 [/td][td=*]25 [/td][td=*]Greg [/td][td=*]Smith [/td][td=*]Cle [/td][td=*]Scout [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*]1998 [/td][td=*]10 [/td][td=*]1 [/td][td=*]10 [/td][td=*]Derrick [/td][td=*]Ross [/td][td=*]Cle [/td][td=*]Scout [/td][td=*]OH [/td][td=*]1999 [/td][td=*]9 [/td][td=*]3 [/td][td=*]33 [/td][td=*]Steve [/td][td=*]Abney [/td][td=*]Cle [/td][td=*]Scout [/td][td=*]KS [/td][td=*]1998 [/td][td=*]7 [/td][td=*]7 [/td][td=*]100 [/td][td=*]Les [/td][td=*]Pajari [/td][td=*]Cle [/td][td=*]Scout [/td][td=*]TX [/td][td=*]2001 [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]7[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]7[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Jason[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Smith[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Cle[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2001[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]7[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]7[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Vince[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Sagisi[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Cle[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2002[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]4[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]80[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Joe[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Graham[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Cle[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2004[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]4[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]4[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Byron[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ewing[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Cle[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]IL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2006[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Brent[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Urcheck[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Cle[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]PA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2006[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Chuck[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Bartlett[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Cle[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2007[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Kevin[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Cullen[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Cle[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2007[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Billy[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ryan[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Cle[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2007[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6.5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]4.3[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]66[/color] [/td]

	Scout	Team	Position	Base	Start	Total Exp	Cle Exp	% Cle
John	Mirabelli	Cle	Asst GM/Scouting Operations		1991	17	8	47
Chuck	Ricci	Cle	National Crosschecker	PA	1998	10	10	100
Scott	Barnsby	Cle	Regional Crosschecker, Southeast	AL	2001	7	7	100
Paul	Cogan	Cle	Regional Crosschecker, West	CA	1995	13	13	100
Scott	Meaney	Cle	Regional Crosschecker, Northeast	NC	1999	8	8	100
Matt	Ruebel	Cle	Regional Crosschecker, Midwest	OK	2002	6	6	100
						10.2	8.7	85
x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Don	Lyle	Cle	Scout	CA	1993	15	6	40
Bob	Mayer	Cle	Scout	PA	1993	15	15	100
Mike	Soper	Cle	Scout	FL	1996

Mirabelli was hired after spending the 1990s in the Tigers scouting department eventually moving up to National Crosschecker. He was hired by John Hart, but has been retained by Mark Shapiro. The crosscheckers have all been with the organization for their entire scouting careers and most were originally hired by Hart, or at least during Hart’s tenure.

One of the reasons the Indians department skews young is because it doesn’t have any real extreme experienced scouts with only two area scouts over twelve years. Because it’s a young department and Shapiro has been GM for seven years, Shapiro has had a chance to largely make over the department. Only four area scouts pre-date Shapiro and three of them were hired just one year before Shapiro was promoted. There’s been a lot of turnover in the last couple of years. I’d have to go back to see if at that point a lot of older scouts left the organization.

Atlanta Braves

Table

[td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Team[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Position[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Base[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Start[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Total Exp[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl Exp[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]% Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Roy[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Clark[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Director, Scouting[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1987[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]18[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]86[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Hep[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Cronin[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Crosschecker[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]OH[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1987[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Paul[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Faulk[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Crosschecker[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]SC[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1990[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]18[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]44[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]John[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Flannery[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Crosschecker[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]TX[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1989[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]19[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]19[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Jerry[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Jordan[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Crosschecker[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]WA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1987[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Don[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Reynolds[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Crosschecker[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]IL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1999[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]17[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]17.7[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]11.3[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]64[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Stu[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Cann[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Area Supervisor[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]IL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1987[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ralph[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Garr[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Area Supervisor[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]TX[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1987[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Bobby[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Myrick[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Area Supervisor[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]WA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1989[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]18[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]3[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]17[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Mike[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Baker[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Area Supervisor[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1997[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]11[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]11[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Chris[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Knabenshue[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Area Supervisor[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]TX[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1996[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]10[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]3[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]30[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Daniel[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Bates[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Area Supervisor[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2000[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Billy[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Best[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Area Supervisor[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NC[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2002[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Al[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Goetz[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Area Supervisor[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]GA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2002[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Nick[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Hostetler[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Area Supervisor[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2002[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]3[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]50[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Don[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Thomas[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Area Supervisor[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2002[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Lonnie[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Goldberg[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Area Supervisor[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Canada[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2003[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Brian[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Hunter[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Area Supervisor[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]GA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2003[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]20[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Tim[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Moore[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Area Supervisor[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]WA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2003[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]20[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Tony[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Battista[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Area Supervisor[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2005[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]3[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]3[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Greg[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Kilby[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Atl[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Area Supervisor[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]FL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2005[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]3[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]3[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8.9[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6.7[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]75[/color] [/td]

I expected the Braves to have an older, more experienced department. Where that is true is in the supervisor positions. However, the Braves are also an organization that has a larger group of experienced Special Assignment Scouts which form a roving cadre of senior advisors who can do targeted scouting of specific players. I believe the Braves rely on special assignment scouts more than most organizations.

The Braves do have three very experienced scouts, two of whom have spent at least 21 years with the Braves. However, the amount of experience drops of very quickly with a lot of scouts in the five and six year range. I think that roughly coincides with the change in ownership from Ted Turner to Time Warner. Again, that’s something I’d have to go back and check, but it’s possible that the department shrunk at that point due to budget reasons and some of the older “Braves” scouts moved on.

And I think that makes a nice time to point out that because nobody covers changes in scouting departments fans may believe that they have an informed opinion about which teams are good scouting operations, but over time the individual scouts who work for that team do turnover. If the Braves were a great scouting operation in the 1990s and very few scouts from that area still remain, why do we think that they are still a great scouting operation? Just in general, departments and key individual scouts turnover more quickly than an organization’s overall reputation.
I want to mention one area scout, Al Goetz, in particular. He replaced the Sox Rob English as the Braves principle Georgia area scout. And actually, that’s one place where the Braves department definitely has shrunk because they used to have two GA based area scouts. Anyway, English has garnered a lot of attention with the Sox, especially early in his time with Boston, but hasn’t really produced a lot of talent. As a result I’ve been curious about Goetz, the man who replaced him. Goetz has been extremely productive for the Braves. His first draft in 2002 netted Jeff Francoeur, Brian McCann and Chuck James. He also is the signing scout for Brandon Jones and Jayson Heyward. Conceivably, a year from now the Braves will feature three lineup regulars, a starter and an elite prospect all signed by one scout.

And according to the latest issue of BA, that will be it for Goetz and the Braves because he resigned from the Braves to work for a player agent. I already mentioned that one reason that there are so many relatively inexperienced area scouts is that many of the older scouts have moved up within organizations. Large player agencies have also siphoned off experienced scouts. Every Scott Boras article mentions that his corporation employs dozens of scouts all over the world and I assume some of the other large agencies do as well.

It’ll be interesting to see if the Braves emphasis and success from GA players changes over the next several years. I’d guess that it won’t. The commitment to local players and the ability to use special assignment scouts to double and triple check local kids will continue, but to the extent that Goetz was a key point person in that process there is some risk for the Braves going forward.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Table

[td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Team[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Position[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Base[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Start[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Total Exp[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ Exp[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]% AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Tom[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Allison[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Director, Scouting[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1997[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]11[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]9[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ed[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Durkin[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]National Supervisor[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]FL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1989[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]20[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]12[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]60[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Greg[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Lonigro[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Regional Supervisor, East[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]PA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1996[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]13[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]13[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Bob[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Minor[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Regional Supervisor, West[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1987[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Steve[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]McAllister[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Regional Supervisor, Central[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]IL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1987[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]29[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]17.2[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6.6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]38[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Howard[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]McCullough[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NC[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1987[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]12[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]57[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Luke[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Wrenn[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]FL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1987[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]38[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ray[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Blanco[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]FL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1989[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]19[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]42[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Mike[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Daughtry[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]IL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1989[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]19[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]7[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]37[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Mark[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Baca[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1992[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]16[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]7[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]44[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Rodney[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Davis[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1994[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]13[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Matt[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Haas[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]OH[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1999[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]9[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]22[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Hal[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Kurtzman[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1997[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]9[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]9[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Matt[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Merullo[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CT[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1999[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]9[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]9[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Mike[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Valarezo[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]FL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1999[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]9[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]9[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ed[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Gustafson[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]WA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1998[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]7[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]86[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Trip[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Couch[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]TX[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2003[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Shawn[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Barton[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]PA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2007[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Jim[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Dedrick[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2007[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Joe[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Robinson[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]MO[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]?[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ed[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Durkin[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]FL[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Greg[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Lonigro[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]PA[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Steve[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]McAllister[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]IL[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Bob[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Minor[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]11.4[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6.1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]53[/color] [/td]

Tom Allison has big shoes to fill replacing Mike Rizzo who drafted a tremendous farm system and left last year to join the Nationals. Interestingly, Josh Byrnes past over the DBacks long time National Supervisor, Kendall Carter, who subsequently left the organization. Allison is actually a protégée of another highly praised scouting director, Jack Zduriencik. Allison got his start with the Mets in the late 1990s as a colleague of Zduriencik’s. When Zduriencik went to Milwaukee he brought Allison along as a regional crosschecker. Allison brought longtime Mets scout Bob Minor into a crosschecker position, but has mostly kept Rizzo’s scouting department in tact.

Aside from Allison and Minor, only three scouts have been hired in the last two years. Most of the area scouts have 7-9 years experience with the DBacks and have been the core of their very successful department.

Since Rizzo spent several years in the 1990s with the Red Sox, this department has a very 1990s Red Sox feel to it. Most of the very experienced scouts – McAllister, McCullough, Wrenn and Blanco – all were colleagues of Rizzo with the Sox in the 1990s. Matt Haas is a little younger, but he also got his start with the Sox in 1999 and apparently came over with Byrnes.

The DBacks are the only organization that also lists their Supervisors amongst their area scouts. I left them in the table, but didn’t double count them in the averages. The “?” for Joe Robinson is because I have a few “Joe Robinsons” in my database and I can’t quite figure out where this one might have also been.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Table

[td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Team[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Position[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Base[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Start[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Total Exp[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA Exp[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]% LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Tim[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Hallgren[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Director, Amatuer Scouting[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1987[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]24[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Gib[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Bodet[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Spec Advisor to Am Scouting/Ntnl Crosschecker[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1987[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Paul[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Fryer[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]National Crosschecker[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1990[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]18[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]11[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]John[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Barr[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Regional Supervisor, East[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NJ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1987[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]10[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]48[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Gary[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Nickels[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Regional Supervisor, Midwest[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]IL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1989[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]19[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]26[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Tom[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Thomas[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Regional Supervisor, West Coast[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1992[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]16[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]16[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]19.3[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]9.8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]51[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Bobby[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Darwin[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1987[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Hank[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Jones[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]WA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1987[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]John[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Kosciak[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]MA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1987[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]14[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]67[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Manny[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Estrada[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]FL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1987[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]19[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]11[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Lon[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Joyce[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]SC[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1992[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]16[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]16[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Chris[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Smith[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]TX[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1992[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]16[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]9[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]56[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Clair[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Rierson[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]MD[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1989[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]15[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]33[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Marty[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Lamb[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]KY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1999[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]9[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]9[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Chet[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Sergo[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]WI[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1998[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]9[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]11[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Mitch[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Webster[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]KS[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2000[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Fred[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Costello[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2002[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]17[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Calvin[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Jones[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]TX[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2003[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Brian[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Stephenson[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2003[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Dennis[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Moeller[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2006[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Chuck[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Crim[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2007[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scott[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Hennessey[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]FL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2007[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]10.9[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]7.6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]69[/color] [/td]

The Dodgers are an interesting team because their scouting department is so universally acclaimed. Even people who don’t know much about the minors and scouting have probably heard the name Logan White, the Dodgers extremely successful scouting director from 2002-2006 who has since moved up into an Asst GM position. And White was one of the reasons that I wanted to create a scouting database. Where the hell did he come from and how did he end up in LA?

Well, of course, he came from that bastion of scouting and player development the Baltimore Orioles. He actually had no connection to the Dodgers or to Dan Evans when Evans hired him to be his new scouting director. (Btw, Evans is another guy who just left organized baseball to move to an agency.) He did, however, have a connection to John Barr who was a Regional Supervisor with the Dodgers. Barr was actually the Orioles SD who hired White in 1990. There’s another Orioles connection here as well. White worked under Gary Nickels after Nickels had become the O’s scouting director. One of White’s first hires after he became the SD in LA was Nickels as one of his Regional Supervisors.

And just to throw a little Sox content into this Baltimore-Oriole loop, Barr drafted a young catcher named Jim Robinson who was eventually hired by Nickels as an area scout for the O’s. Duquette hired Robinson from Baltimore and he’s been a quality scout for the Sox since with his shining scouting achievement to date being Clay Buchholz. And Buchholz actually fits into the bigger Balt-LA-Bos loop as well. Last summer there was a story that the Dodgers (featuring 3 ex-Baltimore scouts in key positions) really liked Buchholz and might have taken him at #40 except that Luke Hochevar fell to #40 for signability reasons. As a result Buchholz was drafted by the Sox based on the recommendation of yet another ex-Baltimore scout Jim Robinson. And somehow these guys mostly never found anybody any good when they worked for the Orioles. Go figure.

One of the most interesting questions to me about studying scouting departments from a distance is whether or not you can separate out individuals or even whether you can differentiate between the scouting director and supervisors who represent the top down draft philosophy from the area scouts who are doing the grunt work on the ground. These former Orioles scouts with the Dodgers don’t have much of a track record from their days with Baltimore, so why have they been so successful in LA? Well, is it just that they inherited a great group of area scouts? Not likely. When I looked at the group of area scouts from 2000/01 before White arrived and compared them to the scouts who did fantastic jobs in the 2002/03 draft with White, there really isn’t much difference at all.

Does that mean that the step in the scouting process where the most value is added is not at the level of the individual area scout, but instead at the supervisor and director level where reports are analyzed and integrated into an overall draft philosophy? Who knows, but you can look at the Dodgers and sort of make that case.

New York Yankees

Table

[td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Team[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Position[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Base[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Start[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Total Exp[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY Exp[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]% NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Damon[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Oppenheimer[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]VP, Scouting[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1989[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]19[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]13[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]68[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Kendall[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Carter[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]National Crosschecker[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1991[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]17[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Donny[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Rowland[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]National Crosschecker[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1990[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]16[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]31[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Brian[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Barber[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Regional Crosschecker, East[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]FL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2002[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Tim[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Kelly[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Regional Crosschecker, Midwest[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]OH[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1991[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]17[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]17[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Jeff[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Patterson[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Regional Crosschecker, West[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2001[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]7[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]7[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]13.7[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8.2[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]60[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Mark[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Batchko[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]TX[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1989[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]19[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]19[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Cesar[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Presbott[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1994[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]14[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]14[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Mike[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Gibbons[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]OH[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1995[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]13[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]38[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Steve[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Swail[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NC[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1996[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]12[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]67[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Steve[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Lemke[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]IL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1997[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]11[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]73[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Steve[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Boros[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]TX[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2000[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scott[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Lovecamp[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1993[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]20[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Trevor[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Schaffer[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]FL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2003[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]DJ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Svihlik[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2003[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Stewart[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Smothers[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2005[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]3[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]33[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Mike[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Thurman[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]OR[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2005[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]3[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]3[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Matt[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Hyde[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]MA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2006[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Mike[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Gillespie[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2007[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]David[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Keith[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NYY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2007[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]7.3[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5.8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]79[/color] [/td]

The Yankees are a standard comparator for all things Sox, but I was especially interested in their scouting department because the Yankees have really turned around their draft record within the last few years. The turning point pick was Phil Hughes in 2004, but most of the change is tied into Brian Cashman taking more control of baseball operations in 2005. In terms of amateur scouting his first significant move was to replace the largely ineffectual (outside of Hughes) Lin Garrett with Damon Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer started as an area scout with the Padres from 1989-1993. He spent the next couple of years with the Yankees as a Regional Crosschecker before bouncing to Texas as a National Crosschecker for one year and then returning for good with the Yankees in 1997. He spent the late 1990s as a crosschecker so he’s far from blameless for the lousy drafts under his predecessor. The Yankees tend to shuffle their people around and he was involved in player personnel and pro scouting from 2000-2004.

The National Crosscheckers for most teams are pretty non-descript to an outsider. That’s not the case for the Yankees. I already mentioned that Kendall Carter was the longtime National Crosschecker under Mike Rizzo with the DBacks. When he was passed over for the scouting director job he left the organization and ended up making a lateral move to the Yankees. Donny Rowland worked for the Yankees as a crosschecker in the late 1990s and therefore was also part of some pretty poor Yankees drafts. He moved to the Angels as Scouting Director from 2000-2003. The Angels drafts in that period were widely lauded and he was given a lot of credit for the resurgence of their farm system. He was fired despite those quality drafts for something very stupid. I forget the exact details, but it was something like he called a fellow scout and left a voice mail message ranting about the GM or organization and he screwed up the voice mail system and left the message for the entire organization. Whoops.

I went through the backgrounds of Carter and Rowland more in depth than other National Crosscheckers to point out that by reputation and pedigree they likely rank a cut above their peers. By background you might think of them as tweeners – better than most crosscheckers, but not quite good (or lucky) enough to be scouting directors for whatever reasons (like inability to work a voice mail system). Why do the Yankees have this caliber of crosschecker? Or why can the Yankees shuffle around talented minor league talent evaluators at the whim of whomever is in charge, but not lose that key personnel? Well, it could be that Yankee magic or more likely it’s their financial advantage flowing down through the organization. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Yankees pay just a little bit more and therefore are able to recruit and retain top people.

From the NYY Exp column you can also see that there has been a fair amount of turnover amongst the area scouts in the last three years since Cashman and Oppenheimer took charge of the scouting department. Six of the fourteen area scouts have been hired in the last three years.

Anaheim Angels

Table

[td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Team[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Position[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Base[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Start[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Total Exp[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana Exp[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]% Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Eddie[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Bane[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Director, Amatuer Scouting[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1987[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]4[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]19[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Jeff[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Malinoff[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]National Crosschecker[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]WA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1987[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]4[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]19[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ric[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Wilson[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]National Crosschecker[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1993[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]15[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]4[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]27[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Mike[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Silvestri[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Regonal Supervisor, East[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]FL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2002[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ron[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Marigny[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Regional Supervisor, Midwest[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]LA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1994[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]14[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]14[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Bo[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Hughes[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Regional Supervisor, West[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2000[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]4[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]50[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]14.2[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6.0[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]42[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]John[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Burden[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]OH[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1989[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]19[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]14[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]74[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]John[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Gracio[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1987[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]19[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]3[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]16[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Tom[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Kotchman[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]FL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1990[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]18[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]18[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Rob[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Wilfong[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1990[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]17[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]12[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Tim[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Corcoran[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1991[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]16[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]50[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Bobby[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]DeJardin[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1997[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]11[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]7[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]64[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Kevin[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ham[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]TX[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2000[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Jeff[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scholzen[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]UT[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2000[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Chris[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]McAlphin[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NC[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2001[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]7[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]7[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Greg[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Morhardt[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CT[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2000[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]7[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]14[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scott[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Richardson[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2003[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Arnold[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Braithwaite[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]IL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2004[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]4[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]4[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Casey[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Harvie[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]WA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2004[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]4[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]25[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Dan[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Radcliffe[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]MD[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2004[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]4[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]4[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Jim[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Bryant[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]TN[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2006[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Joel[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Murrie[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]KY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2006[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Demetrius[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Figgins[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ana[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]FL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2007[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8.9[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5.6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]63[/color] [/td]

The Angels have a large department and a pretty good mix in terms of experience with 9 scouts with at least 14 years of experience, but also a number with moderate and low levels of experience as well.

Perhaps the most notable thing about this department is that the scouting director, Eddie Bane, and most of the crosscheckers have been with the Angels for 4 years. As I mentioned above, Donny Rowland, was the Angels SD prior to Bane and was in charge when the Angels farm system first started to make a turnaround. His troubles with the phone system led to his replacement by Bane, whose background included time with the Dodgers and Devil Rays. It’s interesting that despite the fact that the department had been successful and the change at the top was an isolated incident, there was also a lot of turnover in the ranks of the crosscheckers. I’m not sure if people left out of respect for Rowland or what. The new crosscheckers don’t have any obvious connections to Bane.

Colorado Rockies

Table

[td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Team[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Position[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Base[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Start[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Total Exp[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col Exp[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]% Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Bill[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Schmidt[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]VP, Scouting[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1989[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]19[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]42[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Danny[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Montgomery[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Asst Director, Scouting[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1990[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]18[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]16[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]89[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ty[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Coslow[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]National Crosschecker[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]KY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1992[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]16[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]16[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Dave[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Holliday[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]National Crosschecker[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]OK[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1990[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]18[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]14[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]78[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]17.8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]13.5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]76[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]x[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Jorge[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Posada[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]PR[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1987[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]21[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]16[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]76[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Bert[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Holt[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1989[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]18[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]14[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]78[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Mark[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Germann[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]IA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1991[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]17[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]4[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]24[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Dar[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Cox[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]TX[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1992[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]16[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]16[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Mike[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Garlatti[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NJ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1992[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]16[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]16[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ed[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Santa[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]OH[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1992[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]16[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]16[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Mike[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Ericson[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]AZ[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1996[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]12[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]12[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Damon[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Iannelli[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]MS[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1996[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]12[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]12[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]John[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Cedarburg[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]FL[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1998[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]10[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]10[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Jay[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Matthews[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]NC[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1999[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]9[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]9[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Clarence[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Johns[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]GA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2001[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]8[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]3[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]38[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Todd[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Blyleven[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2001[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]7[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]5[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]71[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scott[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Corman[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]KY[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2002[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Gary[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Wilson[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2002[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]6[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Jeff[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Hipps[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]CA[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2004[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]4[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]4[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Chris[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Forbes[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Col[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]Scout[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]TX[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]2007[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]1[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]100[/color] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]11.2[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]9.4[/color] [/td][td=*][color="#000000"]84[/color] [/td]

The Rockies improbable run to the pennant may have seemed like an out of nowhere success, but the Rockies front office and ownership were quick to point out that their success was largely based on long term stability in the scouting and player development departments. You can see that stability in the Col Exp column. Out of the twenty scouts in the department in 2007, there were six who were original Rockies scouts hired in 1992. When the Rockies hired Dan O’Dowd as GM eight years ago he hired Bill Schmidt as his VP of Scouting. Over half of the current scouts are holdovers that Schmidt inherited. He made several hires 4-6 years ago, but there are only two scouts with three or fewer years of experience. This isn’t quite the level of stability as we saw with the Twins, but it’s pretty close.

Second Quickie Summary

The Sox amateur scouting department is bigger than most of their peer organizations at both the supervisor and area scout level and relative to those same organizations it is less experienced.

[diehard24]

Tangentially related, the Sox sign a new, young Northwest scout, Matt Dorey, per the Corvallis Gazette Times.

Dorey recently coached the Corvallis Knights of the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League, a collegiate baseball league featuring players from the Pac 10, as well as Mt. Hood Community College.

From the Knights' website:
Matt Dorey, Head Coach
Former Knights Baseball Club coach Matt Dorey returns as the Corvallis Knights head coach. Dorey is the Corvallis Knights first field manager and the third manager to guide the Knights during its wood bat era. Geoff Loomis (head coach at Pacific Lutheran University) managed the Knights for five seasons ('00-04) and won a national championship in 2004 (NBC World Series). Dale Stebbins skippered the Knights to a second-place WCCBL finish (27-9) in 2005 and third-place finish (25-17) in 2006.Dorey managed in the organization for two summers ('04-05) as the skipper of the independent Mt. Hood Cardinals. The Cardinals were a Knights' affiliate club made up of local area college players.

Matt Dorey enters his second season as the Cougars volunteer assistant coach. Dorey's coaching duties at WSU include first base coach, instructing outfielders and catchers in both team and individual workouts and running all individual camps on the Washington State campus.

Prior to WSU, Dorey spent two years ('04-05) coaching at Mt. Hood (Ore.) Community College where he served as an assistant under Gabe Sandy. In his second season, the Saints finished second at the 2005 Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) championship tournament. At Mt. Hood CC, he served as the infield and base running coach, coordinated the program's hitting school and off-season conditioning and was the recruiting coordinator in charge of Washington, Idaho and Eastern Oregon.

Dorey has three years experience coaching summer collegiate baseball. He managed the Knights' affiliate Mt. Hood Cardinals and the Mat-Su Miners of the Alaska Baseball League last summer. His 2006 Miners club finished 20-15 (3 games out of first place) and featured WSU stars Wayne Daman, Jr. and Travis Coulter.

As a player, Dorey shined for two years ('95-96) at Portland State, including one season as a teammate of Cougars head coach Donnie Marbut ('96). He served as team captain his senior year and was named team MVP and All-Pac-10 North.

Matt is single and a native of Vancouver (Wa.).

[philly sox fan]

That's interesting. Not many teams have two scouts in the Pacific Northwest. I wonder if that means John Booher has left the organization. FWIW, Booher has a nice little signing record with the Sox. He's only signed two players before the 8th rd and both had relatively easy transitions to the pros. Certainly Ellsbury has been a very good pick up through the minors and Nick Hagadone had a nice, brief start to his career.

[templeUsox]

That's interesting. Not many teams have two scouts in the Pacific Northwest. I wonder if that means John Booher has left the organization. FWIW, Booher has a nice little signing record with the Sox. He's only signed two players before the 8th rd and both had relatively easy transitions to the pros. Certainly Ellsbury has been a very good pick up through the minors and Nick Hagadone had a nice, brief start to his career.

I wonder if its a response to blooming talent pool in Oregon. Oregon State has become THE powerhouse to be measured by in college baseball and Oregon will be starting up a brand new program this season. Not to mention that Washington state has had strong prep classes the last few years. I imagine this guy would be focused in Oregon though, since that seems to be his area of expertise.