1) Bud Selig has done more to hurt the integrity of the game than any Commisioner in MLB history. He has been a lackey of the owners; turned his head on drugs so the owners could make more money; turned against the tradition of the American game; and made it extremely more difficult for the everyday fan to attend and enjoy games economically with their families. Bud Selig has done tremendous harm to the integrity and well-being of the game.

2) Payroll for 2010 will be about the same.
3) Why would one even consider Nick Johnson, we have Chris Davis and Justin Smoak sitting in the wings.
4)Doug Melvin; Jon Daniels; tom Grieve; and John "The Golf Shirt" Hart.
5) N/A

I'll complement Craig'slist with a #5, b/c I have nothing for 1-4, and like his answers fine, except I'd bump JD up to #1 (and wonder how much credit Hart should be getting for advising JD even as we speak). Oh and to back up Craig on the NJ question, we've got DH covered vs RHPs, but we need bigtime help in the OF vs LHPs, so our "Righty bat" acquisition needs to be doubled (2 righty bats) if we don't bring up Moreland, but they should both be able to play OF. Since Smoak doesn't hit LHP well, and Davis did historically, but hasn't yet, Moreland and Tatis look like smarter pieces than NJ, since we don't know yet whether our fix against LHP is going to require
a) only a DH and one OF;
b) a DH and two OFs, or
c) a DH, 2OFs & a 1B.
I'd only recommend NJ if we're trading Davis or Smoak as the center piece for Nolasco.

5) Mr. Piliere, thank you for taking the time for this Q&A. (In light of the interesting little fact that one year's CA lettuce crop sells for more money than all that from the entire haul of gold during the CA Gold Rush) would you compare the process of scouting more with diamond mining (occasionally finding a priceless diamond in the rough), gold-mining (finding a good vein, and mining it until it's used up), or lettuce farming (finding good soil, and working your tail off at cultivating a large number of players in as healthy an environment as possible)?

ps-- For those players taken after HS, what opportunities do you see available/taken for their continuing education while playing in the Minors?

1) Bud Selig has done more to hurt the integrity of the game than any Commisioner in MLB history. He has been a lackey of the owners; turned his head on drugs so the owners could make more money; turned against the tradition of the American game; and made it extremely more difficult for the everyday fan to attend and enjoy games economically with their families. Bud Selig has done tremendous harm to the integrity and well-being of the game. (copied from Craig)
2. dont know? who owns us?
3. Why would one even consider Nick Johnson, we have Chris Davis and Justin Smoak sitting in the wings. (copied from Craig)
4. Melvin, TAG, JD, little h

1. His tenure will be best remembered for: the most money-making era of baseball history. He's made a million mistakes, no doubt; however his legacy will be the mula.

2. About the same. I think people are putting too much stock into $$ being spent. A> You're never going to spend what the NE and California franchises spend and B>You still have the best overall farm system in baseball (well maybe #2, SF is right there) and C>Other than just a couple of years in recent baseball history, spending more more than another team guarantees you of nothing. Would it be nice to have John Lackey?, sure. Would it be nice to have Matt Holliday? Sure. But I remember Ranger teams in the past that captured lots of expensive free agents, had no farm system to speak of and no leadership in the front office. If I were a billionaire owner and every player in baseball loved me and my team and I had the farm system the Rangers have, I'd do very little. It's counter-productive. I think this team would be much better off with a better manager though...but I'm way over-stepping the question here. =)

3. Actually Nick Johnson intrigues me a lot. Only as a DH though and only if he's very cheap. I think the Rangers would be better off making a trade (hence why I wouldn't spend so much or little on free agency.) I'd much rather see the Rangers trade Borbon, Bevan, Teagarden and maybe Moreland and get a young, cheap A-/ B+ quality CFer, like BJ Upton plus another quality lefty reliever.

4. Doug Melvin, Jon Daniels, John Hart, Tom Grieve but personality-wise, I really like all 4. I've met all four and they are awesome people.

5. If the season started tomorrow, how many days away from the big leagues is Tanner Scheppers? And ..what player will surprise everyone this year in the Rangers' farm system?

3) N Johnson would cost too much and want too l;ong of a deal.

4) people give Melvin too much credit and Grieve not enough.
Grieve
JD
Melvin
Hart

@red3biggs Name one good Grieve trade.

You know, if Nick Johnson was a righty, I think Texas would be the perfect fit for him. But he isn't, so he's not. The only reason you get him is if you trade Chris Davis for pitching and you don't think Smoak is ready for 2010.

I completely agree with Criag's answers. It should be added that Selig has helped several of his close friends become owners, discouraged transparancy in reporting team revenues, especially the MLB revenue-sharing agreement, has been an advocate both past and present for collusion to ratchet down player salaries, while using the bully pulpit to pressure city governments to provide massive subsidies and financing for new stadiums.

Joey: Please use Michael Gleason's two questions for the interview.... love the analogies....

1) Steriods. Revenue Sharing.

2) $68M

3) 1-yr deal with an option year. I have no clue what to suggest for a dollar value, but I see no reason tying up the DH position for a year. When he gets hurt, that's the Rangers chance to give Smoak or MaxRam a look, ideally, though probably not a likely reality since if the Rangers are in contention it will mean that Warsh will be loath to play rookies.

4) Grieve, JD, Melvin, Hart -- I'm biased towards GMs that set up the Rangers for long-term runs of success.

5a) As a scout, what are some things you did to balance what your eyes saw with what performance measures said about prospects, meaning when would you lean more heavily on one rather than the other and were there any performance measures that you favored?

5b) What is Mitch Moreland? Future ML starter or the next Botts?

1) The good things Bud has done will be overshadowed by the steroids fiasco.
2) *Dr. Evil Voice* ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!!
3) Nick Johnson would be an outstanding addition at DH. Unfortunately, he will reject the Rangers offer to let him play as unpaid intern, which is a bit of a problem.
4) 1) Melvin
2) JD
3) Grieve
4)
5)
6)
7) Hart (speaking of cash flow problems and how we got them, how much are we still paying this loser?)

1 - Selig will be remembered for the Steroid era... period!
2 - Without fully understanding the economics behind an ownership transition, I unfortunately think the Rangers payroll will actually be scaled back a few million. They will find a taker for Millwood which cuts $12M off the books... and they'll use maybe $3 or $4M of that savings to sign a couple of low impact vets, similar to what they did with Omar.
3 - This isn't even worth discussing because some stupid team will overpay this guy... and the Rangers will not be in the mix at all. If they did have the $$$ I would stay away from injury plagued FA's for 1 simple reason; injuries are contagious/infectious in the clubhouse... and right now (with exception to BMac and Hammy), we have a healthy roster wiling to play with a few dings. You start adding $5M players that will sit out with shin bruises, glute strains, etc... you'll start seeing the young kids doing it.
4 - This one is easy; Melvin, JD, Grieve, and Hart. You have to realize though that JD has not had full financial flexibility throughout his tenure... and I believe JD is a rising star amongst the game's GMs.
5 - Realistically speaking; how many of the 20 some odd Ranger pitching prospects (Perez, Main, Beavan, Kiker, Boscan, Reed, Poveda, Melo, Sheppers, Ross, etc...) can we expect to one day be MLB contributors, either with the Rangers or another team?
In other words, what is the "washout" percentage and as fans, can we realistically expect to continue having so many impact rookies, year in/year out as we had this past year? ** Understanding of course that there are only 11-12 spots on the 25 man... several of which are already entrenched as long term contributors (Holland, Feliz, Hunter, Feldman, etc...).

@Red3 and JamesMason I love me some Doug Melvin, but he can't succeed if the Grieve hadn't been ahead of the curve on Latin America bringing in Juan and Pudge. If Guzman and Corea hadn't gotten hurt.... Good trades? Palmiero for Mitch Williams worked out pretty good, no? Julio Franco for Pete O'Brian and whoever else was also a steal. He deserves credit for turning the franchise around and laying the foundation for the late 90s breakthrough.

@badspellr yes good trades. The Palmeiro trade was actually: "The Cubs traded Palmeiro and two left-handed pitchers, Jamie Moyer and Drew Hall, to the Texas Rangers for six players, two of whom will be named after Tuesday's minor league draft. Joining Williams in the shift to Chicago are Paul Kilgus, a left-handed starter; Steve Wilson, a minor league left-handed pitcher, and Curtis Wilkerson, an infielder." - By MURRAY CHASS, Special to the New York Times (Tuesday, December 6, 1988) Moyer is still pitching!

And Franco would still be playing if someone would let him. God only knows where Pete O is. Yep, good trades by Grieve, I digress.

5) We've heard about the Rangers reorganizing and integrating their scouting department over the last couple of years. Could you expound on what they've done and how it improves talent evaluation and acquisiton?

1.the steroids era
2.68 million this year and next year if new owners are in place 75 million
3. trade for Upton look for protection for Hamilton like Dunn for dh, 5 or 4 spot
4.melvin daniels grieve hart by a mile
5. no question

I was always under the impression that the Latin American efforts were principally Sandy Johnson and Omar Minaya's doing. Hearing Johnson interviewed was impressive. I think if you talk about pitchers being injured during TAG's tenure I think you'd have to look at a long list and ask why? They had a long list of underachieving pitchers too. He stuck with a gimmicky but unsuccessful pitching coach for a long time. And a manager who at the end was shredding arms. His trades were mechanical and , excepting two, unsuccessful (he deserves some credit for the Boo for Fajardo and Miller deal, a tremendous value he was a little unlucky not to see any results from). I was in shock when he traded Sosa/Alvarez for a hitter when Hough had just come off the DL to become their third 'effective' pitcher. With what he gave up for Boyd he could have easily gotten the top flight starter (whose name escapes me) traded thereafter who was and continued pitching well that season. Just missed it. Melvin on the other hand was great at roster manipulation and understanding the game as a whole. The problem here was he wouldn't or couldn't make the big move. I've read several times that there was one time, '97, Clemens would've signed here but we had a lot of free agents over the coming seasons and Melvin was reserving the option to let them walk and start rebuilding. Imagine those playoff seasons with Clemens on your team. Milwaukee is close but stalling too although that's probably got something to do with the size of their market. Hart was a great and innovative GM. Just not for us. I think his still crippling effects fall squarely on Hicks. In looking at the previous GMs it seems important to consider that one of them still has a GM's job.
JD is impressive. Even his mistakes are at least understandable. A healthy McCarthy would've been a big step up for us. The Eaton trade was shocking but I take some consolation that he was willing to go with his scouting department that unflinchingly. It seems they may have been right about Young's durability. JD seems to be learning and able to work well with the people around him. I've never had a better feeling about this team's chance to compete in the playoffs in the very near future.

1. Steroids, sleeping (in bed with the owners), and stupidity.

2. Have no idea.

3. Leave him alone. Quit assuming that both Smoak and Davis will fail.

4. JD, Melvin, Grieve, and Hart.

5. How do you see 1B shaking out in the next two years?

1. Selig will worst be remembered for having a conflict of interest. That conflict led to his being weak in things like the performance-enhancing drugs and team realignment (Arizona should have been moved into the AL West).

2. $100 mil if new owners with cash come in. Otherwise, I'd say $65-$75 mil.

3. Not interested in Johnson. The Rangers already have enough outfielder/DH types to rotate that spot in the batting order.

4. Melvin, Daniels, Grieve, and Hart (a far-back 4th!).

5. Would you please compare the scouting department pre-Ryan to the current operation?
During this offseason, have you seen any regression in the quality of scouting with the budget-
tightening?

1) Selig has his flaws, the biggest of which that currently exists is the blackout policy. As far as steroids, everyone here seems to incite a lot of blame but not much credit for the policies he's implemented to curb steroid abuse (just being devils advocate, I think he should have acted much sooner). In the end, he will be most remember for revenue sharing and bringing the industry from $1 billion in revenue to $7 billion in less than a decade. The most progressive commissioner of all time, and I think he gets a bad rap: all the blame for the bad and no credit for the good.
2) About the same, just hopefully not lower, which should be enough. $5 million each to Bradley and Sheets, or a series of trades that nets us Upton, perhaps Nolasco, but either way should not cost more than $10m.
3) Wouldn't mind Johnson on a short-term low base deal, but we need a righty first.
4) Melvin is given WAY too much credit. He never developed any orgizational pitching and his championships were all with TAGs players, with a couple of his own key acquisitions. But whenever we get down on JD's failed trades, lets not forget DM's return for Gonzo.
In order: Grieve, JD (very close second), Melvin, the golf shirt.

1. Money, Steroids, and being a douchebag.
2. 70M
3. Zero interest! I assume he would demand around the 4-5M per year range.
4. Grieve, JD, Melvin, Hart
5. What does our farm system look like in 3 years?

1. Steroids, of course. Has he ever done anything good? if so, it's a pure accident. There has never been a more incompetent, inept, short-sighted, head in the sand, dumb flunky that ever has held the office of Commissioner of Baseball.
2. Sadly, I believe Nolan, and think that the over-under is right about last year's figure of $68 million. I pray for a real owner that's willing to overpay to make this team competitive, but is smart enough to listen to his baseball people. That guy is not Hicks.
3. None.
4. Melvin, Daniels and Grieve in that order. I like all of them. The empty golf shirt is not in the picture. He was the GM equivalent of Selig.
5. Historically, why have so few of the Rangers pitching prospects made it big in the majors? Has there been something in the system that allows them to lose their way, or are have they just had too little talent?

@Jay You make some very fine points. Though I think it would be a mistake to scoff at Grieve's tenure, it does say a lot that he never got so much as a sniff at another job. As for Hart, it has Hart himself who told Hicks in his job interview, that the Rangers could win now. That was the mandate he agreed to take the job under. Hicks bears his share of the blame in that partnership, no doubt, but there is no excusing Hart for his failure here.

1. I think that Seilig is a mixed bag but not a mixed bag that i would wnat to buy. In the end, I think the steroids issue will be pinned to him fairly or unfairly.

2. I think we have to wait and see what happens with the ownership.

3. I wouldn't have much interest in Johnson. Too gimpy amd a lefty

4. I think that in their way Greive, Melvin and JD have each done good jobs. Greive and JD had to grow into the job somewhat where as Melvin came in as a pro. So I'd put Melvin, then a tie for JD and Greive at second and a none of the above third. John Hart would not make my top 4. Who did Grieve replace?

5. What player would you have drafted instead of Purke (Is the first name Matt?) last year?

@ James: just checked this thread today. The three trades i would mention were listed above. Ralph (and Moyer), Franco, Bue (just didnt pan out) and the number of ML players the Rangers organization turned out under his tenure. Not to mention the Nolan Ryan FA signing (still the biggest FA signing in Ranger history?) And this is ignoring the #1 ranking in 1990.

@ bad: Perhaps its fuzzy memory, but i think at one point Tom could have had the Yanks GM job and he turned it down. How many other offers he got i dont know, but it tells you something about the man to turn that job down.

As a final note, look at the leaders in wins
#3: Witt (drafted by Tom)
#5 Kevin Brown (drafted by Tom)
#6 Rick Helling (drafted by Melvin)
#9 Darin oliver (drafted by Tom)
#11 Nolan Ryan (FA by Tom)
(Hough, K Rogers, and Guzman were acquired prior to Tom or he would own 6 of those spots)

My goodness we stink at getting winning pitchers *ughh*
But Tom by far got more winners than the following 2 GM's got, and only Melvin got another pitcher in the top 10.

Okay, I guess you're not that far off, red3. Wilson Alvarez still sticks in m craw. Okay, WIlson Alvarez wasn't the greastest pitcher of all time but still, why in the world did Grieve even *think* about trading him (not to mention Sosa, but that's another story completely.)

Imagine trading Neftali Feliz and Justin Smoak for Dan Uggla.

Greatings , im new to this forum. its a special forum

hope im welcome :)