RINGOLSBY: O'Dowd part of small stable of GMs to stay in same job

By Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 8, 2009 at 6:35 p.m.

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Photo by Jim Mone / Associated Press/1999

Carl Pohlad, who died Monday at age 93, didn't mess with the day-to-day operations while he owned the Minnesota Twins. His only concern was the team didn't lose money.

With his death this week, Twins owner Carl Pohlad was described as the man who "saved" major league baseball in the Twin Cities. True, sort of.

While he did buy the team from Calvin Griffith, don't overlook the fact that in 2001, when baseball considered contracting two teams, the original idea was to get rid of the Expos and Angels, with the Oakland A's moving to Anaheim.

The thought of getting $150 million for folding the team, however, appealed to Pohlad, who volunteered to be contracted, along with the Expos, although that never happened.

The strength that Pohlad had as the Twins owner was that he did not mess with day-to-day operations. His only concern was that the team didn't lose money.

As a result, Terry Ryan, who became the general manager in 1995, was never under pressure when the Twins suffered losing records his first six years on the job. That allowed Ryan a chance to develop consistency in the organization, and the residual was that in the next seven years, the Twins not only had a winning record in six of them, but won four division titles.

Stability is rare in Major League Baseball.

Dan O'Dowd is about to embark on his 10th season as general manager of the Rockies, and he ranks fifth in terms of continuous service with his current team.

Consider that in the first nine seasons of the 21st century, the 30 major league teams have employed 72 general managers.

Four teams have had four different men in the general manager's job since O'Dowd took over in Colorado - Baltimore, Washington/Montreal, Cincinnati and the Dodgers.

Notice a common thread?

The Dodgers, who are either No. 1 or No. 2 in the National League in payroll each year, have reached the postseason three times in the past nine seasons but have advanced past the first round only once.

The Orioles, Nationals and Reds, meanwhile, have been absent from postseason play.

The Orioles have suffered 11 consecutive losing seasons. Cincinnati has had eight losing seasons in a row and has finished in fifth place in the NL Central in four of the past six years. The Nationals have suffered a losing record in six of nine seasons this decade and have finished in last place in the NL East in four of the past five years.

The division with the most continuity has been the NL West, where the Rockies, Padres and Giants have each had one general manager this decade. Arizona has had two. And then there are the Dodgers, with four.

Infield chatter

* The Mets' three-year, $36 million offer to right-hander Derek Lowe isn't the length the 35-year-old pitcher wants, but the Mets remain optimistic in light of a lack of a stronger offer from another team.

* Both the Dodgers and Brewers offered all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman a one-year contract with an option. Surprisingly, the Southern California native chose Milwaukee's $6 million offer.

* Left-hander Andy Pettitte appears to have cut ties with the Yankees. The Cubs, Atlanta and the Dodgers are mentioned as possible teams of interest.

The rotation

The five general managers with the longest continuous service:

Out in left field

Good luck to the Chicago Cubs.

They wanted a left-handed-hitting outfielder and decided to gamble on Milton Bradley, a talented switch-hitter with a spotty track record in terms of health and ability to control his emotions.

The Cubs will be Bradley's seventh big-league team, the fifth in five years. They gave him a three-year, $30 million deal. Bradley did not spend three seasons with any of the previous six teams.

Closing statement

Baseball is showing a concern about the nation's economic uncertainty.

It is obvious in the offseason activity on the free-agent market.

Only 78 of the 271 players with two-plus years of big-league service who found themselves on the open market this offseason have signed contracts, and only 10 of those received deals of three or more years.

The three longest deals were handed out by the Yankees - Mark Teixeira, eight years; CC Sabathia, seven years, and A.J. Burnett, five years.

Ryan Dempster received a four-year deal to return to the Cubs.

Signed to three-year contracts were Casey Blake and Rafael Furcal with the Dodgers, Bradley with the Cubs, Raul Ibanez with the Phillies, Francisco Rodriguez with the Mets and Juan Rivera with the Angels.

MILE HIGH WATCH

* Jason Marquis gives the Rockies what they need - stability at the back of the rotation.

He's not a big-name, dominating pitcher. He is a solid workhorse, though.

In five full seasons, Marquis has worked 167 innings or more and earned 11 victories or more each season. Each time he has been in the regular-season rotation for a team that made it to the postseason. He often has found himself the odd man out in October, having pitched in only five of the 10 postseason series in which his team has played.

But he has played a key role in helping the team through the regular-season grind.

While his 28 starts for the Cubs last year were the fewest he had made in five years, he worked into the sixth inning in 24 of those starts. In the past five years, he has worked into the sixth inning in 117 of 158 starts.

By comparison, a year ago, Rockies starters worked into the sixth inning in 101 of 162 games. Aaron Cook worked into the sixth in 28 of 32 starts, and Ubaldo Jimenez in 22 of 34 starts. That means the rest of the starters managed to get into the sixth inning in only 51 of 96 starts.

* Center fielder Carlos Gonzalez bounced back from viral problems that sidelined him for a couple of weeks this winter to hit .292 in 25 games for Zulia in his native Venezuela. Ryan Spilborghs hit .203 in the final 18 regular-season games with Obregon of the Mexican Pacific League.

A couple of Rockies pitching prospects turned in solid bullpen efforts this winter.

Esmil Rogers worked in nine games (one start) for Licey in the Dominican Republic and allowed five runs (one earned) in 12 innings. The converted shortstop gave up 11 hits and five walks and struck out nine.

Xavier Cedeno appeared in 10 games for Santurce in Puerto Rico and was 1-1 with a 1.32 ERA. He allowed two runs, 13 hits and five walks with 13 strikeouts in 132/3 innings.

• January 9, 2009

  12:26 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  arvada_mark writes:

  I honestly can't believe he's been here that long. Why? I don't get it. I mean, I know he comes at a Brothers Monfort friendly price, but what about the quality of job he's done? Since he's been here, the Rox have lost over 100 more games than they have won. Attendance has steadily dropped since he's been here with one exception...and that exception is, of coarse, the Matt Holliday years (the guy can fill seats). Look at the numbers, they don't lie. Attendance is all but guaranteed to drop dramatically this year as well...his contract year, BTW. The Twins in that same time span, well, you just read about the 4 division titles, but they also have 7 winning seasons, & attendance has climbed every year there but 1 since 2000. So, where I can more than understand why T. Ryan still has a job, O'Dowd has done nothing worthy of keeping his job for so long. There is no accountability with our club. If we lose, if attendance dwindles, the Brothers Monfort don't care. They are happy with their O'Dowd/Hurdle package deal & are willing to sit on 86.88888888 losses a year. I'm sure he's a nice guy & all, I just think that if any of us here in the real world displayed such poor results at our jobs as has O'Dowd, we'd all be unemployed long before it got to the 10th year. There has to be better options out there.

  Also, I am open to any suggestions on why he deserves to be around after his contract expires. Admittedly, my opinion of the Rox front office lately has been very poor, so maybe I'm subconsiously overlooking the positives. And I know all about the WS. If you're going to credit O'Dowd with that, then you also have to credit him with the club folding once they got there, & you also have to hold him responsible for the mediocre season the Rox were having up until their 2 week run of the ages to the playoffs.

• January 9, 2009

  2:45 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  MVP5 writes:

  Dealing Dan needs to deal himself out of town. Could you imagine if real onwership owned the Rockies? Ole Danny Boy would have been run out of town a long time ago. I think after 10 years it is time for change. Change keeps knocking on the door but the Beef Bros just won't answer. Being a sub .500 team is just fine with O-Dud and the Beef Brothers as long as they scrimp on salaries and cater to fans of other teams to fill Cheap Field. Cubs fans anyone? How Hurdle continues to have a job is a testament to why Dealing Dan and Rockie ownership is a joke.

• January 10, 2009

  6:37 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  DMART writes:

  While I agree that Dan O'Dowd has made his fair share of errors, don't people see that the real problem is the Monforts??? Do you really think O'Dowd would have dealt Holliday if he wasn't forced to? If you have little to no money to work with you constantly have to be in rebuilding mode, which is exactly what O'Dowd has done.

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