Poll for Cards Talk- Which poster would make the best GM

[illiniriles]

I'm not sure. Maybe Melville COULD be a better GM for this organization. He's obviously a pretty bright guy. And his humility kinda reminds me of Rush Limbaugh, ya know? Which is nice. I think.

[Cranny]

The duties of a POBO and GM are far and wide, and require years of experience in the industry. No poster is qualified.

Given decisions and results of the past decade, you may well be overestimating the difficulty of the job and overvaluing experience.
For example, how hard could it possibly be to recognize the team has not had an established, productive, reliable, all-star quality outfielder for many, many years and that it would be a good idea to acquire one?
Would you like me to provide a dozen similar examples of ineptitude and incompetence on the part of Super Slo Mo?

If Moe can do it, anyone can do it. How smart do you have to be to hire MM, Schildt and Oli in succession? Actually, that kind of extreme stupid can’t be underestimated. You have to be very, very secure in your job to do something that incredibly stupid.

I may not agree with Cranny that often, but in this case, he is spot on. The complications of being a GM/POBO is immense. Yes, every mistake MO makes is scrutinized to death with the benefit of hindsight. But look at all the personnel decisions he made over the year that worked out.

Matt Holliday
Carlos Beltran
The Dotel trade in 2011
The Furcal trade in 2011
Goldschmidt
Arenado (even if the last couple of years end badly, we gave up nothing)
On this team, Romero for Sosa, Maton signing, despite the last 2 years, all the draft picks starting with 2020 are now rounding out a pretty decent starting 8. Bloom will inherit a team that is in better shape than any Cards roster since around 2015.
Pitching is weak in the system, that is partly due to injury partly due to bad drafting. But, there are a few arms that are OK.

The ability to judge not just star talent, but all the pieces required to make a good team requires a huge eye for talent, the actual pieces that are missing etc. Further, none of us have the Dewitt's sitting over our shoulder limiting the resources we would all like to spend.

I was going to let this pass, but since the thread has continued longer than I anticipated, let's circle back.
If the bar of being a quality GM is "I think Holliday, Beltran, Goldschmidt, and Arenado in their prime would be good to have on my team", then most 10 year old fans would be qualified.
But let's look at players with whom Super Slo Mo had to make his own analysis and calculation.
Wrong about Craigenter.
Wrong about Taveras.
Wrong about Heyward.
Wrong about Moss.
Wrong about Fowler.
Wrong about Leake.
Wrong about Piscotty.
Wrong about DeJong.
Wrong about Martinez.
Wrong about Flaherty.
Wrong about O'Neill.
Wrong about Bader.
Wrong about Reyes.
Wrong about Nootbaar.
Wrong about Alcantara.
Wrong about Gallen.
Wrong about Arozarena.
Mo was wrong on each and every one of these - keeping the wrong guys, acquiring the wrong guys, trading the wrong guys.
A truly amazing record of ineptitude.
And that list is far from complete.
Now, you are correct that DeWitt does indeed "look over the shoulder".
In Mo's case, DeWitt's eyes have obviously been closed.
The team would be far better off if the shoulder over which DeWitt was peering was mine (note: I was never wrong about any of the above listed players).
Zero question that I would be far, far better at the job than Super Slo Mo - as would several others here.

Craig helped win a WS. That earns some runway.
Mo wasn't driving, Taveras was.
Cards might have got Heyward's last decent productive year in his career.
DeJong's extension was pretty neutral.
Flaherty, O'Neill and Bader all provided positive value when they were here, and none of them were extended. Bader continues to provide value for the Twins while also still providing potential future value for the Cards with first Montogomery, and now Saggese, Roby and King.
Reyes had injuries derail his career.
Noot has provided value for the Cards every year so far.
Libs has been mishandled, but if he continues to trend well, the end results of the Aroz trade can't yet be judged very accurately.

As mattmitch tries to explain on another thread, the Cards payroll only works with trying to build from the farm with players that provide value while they are cost controlled.

False premise on your part.
No one disputes that teams operate within budgetary guidelines.
In fact, it is precisely aligned with the perfect point I made.
Again, to very clear, you just proved my point.
Mo has badly mismanaged the roster for more than a decade.
Banking on a troubled 22-year-old - with no back up plan - was foolish.
Believing DeJong, Flaherty, O' Neill, and Bader were core players around whom to build a roster was foolish (Mo was wrong on every one of them - I was 100% correct on every one of them).
He stuck with Reyes too long.
I alone advised trading Martinez as his high-water mark because there the red lights were flashing and obvious - and Mo was too blind to see it.
Mo claimed Nootbaar was a core player, was off-limits in all trade conversations; and was destined to be an important middle order bat - and he was laughably and predictably wrong (I, of course, have been proven 100% correct that he is not, and never will be, any such thing).
And again, the list I provided was very brief compared to the overall reality.
There is so much more.
Just a few recent additional examples.
The loyalty to Molina and Wainwright long past their expiration dates proved to be catastrophic - exactly as I predicted well in advance.
The horrendous message signing Pujols for his farewell tour also undermined the entire organization.
The hiring of The Marmot - who has proven to be an awful choice - was clearly the wrong man, the wrong time, the wrong team, hired for the wrong reasons.
Bottom line - this discussion has nothing to do with payroll.
It is about Mo's horrendous track record of simply awful judgement.
He took one of baseball's healthiest franchises and drove it into the ground.
Again, several people here have a far better track record than he does - and have the posting history to prove it.

Your hindsight is superb.

A poster on a message board is allowed to have hindsight. An MLB POBO is paid for foresight — and clearly it’s lacking, as has been more than pointed out.

Posters don’t have all the facts. Too many assumptions are made. Trades are proposed for guys who don’t want to come here because they’d rather play in big markets on the coasts. Players who are brought here for the right reasons go into a funk.
Maybe they have personal problems. Players who are traded do well elsewhere, because the specialty coach for that team teaches a different technique.
Posters have shallow knowledge, and yet claim they know more than insiders who have all the facts in front of them. It’s entertaining.

[Rojo Johnson]

Cranny, you go girl! Keep those excuses coming. Melville gave you a partial list of Moe’s follies and you still can’t accept what a moron he is. He’s been driving this franchise into the ground for over a decade and some of us have a track record of saying so. All you offer is what a nice family he has. To you, that’s important to being a GM. No joke.

[renostl]

The duties of a POBO and GM are far and wide, and require years of experience in the industry. No poster is qualified.

Given decisions and results of the past decade, you may well be overestimating the difficulty of the job and overvaluing experience.
For example, how hard could it possibly be to recognize the team has not had an established, productive, reliable, all-star quality outfielder for many, many years and that it would be a good idea to acquire one?
Would you like me to provide a dozen similar examples of ineptitude and incompetence on the part of Super Slo Mo?

If Moe can do it, anyone can do it. How smart do you have to be to hire MM, Schildt and Oli in succession? Actually, that kind of extreme stupid can’t be underestimated. You have to be very, very secure in your job to do something that incredibly stupid.

I may not agree with Cranny that often, but in this case, he is spot on. The complications of being a GM/POBO is immense. Yes, every mistake MO makes is scrutinized to death with the benefit of hindsight. But look at all the personnel decisions he made over the year that worked out.

Matt Holliday
Carlos Beltran
The Dotel trade in 2011
The Furcal trade in 2011
Goldschmidt
Arenado (even if the last couple of years end badly, we gave up nothing)
On this team, Romero for Sosa, Maton signing, despite the last 2 years, all the draft picks starting with 2020 are now rounding out a pretty decent starting 8. Bloom will inherit a team that is in better shape than any Cards roster since around 2015.
Pitching is weak in the system, that is partly due to injury partly due to bad drafting. But, there are a few arms that are OK.

The ability to judge not just star talent, but all the pieces required to make a good team requires a huge eye for talent, the actual pieces that are missing etc. Further, none of us have the Dewitt's sitting over our shoulder limiting the resources we would all like to spend.

I was going to let this pass, but since the thread has continued longer than I anticipated, let's circle back.
If the bar of being a quality GM is "I think Holliday, Beltran, Goldschmidt, and Arenado in their prime would be good to have on my team", then most 10 year old fans would be qualified.
But let's look at players with whom Super Slo Mo had to make his own analysis and calculation.
Wrong about Craigenter.
Wrong about Taveras.
Wrong about Heyward.
Wrong about Moss.
Wrong about Fowler.
Wrong about Leake.
Wrong about Piscotty.
Wrong about DeJong.
Wrong about Martinez.
Wrong about Flaherty.
Wrong about O'Neill.
Wrong about Bader.
Wrong about Reyes.
Wrong about Nootbaar.
Wrong about Alcantara.
Wrong about Gallen.
Wrong about Arozarena.
Mo was wrong on each and every one of these - keeping the wrong guys, acquiring the wrong guys, trading the wrong guys.
A truly amazing record of ineptitude.
And that list is far from complete.
Now, you are correct that DeWitt does indeed "look over the shoulder".
In Mo's case, DeWitt's eyes have obviously been closed.
The team would be far better off if the shoulder over which DeWitt was peering was mine (note: I was never wrong about any of the above listed players).
Zero question that I would be far, far better at the job than Super Slo Mo - as would several others here.

Craig helped win a WS. That earns some runway.
Mo wasn't driving, Taveras was.
Cards might have got Heyward's last decent productive year in his career.
DeJong's extension was pretty neutral.
Flaherty, O'Neill and Bader all provided positive value when they were here, and none of them were extended. Bader continues to provide value for the Twins while also still providing potential future value for the Cards with first Montogomery, and now Saggese, Roby and King.
Reyes had injuries derail his career.
Noot has provided value for the Cards every year so far.
Libs has been mishandled, but if he continues to trend well, the end results of the Aroz trade can't yet be judged very accurately.

As mattmitch tries to explain on another thread, the Cards payroll only works with trying to build from the farm with players that provide value while they are cost controlled.

Agreement on many points.

Most of these players had minimal commitments given to them. This would seem to suggest that MO did NOT
see them as stars either. He did see them as players, as pieces to make a team and the thought of somebody being
a minimum wage productive player. They should be seen as such, not as MO being so ignorant to think every player
was the next AP and he was in love with them. He stated as much when saying the team need stars to emerge
from within that the team can build around in order to be a better team.

[sikeston bulldog2]

The duties of a POBO and GM are far and wide, and require years of experience in the industry. No poster is qualified.

Given decisions and results of the past decade, you may well be overestimating the difficulty of the job and overvaluing experience.
For example, how hard could it possibly be to recognize the team has not had an established, productive, reliable, all-star quality outfielder for many, many years and that it would be a good idea to acquire one?
Would you like me to provide a dozen similar examples of ineptitude and incompetence on the part of Super Slo Mo?

If Moe can do it, anyone can do it. How smart do you have to be to hire MM, Schildt and Oli in succession? Actually, that kind of extreme stupid can’t be underestimated. You have to be very, very secure in your job to do something that incredibly stupid.

I may not agree with Cranny that often, but in this case, he is spot on. The complications of being a GM/POBO is immense. Yes, every mistake MO makes is scrutinized to death with the benefit of hindsight. But look at all the personnel decisions he made over the year that worked out.

Matt Holliday
Carlos Beltran
The Dotel trade in 2011
The Furcal trade in 2011
Goldschmidt
Arenado (even if the last couple of years end badly, we gave up nothing)
On this team, Romero for Sosa, Maton signing, despite the last 2 years, all the draft picks starting with 2020 are now rounding out a pretty decent starting 8. Bloom will inherit a team that is in better shape than any Cards roster since around 2015.
Pitching is weak in the system, that is partly due to injury partly due to bad drafting. But, there are a few arms that are OK.

The ability to judge not just star talent, but all the pieces required to make a good team requires a huge eye for talent, the actual pieces that are missing etc. Further, none of us have the Dewitt's sitting over our shoulder limiting the resources we would all like to spend.

I was going to let this pass, but since the thread has continued longer than I anticipated, let's circle back.
If the bar of being a quality GM is "I think Holliday, Beltran, Goldschmidt, and Arenado in their prime would be good to have on my team", then most 10 year old fans would be qualified.
But let's look at players with whom Super Slo Mo had to make his own analysis and calculation.
Wrong about Craigenter.
Wrong about Taveras.
Wrong about Heyward.
Wrong about Moss.
Wrong about Fowler.
Wrong about Leake.
Wrong about Piscotty.
Wrong about DeJong.
Wrong about Martinez.
Wrong about Flaherty.
Wrong about O'Neill.
Wrong about Bader.
Wrong about Reyes.
Wrong about Nootbaar.
Wrong about Alcantara.
Wrong about Gallen.
Wrong about Arozarena.
Mo was wrong on each and every one of these - keeping the wrong guys, acquiring the wrong guys, trading the wrong guys.
A truly amazing record of ineptitude.
And that list is far from complete.
Now, you are correct that DeWitt does indeed "look over the shoulder".
In Mo's case, DeWitt's eyes have obviously been closed.
The team would be far better off if the shoulder over which DeWitt was peering was mine (note: I was never wrong about any of the above listed players).
Zero question that I would be far, far better at the job than Super Slo Mo - as would several others here.

Craig helped win a WS. That earns some runway.
Mo wasn't driving, Taveras was.
Cards might have got Heyward's last decent productive year in his career.
DeJong's extension was pretty neutral.
Flaherty, O'Neill and Bader all provided positive value when they were here, and none of them were extended. Bader continues to provide value for the Twins while also still providing potential future value for the Cards with first Montogomery, and now Saggese, Roby and King.
Reyes had injuries derail his career.
Noot has provided value for the Cards every year so far.
Libs has been mishandled, but if he continues to trend well, the end results of the Aroz trade can't yet be judged very accurately.

As mattmitch tries to explain on another thread, the Cards payroll only works with trying to build from the farm with players that provide value while they are cost controlled.

False premise on your part.
No one disputes that teams operate within budgetary guidelines.
In fact, it is precisely aligned with the perfect point I made.
Again, to very clear, you just proved my point.
Mo has badly mismanaged the roster for more than a decade.
Banking on a troubled 22-year-old - with no back up plan - was foolish.
Believing DeJong, Flaherty, O' Neill, and Bader were core players around whom to build a roster was foolish (Mo was wrong on every one of them - I was 100% correct on every one of them).
He stuck with Reyes too long.
I alone advised trading Martinez as his high-water mark because there the red lights were flashing and obvious - and Mo was too blind to see it.
Mo claimed Nootbaar was a core player, was off-limits in all trade conversations; and was destined to be an important middle order bat - and he was laughably and predictably wrong (I, of course, have been proven 100% correct that he is not, and never will be, any such thing).
And again, the list I provided was very brief compared to the overall reality.
There is so much more.
Just a few recent additional examples.
The loyalty to Molina and Wainwright long past their expiration dates proved to be catastrophic - exactly as I predicted well in advance.
The horrendous message signing Pujols for his farewell tour also undermined the entire organization.
The hiring of The Marmot - who has proven to be an awful choice - was clearly the wrong man, the wrong time, the wrong team, hired for the wrong reasons.
Bottom line - this discussion has nothing to do with payroll.
It is about Mo's horrendous track record of simply awful judgement.
He took one of baseball's healthiest franchises and drove it into the ground.
Again, several people here have a far better track record than he does - and have the posting history to prove it.

Your hindsight is superb.

A poster on a message board is allowed to have hindsight. An MLB POBO is paid for foresight — and clearly it’s lacking, as has been more than pointed out.

Posters don’t have all the facts. Too many assumptions are made. Trades are proposed for guys who don’t want to come here because they’d rather play in big markets on the coasts. Players who are brought here for the right reasons go into a funk.
Maybe they have personal problems. Players who are traded do well elsewhere, because the specialty coach for that team teaches a different technique.
Posters have shallow knowledge, and yet claim they know more than insiders who have all the facts in front of them. It’s entertaining.

Of course we don’t have any behind the scenes activities to score over. Not my point. If a poster here, learned the system, the industry, why could he not do the job.

It’s a mere leadership position. It can be learned. Especially facilitated by a competent group of department heads.

[Melville]

I'm not sure. Maybe Melville COULD be a better GM for this organization. He's obviously a pretty bright guy. And his humility kinda reminds me of Rush Limbaugh, ya know? Which is nice. I think.

Thank you for the kind words.
Very gracious of you.
Many folks could be a better GM for the Cardinals - the bar has been set unbelievably low over the past decade.
As for Limbaugh - love him or hate him - he dominated his professional in a way few others, if any, ever have.
But then, he created his own industry.
There will never be another.

[Melville]

The duties of a POBO and GM are far and wide, and require years of experience in the industry. No poster is qualified.

Given decisions and results of the past decade, you may well be overestimating the difficulty of the job and overvaluing experience.
For example, how hard could it possibly be to recognize the team has not had an established, productive, reliable, all-star quality outfielder for many, many years and that it would be a good idea to acquire one?
Would you like me to provide a dozen similar examples of ineptitude and incompetence on the part of Super Slo Mo?

If Moe can do it, anyone can do it. How smart do you have to be to hire MM, Schildt and Oli in succession? Actually, that kind of extreme stupid can’t be underestimated. You have to be very, very secure in your job to do something that incredibly stupid.

I may not agree with Cranny that often, but in this case, he is spot on. The complications of being a GM/POBO is immense. Yes, every mistake MO makes is scrutinized to death with the benefit of hindsight. But look at all the personnel decisions he made over the year that worked out.

Matt Holliday
Carlos Beltran
The Dotel trade in 2011
The Furcal trade in 2011
Goldschmidt
Arenado (even if the last couple of years end badly, we gave up nothing)
On this team, Romero for Sosa, Maton signing, despite the last 2 years, all the draft picks starting with 2020 are now rounding out a pretty decent starting 8. Bloom will inherit a team that is in better shape than any Cards roster since around 2015.
Pitching is weak in the system, that is partly due to injury partly due to bad drafting. But, there are a few arms that are OK.

The ability to judge not just star talent, but all the pieces required to make a good team requires a huge eye for talent, the actual pieces that are missing etc. Further, none of us have the Dewitt's sitting over our shoulder limiting the resources we would all like to spend.

I was going to let this pass, but since the thread has continued longer than I anticipated, let's circle back.
If the bar of being a quality GM is "I think Holliday, Beltran, Goldschmidt, and Arenado in their prime would be good to have on my team", then most 10 year old fans would be qualified.
But let's look at players with whom Super Slo Mo had to make his own analysis and calculation.
Wrong about Craigenter.
Wrong about Taveras.
Wrong about Heyward.
Wrong about Moss.
Wrong about Fowler.
Wrong about Leake.
Wrong about Piscotty.
Wrong about DeJong.
Wrong about Martinez.
Wrong about Flaherty.
Wrong about O'Neill.
Wrong about Bader.
Wrong about Reyes.
Wrong about Nootbaar.
Wrong about Alcantara.
Wrong about Gallen.
Wrong about Arozarena.
Mo was wrong on each and every one of these - keeping the wrong guys, acquiring the wrong guys, trading the wrong guys.
A truly amazing record of ineptitude.
And that list is far from complete.
Now, you are correct that DeWitt does indeed "look over the shoulder".
In Mo's case, DeWitt's eyes have obviously been closed.
The team would be far better off if the shoulder over which DeWitt was peering was mine (note: I was never wrong about any of the above listed players).
Zero question that I would be far, far better at the job than Super Slo Mo - as would several others here.

Craig helped win a WS. That earns some runway.
Mo wasn't driving, Taveras was.
Cards might have got Heyward's last decent productive year in his career.
DeJong's extension was pretty neutral.
Flaherty, O'Neill and Bader all provided positive value when they were here, and none of them were extended. Bader continues to provide value for the Twins while also still providing potential future value for the Cards with first Montogomery, and now Saggese, Roby and King.
Reyes had injuries derail his career.
Noot has provided value for the Cards every year so far.
Libs has been mishandled, but if he continues to trend well, the end results of the Aroz trade can't yet be judged very accurately.

As mattmitch tries to explain on another thread, the Cards payroll only works with trying to build from the farm with players that provide value while they are cost controlled.

False premise on your part.
No one disputes that teams operate within budgetary guidelines.
In fact, it is precisely aligned with the perfect point I made.
Again, to very clear, you just proved my point.
Mo has badly mismanaged the roster for more than a decade.
Banking on a troubled 22-year-old - with no back up plan - was foolish.
Believing DeJong, Flaherty, O' Neill, and Bader were core players around whom to build a roster was foolish (Mo was wrong on every one of them - I was 100% correct on every one of them).
He stuck with Reyes too long.
I alone advised trading Martinez as his high-water mark because there the red lights were flashing and obvious - and Mo was too blind to see it.
Mo claimed Nootbaar was a core player, was off-limits in all trade conversations; and was destined to be an important middle order bat - and he was laughably and predictably wrong (I, of course, have been proven 100% correct that he is not, and never will be, any such thing).
And again, the list I provided was very brief compared to the overall reality.
There is so much more.
Just a few recent additional examples.
The loyalty to Molina and Wainwright long past their expiration dates proved to be catastrophic - exactly as I predicted well in advance.
The horrendous message signing Pujols for his farewell tour also undermined the entire organization.
The hiring of The Marmot - who has proven to be an awful choice - was clearly the wrong man, the wrong time, the wrong team, hired for the wrong reasons.
Bottom line - this discussion has nothing to do with payroll.
It is about Mo's horrendous track record of simply awful judgement.
He took one of baseball's healthiest franchises and drove it into the ground.
Again, several people here have a far better track record than he does - and have the posting history to prove it.

Your hindsight is superb.

A poster on a message board is allowed to have hindsight. An MLB POBO is paid for foresight — and clearly it’s lacking, as has been more than pointed out.

Posters don’t have all the facts. Too many assumptions are made. Trades are proposed for guys who don’t want to come here because they’d rather play in big markets on the coasts. Players who are brought here for the right reasons go into a funk.
Maybe they have personal problems. Players who are traded do well elsewhere, because the specialty coach for that team teaches a different technique.
Posters have shallow knowledge, and yet claim they know more than insiders who have all the facts in front of them. It’s entertaining.

Specific details of a particular industry can be learned.
But skills and attributes of leadership travel quite well between many industries.
I know - advising leaders is what I do for a living.
Facts can (and obviously must) be learned - that's the easy part.
Judgement, analytical ability, short term and long-term strategic thinking, the ability to articulate and execute a successful model, recognition of strengths and weaknesses of people in your organization, the willingness to challenge your own assumptions in a way that leads to necessary course correction, and other related skills which are required to lead a high performing organization are far more difficult.
Mo has failed to demonstrate these necessary traits.
As a result, many people could perform far better than he has.

[Goldfan]

Cranny, you go girl! Keep those excuses coming. Melville gave you a partial list of Moe’s follies and you still can’t accept what a moron he is. He’s been driving this franchise into the ground for over a decade and some of us have a track record of saying so. All you offer is what a nice family he has. To you, that’s important to being a GM. No joke.

Exactly, at this point with MO…..actually years ago…..if he can’t get it right, or he’s jinxed, or broke a mirror, or he spent all his good mojo the last decade…..It wasn’t working and I don’t really care what the excuse was. These Pro sports leadership positions switch names more than ANY profession around. MO was the outlier not the norm. Most WINNING teams would’ve moved him along 6-7 yrs ago

[Ike Hammett]

The duties of a POBO and GM are far and wide, and require years of experience in the industry. No poster is qualified.

Given decisions and results of the past decade, you may well be overestimating the difficulty of the job and overvaluing experience.
For example, how hard could it possibly be to recognize the team has not had an established, productive, reliable, all-star quality outfielder for many, many years and that it would be a good idea to acquire one?
Would you like me to provide a dozen similar examples of ineptitude and incompetence on the part of Super Slo Mo?

If Moe can do it, anyone can do it. How smart do you have to be to hire MM, Schildt and Oli in succession? Actually, that kind of extreme stupid can’t be underestimated. You have to be very, very secure in your job to do something that incredibly stupid.

I may not agree with Cranny that often, but in this case, he is spot on. The complications of being a GM/POBO is immense. Yes, every mistake MO makes is scrutinized to death with the benefit of hindsight. But look at all the personnel decisions he made over the year that worked out.

Matt Holliday
Carlos Beltran
The Dotel trade in 2011
The Furcal trade in 2011
Goldschmidt
Arenado (even if the last couple of years end badly, we gave up nothing)
On this team, Romero for Sosa, Maton signing, despite the last 2 years, all the draft picks starting with 2020 are now rounding out a pretty decent starting 8. Bloom will inherit a team that is in better shape than any Cards roster since around 2015.
Pitching is weak in the system, that is partly due to injury partly due to bad drafting. But, there are a few arms that are OK.

The ability to judge not just star talent, but all the pieces required to make a good team requires a huge eye for talent, the actual pieces that are missing etc. Further, none of us have the Dewitt's sitting over our shoulder limiting the resources we would all like to spend.

I was going to let this pass, but since the thread has continued longer than I anticipated, let's circle back.
If the bar of being a quality GM is "I think Holliday, Beltran, Goldschmidt, and Arenado in their prime would be good to have on my team", then most 10 year old fans would be qualified.
But let's look at players with whom Super Slo Mo had to make his own analysis and calculation.
Wrong about Craigenter.
Wrong about Taveras.
Wrong about Heyward.
Wrong about Moss.
Wrong about Fowler.
Wrong about Leake.
Wrong about Piscotty.
Wrong about DeJong.
Wrong about Martinez.
Wrong about Flaherty.
Wrong about O'Neill.
Wrong about Bader.
Wrong about Reyes.
Wrong about Nootbaar.
Wrong about Alcantara.
Wrong about Gallen.
Wrong about Arozarena.
Mo was wrong on each and every one of these - keeping the wrong guys, acquiring the wrong guys, trading the wrong guys.
A truly amazing record of ineptitude.
And that list is far from complete.
Now, you are correct that DeWitt does indeed "look over the shoulder".
In Mo's case, DeWitt's eyes have obviously been closed.
The team would be far better off if the shoulder over which DeWitt was peering was mine (note: I was never wrong about any of the above listed players).
Zero question that I would be far, far better at the job than Super Slo Mo - as would several others here.

Craig helped win a WS. That earns some runway.
Mo wasn't driving, Taveras was.
Cards might have got Heyward's last decent productive year in his career.
DeJong's extension was pretty neutral.
Flaherty, O'Neill and Bader all provided positive value when they were here, and none of them were extended. Bader continues to provide value for the Twins while also still providing potential future value for the Cards with first Montogomery, and now Saggese, Roby and King.
Reyes had injuries derail his career.
Noot has provided value for the Cards every year so far.
Libs has been mishandled, but if he continues to trend well, the end results of the Aroz trade can't yet be judged very accurately.

As mattmitch tries to explain on another thread, the Cards payroll only works with trying to build from the farm with players that provide value while they are cost controlled.

False premise on your part.
No one disputes that teams operate within budgetary guidelines.
In fact, it is precisely aligned with the perfect point I made.
Again, to very clear, you just proved my point.
Mo has badly mismanaged the roster for more than a decade.
Banking on a troubled 22-year-old - with no back up plan - was foolish.
Believing DeJong, Flaherty, O' Neill, and Bader were core players around whom to build a roster was foolish (Mo was wrong on every one of them - I was 100% correct on every one of them).
He stuck with Reyes too long.
I alone advised trading Martinez as his high-water mark because there the red lights were flashing and obvious - and Mo was too blind to see it.
Mo claimed Nootbaar was a core player, was off-limits in all trade conversations; and was destined to be an important middle order bat - and he was laughably and predictably wrong (I, of course, have been proven 100% correct that he is not, and never will be, any such thing).
And again, the list I provided was very brief compared to the overall reality.
There is so much more.
Just a few recent additional examples.
The loyalty to Molina and Wainwright long past their expiration dates proved to be catastrophic - exactly as I predicted well in advance.
The horrendous message signing Pujols for his farewell tour also undermined the entire organization.
The hiring of The Marmot - who has proven to be an awful choice - was clearly the wrong man, the wrong time, the wrong team, hired for the wrong reasons.
Bottom line - this discussion has nothing to do with payroll.
It is about Mo's horrendous track record of simply awful judgement.
He took one of baseball's healthiest franchises and drove it into the ground.
Again, several people here have a far better track record than he does - and have the posting history to prove it.

Your hindsight is superb.

A poster on a message board is allowed to have hindsight. An MLB POBO is paid for foresight — and clearly it’s lacking, as has been more than pointed out.

Posters don’t have all the facts. Too many assumptions are made. Trades are proposed for guys who don’t want to come here because they’d rather play in big markets on the coasts. Players who are brought here for the right reasons go into a funk.
Maybe they have personal problems. Players who are traded do well elsewhere, because the specialty coach for that team teaches a different technique.
Posters have shallow knowledge, and yet claim they know more than insiders who have all the facts in front of them. It’s entertaining.

Specific details of a particular industry can be learned.
But skills and attributes of leadership travel quite well between many industries.
I know - advising leaders is what I do for a living.
Facts can (and obviously must) be learned - that's the easy part.
Judgement, analytical ability, short term and long-term strategic thinking, the ability to articulate and execute a successful model, recognition of strengths and weaknesses of people in your organization, the willingness to challenge your own assumptions in a way that leads to necessary course correction, and other related skills which are required to lead a high performing organization are far more difficult.
Mo has failed to demonstrate these necessary traits.
As a result, many people could perform far better than he has.

This is more crazy talk from the peanut gallery of wannabe armchair GM nominees. There is an old saying "those who can't do teach" right Mr. Advisor? That's Mr. Mo to you pip squeak and what in your mind makes you think he hasn’t and can't achieve what you ramble about. Since 2007 when Mr. Mo became GM, the Cards have the 3rd best winning percentage in the game, only behind the Yanks and Dodgers. Multiple winning seasons, playoff appearances, division titles, a couple of pennants and a WS. Please do tell your resume and what qualifies you to state such things? Be specific in your assessment of "failed to demonstrate these necessary traits".

[Clubmaker2]

The cardinals stated they had to have young players they developed, the GM failed to put in even what would be considered current MiLB minor league facilities and systems to do this. They were so screwed up, they had to say they would spend less on the MLB team to try to catch up building minor league facilities/system with the money. This one thing alone shows massive incompetence of Mo.

[Goldfan]

The cardinals stated they had to have young players they developed, the GM failed to put in even what would be considered current MiLB minor league facilities and systems to do this. They were so screwed up, they had to say they would spend less on the MLB team to try to catch up building minor league facilities/system with the money. This one thing alone shows massive incompetence of Mo.

What ever happened to that much ballyhooed development facility in either PR or DR??

[sikeston bulldog2]

Can we hurry up and vote: I gotta pee.

[JDW]

The duties of a POBO and GM are far and wide, and require years of experience in the industry. No poster is qualified.

Given decisions and results of the past decade, you may well be overestimating the difficulty of the job and overvaluing experience.
For example, how hard could it possibly be to recognize the team has not had an established, productive, reliable, all-star quality outfielder for many, many years and that it would be a good idea to acquire one?
Would you like me to provide a dozen similar examples of ineptitude and incompetence on the part of Super Slo Mo?

If Moe can do it, anyone can do it. How smart do you have to be to hire MM, Schildt and Oli in succession? Actually, that kind of extreme stupid can’t be underestimated. You have to be very, very secure in your job to do something that incredibly stupid.

I may not agree with Cranny that often, but in this case, he is spot on. The complications of being a GM/POBO is immense. Yes, every mistake MO makes is scrutinized to death with the benefit of hindsight. But look at all the personnel decisions he made over the year that worked out.

Matt Holliday
Carlos Beltran
The Dotel trade in 2011
The Furcal trade in 2011
Goldschmidt
Arenado (even if the last couple of years end badly, we gave up nothing)
On this team, Romero for Sosa, Maton signing, despite the last 2 years, all the draft picks starting with 2020 are now rounding out a pretty decent starting 8. Bloom will inherit a team that is in better shape than any Cards roster since around 2015.
Pitching is weak in the system, that is partly due to injury partly due to bad drafting. But, there are a few arms that are OK.

The ability to judge not just star talent, but all the pieces required to make a good team requires a huge eye for talent, the actual pieces that are missing etc. Further, none of us have the Dewitt's sitting over our shoulder limiting the resources we would all like to spend.

I was going to let this pass, but since the thread has continued longer than I anticipated, let's circle back.
If the bar of being a quality GM is "I think Holliday, Beltran, Goldschmidt, and Arenado in their prime would be good to have on my team", then most 10 year old fans would be qualified.
But let's look at players with whom Super Slo Mo had to make his own analysis and calculation.
Wrong about Craigenter.
Wrong about Taveras.
Wrong about Heyward.
Wrong about Moss.
Wrong about Fowler.
Wrong about Leake.
Wrong about Piscotty.
Wrong about DeJong.
Wrong about Martinez.
Wrong about Flaherty.
Wrong about O'Neill.
Wrong about Bader.
Wrong about Reyes.
Wrong about Nootbaar.
Wrong about Alcantara.
Wrong about Gallen.
Wrong about Arozarena.
Mo was wrong on each and every one of these - keeping the wrong guys, acquiring the wrong guys, trading the wrong guys.
A truly amazing record of ineptitude.
And that list is far from complete.
Now, you are correct that DeWitt does indeed "look over the shoulder".
In Mo's case, DeWitt's eyes have obviously been closed.
The team would be far better off if the shoulder over which DeWitt was peering was mine (note: I was never wrong about any of the above listed players).
Zero question that I would be far, far better at the job than Super Slo Mo - as would several others here.

Craig helped win a WS. That earns some runway.
Mo wasn't driving, Taveras was.
Cards might have got Heyward's last decent productive year in his career.
DeJong's extension was pretty neutral.
Flaherty, O'Neill and Bader all provided positive value when they were here, and none of them were extended. Bader continues to provide value for the Twins while also still providing potential future value for the Cards with first Montogomery, and now Saggese, Roby and King.
Reyes had injuries derail his career.
Noot has provided value for the Cards every year so far.
Libs has been mishandled, but if he continues to trend well, the end results of the Aroz trade can't yet be judged very accurately.

As mattmitch tries to explain on another thread, the Cards payroll only works with trying to build from the farm with players that provide value while they are cost controlled.

Agreement on many points.

Most of these players had minimal commitments given to them. This would seem to suggest that MO did NOT
see them as stars either. He did see them as players, as pieces to make a team and the thought of somebody being
a minimum wage productive player. They should be seen as such, not as MO being so ignorant to think every player
was the next AP and he was in love with them. He stated as much when saying the team need stars to emerge
from within that the team can build around in order to be a better team.

And for the most part, the Cards were winning and getting into the playoffs with many of the players listed.
Now if they would have been extended, and then regressed while with the Cards, it's a different story, but on CT, many can just make up their own narrative.

[WLTFE]

I see the Mo-ran lap dogs keep yapping and whining....

[Cranny]

Some posters add absolutely nothing of substance to this forum.

[desertrat23]

Some posters add absolutely nothing of substance to this forum.

Case in point…