GM Candidate Bios: Mike Rizzo

by Vlad on Sep 19, 2007 12:45 AM EDT Comment 11 comments

Apologies for the delay. I meant to be a bit more snappy with these.

Name: Mike Rizzo

Age: Mid-40s. He was a high school senior in 1979.

Current position: Assistant GM and VP of Player Operations, Washington Nationals. He's held the position for a little more than one year.

Playing experience: College ball at St. Xavier University (a little school in Chicago, NOT the big one in Cincinnati). 22nd-round draft pick by the Angels in 1982 (they had also drafted him out of high school in 1979, but he didn't sign). Three year pro career in the minors, as a backup 2B/3B (Stats).

Education: BA in Communications, University of Illinois.

Business experience: While attending UI, worked as an assistant coach for their baseball team. After graduation, scouted for the Red Sox, White Sox, and Diamondbacks. He became Arizona's scouting director late in 1999, and continued in that role through 2005, at which time he was promoted to Vice President of Scouting Operations. He then left to work for Jim Bowden in Washington.

Summary: Rizzo is one of the best talent evaluators in the game today. He inherited a farm system that was nearly bare, and in five years he rebuilt it to the point that Baseball America ranked it as the best system in the game. Take a look at some of his draftees:

*2000: Brandon Webb, Doug Slaten, Brian Bruney, Andy Green, Josh Kroeger, Tim Olsen, Mike Schultz
*2001: Chad Tracy, Dan Uggla, Scott Hairston, Brandon Medders, Mike Gosling, Jason Bulger
*2002: Chris Snyder, Dustin Nippert, Lance Cormier, Brian Barden, Sergio Santos
*2003: Conor Jackson, Carlos Quentin, Matt Chico, Jamie D'Antona, Adam Bass

Not bad, eh? It looks even better when you remember that in none of those years did he have a first pick higher than nineteenth overall. He was sifting through the dregs of the draft, and still coming up with quality contributors.

Shortly thereafter, Arizona began spending heavily on top amateur talent, taking guys who had slipped on signability concerns. The drafts became more expensive, but remained highly productive (Stephen Drew, Justin Upton, Micah Owings, Chris Carter, etc.) Players drafted by Rizzo are now the core of a young, rebuilt Arizona roster that's currently making a playoff push in the NL West.

In short, Rizzo is one of the top talent evaluators in the game. He's been regarded as a future GM for several years now, and the Post-Gazette has indicated that he's interested in our job, although he has not been contacted yet.

One thing that may work against Rizzo in our process is that he hasn't been as closely involved in negotiations as some of the other candidates who have been discussed. When looking to fill the GM position, Coonelly seems to have a general focus on people with whom he has had personal dealings (many of whom were their teams' chief negotiators). That's understandable on a certain level, but he would overlook Rizzo at his peril. This is not a guy against whom you'd want to be competing in five years.

Poll

If the Pirates hired Mike Rizzo as their next GM, would you be comfortable with the choice?

Yes

20 votes

No

2 votes

Unsure

2 votes

24 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | Comment 11 comments

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Comments

Thanks, Vlad.

I'll promote this after the game or before I go home for the night, whichever comes first.

One little thing - when you post a diary, it makes it easier for me if you put everything in the "intro copy" box and don't put anything in the "extended copy" box. I only use the latter if a post has really enormous pictures or charts or something, and if someone uses it in a diary I have to reformat some things. It's not a big deal, but it helps.

I'd be happy about Rizzo. One gets a sense from reading Connelly's comments that he has a pretty specific idea of how the team should be run, so I could envision a scenario in which Coonelly controls the large strokes and the new GM might really just turn out to be something like the head talent evaluator. In that case, you could hardly do better than Rizzo.

by Charlie on Sep 18, 2007 11:09 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Sure.

I'll keep it all in one box from now on. I only split it up because I didn't want to monopolize the front page.

I've thought along similar lines, as far as a division of power is concerned. Having a CEO who's more experienced with the business of baseball than McClatchy was might give us a little more latitude to break in a GM who might be a little green in some of those areas. IMO, we need a top talent evaluator first and foremost.

by Vlad on Sep 19, 2007 8:02 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Division of duties

Dejan said the other day that he thinks Coonelly is looking to build a front office staff with a range of skills. (DL, by contrast, seemed to have only guys with traditional scouting backgrounds, apart from the fact that they weren't good at it.) I've been curious whether Coonelly has been influenced by the Nats, who brought in a bunch of highly regarded people. For instance, they added Rizzo even though they already had a good scouting director in Dana Brown (I think that's his name). So it may not matter exactly what the GM's skill mix is, if he has a team that covers a variety of abilities. That kind of thing would need a CEO like Stan Kasten who was very involved on the baseball side, but Coonelly seems likely to be similar in that regard.

I'd be less concerned with Rizzo's scouting skills than his overall philosophy, because I assume he'd hire people who shared it. In AZ he went heavily for high-ceiling hitters and was willing to take risks, like with Carlos Quentin coming off TJ surgery (see also the Nats' Michael Burgess). He also went for pitchers with power arms, although the D'backs have had trouble developing them. And he went for high-ceiling players after round one, in contrast to Creech, who seems to look for potential relievers and UT players. This would all be a significant change in direction.

by WTM on Sep 19, 2007 9:48 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Burgess

Apparently, all they needed to do to get him hitting again was separate him from Derek Bell.

I agree with everything you've said, as far as scouting priorities.

by Vlad on Sep 19, 2007 10:11 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

So what does this mean?

That Coonelly won't interview Rizzo because he hasn't worked with him? Anyone who thought this guy would be a breath of fresh air might want to take a breath. The club feeds its own. Davey promoted those he knew, regardless of competence. Look at Coonelly. He knows Chris Antonetti very well, but apparently the latter isn't interested. He doesn't know Mike Rizzo, so Rizzo doesn't get an interview, despite the fact that his chief talent (finding golden needles in huge haystacks) is precisely the skill the Pirates most need. Apparently, although he may know more than Littlefield, he still knows what he knows and doesn't care about what he doesn't know. Someone complained about the shitstorm some of us were throwing at this guy? Just what until you're throwing it too. If this is the extent of the interviewing they are doing for the GM position, you can take it to the bank that this guy will bring nothing good. We will just have to sit around and wait to see the proof, just as we've done with every executive this cursed franchise has employed since the day Carl Barger fired Syd Thrift, before we can actually say anything without having to suffer the counsels of patience. Everyone talks about the curse of Bonds...the curse of Syd is probably more appropriate.

by RichieHebner on Sep 19, 2007 3:17 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

It's pretty much you

the shitstorm some of us were throwing at this guy

I enjoyed our exchange in the Coonelly diary, but Jesus Christ RichieHebner, you're overboard with Coonelly-hate. It's like you have an axe to grind, either with him, the firm he worked for, both, or perhaps anyone anti-union.

I'll listen to anything you have to say, but you speculate, off of Vlad's analysis, and then throw more shit on Coonelly. What the hell?

by azibuck on Sep 19, 2007 10:10 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

No axe to grind at all

I don't have one with anti-union folks, since I think the player's union has been as miserable as the owners. I don't have one with Morgan Lewis, since I still have a ton of good friends over there, and I don't have one with him, since I don't know him. What I do know is this: I have six or seven close friends and colleagues who do know him, and have spent more than enough talking and e-mailing back and forth with them to know that the guy has some real issues dealing with people; he has a nasty disposition; HE has an axe to grind with the player's association and some of the owners, and very few people like working with him. My present firm colleagues who work with MLB know him well, and find him less than enchanting, to say the least. He can't get several people who would be good candidates to so much as interview. None of this leaves me feeling good.

Could I be completely wrong about the guy? Hell, yeah. Do I think I am? No, I'm afraid not. All of that said, it isn't Coonelly I am disgusted with. He got a great job offer, and took it. My fury is reserved for Bob Nutting, who wants to win on the cheap, and who is more than willing to play a losing game with the system to do it. If I'm wrong, I'll cheerfully admit it while rooting for them (which I will do in any case--the Pirates are the Pirates, and Bob Nutting is just passing through, albeit for a far longer period than I can stomach). What makes me sick as that I really don't believe I am wrong, and that we are going to be going one step forward, two steps back here for the foreseeable future. No axe to grind at all. I just don't like anything I am hearing about Coonelly and I don't like anything at all about Bob Nutting. It all pisses me off, and that is pretty much it in a nutshell.

by RichieHebner on Sep 20, 2007 1:52 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Now that works for me

Thanks for the response. It doesn't sound as shout-y as your other one. You trusting what you hear from people you know is fair.

My fury is reserved for Bob Nutting, who wants to win on the cheap, and who is more than willing to play a losing game with the system to do it.

Right -- now that resonates with me.

But my point in my response above was that you seemed more than a bit vociferous in commenting on what is basically rumor. I don't know you, but I believe you know people that know him. But I don't think you know who he's contacted or interviewed and who he hasn't, nor who he intends or doesn't intend to interview. That what I mean by "speculation". I understand that what you're saying about him and his style is not speculation, but slamming him for not intending to interview Rizzo, when that has not been established as a fact, is speculation.

by azibuck on Sep 20, 2007 2:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

One additional point

I'm not speculating off of Vlad's analysis. I am speculating based on a substantial number of conversations with some ten people who have known Frank Coonelly, worked with him and dealt with him for years. That is worth a hell of a lot more to me than the loaded recommendations Bob Nutting got from people at MLB with a vested interest in placing Coonelly in a franchise. As for his statements, give me a break? Does anyone really believe a smart lawyer such as Coonelly doesn't already know what people want to hear? I don't give a rat's ass what he or Nutting say in public. My sources are far more credible to me than any of this nonsense, and my speculation is informed by that and my own judgment based on Nutting's history and MLB's history.

by RichieHebner on Sep 20, 2007 1:57 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Always watch the hands, not the lips

It won't take too long before we learn where, in general, the Nutting-Coonelly regime wants to go. If the organization is truly committed to winning -- even though it may want to win on the cheap -- the Nutting-Coonelly regime will have to put money and organization resources into national and international scouting. If it wastes money on Morris- and Randa-like acquisitions, well....

by steve_z on Sep 22, 2007 12:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

True enough

But I do know for a fact that he has not requested permission from the Nats to speak with Rizzo. If he really hopes to make this search worthy of the name, Rizzo should have been in there the minute Antonetti bowed out.

by RichieHebner on Sep 20, 2007 6:36 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs