FanPost

Dave Dombrowski and Billy Beane: A Fractured Tale of Two GMs

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"A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money."
-Everett Dirksen

What does the General Manager of a high-spending pizza mogul-owned team have in common with a GM of a team with a shoestring budget and horrible plumbing?

Besides success at building teams that play meaningful games in October, the last two years indicate that they both employ a revolving door starting pitching rotation.

Billy Beane runs the Oakland A’s like he is the host of "Flip This Team." He sifts through a mixture of cheap, low-risk pitchers with variable upsides, which may include his own obsessively scouted young draft selections, aging or injury-riddled veterans, or the tired and poor miscellaneous who don’t fit into the above categories. At the trading deadline, he will acquire an exceptional pitcher or three who is headed for free agency at the end of the season. He’ll also trade away excellent pitchers two years before free agency to maximize value and perhaps dodge high arbitration costs.

Many of these strategies are employed by other GMs, including Dave Dombrowski, but Beane applies them with a relentlessness triggered by desperation. Almost annually, this approach has paid off. Every year, despite operating on a soup kitchen allowance, he somehow furnishes a highly competitive starting pitching staff, and a contending playoff team.

Dave Dombrowski has had a different approach, one fortified by a generous funding stream. For the past five years he was able to roll out the same trio: Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, and Rick Porcello. During that time he added Doug Fister and Anibal Sanchez for three seasons each. Throw in Drew Smyly and the Tigers have had arguably the best rotation in baseball for the past four to five years. That is depth and continuity.

Granted, the Tigers didn’t build the rotation by spending big on free agents. Sanchez is the only free agent in the group and he was already a Tiger. But the Tigers have been able to maintain the strong pitching staff because Mike Ilitch’s deep pockets allowed them to keep Verlander and Sanchez by signing them to long term deals and retaining Fister, Max, and Porcello by spending the money needed to resolve any arbitration increase issues as they’ve come up.

Ilitch’s willingness to spend has applied to the lineup and, to a lesser extent, the bullpen (not so much the defense, you really can’t have everything), creating a successful run for the Tigers that has seen several playoff appearances and two World Series bids. Arguably the rotation has been at the heart of their success.

The past two offseasons, however, indicate that the limit has been reached. No more do the Tigers seem inclined to increase their already extravagant outlays to sign the players they may want or need. Currently they have $96.8 million wrapped up in five players, which is more than the A’s entire payroll. Starting with the Fister trade, the Tigers have started to apply their own version of fiscal restraint.

The Tigers did sign a huge free agent this year, the incumbent designated hitter Victor Martinez. But any new significant acquisitions, such as starting pitchers Shane Greene and Alfredo Simon, and starting outfielders Anthony Gose and Yoenis Cespedes were made by old-fashioned trades. Dombrowski has been charged with the task of maintaining the Tigers’ contending status and covering personnel losses without vaulting payroll into the luxury tax realm.

We will likely see more transactions that look more like Billy Beane than what we’re used to -- trading away veterans for not-ready-for-MLB-time talent (see the Fister trade), trading expiring contract for expiring contract (Porcello-Cespedes), taking more chances on players with significantly uneven talent (defense-first platoonable centerfielder Anthony Gose), and less investment in Cabrera/Fielder/Verlander/Martinez-type contracts. This new approach may not be all scary, as Dombrowski’s long baseball executive experience includes stints with the Montreal Expos and the post-Bobby Bonilla Florida Marlins with the type of scenarios Billy Beane experiences daily. But it’s been a while, and the process won’t be fluid. This type of process never is.

The Tigers are still deep in talent, and are still considered by many as favorites to take the AL Central this year. They will just be doing it without a raise in their allowance.

Of course, the Tigers could announce next week they signed David Price for $200 million. Then we really are talking about real money.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of the <em>Bless You Boys</em> writing staff.