Astros GM Ed Wade gets two year contract extension; Assistants re-upped for an additional year
by Evan Hochschild on Feb 20, 2010 2:48 PM CST
in Houston Astros News
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PrintDrayton McLane has given Ed Wade a two year contract extension, meaning he'll be our GM until 2012. Alyson Footer tweets that assistant GMs David Gottfried, Ricky Bennett and Bobby Heck were each given one year extensions through 2011.
Wade has had mixed results in my book over the past two seasons, but the organization is definitely trending upwards (yes, I realize it couldn't go down much further) and as the man in charge, Ed should get the lion's share of the credit.
He brought in Bobby Heck, acquired our starting center fielder, traded for LaTroy Hawkins and Randy Wolf which pushed us into the thick of the Wild Card chase in 2008, and re-emphasized player development.
On the downside, Wade does have a penchant for overpaying for relief pitching, he probably jumped the gun in signing Pedro Feliz in December and seems to love veteran presence a little too much.
Who cares what I think though. What do y'all think?
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Meh is a pretty good assessment. Wade has done reasonably well with trades and player development, but it seems to me he’s struck out repeatedly in free agency, and he has some worrying tendencies that we’ve talked about before (reliever love, empty batting average guys, iffy market timing, ex-Phillies).
The funny thing is, I almost always viciously disagree with the criticisms non-Astros fans loft against Wade. Most don’t seem to understand the situation he was hired into, or the situation he’s in right now. His hands are completely tied when it comes to going into “sell mode”. All of the no-trade clauses and Drayton McLane’s restrictions prevent him from doing that, so he’s pursuing really the only strategy he can take.
Which doesn’t mean he’s done well at all the specifics. When the farm is rebuilt and it’s time to make those last few moves in free agency and trades to make us a contender, I don’t know that I’ll want Wade to be the one doing that. But I’m satisfied with the status quo for now, as long as the farm keeps growing and we keep inching our way back.
I suppose I will never understand why sports franchises...
feel compelled to give multi-year contract extensions to managers and GMs when they still have a year to go on their current contract. This skepticism goes beyond Ed Wade; I said the same thing when Cecil Cooper was given an extension early in the 2009 season. Why wouldn’t you at least wait for another year of experience before you evaluate? A lot can happen in a year.
Hey, it’s not like several other teams are beating down Ed Wade’s door to hire him as GM. What’s the harm in waiting until you are at the end of the current contract before you make a decision.
I voted “meh.” I’m not wild about a 2 year contract extension for Wade. But I won’t lose any sleep over it. Besides, McLane has shown himself capable of giving an extension and then firing the person in the same year.
I actually think that general manager is one of the few roles where this makes sense. Justice is always going on about making it so guys don’t have to “manage for their job”, which I don’t think makes any sense when it comes to coaches and managers, because what are they going to do different? They’re going to try their best to win games regardless.
But a GM has to be able to think long-term. He can cause serious long-term damage if he feels like he has to win right now or lose his job—trading away the farm for a few major league wins, for instance. You want your GM thinking two, three, four years down the road, not “how do I make sure I have a job next year?”
I agree with you completely about managers and coaches though.
I see your point. Even though the owner can (or should) make clear to the GM that he won’t be evaluated purely on short term results. I suppose I still feel like the owner should keep his options open. Why not compare Wade to potential GMs who might be available at the end of the season? Maybe keeping Wade will look like the best choice then. Or perhaps a GM candidate becomes available that you really want to have run your organization.
I concur
On all points.
The Crawfishboxes
A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while.
by Stephen Higdon on Feb 20, 2010 4:56 PM CST via mobile up reply actions
I guess, clack, like you said, you can always let the GM go even after giving him an extension.
Perhaps McLane and Smith see it as hedging their bets—Wade knows he will be under contract for a couple more years and that gives him the security to stay patient and think long term, but it doesn’t tie the ownership’s hands too much. They’ll be out the cost of his contract if they let him go, but perhaps they view that risk as being preferable to the risk that Wade’s management style changes for the worse under pressure (guidelines or no).
None of the choices quite fit
I agree with OremLK’s initial post (and almost everyone’s post here).
I could not vote Hooray or Noooo. Meh also was too negative for me. Ed Wade has been better than I expected. The only good thing I felt about him at first was he was not Tim Purpura (the absolutely worst thing ever to happen to the Astros). but overall I have been pleasantly surprised overall by his calls (everyone makes some missteps, and Wade has made his, of course) but with a nagging belief there’s someone better out there.
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Feb 21, 2010 1:19 PM CST reply actions
…a nagging belief there’s someone better out there.
Amen to this. There’s got to be a way to have Ed Wade’s strengths in player development without sacrificing smart, analytical decisions elsewhere.
As much as I hate to agree with Richard Justice twice in one comments section, I’d love to have a GM like Daryl Morey of the Rockets.
Fangraphs' article....
R.J. Anderson rips McLane’s decision to extend Wade’s contract. Not surprising, I suppose.
Found this interesting:
Under Friedman’s watch, the Rays continued to develop their farm system while acquiring and nurturing youth and potentially useful role players alike.
Sounds a lot like what Wade has done, The farm system has improved through the last to drafts even though he doesn’t want to evaluate the drafts yet, probably because the research would contradict his article. I guess acquiring Bourn, and Lindstrom doesn’t qualify as acquiring and nuturing youth and potentially useful role players. I’ll give Anderson that Wade hasn’t made trades to acquire prospects but that’s what happens when the previous GM signs players to contracts with no trade clauses.
Then he makes another contradiction while discussing the acquisitions of Wolf and Hawkins. I thought the farm system was a mess at the times of the trades. So why not make trades from a poor farm system for proven major league talent, both seemed to work out pretty well and put the Stros in contention. Hawkins stuck around for another year and Wolf probably would of as well if the economy hadn’t gone in the tank and the Stros were forced to pull back their offer.
by Timothy De Block on Feb 22, 2010 10:15 AM CST up reply actions
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