best GM in baseball?

[MightyMouse]

billy beane?

[Jack of Arcades]

John Schuerholz?

[Jorge10]

Its a tie between him and the GM of the Braves whose name escapes me at the moment.

No one else is even close.

[LBJ]

1. Billy Beane- OAK
2. John Schuerholz- ATL
3. Mark Shapiro- CLE

[kyro]

Theo.

And of COURSE i'm not biased.

[battschr]

I think Beane is the best. Walt Jocketty of STL is underrated, as much as it makes me vomit in my mouth to say it.

[MyTurn2Raise]

I'd also vote Jocketty, but
[ QUOTE ]

Team payrolls as of April 7,2005
1 New York Yankees $208,306,817
2 Boston Red Sox $123,505,125
3 New York Mets $101,305,821
4 Los Angeles Angels $97,725,322
5 Philadelphia Phillies $95,522,000
6 St. Louis Cardinals $92,106,833
7 San Francisco Giants $90,199,500
8 Seattle Mariners $87,754,334
9 Chicago Cubs $87,032,933
10 Atlanta Braves $86,457,302
11 Los Angeles Dodgers $83,039,000
12 Houston Astros $76,779,000
13 Chicago White Sox $75,178,000
14 Baltimore Orioles $73,914,333
15 Detroit Tigers $69,092,000
16 San Diego Padres $63,290,833
17 Arizona Diamondbacks $62,329,166
18 Cincinnati Reds $61,892,583
19 Florida Marlins $60,408,834
20 Minnesota Twins $56,186,000
21 Texas Rangers $55,849,000
22 Oakland Athletics $55,425,762
23 Washington Nationals $48,581,500
24 Colorado Rockies $48,155,000
25 Toronto Blue Jays $45,719,500
26 Cleveland Indians $41,502,500
27 Milwaukee Brewers $39,934,833
28 Pittsburgh Pirates $38,133,000
29 Kansas City Royals $36,881,000
30 Tampa Bay Devil Rays $29,363,067

[/ QUOTE ]

It seems as though he has plenty to work with


Whoever runs the Braves must be doing a damn good job for the production they've had while not being in the stratosphere of payrolls

[SammyKid11]

[ QUOTE ]
I'd also vote Jocketty, but
[ QUOTE ]

Team payrolls as of April 7,2005
1 New York Yankees $208,306,817
2 Boston Red Sox $123,505,125
3 New York Mets $101,305,821
4 Los Angeles Angels $97,725,322
5 Philadelphia Phillies $95,522,000
6 St. Louis Cardinals $92,106,833
7 San Francisco Giants $90,199,500
8 Seattle Mariners $87,754,334
9 Chicago Cubs $87,032,933
10 Atlanta Braves $86,457,302
11 Los Angeles Dodgers $83,039,000
12 Houston Astros $76,779,000
13 Chicago White Sox $75,178,000
14 Baltimore Orioles $73,914,333
15 Detroit Tigers $69,092,000
16 San Diego Padres $63,290,833
17 Arizona Diamondbacks $62,329,166
18 Cincinnati Reds $61,892,583
19 Florida Marlins $60,408,834
20 Minnesota Twins $56,186,000
21 Texas Rangers $55,849,000
22 Oakland Athletics $55,425,762
23 Washington Nationals $48,581,500
24 Colorado Rockies $48,155,000
25 Toronto Blue Jays $45,719,500
26 Cleveland Indians $41,502,500
27 Milwaukee Brewers $39,934,833
28 Pittsburgh Pirates $38,133,000
29 Kansas City Royals $36,881,000
30 Tampa Bay Devil Rays $29,363,067

[/ QUOTE ]

It seems as though he has plenty to work with


Whoever runs the Braves must be doing a damn good job for the production they've had while not being in the stratosphere of payrolls

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd say the general managers of teams 12 and 13 have done a pretty outstanding job. The GM's of teams 1 and 3 leave something to be desired...considering payroll vs. performance, uhh...AWFUL. Boston...guess they get a pass because they're the (soon-to-be-unseated) defending champs.

[bugstud]

so that 5 mil is huge, huh?

[DVaut1]

I take issue with anyone giving Theo Epstein & Tim Purpura altogether too much credit - in Theo's case, his World Series win came with some important parts (Pedro, Manny, DLowe, Damon, Varitek) that were brought in by Dan Duquette, not Theo - and while Tim Purpura has been in the Houston organization for a while, he's only been the Astros GM since last November after Gerry Hunsicker stepped down.

This isn't to say Theo/Purpura had no part in their team's success - but I don't think you can truly judge a GM's success until their organizational philosophies have been fully implemented. So I'm certainly leading towards John Schuerholz or Billy Beane.