Watching a Grandmaster at Work: Jerry Dipoto Getting Zack Greinke (August Issue)

(Kyle Terada-US Presswire)

By David Saltzer | @DaveSaltzer

A good chess player knows the rules of the game and has some understanding of strategy. More often than not, he can align the pieces in such a way as to win the game. Since nothing is hidden on a chess board, a good opponent can easily spot the moves far in advance to counter any end-game that may ensue.  

A grandmaster chess player, on the other hand, has a much deeper understanding of the game. He isn’t just thinking about the move he is making presently; he’s thinking about how the present move sets up a strategy several moves later. Sometimes, it involves making an opportunity happen that wouldn’t otherwise exist. But, for a grandmaster, any move made is always part of the bigger picture—winning the game.

Being a baseball general manager is a lot like playing chess. In most cases, the needs and opportunities are available for all to see. All teams scout every other organization in baseball, so there are not that many surprises when it comes to making deals.

Sometimes being a GM can be easy, such as when an owner opens his wallet to buy what his team needs. That was the case when Arte Moreno committed several hundred million to Albert Pujols and C. J. Wilson this offseason. While it took a lot of skill for Jerry Dipoto to sign both, especially simultaneously, it took even more courage for Mr. Moreno to commit to writing checks that large.

Other times, for example near the July trade deadline, being a good GM requires all the skills of a grandmaster. Such was the case with the Angels trading for Zack Greinke. Making that deal happen showed just how much finesse and skill the Angels acquired when they named Dipoto as their new GM in October of 2011. In order to land the former Cy Young Award Winner, Dipoto had to align his forces long in advance. All while finessing up to eight other rival GMs, including a divisional rival, to make the deal.

The seeds of the Greinke deal were planted nearly two years ago when the Angels traded Joe Saunders and prospects to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Dan Haren. At that time, Dipoto served as the interim GM for the Diamondbacks and got his first in-depth look at the Angels farm clubs to identify their talent. More importantly, he got a first-hand experience with how the organization went about making trades and evaluating their prospects. In talking with people from around the industry, the Angels under former GM Tony Reagins were considered “stiff” and “wooden” in their operations—not the way a front office should operate.

Over the next two years, as he waited for an opportunity to become a GM, Dipoto studied the game as thoroughly as any other executive. He developed his own strategies on how to run a successful franchise, blending his knowledge as a former player with his statistical analysis to develop a comprehensive approach to running an organization which he wrote into a book.
 

He targeted players that he wanted from other organizations and identified ways to acquire them. It was that level of study and knowledge that impressed the Angels when they hired him to be the new GM. He had a vision of what a successful franchise should be and how he could achieve it.

After taking over as the Angels’ GM, Dipoto went about a thorough organizational review and changed the way the Angels front office operated. In conversations with rival scouts and executives, Dipoto brought a level of “fluidity”, “dynamics”, and “analysis” that had been absent. He was proactive, not reactive.

In order to make the Greinke deal, Dipoto went about freeing the talent to trade long before the season began. He started by finding a redundancy in the organization, Jean Segura—a top-rated 2B/SS. After locking up Howie Kendrick (2B) and Erick Aybar (SS) to long-term deals in early 2012, Dipoto made Segura expendable and a foundation of the Greinke trade.

To further increase the pool of available talent, Dipoto began to more aggressively develop and promote the Angels’ prospects. Previously, the Angels did not move their prospects up the organizational ladder as quickly as other organizations because they wanted them to meet more critical goals. Thus, the prospects were seen by rival as being behind the curve (old for their leagues), and often considered less valuable than they should have been.

Two top-level pitching prospects, Johnny Hellweg (RHP) and Ariel Pena (RHP) continued to thrive under the more aggressive development. But, more importantly, two other prospects, A. J. Schugel (RHP) and Nick Maronde (LHP), also emerged, giving Dipoto more talent to trade without having to sacrifice the entire future for a single year. With Jared Weaver, Wilson, Haren, and Garrett Richards all under club control for multiple years, the Angels would not need all of that pitching talent, especially if they added Greinke to the rotation. Dipoto could afford to trade two high-ceiling prospects for one top-shelf Major Leaguer.

Still, to complete the trade, Dipoto had to convince one last person to make the deal—Mr. Moreno. In order to acquire Greinke, the Angels would have to take on more payroll, which was already over budget. Here again, Dipoto used the utmost of logic to get his way. Having already greatly expanded the payroll for Pujols and Wilson, the Angels were “all-in” for this year. The only way that they could make a reasonable return on the expenditures would be to go deep into October.

Adding Greinke gives the Angels the best chance to go far in the post season as they will have four true aces in their rotation. If the Angels are going to overtake the Texas Rangers, they will need to beat them in head-to-head contests, as well as making up ground over the remainder of the season. Having a rotation of Weaver, Wilson, Greinke, and Haren gives the Angels a buzz-saw to cut down the opposition and win series after series between now and the end of the season.

Additionally, if the Angels have to burn Weaver to either clinch a Wild Card spot or use him to win the one-game Wild Card playoff, they will be able to come back with a rotation of Wilson, Greinke and Haren to get through to the next round. At that point, they will be able to put an ace on the mound for every game of the post season. No longer will they be one-and-done in the post season, and, unlike 2002, the 2012 Angels won’t have to rely on a rookie to win Game 7 of the World Series.

The day after the Angels announced the trade for Greinke, the Angels’ Vice President of Communications met with a group from AngelsWin.com to share with us some of his thoughts. He told us that Greinke was not a spur of the moment type trade by Dipoto. Instead, Dipoto had studied Greinke for years in anticipation of making a deal for him. In retrospect, seeing all the moves that Dipoto made in anticipation of the trade, it was like watching a grandmaster at work.

David Saltzer contributed a Guest Column for the August Issue of Big Leagues Monthly | Magazine, he is also a senior writer at AngelsWin.com.