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New Scouting Structure

metirish Feb 09 2011 07:19 AM

This is interesting , I often wondered how scouting and advanced scouting was organized , so many games and traveling involved. I remember that Bob Melvin apparently stayed in NY when he was scouting for the Mets, went to MFYS3 and scouted AL teams(memory could be fuzzy there but it further muddled my thinking on scouting). Sandy Alderson implements new system of scouting, evaluating for Mets, overseen by J.P. Ricciardi BY ANDY MARTINO Sandy Alderson speaks often about the importance of establishing an organizational philosophy for the Mets, and building a structure for sustained success. One tangible manifestation of that this winter has been a total overhaul of the team's approach to professional scouting. In contrast to Omar Minaya's method of assigning pro scouts to a large number of major league teams (special assistant Bryan Lambe, for example, covered the entire National League last year), Alderson's Mets will charge each pro scout with covering just three organizations, but far more comprehensively than before - from the low minor leagues to the major league club. J.P. Ricciardi will oversee their work. "I don't think there is a right way or a wrong way to do it, but this gives you a little more continuity," Ricciardi said. "Getting guys on a system, from A-ball to Double-A to Triple-A, gives you a better understanding of what the organization is doing." This type of coverage has become increasingly popular in recent years, and one veteran NL executive estimated that "about half, maybe a little bit more" of MLB teams now employ this method. When Ricciardi was GM of the Toronto Blue Jays, he structured his scouting department this way. The approach aims to create experts on rival organizations, so a GM can tap into deeper knowledge of, say, prospects available in a trade. Skeptics consider this a less efficient model, full of logistical challenges. Under the Mets' new method, scouts will scramble all over the country to cover three major league teams and about 16 minor league clubs, and will rarely be able to see two of their assigned teams in a single game. That will likely lead to increased travel expenses, inconveniences in scheduling and difficulties in seeing individual teams and players often enough. Still, the implementation of these ideas provides a concrete example of the Mets' stated effort to improve a troubled organization. The desire for change resulted in significant turnover this winter. The team dismissed veteran scouts Duane Larson and Russ Bove. Bob Melvin left the organization after losing out to Terry Collins for the managerial opening, and highly respected advance scout Bob Johnson took a job with Atlanta. There was also internal restructuring. Former Cincinnati GM Wayne Krivsky, who joined the Mets last year as a special assistant to Minaya, now serves as part of the pro scouting group. Lambe, another special assistant, will join the pro scouts assigned to three organizations apiece, as will former amateur scouting director Rudy Terrasas (Chad MacDonald was hired in December to replace Terrasas on the amateur side). The Mets also made three new hires: Tommy Tanous, Roy Smith and Jim D'Aloia. Tanous and D'Aloia worked under Ricciardi in Toronto, and Smith worked under Paul DePodesta when the Mets executive was GM of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ricciardi, working closely with Alderson and DePodesta, assembled that group this winter, combining Minaya-era holdovers such as Roland Johnson, David Keller and others with new hires. "I find that both ways (to conduct pro scouting) can be good and bad," Ricciardi said. "We've got really good scouts, and that's more important than how you do it." Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseb ... z1DTISnxSw

Edgy DC Feb 09 2011 07:30 AM Re: New Scouting Structure

Yeah, I compare regional vs. organizational scouting to building around pitching vs. building around hitting or single-sex vs. co-ed schooling. It's not the quality of the philosophy that matters, so much as the commitment to a philosophy around which to organize the work. Nonetheless, I'm intrigued by the deeper knowledge this change could potentially bring. One thing I'm always curious about in professional scouting is whether scouting a guy as a potential acquisition and scouting him as a potential opponent are different art forms. Do advance scouts look from different angles, focusing on weaknesses instead of strengths?

Benjamin Grimm Feb 09 2011 07:38 AM Re: New Scouting Structure

Interesting. I would think that a scout should focus on both. You want to know the weaknesses of the potential acquisitions, as well as the strengths of potential opponents.

MFS62 Feb 09 2011 07:51 AM Re: New Scouting Structure

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Interesting. I would think that a scout should focus on both. You want to know the weaknesses of the potential acquisitions, as well as the strengths of potential opponents. I agree. But I'm not sure if this is consistently done. Seems like more than a few times that a pitcher just up from the minors does well in his first few starts because his opponents look like they have absolutely no idea what he throws. Later

Edgy DC Feb 09 2011 07:52 AM Re: New Scouting Structure

Certainly. I just don't know if it all comes as part of the same assignment.

metirish Feb 09 2011 08:13 AM Re: New Scouting Structure

I'm picturing Riccardi holding weekly conference calls with the scouts and having all available information at his fingertips , maybe that's how it worked before but I like this organized approach. They are working with scouts they know , who I assume know this system and it's all good I think.

Vic Sage Feb 09 2011 08:33 AM Re: New Scouting Structure

Under the Mets' new method, scouts will scramble all over the country to cover three major league teams and about 16 minor league clubs, and will rarely be able to see two of their assigned teams in a single game. That will likely lead to increased travel expenses, inconveniences in scheduling and difficulties in seeing individual teams and players often enough. These logistical obstacles to seeing everybody often enough may require management to rely more on quantatative analysis... which may part of the point. which is fine with me. At any rate, deeper knowledge is better.

Edgy DC Feb 09 2011 08:48 AM Re: New Scouting Structure

The "scrambling all over the country" thing is probably over-rated also, as organizations have become more coalesced around regions. If you were assigned to scout the Mets organization, you'd have three teams in New York and four in the Southeast, and who would know if you never bothered actually going to Kingsport? Besides, how much would the depression affect your work after two months just scouting the Appy League?