Did they force JC out because of the RJ non-deal?

[devilalum]

Associated Press
PHOENIX -- Jerry Colangelo, who brought Arizona a major league baseball franchise in 1998 and a World Series title three years later, is being forced out as chief executive officer of the Diamondbacks and will be replaced by Jeff Moorad, an agent for several top players.




Colangelo, the team's managing general partner, said Friday that after disagreements with the partnership that owns the team about the direction of the franchise, he was asked whether he would be willing to step down.


"It wasn't planned but really when you get down to it, really it was my decision to say, I'm out," he said. "You know, once you get over the initial hurt of something like that -- another expression you've heard me use is 'I'm a big boy' -- and you kind of go on with your life and this is no different."


Moorad, who represents Boston's Manny Ramirez and other top players, takes over as chief executive officer on Jan. 1 and as chairman exactly one year later. A former partner of football agent Leigh Steinberg, Moorad thanked the owners for their faith in him.


"After 20 years in the baseball industry, I have come to appreciate the qualities in an organization that can differentiate and ultimately contribute to success on the field," Moorad said. "In my opinion, there is not a better organization in sports than the Arizona Diamondbacks."


Ramirez said he talked to Moorad about the move on Thursday.


"He was so happy it was unbelievable," Ramirez said before Friday's game in Detroit. "I'm really happy for him because he's wanted to do this for a long time. He's been an agent for 20 years, so he's just going to leave another guy in the office in charge. He's going to focus on Arizona."


Because there is a change in control, the shift from Colangelo to Moorad must be approved by major league baseball. And because Moorad has had access to confidential information of the players' association, it could become a complicated change.


Moorad would not be the first agent to make the move. Dennis Gilbert, who represented Jose Canseco and Bobby Bonilla, is currently an executive with the Chicago White Sox.


The partners' revolt ended Colangelo's reign as Arizona's top sports mogul.


Colangelo said he and the partners disagreed over whether the team should continue to follow a plan formed when the team came to Arizona in 1998. While Arizona spent heavily on free agents and beat the New York Yankees in a thrilling seven-game World Series three years ago, they have cut payroll and at 35-75 have the worst record in the major leagues.


Last weekend, they declined to deal five-time Cy Young Award winner Randy Johnson, who makes $16 million annually.


Colangelo, a 64-year-old Chicago native gave up his 20 percent ownership of the NBA's Phoenix Suns on June 30 as part of a $401 million sale of the NBA team to San Diego banking executive Robert Sarver. Colangelo, who moved to Arizona 36 years ago to become the Suns' general manager, remains chairman and CEO, and his son Bryan Colangelo is the team's president.


Jerry Colangelo plans to step down from his position with the Suns in three years.


Colangelo noted he will also still have responsibilities with the Diamondbacks and major league baseball.


"I'm not going off in the sunset somewhere," he said.

 

[sly fly]

I don't believe that to be the case.

I think the managing partners felt this was a good time to make a move. The team is in a bit of discord, so it would be a lot easier to to it while they have JC in a less enviable position.

Does anybody think this would have happened if they were 10 games up? I don't.

Jerry' a proud man. He knew it would come to this, eventually. However, I don't think he was happy about how it shook out so quickly. The other partners probably did a lot of maneuvering while JC was on vacation in Italy, and may have even postponed things a bit to allow the emotions of Cotton pasing away to fade a bit.

Wow, what a year for JC. Sells the Suns for $400 million. Our beloved Cotton passes away. And, he has the rug pulled out from under him regarding the Dbacks.

This guy may have rubbed some ingrates the wrong way over his years, but he's been one helluva ambassador for our city's sports franchises. And, I'm proud he's been on our side.

We definitely wouldn't be here without you, Jerry. In fact, I think he's been the single-most influential businessman the State of Arizona has ever seen.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

I'll always be thankful of Colangelo for bringing professional sports to the Valley, but his track record as an owner leaves a lot to be desired. In 45 years as the main decison maker of two franchises, he has a whopping one championship. And that championship one can argue is more a product of him handing over the reigns to Showalter as JC's own abilities. The Sexson trade, which according to some sources was a result of Colangelo's infatuation with Richie, is more on par with JC's decision making ability as a hands-on owner.

 

[sly fly]

I'll always be thankful of Colangelo for bringing professional sports to the Valley, but his track record as an owner leaves a lot to be desired. In 45 years as the main decison maker of two franchises, he has a whopping one championship. And that championship one can argue is more a product of him handing over the reigns to Showalter as JC's own abilities. The Sexson trade, which according to some sources was a result of Colangelo's infatuation with Richie, is more on par with JC's decision making ability as a hands-on owner.

If you'd take a poll of the pro athletes who've done business with Jerry, you'd probably find that he was a man of his word... and at the top of the list as far as athletes wanting to play for him.

So, I think his track record to you looks pretty barren. But, in reality, Jerry would probably make every move he's made over again (save Rick Robey/DJ).

He never had Steinbrenner money. Or, Mark Cuban money. But, he's been pretty creative in making things work for the best. Not to mention the risk he took by keeping the Suns in PHX after the drug scandal.

He's left the plate full for Moorad and Sarver. And, if you asked them... they couldn't have a better mentor in leading the transition for them.

It would be nice to have a couple championships (the friggin Jon Paxson shot still haunts me), but I've had a great time following his teams. They've never tanked it, and have always tried to improve the product. There never has been a time in which things were eternally hopeless.

In reality, it's probably a good time to move forward. Sarver and Moorad seem like they want to take things to the next level. And, we got lucky Colangelo sought out these quality businessman to hopefully get us these championships we crave for.

 

[Ryanwb]

I am grateful for what Jerry was able to accomplish, but lets face some facts. He brought in a HORRIBLE front office staff.... The Dbacks have been robbed blind and set back for the next 2 years with the raping like deals Joe G pulled. They totally mortgaged the future with the defered payments, speculation is this team is $150,000,000 in debt (WTF??)

Colangelo made his deal with the devil and he finally come today to collect. I will always be thankful for what Jerry was able to accomplish with the Suns and the D'backs, but frankly it was time to go.

 

[AZZenny]

From Baseball America - and I had exactly the same thought earlier:
With Jeff Moorad becoming CEO of the Diamondbacks on Sept. 1, am I the only one who would love to watch the negotiations with his bitter rival, Scott Boras, over the team's unsigned first-round pick, Florida State shortstop Stephen Drew?

My other thought was - what does it say about Stephen Drew's competitive drive and desire that he's not pushing to get out there playing? Man, wish we'd taken Dustin Pedroia.

 

[devilalum]

If anybody knows exactly why they forced Jerry out I sure want to know.

Are they looking to cut more payroll?
Were they pissed because Jerry put the nix on the RJ deal and they wanted to dump Randy's contract?
I read that JC has a different vision for the team than the rest of the owners. What is the new vision?

 

[NavyVet]

I read that JC has a different vision for the team than the rest of the owners. What is the new vision?

Winning?

 

[AZZenny]

Newspaper today suggested what really pissed off the ownership group was drafting Stephen Drew!! That when they were told the financial hit involved in the expected signing bonus, they were angered not to have been informed first - which says that Boras is looking $5-10M, I'd guess. Pass.

Now: 1) You don't have time for a conference call with 4-5 guys when draft pick #2 suddenly turns up at #15 - and only the GM can make that kind of snap decision; 2) If they wanted to be consulted on such decisions, they should have been sitting in the "war room" on draft day and also been involved prior to that day at least somewhat. Maybe they were, in which case perhaps they weren't paying attention or don't know who Boras is? 3) This has to mean GM JoeBlows is gone sooner rather than later, Hooray!

Moorad knows every GM and Assistant GM in baseball. He knows who's a patsy, who's astute, who does homework, what guy's philosophical biases are, because for 20 years its been his job to out-strategize them.

Here's a link to the Tucson paper's column - which isn't too far off my own point of view.
Paying the Piper

 

[CatBoxBackFan]

Here's a link to the Tucson paper's column - which isn't too far off my own point of view.
Paying the Piper

Greg Hanson's take is not far from right on and for him that is few and far between. Jerrys legacy will be tarnished if they can turn this around in a year or two but from the news conference he said that he is not concerned about his legacy

 

[Espo]

What about a possible push by Bud Selig to get JC out of baseball? Think about it the ownership group wants an allstar game here in Phoenix in the near future. Now what if Selig said "You get JC out and we will make that allstar game happen ASAP". Think about how this would help the ownership group. It brings some major revenue to a team that needs it more than any club. Just a thought but I love conspiracy theories.

 

[AZZenny]

This from Ask BA chat:

Q: Jeff Moorad from Bank One Ballpark Office asks:
Will I need to call in connections in rebuilding AZ or do we have enough in the farm? I think Mike Rizzo is vastly underrated and has done a terrific job the last couple of drafts.

A: Kevin Goldstein: I think Arizona could turn it around pretty quickly. You could actually look back five years and see a good draft each time. There's plenty of talent coming up and they're in a perfect position to rebuild quickly.

As Schillingfan pointed out to me, Bud must be rotating on a spit about now - if he thought Jerry was pro-player, anti-mlb-establishment, he has to be freaked at Moorad taking over. Plus, Moorad isn't going to let this franchise struggle ugly for very long - he's used to succeeding and he obviously feels it can happen here. I suspect Bud and Sandy and the boys were really happy to see us flounder this year. Getting our 'comeuppance.'

 

[devilalum]

This from Ask BA chat:

Q: Jeff Moorad from Bank One Ballpark Office asks:
Will I need to call in connections in rebuilding AZ or do we have enough in the farm? I think Mike Rizzo is vastly underrated and has done a terrific job the last couple of drafts.

A: Kevin Goldstein: I think Arizona could turn it around pretty quickly. You could actually look back five years and see a good draft each time. There's plenty of talent coming up and they're in a perfect position to rebuild quickly.

As Schillingfan pointed out to me, Bud must be rotating on a spit about now - if he thought Jerry was pro-player, anti-mlb-establishment, he has to be freaked at Moorad taking over. Plus, Moorad isn't going to let this franchise struggle ugly for very long - he's used to succeeding and he obviously feels it can happen here. I suspect Bud and Sandy and the boys were really happy to see us flounder this year. Getting our 'comeuppance.'

If you told me this would be the consequince of winning the World Series back in 2001 I'd do it again without blinking an eye.

King Bud can laugh all he wants but the fact is that we have a World Championship and a bunch of teams that have existed for decades either don't have one or haven't seen one since WWII.

I laugh out loud every time I think about the Cubs and Red Sox. And I'll bet anybody that neither of these teams will win it all this year.

 

[NJYAJ09]

If you told me this would be the consequince of winning the World Series back in 2001 I'd do it again without blinking an eye.

King Bud can laugh all he wants but the fact is that we have a World Championship and a bunch of teams that have existed for decades either don't have one or haven't seen one since WWII.

I laugh out loud every time I think about the Cubs and Red Sox. And I'll bet anybody that neither of these teams will win it all this year.

Exactly.

We wanted to win a championship, and we did. Can;t fault anyone for that.

 

[schillingfan]

Interesting article by Hanson. Overall I'd say not good news for D-Backs fans as I read what is happening. I gather that new investors who have been rounded up over the past couple of years are more "fiscally oriented".

One can criticize JC all you want, but he was an owner who placed a premium on winning. Most of the teams run by ownership groups, such as you have, are bottom-line oriented. Phillies ownership group is that way and I hate them. They are content not to win as long as they earn profits and they are conservative and resistant to change.

When you are a big budget team you can paper over your personnel mistakes. Joe Jr. did fine with a big budget. He has shown little ability to manage a small payroll and he's stuck with his mistakes like Elmer Dessens.

I still think the D-Backs biggest mistake was in trying to remain competitive by signing Richie Sexson instead of rebuilding. It cost the team talent and money, and set them back.