wikipedia wrote:Pat Gillick (born August 22, 1937) was a successful general manager in Major League Baseball during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s.
Born in Chico, California, Gillick graduated from USC in 1958 with a degree in business. He was also a gifted pitcher, playing on the 1958 National Title baseball team at USC and spending five years in the Baltimore Orioles minor league system, venturing as high as Triple-A.
Gillick retired from playing and began a front-office career in 1963 when he became the assistant farm director with the Houston Astros. He would eventually work his way up to the position of Director of Scouting before moving to the New York Yankees system in 1974 as a Coordinator of Player Development. In 1976 he moved again, this time to the expansion Toronto Blue Jays, becoming their Vice President of Player Personnel, and in 1977, their Vice President of Baseball Operations. In 1984 he was named Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations.
As Toronto's general manager, Gillick won five division titles (1985, 1989, 1991, 1992 and 1993) and led the club to their first World Series championships in 1992 and 1993.
In 1995, Gillick was named the general manager of the Baltimore Orioles organization and he guided the Orioles to the playoffs in 1996 and 1997. He left at the conclusion of his three-year contract in 1998.
Gillick then became the general manager of the Seattle Mariners and helped build one of the strongest teams in the American League during his tenure there (2000 through 2003). During this time, the Mariners had the best record in baseball (393-255), including a phenomenal 2001 campaign which saw them post a 116-46 record, tying the Major League Baseball record for wins in a season. They twice made the post-season, losing in the American League Championship Series in 2000 and 2001. Gillick was, however, criticized in his latter years for not making deals at the trade deadline which might have improved the club into a World Series contender.
Gillick was inducted into the Toronto Blue Jays "Level of Excellence" on August 8, 2002
I live in Philly and I was actually hoping they would get Hunsicker. Don't get me wrong, I think Gillick is much better than I expected them to do (given their track record) but there was a better option out there.
1. First, Gillick is 68 and there is speculation that he is keeping the seat warm for Ruben Amaro Jr. (which I don't like). Hunsicker is slightly younger.
2. Gillick lives in Toronto and his wife has a successful art gallery so he's going to be commuting. Hunsicker was born in Collegeville, PA and is a local guy.
3. Wagner has said that he prefers Hunsicker (this alone is not enough to get him hired but with these other points I think it is part of the equation).
4. Gillick had the nickname Stand Pat in Seattle because he didn't make any moves at the trade deadline. We already had a guy who didn't make moves at the deadline and his name was Ed Wade (thank God he's gone). Hunsicker picked up Randy Johnson and Carlos Beltran during seperate seasons to help his team at the deadline.
Who knows, maybe this is just me being a native Philadelphian and finding something wrong with everything they do but I thought they had a better option.
Music2004Man wrote:I live in Philly and I was actually hoping they would get Hunsicker. Don't get me wrong, I think Gillick is much better than I expected them to do (given their track record) but there was a better option out there.
1. First, Gillick is 68 and there is speculation that he is keeping the seat warm for Ruben Amaro Jr. (which I don't like). Hunsicker is slightly younger.
This is a legit concern. Gillick retired ten years ago but is just a workaholic. Gillick works best when he surrounds himself with and trains his own people. In Toronto he hired and trained Paul Beeston and Gord Ashe, who ended up being the next two Jays GMs, Beeston is now with MLB.
I would expect that he will want to clean out the front office, hire all of his own people and delegate a lot. Not really a bad thing but the question is whether the organization will give him that much control.
Music2004Man wrote:2. Gillick lives in Toronto and his wife has a successful art gallery so he's going to be commuting. Hunsicker was born in Collegeville, PA and is a local guy.
This wasn't a problem when he was with Baltimore and Seattle, it won't be a problem here.
Music2004Man wrote:4. Gillick had the nickname Stand Pat in Seattle because he didn't make any moves at the trade deadline. We already had a guy who didn't make moves at the deadline and his name was Ed Wade (thank God he's gone). Hunsicker picked up Randy Johnson and Carlos Beltran during seperate seasons to help his team at the deadline.
Not a concern. He doesn't make moves for the sake of making moves but when he can pull off a good deal he does it. This is from an discussion that we had a while ago about Gillick:
Sorry Pedantic - you are wrong. Gillick mastered the deadline deal. In Toronto in 1992 he brought in Jack Morris and Winfield and then Cone at the deadline to shore up the rotation and then win a big game against Oakland.
In 1993 he brought in Molitor and Dave Stewart and then Rickey Henderson at the deadline who went on to score 6 runs in 6 WS games.
I do know that the Ms were the best team in baseball when he was their GM. They were lousy when he got there and in the three years under him they won 116, 93 and 93 games. How were they a "disaster waiting to happen"? Because everyone knew that Boone, Edgar, Moyer and Piniero were going to fall apart?
obviously time will tell, but if 68 yo gillick (3 years removed from the "action") is such a great hire why doesnt someone bring back whitey herzog or dallas green ? hunsicker should have been the man there
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by eaglesfan » Wed Nov 02, 2005 12:04 am 
