Numbers Game: Most Accomplished General Managers

Image credit: Dave Dombrowski (left) and Brian Cashman confer before a game of the 2018 AL Division Series.

General manager. President of baseball operations. Chief baseball officer.

The front office titles vary but convey the same thing. Primary decision-maker. Shot caller. Head honcho.

After the 2018 Red Sox won 108 games and cruised to the World Series title, we wanted to find out where Boston’s president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski stood in terms of career achievement.

To answer that question I borrowed an idea presented by Bill James in his 1995 book “Whatever Happened To The Hall Of Fame?” He proposed a method for evaluating managers’ worthiness for Cooperstown. He assigned weighted values to various career accomplishments, such as World Series championships (eight points each), pennants not resulting in championships (five), division titles (three), career wins (one point per 200) and 100-win seasons (one).

I updated the scoring system to include wild cards (WC), which didn’t exist at the time James published his book.

1. BRIAN CASHMAN
WORLD SERIES: 4 (1998,1999, 2000, 2009 Yankees).
PENNANTS: 2 (2001, 2003 Yankees).
DIVISION TITLES: 12.
WILD CARDS: 5.

2. DAVE DOMBROWSKI
WORLD SERIES: 2 (1997 Marlins, 2018 Red Sox).
PENNANTS: 2 (2006, 2012 Tigers).
DIVISION TITLES: 7.
WILD CARDS: 2.

3. BRIAN SABEAN
WORLD SERIES: 3 (2010, 2012, 2014 Giants).
PENNANT: 1 (2002 Giants).
DIVISION TITLES: 5.
WILD CARDS: 3.

4. THEO EPSTEIN
WORLD SERIES: 3 (2004, 2007 Red Sox and 2016 Cubs).
PENNANTS: 0.
DIVISION TITLES: 3.
WILD CARDS: 7.

5. SANDY ALDERSON
WORLD SERIES: 1 (1989 Athletics).
PENNANTS: 3 (1988, 1990 Athletics and 2015 Mets).
DIVISION TITLES: 5.
WILD CARDS: 1.

6. ANDREW FRIEDMAN
WORLD SERIES: 0.
PENNANTS: 3 (2008 Rays and 2017, 2018 Dodgers).
DIVISION TITLES: 6.
WILD CARDS: 2.

7. JOHN MOZELIAK
WORLD SERIES: 1 (2011 Cardinals).
PENNANT: 1 (2013 Cardinals).
DIVISION TITLES: 4.
WILD CARDS: 2.

8. BILLY BEANE
WORLD SERIES: 0.
PENNANTS: 0.
DIVISION TITLES: 6.
WILD CARDS: 3.

9. JON DANIELS
WORLD SERIES: 0.
PENNANTS: 2 (2010, 2011 Rangers).
DIVISION TITLES: 4.
WILD CARDS: 1.

10. DAYTON MOORE
WORLD SERIES: 1 (2015 Royals).
PENNANT: 1 (2014 Royals).
DIVISION TITLES: 1.
WILD CARD: 1.

11. JEFF LUHNOW
WORLD SERIES: 1 (2017 Astros).
PENNANTS: 0.
DIVISION TITLES: 2.
WILD CARD: 1.

12. CHRIS ANTONETTI
WORLD SERIES: 0.
PENNANTS: 1 (2016 Indians).
DIVISION TITLES: 3.
WILD CARD: 1.