Posted March 31, 200718 yr This is a thread for Admin Beinfest. After having numerous conversations with another Marlins fans, I want to find out if others find Beinfest underrated, overrated, average, lucky or what? A nice friendly discussion....... His profile.... Year Team Title Function 1991 Seattle Mariners Player Development and Scouting Assistant Minor League Operations 1992 Seattle Mariners Player Development and Scouting Assistant Minor League Operations 1993 Seattle Mariners Player Development and Scouting Assistant Minor League Operations 1994 Seattle Mariners Assistant Director of Player Development Minor League Operations 1995 Seattle Mariners Assistant Director of Player Development Minor League Operations 1996 Seattle Mariners Minor League Director Director of Player Development 1997 Seattle Mariners Director, Player Development Director of Player Development 1998 Seattle Mariners Assistant to the Vice President, Baseball Operations Assistant GM 1999 Seattle Mariners Assistant to the Vice President, Baseball Operations Special Assistant to the GM 2000 Montreal Expos Assistant GM Assistant GM 2001 Montreal Expos Assistant GM Assistant GM 2001 Montreal Expos (Interim GM 10/2/01-2/13/02) General Manager 2002 Florida Marlins Senior Vice President and General Manager (Hired 2/12/02) General Manager 2003 Florida Marlins Senior Vice President and General Manager General Manager 2004 Florida Marlins Senior Vice President and General Manager General Manager 2005 Florida Marlins Senior Vice President and General Manager General Manager 2006 Florida Marlins Senior Vice President and General Manager General Manager 2007 Florida Marlins Senior Vice President and General Manager General Manager Some quotes from others around baseball...... "Admin Beinfest has made some blockbuster trades for the Florida Marlins. In 2003 he pulled a monkey out of his ass to acquire C Ivan Rodriguez, who helped the Marlins win the World Series. Besides being a good person outside of the office, he is one of the best GM's out there and makes the best out of the limited payroll that the owner, Jeffrey Loria, gives him." Admin Beinfest, Florida ? "He did it again. Last year Florida GM Admin Beinfest made a flurry of mid-season trades that not only improved his own club, but also demoralized his closest competitor: the Philadelphia Phillies. Things are a bit different this season ? the Marlins have a legitimate shot at vaulting past Atlanta for the division lead?and their wild-card competition may come from outside their division ? but Beinfest has once again helped his team immensely. Beinfest upgraded his bullpen and beefed up his lineup with the acquisitions of Guillermo Mota, Paul Lo Duca and Juan Encarnacion. And what?s more, while he was adding all these pieces ? without giving up much, mind you ? two of his competitors, the Braves and Phillies, did virtually nothing. I say Beinfest did the best job (again) of any Major League GM?I give him an A." A great article..... Beinfest flying high in economy class By Admin Stone Seattle Times baseball reporter ALAN DIAZ / AP Florida pitcher Anibal Sanchez, who threw a no-hitter Wednesday, was acquired in a trade from Boston by Marlins GM Admin Beinfest. For about as much money as the Houston Astros are paying Lance Berkman to play first base (and more money than Jeff Bagwell is being paid NOT to play first base for the Astros), Admin Beinfest has conjured up one of the most remarkable reconstruction jobs in recent baseball history. What Beinfest, the general manager of the Florida Marlins, has pulled off in dismantling a very good Marlins team this winter ? paring the payroll from $66 million to $14.6 million, and coming up with a young, talented and hungry team that is implausibly contending for a playoff berth ? is close to unprecedented. The Yankees, with their $200 million payroll, are paying five individual players more than the Marlins are paying their entire team. The notoriously thrifty (and pathetic) Tampa Bay Devil Rays have more than twice the payroll ($35.4 million) of the Marlins. But here are the Marlins, becoming the first team in history to fall 20 games under .500 ? they were 11-31 on May 22 ? then get back to .500. In this year's lackluster National League, .500 is plenty good enough for wild-card contention, which is where the Marlins stand: fighting the Padres, Phillies and Giants for a spot in the playoffs. Do the Marlins, with two World Series titles in 13 years of existence, have a shot at another October run, despite the steep learning curve, and despite the turmoil last month, when rookie manager Joe Girardi clashed with owner Jeffrey Loria and was on the verge of being fired, according to media reports? The question is posed to Beinfest, a judicious sort who deflects any and all praise to players, staff, scouts ? probably even to the secretaries and groundskeepers, if you press hard enough. "There's a lot of good teams within five games of this thing," he said. "Having been through a wild-card race in '03, I learned you can't expect help anywhere. You have to help yourself, and just try to win every day. But to answer your question ? do we have a shot? I'd answer yes, we do." Mariners fans might remember Beinfest, now 42 and signed through 2010, as an assistant in baseball operations in the 1990s. Others will remember his handiwork in 2003, when he augmented the Marlins down the stretch with a series of shrewd deals and was smoking a victory cigar at Yankee Stadium after Josh Beckett shut out the Yankees in the World Series clincher. That was merely prologue to this year's miracle makeover. The no-hitter this week by Anibal Sanchez; a Beinfest acquisition from Boston, along with exciting shortstop Hanley Ramirez ? accentuated the Marlins' magic. The trades of key players from the championship team, the likes of Beckett, Mike Lowell, Juan Pierre and Luis Castillo, plus Carlos Delgado and Paul Lo Duca, yielded a slew of young players. Many are still working their way up the minors, while others have already made their mark, like Sanchez, Ramirez, first baseman Mike Jacobs and pitcher Ricky Nolasco. Meanwhile, the Marlins have had breakout years from young players that came up through their system, like starting pitchers Scott Olsen and Josh Johnson, and outfielders Josh Willingham and Jeremy Hermida. In the Rule 5 draft, Beinfest nabbed second baseman Dan Uggla from Arizona, and he became an All-Star. From the free-agent scrap heap, the Marlins signed ex-Mariners catcher Miguel Olivo, closer Joe Borowski and utility man Alfredo Amezaga, all key contributors. Throw in the two established players they retained ? superstar outfielder Miguel Cabrera and left-handed pitcher Dontrelle Willis ? and you have the makings of a stealth contender, certainly the only one to field 21 rookies this season. "A lot our history has been written ? first to come back from 20 games under .500, the way our young players have matured," said Beinfest. "Now the question is how we're going to finish. "To the credit of Joe and our staff, even through tough times, from Day 1, the players have always been very prepared, always played hard every night, and that hasn't changed, even when we were struggling." Sports executives being copycats to the max, you just know this winter some owner (or plural) is going to say, "Let's pull a Marlins." The GM will be ordered to dump all his high-priced players, reduce the payroll to peanuts, and come back with a young contender. Hey, Beinfest did it. "I think everyone's market, everyone's ownership, everyone's goals and objectives are different," Beinfest said. "I don't think there's one blueprint. We did what we thought was best, considering our financial challenges, which are real. We went full force and never looked back. It's not everyone's cup of tea." The truth is, this is not a formula to emulate ? certainly not to the extent of the Marlins' "gross makeover," to use Beinfest's favorite phrase. While the team has been an artistic success, its Miami-Fort Lauderdale fan base, having been jilted in this way more than once, is not buying in. There is a very high price to be paid for messing with the sensibilities of paying customers, and that is that they stop investing emotional energy in the team. The Marlins rank dead last in the majors in attendance, not even yet reaching a million. There, are, however, lessons to be learned from Beinfest and the Marlins about the facile reconstruction of a team, and the immediate potential of young pitching, given enough patience (and given the right young pitchers). "A lot of credit goes to the focus of the young kids," Beinfest said. "A lot of naysayers predicted we'd lose 100 games, but they found a way to come out every day and compete and do the best they could. When I look back at the '06 season, at their enthusiasm and the way they made a great effort every day to get it done, it will be a very fond memory." And now a bad article..... Fire Admin Beinfest The Marlins clearly have clubhouse issues. First, A.J. Burnett was ejected from the team, and, in the most extreme example of cutting off your nose to spite your face, they chose to sit Miguel Cabrera with the season on the line, and now have issues with his work ethic. Clearly, the onus here falls on Marlin?s G.M. Admin Beinfest. In his stone cold drive to win a championship, allowing fan favorite Carl Pavano to slip away to free agency, while also trading the beloved Brad Penny and Hee Seop Choi to Los Angeles, he forgot about the little things you need to make a team run. By trading away the team?s heart and soul for a mediocre relief pitcher, a disgruntled outfielder, and a catcher who falls apart in September, Beinfest destroyed the great chemistry that this team had in 2003. While Jack McKeon was able to keep the ship upright from the chaos Benifest created, leading the Marlins to a 31-27 record after the trade, he was simply not able to make the post season with the holes in the roster left by Penny and Choi. Beinfest could have fixed the holes in the chemistry in the offseason, but he simply made them worse. He resigned Paul LoDuca (who has only driven in 57 runs this year), and, in his worse move yet, signed a known clubhouse cancer, Carlos Delgado, to play first base. Who did he displace in order to make this signing, only a man named Jeff Conine. That?s right, Mr. Marlin lost his starting job to a man who would only make the volitile clubhouse even worse. When I look at teams like the Red Sox, the Yankees, and the Braves, what do I see? Good chemistry. That is the trait that all good teams share. Now, like the Royals, Rockies, and Pirates, the Marlins simply have bad chemistry. Beinfest needs to realize that you can not trade away the heart and soul of a team, and still expect them to win. I saw this coming the second Penny and Choi left the team (who, by the way, maintain a great relationship in Los Angeles), and this meltdown was simply the culmination of that trade. I know you can?t play fantasy baseball with a real team, Admin, why don?t you? What is your thoughts on Beinfest unbiased? The goal is to have more wins in trades and free agents than losses.....I mean his wins include Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez, Dontrelle Willis, Dan Uggla, Todd Jones, Armando Benitez, Joe Borowski, Ivan Rodriguez, Urbina and his losses include Travis Bowyer, Hee Seop Choi, and Todd Hollandsworth. I think he's done a great job.
March 31, 200718 yr He's a God to you no matter what he does so why should we give you more of our opinions to attack like you've done so well in your signature?
March 31, 200718 yr Author Dan Le Batard sees the silver lining: This flood of awful feels worse by the drop, Carlos Delgado the latest Marlin swept out of town by this godforsaken current, but there is at least one rainbow at the end of this Apocalyptic baseball reign: Management is getting back a wonderful array of the world's best baseball prospects for this or some other city to enjoy in a few years. Remember, that's how Dontrelle Willis ended up here, in what was perceived as a salary dump. A.J. Burnett, too. And Juan Pierre. And Derrek Lee. And Carl Pavano. And Brad Penny. And all those guys did was knock over Barry Bonds, then Sammy Sosa, then the New York Freaking Yankees in the single best surprise in South Florida sports history. He's a God to you no matter what he does so why should we give you more of our opinions to attack like you've done so well in your signature? Giving someone an "F" grade is a little crazy knowing his history. He let D Lee and Castillo get away but most of his trades, free agent pickups, players to be named later, Rule 5 pickups, and drafts (all of the pitchers) have been amazing. Maybe it's just me....
March 31, 200718 yr Dan Le Batard sees the silver lining: This flood of awful feels worse by the drop, Carlos Delgado the latest Marlin swept out of town by this godforsaken current, but there is at least one rainbow at the end of this Apocalyptic baseball reign: Management is getting back a wonderful array of the world's best baseball prospects for this or some other city to enjoy in a few years. Remember, that's how Dontrelle Willis ended up here, in what was perceived as a salary dump. A.J. Burnett, too. And Juan Pierre. And Derrek Lee. And Carl Pavano. And Brad Penny. And all those guys did was knock over Barry Bonds, then Sammy Sosa, then the New York Freaking Yankees in the single best surprise in South Florida sports history. He's a God to you no matter what he does so why should we give you more of our opinions to attack like you've done so well in your signature? Giving someone an "F" grade is a little crazy knowing his history. He let D Lee and Castillo get away but most of his trades, free agent pickups, players to be named later, Rule 5 pickups, and drafts (all of the pitchers) have been amazing. Maybe it's just me.... I wouldn't give him an F overall but I certainly don't condone every move the guy makes, no matter what it is. However, if we're talking about what he's done this spring, then I'd probably have to grade him pretty close to an F.
March 31, 200718 yr bEINfEST IS a gOD!!!!!!!!!!!!111111 No, RAMP IS A GOD welcome to the dark side, my friend
March 31, 200718 yr Giving someone an "F" grade is a little crazy knowing his history. There is not a single player in the Marlins organization right now that can play center field that was not within the organization in 2006. That is an absolute failure. There is no jumping around the point. F is a little crazy. It should be a bolded, italicized, and underlined F-. Actually, that's not enough. Let's increase the font size and make it red too. F-. He did absolutely nothing to address the most glaring weakness of the team. Unless you include signing and releasing Alex Sanchez. Awesome. He did some work on the pen, he found a replacement for Helms, he even finally brought in some catching depth (even though it should have been before spring training so Treanor wouldn't be handed a job), but you can't like what he's done this offseason when Alejandro De Aza won the CF job against Eric Reed. Not a hard concept. Beinfest is certainly above average, did a wonderful job of restocking the team post 2005, found a gem in Uggla out of nowhere, but he also blows a lot of deals/transactions, like D. Oliver, Leiter, B. Moehler, Choi, Abercrombie, Encarnacion, Bowyer, Neu, etc, does not hit waivers as hard as he should, needs to draft a hitter in the first round more then once every 5 years (especially when you have 5 first round picks), and really should buy out young stars arbitration years to save the team money. He is not up there with Schuerholz, Beane, Ryan, Shapiro, and the rest of them. He might be one day, but he's not there yet. I hope the Marlins get the stadium so we can truly throw out the "Loria" argument and see how Beinfest operates in a normal situation. I think we'd see the same problems, but who knows.
March 31, 200718 yr In contention in September every year he's been here. A consistently competitive team. His methods are different than most, but not ineffective. Just because he doesn't do it through big money big name acquisitions, but rather through creative trades, and tremendous scouting, some people scoff. I look at the results, and they are good. Underrated.
March 31, 200718 yr every team in this day and age should be in contention come september. especially in the national league.
March 31, 200718 yr Lucky and overrated. 2003, by and large, was with a team that he did not assemble. Castillo, Lee, Lowell, Cabrera, Beckett, Penny. Those are all dealin' Dave's cornerstones. The 2004 and 2005 teams were Beinfest's perfect creations. Still waiting for my playoff strip from those seasons. :whistle Plus, his drafting history is nauseatingly bad. In contention in September every year he's been here. A consistently competitive team. His methods are different than most, but not ineffective. Just because he doesn't do it through big money big name acquisitions, but rather through creative trades, and tremendous scouting, some people scoff. I look at the results, and they are good. Underrated. So "in contention" makes one great? Then why doesn' the MLB office get MVP every season, the system they have in place promotes the quasi-parity we see now, especially in the NL.
March 31, 200718 yr Lucky and overrated. 2003, by and large, was with a team that he did not assemble. Castillo, Lee, Lowell, Cabrera, Beckett, Penny. Those are all dealin' Dave's cornerstones. The 2004 and 2005 teams were Beinfest's perfect creations. Still waiting for my playoff strip from those seasons. :whistle In contention in September every year he's been here. A consistently competitive team. His methods are different than most, but not ineffective. Just because he doesn't do it through big money big name acquisitions, but rather through creative trades, and tremendous scouting, some people scoff. I look at the results, and they are good. Underrated. So "in contention" makes one great? Then why doesn' the MLB office get MVP every season, the system they have in place promotes the quasi-parity we see now, especially in the NL. how can you forget sea bass?
March 31, 200718 yr I think he is just above average, in the middle tier of GMs. He has made some awesome moves in the past. I loved the Hanley deal but I refuse to give him all the credit in the world on that one. He traded Josh Beckett, arguably the most affordable #1/#2 starter available. Of course he was going to get a king's ransom. Like Swifty said, he needs to draft a positional player ever now and then. If he had, we would have had Jacoby Ellsbury in CF right now. As for the CF situation. Beinfest went down a notch in my book after this offseason. I really didn't like how he managed. Luckily, Admin has a tremendous braintrust in Jennings, Hill and Fleming.
March 31, 200718 yr i dont like how we picked up nobody of any signifance for that cf competition. especially when it was our biggest black hole last year.
March 31, 200718 yr Lucky and overrated. 2003, by and large, was with a team that he did not assemble. Castillo, Lee, Lowell, Cabrera, Beckett, Penny. Those are all dealin' Dave's cornerstones. The 2004 and 2005 teams were Beinfest's perfect creations. Still waiting for my playoff strip from those seasons. :whistle Plus, his drafting history is nauseatingly bad. In contention in September every year he's been here. A consistently competitive team. His methods are different than most, but not ineffective. Just because he doesn't do it through big money big name acquisitions, but rather through creative trades, and tremendous scouting, some people scoff. I look at the results, and they are good. Underrated. So "in contention" makes one great? Then why doesn' the MLB office get MVP every season, the system they have in place promotes the quasi-parity we see now, especially in the NL. lucky? are you serious? .. you attribute the success of this team under his supervision to merely luck? seriously? Is it possible to be lucky four years in a row? And you don't give Beinfest credit for 2003? So.. Pudge, Chad Fox, Urbina, McKeon, Conine, etc... they were inconsequential? Hmm? You measure the success of a team by whether or not they make the playoffs? Those are high standards, and I reckon you don't think many GMs are very good then? The teams that have consistently been in playoff contention each of the past four seasons are much fewer than you make it seem. And he made the playoffs in one of those years. And he is doing this while under the constraints of an owner who chooses not to spend much money. Underrated.
March 31, 200718 yr Not a big fan of his drafts, but his track record in trades cannot be argued. He's had some bad trades, the LA deal in 2004, giving up Castillo for basically nothing, but the good trades he's made far outweigh the bad ones. Not to mention some of the signings he has made. Signing Pudge after several injury-ridden seasons and him leading us to the World Series. Benitez, Jones, Delgado, all those guys fit on the team perfectly despite 3 of those 4 guys being somewhat of damaged goods at the time they were signed. I've been critical of Beinfest on several occasions, but I look around the league and there are very few GMs (maybe 2) that I'd take over Beinfest.
March 31, 200718 yr Beinfest is an above average GM and over-rated. The CF situation speaks volumes of how over-rated he is.
March 31, 200718 yr I doubt it, but is there a site that a list of the moves he has made? I know there have been a lot.
March 31, 200718 yr Author Beinfest is an above average GM and over-rated. The CF situation speaks volumes of how over-rated he is. I don't know how you can say that. There isn't a GM in the game today who could have had the Marlins finish with a better record than they did last year with what they had. No GM wanted Dan Uggla or Joe Borowski and Beinfest didn't even want Girardi who proved to be a mistake. Loria picked Girardi even though Beinfest wanted Fredi Gonzalez all along. I think we didn't get a CFer because the Marlins were not going to overpay for one. The DRays wouldn't take Nolasco for Upton or Baldelli. They wanted Olsen. Every team knows Beinfest is one of the best, making hard to trade with him and I think teams and GMs are nervous. Just my take....
April 1, 200718 yr Trading: Very Good Drafting: Not so Good Waiver Pick Ups: Ehh Addressing Team Issues: Solid in season, lackluster out of season I think overall he's a solid GM, but he's certainly not the best in the business. I'm not giving him an F for the offseason because I do like the bullpen for this season, but he gets a D+. No CF, no legitimate replacement for Wes Helms, no real security at most positions in case someone has an injury or a prolonged slump.
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