| Bill Bavasi | |
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Bavasi in 2007 |
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| Born | December 27, 1957 Scarsdale, New York |
| Alma mater | University of San Diego |
| Occupation | General Manager |
| Organization | Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (1994 – 1999) Seattle Mariners (2003 – 2008) |
William J. Bavasi, born December 27, 1957 in Scarsdale, New York, is a former general manager and vice president of baseball operations for the Seattle Mariners, and currently works as a Special Assistant to the GM for the Cincinnati Reds, under Reds GM Walt Jocketty. The son of longtime Major League Baseball executive Buzzie Bavasi and the brother of Peter Bavasi, also a former MLB executive, Bill also spent six full seasons (1994–99) as the general manager of the California/Anaheim Angels and 4½ seasons with the Seattle Mariners (2003–2008). The latter (2003–2008), where the Mariners experienced a sharp dropoff in victories from preceding seasons, has been characterized as perhaps one of the darkest periods in Mariner history,[1] following a period of noteworthy success under preceding former Mariners GM Pat Gillick (2000–2003), who had left the Mariners in contention.
Bill Bavasi was a graduate of University of San Diego. Bavasi began his front office baseball career with the Angels, where his father was front office boss from 1977–84. Bill was an administrator in the Angels' minor league department in 1981–82, then held the positions of farm system director and Director of Player Development before he succeeded Whitey Herzog as the Angels' GM on January 12, 1994. Bavasi remained in place when the club was sold by Jackie Autry, widow of the team's original owner Gene Autry, to the Walt Disney Company. But late-season collapses plagued the franchise, and Bavasi was succeeded by Bill Stoneman on October 1, 1999. After two seasons (2002–2003) as player development chief of the Los Angeles Dodgers—the team his father oversaw through four World Series titles during the 1950s and 1960s—Bill Bavasi returned to the GM ranks with the Mariners on November 7, 2003. However, he did not excel, as the Mariners had a total record of 322–395 under Bavasi. Bavasi was fired on June 16, 2008.
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During Bavasi's Mariner tenure, the club achieved only one winning season (88–74 in 2007). Losing records of 63–99 in 2004, 69–93 in 2005, 78–84 in 2006, and a sub .500 2008 did not help Bavasi's image from the fans perspectives.[2] At mid year of the 2008 season, Bavasi could have been the first general manager in the history of the MLB to have a 100 loss season with a 100 million dollar payroll,[3] which was unprecedented in not only MLB, but sports history. On June 16, 2008 Bavasi was relieved of his position with the Mariners in hopes of improving their already losing 2008 season.
In May discussions about the losing 2008 season, Bavasi was quoted backing his field manager John McLaren saying "John is doing the job, and the team's performance is not related to his work. It's purely related to player performance and underachieving."[4] Unfortunately for Bavasi, he was the individual who signed and/or traded for the majority of the Mariners players.
Finally, with the worst record in the major leagues (24–45) Bavasi was fired on June 16, 2008.[5] Seattle Mariners Chief Executive Officer Howard Lincoln, who made the announcement, said, "Change is in order. We have determined new leadership is needed in the GM position. With a new leader will come a new plan and a new approach." Vice President/Associate GM Lee Pelekoudas was named to take over in the interim.
Through his tenure as the Seattle Mariners GM Bavasi had made plenty of impacting signings and trades, although few have been positives. Free agent signings under Bavasi include Carlos Silva, Raúl Ibáñez, Richie Sexson, Adrián Beltré, Jarrod Washburn, Scott Spiezio, Rich Aurilia, Carl Everett, Matt Lawton, and Jeff Weaver. Some of the notable trades that Bavasi has made during his 5-year tenure as Mariners GM include: Freddy Garcia for Miguel Olivo, Jeremy Reed, and Mike Morse; Carlos Guillén for Ramón Santiago; Asdrubal Cabrera for Eduardo Perez; Shin-Soo Choo for Ben Broussard; Randy Winn for Jesse Foppert and Yorvit Torrealba; Rafael Soriano for Horacio Ramírez, and Matt Thornton for Joe Borchard. Many if not most of these moves were controversial moves and upset the Mariners' fan base which led to Howard Lincoln (Mariners CEO), saying Bavasi was on the "hot seat" unless he produced a championship contender. Nonetheless, CEO Lincoln announced that Bavasi would be brought back in 2008 because he had produced a winning record in 2007.
Talks of controversial transactions continued during the 2007–2008 offseason. On February 8, 2008, Bavasi consummated a deal in which Seattle acquired pitcher Érik Bédard from the Baltimore Orioles. Bédard was traded to the Seattle Mariners in a 5 for 1 deal sending outfielder Adam Jones and pitchers George Sherrill, Tony Butler, Chris Tillman and Kam Mickolio to the Orioles. By mid-May 2008 the Mariners were already fifteen games under .500 and already out of the pennant race, while Sherrill was near the top of the MLB in saves[6] and Jones batting .276[7] for Baltimore. As a direct result of the poor start the front office, likely in an act of desperation to avert the ignominious distinction of being the only triple digit losses and payroll franchise in sports history, reneged on their decision to keep him the entire 2008 season. It was also almost immediately apparent to most of the fan base that Bavasi's moves in the aforementioned offseason, despite one of the largest payrolls at $116 million, had been catastrophic for the franchise from which they are still reeling. This was not only mainly owed to the aforementioned 5 for 1 deal, but also the controversial signing of free agent pitcher Carlos Silva to a large contract that many felt without merit. By the time of Bavasi's firing in mid-June, Silva, despite going 3-0 his first 3 starts, had compiled a 3-8 record with a 5.79 ERA and 2 years into his contract was 5-18 with a 6.82 ERA.[8] In December 2009, Silva was traded to the Chicago Cubs along with cash for troubled outfielder Milton Bradley, who also had two more years and $20 million on his contract.
Several internet petitions had been started by outraged Mariners fans calling for the firing of Bill Bavasi as general manager of the club. A website[9] cited the goal of becoming contenders once again and achieving the goal by firing the Mariners general manager. An online petition was also started[10] calling for some action on Bavasi from the Mariners' upper management.
Forbes Magazine ranked Bavasi 87th out of 98 General Managers of professional sports with 3 or more years of experience in 2007, the lowest ranking of any General Manager in Major League Baseball.[11] Bill Bavasi was ranked as 22nd out of 30 general managers for the MLB in 2004[12]
| Preceded by Whitey Herzog |
California/Anaheim Angels General Manager 1994–99 |
Succeeded by Bill Stoneman |
| Preceded by Pat Gillick |
Seattle Mariners General Manager 2003–2008 |
Succeeded by Lee Pelekoudas |
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