Gelb: Baseball’s new breed of GM: young, analytical, Ivy-bred

From Matt Gelb at the Philadelphia Inquirer on November 11, 2016:

For three days, the brain trusts of all 30 Major League Baseball teams gathered at a ritzy resort in the wealthy desert suburb of Scottsdale, Arizona, and tried to find common ground. The start of a baseball offseason is traditionally slow, and in a year when a new collective bargaining agreement is due, the action was even quieter.

But when these general managers met, more and more of them saw reflections. They are thirtysomethings, analytically inclined, and products of elite, private universities. The last five years have become something of a race among owners to secure the brightest minds, a race that has homogenized the game.

“When people begin to value players much more similarly across the industry, the ability to find value disappears or greatly decreases,” Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said. “There’s no question that teams are looking at player evaluation much more similarly than they were five years ago.”

Read the full article here: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/20161111_Baseball_s_new_breed_of_GM__Youngm_analytical__Ivy-bred.html



Originally published: November 11, 2016. Last Updated: November 11, 2016.