Prospect Insider - M's move forward with McNamara

M's move forward with McNamara

By Jason A. Churchill

By 08-30-2011

Starting this week, Prospect Insider will be taking an in-depth look at the State of the Seattle Mariners, from the 2011 season to the lack of impact bats to how the farm system can and will help in 2012. I'll also tackle the contract status and performance of GM Jack Zduriencik. To start us off, let's take a look at the club's scouting director and the progress of the franchise's rebuilding effort, thanks to the draft.

Three years ago this winter the Seattle Mariners asked Jack Zduriencik, and by extension his choice for Director of Scouting, to come in and rebuild the entire organization. And truly, it needed to be rebuilt from the ground up after a difficult and harshly unsuccessful handful of seasons under the previous guard.

Zduriencik chose Tom McNamara as his scouting director, and while the rest is not quite history yet, a fruitful path is being laid out in front of the city of Seattle, and certainly appears to be a road that could very well lead the franchise back to the winner's circle.

Over the past several years, the Seattle Mariners have selected Adam Jones, Brandon Morrow, Mark Lowe, Doug Fister and Eric O'Flaherty via the draft, signed them, developed them and got them ready to contribute regularly at the big league level.

Sadly, those are the only five players about which the organization can lay such a claim from 2000-2008. A few others, such as Nathan Adcock, Shawn Kelley, Chris Tillman and Kameron Mickolio, have made more than a short appearance in the majors, but have yet to solidify roster spots.

Since McNamara took over as scouting director prior to the 2009 season, three players -- starting second baseman and budding star Dustin Ackley, infielder Kyle Seager and left-hander Anthony Vasquez have made their big league debuts. Four others are very near their breakthrough -- James Paxton, Stephen Pryor, Vincent Caricala and Danny Hultzen, and they are all considered high-probability regulars or frontline starting pitchers.

Now that's scouting.

McNamara's days in pro baseball started as a player in the Seattle Mariners organization in 1988. He was an infielder and hit .224 in 50 games for short-season Bellingham that year. He did draw some walks and produce a respectable .323 on-base percentage, but that was McNamara's only year as a pro. After that he hung it up and went into the scouting business.

From 1994-2000 he served as the Northeast Area Scout for the M's -- a very difficult area to cover due to weather and the lack of big-time talent. The great players are easy to scout. The tough part is finding value in the not-so-obvious, and that's what McNamara did for seven years at that post. Brian Sweeney, who has played in parts of eight major-league seasons, was one of the players he signed, just to cite an example.

He then moved on to be an area scout for the Milwaukee Brewers for two season from 2001-2002, signing, among others, star slugger Prince Fielder, whom McNamara has tabbed "the best high school hitter I ever saw." McNamara spent five seasons as a pro scout for the San Diego Padres until joining the Brewers as their East Coast Crosschecker in 2008 under Jack Zduriencik, who by then was also an assistant GM for the Brew Crew.

"Tom was an area scout in Florida for me and then an East Coast crosschecker. He understands the process and sat in the draft room with us in Milwaukee," said Zduriencik, who spoke with great enthusiasm about the impact the draft is having on the organization. "He's a great worker with a tremendous passion for the game. A guy you can depend on. He understood what I was looking for and is a hell of a talent evaluator."

Zduriencik, of course a former successful scouting director in his own right, went as far as to suggest that McNamara's presence in Seattle serves as a bit of a security blanket. "There's a real comfort level knowing he was going to be there."

While the track record carries its own weight, there is more to being a scouting director than simply scouting and ultimately selecting players. The SD can't do all of the work, so his relationships with his staff - area scouts, supervisors and crosscheckers alike -- is crucial to the process, and the example he sets has a resounding impact on those that work under him.

"He is absolutely relentless," said the club's West Coast Supervisor, Butch Baccala. "He has a sense of urgency in everything he does. He works to win all 50 rounds."

McNamara has a unique approach to what he does. He's not about what players can't do. "Like players," he said, "Tell me what he can do, don't tell me what he can't do. Focus on the positives."

When McNamara took over, the farm system was barren. Sure, there were a few high upside talents in the system such as infielder Carlos Triunfel and right-hander Michael Pineda, but International Scouting Director Bob Engle and his staff are responsible for the Latin kids. The M's, quite simply, were not getting anything out of the draft, and it was coming back to hurt the big club in a rather immense manner.

Jeff Clement couldn't stay healthy or catch regularly, Josh Fields' stuff regressed and he, too, had problems staying off the disabled list. And Phillippe Aumont was damaged goods on draft day and relegated to a relief role as a result. Matt Tuiasosopo, who was handed more than $2 million as a third-round pick in 2004, has not developed at the plate the way the previous regime had hoped.

Missing that often that high in the draft, which is the best and most financially amenable manner in which to add talent to an organization, is crippling, which explains why the M's are still looking to climb out of the cellar after three seasons. That happens to rebuilding clubs, including the Brewers, who were in shambles prior to Zduriencik arriving and have been in pretty good shape since year four of his tenure with the organization.

The farm system, however, is as deep as it's ever been –- deeper, even. There are 50 players that belong in the Top 30, and at least a half-dozen quality major league players in the group, of not 10-15 when the smoke clears. That's something I'll say with confidence. Just three seasons ago there were three to five, but they all came with a gob of risk and required more than a dab of dreaming.

Ackley, Seager, Pryor, right-hander Taijuan Walker, southpaws Danny Hultzen and James Paxton, converting catcher Marcus Littlewood and shortstop Nick Franklin serve as the young corps of the M's organization. All eight were acquired via the draft.

The area scouts, their supervisors and the crosscheckers all deserve to be recognized for their efforts in an otherwise thankless profession. They put in a truckload of work, write hundreds of reports and put in long nights and trips out of their hometowns to get the job done.

National crosschecker Mike Cadahia, Baccala and Midwest Area Supervisor Mark Lummus are among the more respected scouts in the game and their own performance speaks loudly, too. Lummus is credited with the signing of catcher Adam Moore and outfielder Mike Wilson, but now oversees the Midwest as a Supervisor where he has made his greatest contribution as the lone holdover at the position from the previous front office.

Cadahia, the club's national crosschecker, brings nearly 16 years of scouting experience to the table, including several as an area scout and East Coast Crosschecker for the Angels, Rangers and Marlins. His role is basically as an assistant scouting director, as is that of Baccala, aiding the scouting director in final player evaluations.

It's McNamara, however, that sets the tone.

"He sets the bar so darned high," Baccala said. "You don’t want to be outworked in this game and he's not going to be -- he pushes all of us. It's easy to love working for a guy like that. He's never going to expect you to do anything he wouldn't do himself."

He does, however, deflect a lot of the credit to the aforementioned staff and the area scouts. "These guys are out there doing the work, and it's not easy," McNamara said. "You've really got to get to know the player; see him when he's good, see him when he's not at his best."

In the end, Zduriencik is the leader of the organization when it comes to the baseball operations. He steers the yacht when it comes to personnel, there's no questioning that. He's the captain, the final word, the king scout, and that's a title he's earned as the club's GM and vice president. But it's McNamara who's driving the fuel tank to that Goodship Mariner, and the results are starting to rear its pretty, pretty face down at First and Edgar Martinez Drive.

"The results speak for themselves," added Zduriencik.

Yep, they're sure starting to.

MLB Draft Classes 2009-11
Team	MLB/Near-ready	Significant Progress
Arizona	2	3
Atlanta	1	1
Baltimore	2	2
Boston	3	3
Chicago (AL)	1	3
Chicago (NL)	3	1
Cincinnati	3	2
Cleveland	3	2
Colorado	3	2
Detroit	5	3
Florida	0	4
Houston	2	1
Kansas City	5	3
Los Angeles (AL)	3	3
Los Angeles (NL)	3	2
Minnesota	3	1
Milwaukee	3	1
New York (AL)	2	2
New York (NL)	3	2
Oakland	3	2
Philadelphia	1	2
Pittsburgh	4	3
San Diego	3	2
San Francisco	3	2
St. Louis	4	3
Seattle	7	4
Tampa Bay	2	8
Texas	2	2
Toronto	2	6
Washington	6	4

m\'s-move-forward-with-mcnamara-as-picker

Comments
The following 36 comment(s) for this article are shown below:

1. By: Adam P. Boyd on 08-30-2011 17:22:16
Fantastic piece.

2. By: VikingArthur on 08-30-2011 18:02:46
Did I miss what exactly the table represents? Is that for the last three drafts? Great work on the article...

3. By: jazon_24 on 08-30-2011 18:20:39
I second VikingArthur's question.

4. By: dawgncarolina on 08-30-2011 18:34:07
LOVE this. I had no idea about McNamara's background in the organization. Great stuff, Jason.

5. By: Edman on 08-30-2011 19:02:27
Great piece, Jason. After I got to talk to Butch last week, how could I not be excited about the direction of the team? I mentioned to him that I thought that Seattle would eventually be like the Braves, and be able to rely on drafts to backfill the organization. Having worked for the Braves, he agreed that the M's are taking a similar approach.

One thing he did make clear, is that they are all working hard. It was clear that the focus is on hard work and checking every nook and cranny.

I've looked at some of the kids pitching in the lower minors checking up on their pedigree, and a good number of them are later round selections. This is particularly true of some of the pitchers. Forrest Snow is probably the best example of that, at the moment. I don't know that they'll be major leaguers, but they are competing well with kids taken higher in the draft.

It's nice to see fulfillment, instead of hope.

6. By: outfieldgrass on 08-30-2011 19:03:38
Great article. One of the things fans have a tough time recognizing is the progress this new regime has made. They were tasked with, as you said, rebuilding from the ground up. Not only are they trying to field a better group of players but they are trying to put into place a system that will churn out new talent and give Seattle the ability to have sustained success.

All the talk about Jack Z being on the hot seat, in my opinion, is because some of these people are not looking at the big picture. Sure its moving slowly but they have been methodical and smart in the moves they have made. They need a few more years. We will love the finished product when it arrives.

7. By: Edman on 08-30-2011 19:49:38
I think most of the crap about Jack being on a hot seat is internet based, and nothing more. As far as I can tell, the front office has stuck with Jack and doesn't interfere with what he's trying to accomplish.

8. By: Jason A. Churchill on 08-30-2011 19:51:12
Sorry, fellas, the code gobbled up the numbers in the Table title. Yes, 2009-11.

9. By: Jason A. Churchill on 08-30-2011 19:52:14
Edman has it nailed.

10. By: dawgncarolina on 08-30-2011 20:00:04
Jason, how did you determine classified someone as "Near Ready" versus "Significant Progress" versus not making the list? I have no doubts about the veracity of the conclusions (Mac's drafts are awesome), just curious about the methodology used here.

11. By: dawgncarolina on 08-30-2011 20:00:40
dang it, that should say "determine *what* classified someone..."

12. By: CyFelix on 08-30-2011 21:02:59
Loved this,look forward to the other pieces as well.

I remember in 2009 we had a couple guys, (Aumont, Moore, Saunders, Triunfel) that looked like they could make it and be average contributors, but as you said, they had question marks.

Now we have some talent up in Seattle and have plenty of potential above average or better position players and TOR starters. The progress that has been made is amazing, thanks in large part to Z and having faith in the talent evaluators.

I hope we can keep this staff together for a while, and I hope we can keep the 4 "main guys" in McNamara, Z, Grifol and Engel.

13. By: Jason A. Churchill on 08-30-2011 21:36:54
dawg,

The mlb/near-ready column is a player in the bigs now or considered within a year of the majors.

The significant progress column is players that have made more than just strides, they have changed their profile. Walker fits here.

14. By: dawgncarolina on 08-30-2011 21:49:08
Awesome thanks, Jason. I don't know if others would care but I'd love to take a look at that list if you get a chance to publish it (or tweetpic it). Really interested to see who you have rated where.

Loved the tweetpic today of the text message, btw. If anyone is a PI fan and isn't following @prospectinsider, you're missing out.

15. By: dawgncarolina on 08-30-2011 22:12:04
And by tweetpic i mean twitpic. I suck at teh internetz.

16. By: Jason A. Churchill on 08-30-2011 22:47:15
Which list, dawg, the list of those belong on those columns?

17. By: dawgncarolina on 08-30-2011 22:52:50
The list of names of those considered near ready or significant progress. If you don't have it or it's not in an easy to share forgot that's cool, I just think the list would be very cool to look at. Not trying to hijack this post.

18. By: Jason A. Churchill on 08-30-2011 23:07:09
The MLB/Near ready list includes Ackley, Seager, Vasquez -- in the big leagues.

Also Paxton, Hultzen, Franklin, Catricala.

19. By: skyway park on 08-31-2011 10:08:17
Jason, great work as always. Have you heard any reports on how Martinez the 3b we got from Detroit has looked since he came over?

20. By: Jason A. Churchill on 08-31-2011 13:28:31
Francisco looks solid at the plate, a little shaky in the field but there is still legit hope he can play third base.

Full report coming over the winter in the handbook.

21. By: maqman on 08-31-2011 13:36:08
This is the best written piece I've seen you do Jason, well done indeed. I can't see a single comment I disagree with. Thank you for your effort.

22. By: Jason A. Churchill on 08-31-2011 13:50:28
Thanks, maqman. The credit should go to Jack, Tom and Butch, however. They were willing to give up their time -- I spent hours talking to them and for Jack and Tom it came on days when they had games to see. I took them right up to game time.

Funny anecdote...

I told Jack I just needed 15-20 minutes. But the conversation kept going and going. He's the kind of baseball guy you can talk to for days. At the end he made the following comment:

"Sorry for taking up so much of your time."

#win.

23. By: baseballman on 08-31-2011 14:09:40
Such a great piece JAC, thank you for sharing it with us all.

Your comment in post 22 is just awesome. Jack and the gang are the real deal and Seattle fans should be happy we have such competent guys running the show.

24. By: Jason A. Churchill on 08-31-2011 14:42:23
Baseballman,

That is exactly the point I am trying to get across. There will be some criticisms coming -- there have been mistakes -- and we're not anointing anyone King of the city, but it's important for fans -- at least those that read Prospect Insider -- to understand what's REALLy going on, not just what is written in the mainstream media, especially the national media who will base it all on wins and losses at the big league level, rather than noticing and breaking down how clubs go from loser to winner.

25. By: ndcohn on 08-31-2011 14:48:26
Love this piece. Who are the four significant progress players? Catricala, Snow, Walker all seem like great fits. Depending on prior expectations and current assessments, I could see a case for Paxton, Franklin, Seager, or maybe Vasquez.

26. By: Edman on 08-31-2011 14:50:42
Jack revamped most of the scouting department for a reason. It seems to me that he wanted guys with the same commitment as he has. I've heard through a few sources that there was a very lax approach to scouting under Bavasi's regime. Having talked to Butch one night, it came across to me that he's a baseball guy. It's not just a job to him. He takes his work very seriously. He was very casual and frank, but listening to his comment, he clearly saw more than he let on.

I know there were some who were complaining when Jack cleaned house in the scouting department. However, the results of doing so are starting to show dividends.

27. By: Edman on 08-31-2011 14:55:37
I think the thing we all need to consider is that Jack is learning as well. He'll make mistakes, everyone does. But, I think he's the kind of guy that learns from them. If he doesn't, he won't be able to keep his job in the longterm.

28. By: Jason A. Churchill on 08-31-2011 15:19:38
The best GMs in the game make mistakes. Theo Epstein signed J.D. Drew, John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka to big contracts. None of the three have been good values.

Smaller market clubs -- mid-market-ish -- have made big-time errors, too. SF signed Zito and Rowand to big deals. Any team that toys with free agency gets bitten big time sometimes.

29. By: Edman on 08-31-2011 16:17:16
I use to be a believer in free agency, but not so much anymore. You have to have a strong farm system first. Free agents aren't going to give a team the ability to sustain itself. There are a few free agents worth the risk, but you need to be sure about their abilities and not fall for one hit wonders. Beltre was a good example. I didn't mind him being in Seattle, but I realized his contract year numbers likely were career year numbers, not career in whole numbers. And, as we learned, his bat didn't work well at Safeco.

30. By: Jason A. Churchill on 08-31-2011 16:45:53
Free agency has to be a supplementing manner in which to add players.

Draft is No. 1, easily. You build up depth, trade what you have for what you don't. Voila.

31. By: Edman on 08-31-2011 17:55:17
Agreed Had there been any help at second or third base in the minors, there would have been no need to sign Figgins.

You can't beat the cost controlability of minor league players.

32. By: aerichner on 08-31-2011 18:27:49
Jack Zduriencik multi-year extension. I'm a very very happy Mariner fan today.

33. By: rjfrik on 08-31-2011 18:55:53
Wonderful wonderful piece Jason. Fantastic read. I feel most on this site specifically (at least the people that post regularly) had an idea of how great our front office is, but this just reiterated what we had thought. It's really a great time to be a Mariner fan and the future is BRIGHT!

34. By: brockfs1 on 08-31-2011 20:54:57
Jason, what can we expect as the ptbnl from the Braves for Jack Wilson?

35. By: Shawnuel on 08-31-2011 21:12:30
#34. Horacio Ramirez? ; )

36. By: docsmith on 08-31-2011 21:51:13
Very glad to see Jack Z extended and Jack Wilson traded. He is a vet and I am glad to give him a chance at the post season. And hey, if we get a little something in return, anything really, all the better.

BTW. Very nice article Jason. I am looking forward to the others. And I think you are well on your way to accomplishing the goals stated in #24.

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