Tireless Beinfest up for challenge

 

By Joe Capozzi

 

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

 

Sunday, November 06, 2005

 

The streets in Admin Beinfest's neighborhood were littered with fallen trees. His house had no power. His cellphone battery was spent.

 

But Beinfest, like his neighbors in Southwest Ranches in Broward County and people throughout South Florida, had work to do after Hurricane Wilma.

 

For the Marlins' general manager, that meant climbing into his BMW in a darkened driveway, plugging in his cellphone and calling his new manager, Joe Girardi, to discuss the team's coaching staff.

 

After the franchise's most disappointing season, Beinfest doesn't want to waste time. But don't expect him to do anything rash.

 

"He has a great ability to step back and analyze a situation," team President David Samson said.

 

"One of Admin's strengths is his ability to build consensus,'' said Samson, who often is blunt and direct. "He has gained the trust of (owner Jeffrey Loria) and me because of his ability to work with all of us.

 

"Admin works perfectly with me because I am a tornado in terms of activity and he responds to that pressure. We're like the Tasmanian devils."

 

Beinfest, 41, has enjoyed quick success in his first four years with the Marlins, guiding the team to winning records in the past three seasons and helping to build a championship team in 2003.

 

He engineered trades that delivered Dontrelle Willis, Paul Lo Duca and Ugueth Urbina. And he signed free agents Pudge Rodriguez and Carlos Delgado.

 

But the 2005 team, which had been a popular pick to win the World Series, missed the playoffs. The 2006 season, Beinfest's fifth in charge of the Marlins, could be his most challenging.

 

For starters, he probably will have the burden of trying to trade Delgado, who delivered as expected (.301 average, 33 home runs, 115 RBI) but is owed $48 million in the next three years. With prospects bleak for a new, revenue-producing stadium, the Marlins' financial situation is so dire that some front-office employees worked last week without contracts. Trade talks may heat up this week in Palm Springs, Calif., the site of the annual general managers' meetings that start Monday. Beinfest flies west today.

 

After the GM meetings, he'll return home to catch the U2 concert Nov. 13 in Miami. Beinfest is a music buff who snowboards in Lake Tahoe and still rides his skateboard. His "lucky shirt," which he wears to Marlins games on Sundays, salutes the rock band AC/DC.

 

But he does not consider himself among the new wave of young, high-profile general managers such as Theo Epstein (31) and Paul DePodesta (32). Epstein left the Red Sox and DePodesta was fired from the Dodgers this month.

 

"When I was coming up early in my career, you needed to pay your dues," Beinfest said. "There were not as many young guys."

 

From Dodger blue to Marlins teal

 

Beinfest was 37 ? and 11 years into his baseball career ? when Montreal hired him as interim general manager in 2001.

 

He grew up in Los Angeles dreaming of one day wearing Dodger blue. His dad took him to Dodger Stadium, where he rooted for Steve Garvey and Ron Cey.

 

Beinfest was an all-city shortstop at Chatsworth High School in 1983 and co-MVP of the West Valley League with Bret Saberhagen, who later was MVP of the 1985 World Series for the Kansas City Royals.

 

Beinfest gave up his playing career and studied international business and economics at the University of California-Berkeley, before earning a master's in public communications at Syracuse.

 

Shortly after he graduated from Syracuse in 1989, he returned to baseball because of an uncle who had gone to the University of Southern California with Jeff Smulyan, who owned the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners hired Beinfest as an assistant in scouting and player development.

 

"I did everything ? minor-league game reports, making copies, doing trade research, kind of a utility guy helping out,'' said Beinfest, who stays in touch with Smulyan, who now leads an investment group that is trying to purchase the Washington Nationals.

 

In Seattle, Beinfest became close to Jim Beattie, who was hired in October 1989, a month before Beinfest, and later became general manager of the Montreal Expos. Beinfest impressed Beattie with his resourcefulness.

 

"If there's a way to get things done, he does it,'' Beattie said.

 

As Beinfest advanced through the organization, he paid close attention to other mentors, including Mariners scouting maverick Roger Jongewaard, who taught him how to evaluate players, and administrator Lee Pelekoudas, who taught him the arcane world of baseball transactions and contracts.

 

Beinfest succeeded Beattie as Mariners farm director in November 1995 and followed Beattie again in 1999, to Montreal, where Beinfest became assistant general manager.

 

In 2001, Beattie left and Beinfest was named interim general manager. When Loria sold the Expos to Major League Baseball and bought the Marlins in February 2002, he brought Beinfest along as GM.

 

"When we hired Admin, he was not an anyone's radar,'' Samson said. "Now he is one of the top GMs in baseball.''

 

In a 2005 ranking of the 30 general managers by sports publication Lindy's Scouting Report, Beinfest tied for sixth with Dave Dombrowski (Detroit), Brian Sabean (San Francisco) and Bill Stoneman (Los Angeles Angels). Only Terry Ryan (Minnesota), John Schuerholz (Atlanta), Walt Jocketty (St. Louis), Theo Epstein (Boston) and Billy Beane (Oakland) ranked higher.

 

One of Beinfest's colleagues, Pittsburgh General Manager Dave Littlefield, described him as "a guy who works very hard."

 

"He is in tune with the marketplace and seems to have a good grasp of the job,'' said Littlefield, who worked as an assistant general manager for the Marlins from 1998 to July 2001. "He's got a good sense of humor and he understands the pressure and sometime oddities of what happens in this business.''

 

Negative reaction not always easy

 

Beinfest concedes that he can be sensitive to criticism from the press box or broadcast booth, even though the South Florida media are not as demanding as media in the Northeast, for example.

 

"I will tell you that the media has been a challenge for me, even down here,'' he said. "You get thrown in the fire and have to deal with it as well as doing what's best for the team.''

 

He said he was a bit rattled by the negative reaction to his first Marlins move in March 2002, trading closer Antonio Alfonseca and pitcher Matt Clement to the Chicago Cubs for pitcher Julian Tavarez. Of course, that deal also brought the Marlins a throw-in minor-league pitcher: Willis.

 

Few of Beinfest's moves have backfired, although he did sign free agent Al Leiter to a one-year, $8 million contract last winter. Leiter was supposed to help anchor the rotation but was demoted to the bullpen and then traded after three horrible months. That doesn't mean Beinfest won't invest again.

 

"He is focused on winning for Florida, not just protecting his job,'' said agent Randy Hendricks, who represents Leiter and pitcher Todd Jones.

 

Beinfest's name has been mentioned in media reports about the Dodgers' GM opening. He declined to discuss that possibility, but in talking about someday running a team with greater resources, he said, "I think I'm adaptable. I never like to rule out anything. You have to create opportunities for yourself, and when you get that opportunity, take advantage of it.

 

"I was not a big name in this game. I was a hard worker trying to ascend through baseball. Jeffrey Loria gave me a huge chance here. He gave me the reins to a major-league franchise after two years as an assistant GM. I would like to think... if you can step up to this challenge maybe you can step up to the next one, whether that's in a different market or at a different job.''

Funny how any article about the Fish have us trading Delgado, even though money was freed up allowing him to stay...so is this a genuine leaked rumor, speculation of what we might do, or the anti-Marlin Miami media just starting up a sh*t storm for shits and giggles?

Capozzi is such an idiot. It's not uncommon for people to work without contracts. That doesn't mean they're not getting paid. It just means they have no contract. If the financial situation was that bleak, they wouldn't get paid. What an idiot. I am sick of this guy.

I like how the a**hole ends the article with the quote "in a different market or at a different job."

 

Go write for the Lifestyles section. :thumbdown

OK, I'm starting to get tired of Capozzi as well.

I was hoping it was Samson rumored to the Dodgers instead.... :confused