Originally posted by olapac:Originally posted by 5280High:Originally posted by olapac:
People are acting like Baalke was the janitor or something. We was a team scout and then player of personnel. I seriously doubt he was just sitting around and not taking part in the discussion of who did/did not get added to the team. Again, he doesn't get most of the blame because he didn't have the trigger or coached or played. But there's a lot of blame to go around and he should get his fair share as well.
Look at is this way - Jed thought so highly of Trent and the job he was doing that he PROMOTED him to be the GM - to be the man with the trigger. You don't get that kind of promotion if you aren't already a key figure in how things are running.
Final words - he's been with the organization since '05. I'll leave it at that.
Blame rests solely on those who make the decisions, not the ones that present options. It's the job of any scout like Baalke, one of many scouting personnel, to present the team with the players that fit their scheme and the direction they want to go in. Trying to blame him for things that happened before he was in charge of the decisions is like blaming a realtor for showing you multiple houses and you pick the one that gets flooded a year later. Presenting the scouting profiles of players and actually drafting them are entirely different.
I disagree. Does Singletary get all of the blame, or do his coordinators share some of it to? There was lots of angst on this board about Jimmy Raye and his playcalling - deservedly so IMO.
The way you make it sound, Baalke did a great job as scout and player personnel and presented Scott with many good options for the draft and in free agency, but Scott ultimately went in another direction. Unless Baalke was screaming for us to draft Desean Jackson, but Scott picked Balmer instead (we don't know if that did or didn't happen; just using it as an example). Just because you're the guy in charge doesn't mean others can't share in the blame.
And the realtor example isn't completely accurate, unless that realtor is going to live in the house with you after you purchase. Realtors don't always have your best interest at heart. But your scouts and player personnel should. If not, they should be replaced.
I look at it more like a CEO of a company and the board of directors. The CEO makes the final decisions. So when things go bad in a quarter or a year, it's on the CEO. But if the board is helping to lay out a plan that the CEO uses to base his decisions on, why is the board exempt when things get messed up? That's my ultimate point about Baalke.
I never said Baalke was some wonderkin scout. But there is a key difference in presenting options and making the decisions. In your example the Board is definately York not Baalke.
The point is that you don't shoot the messenger. Baalke and the other scouts simply present options, they have no power in the decision making process. You wanna know what would happen to Baalke had he stood up to McClueless and Sing and told them they were wrong... he'd be packing his bags the next day and offering scouting data to Sando or one of the local bloggers. Execs don't like being questioned when they have made a decision. Baalke's opinion was just one of many taken into account when it came to drafting players, and I guarentee you it was as objective as possible. He was a scout not a coach. Attaching feelings to a decision won't get you far in any business, certainly not scouting.
