Nothing but love for Toronto
Former Blue Jay says this city will always be his second home
Early in his front-office career, years after he had issued his last ‘death stare’ as a much-feared and respected major-league pitcher, Dave Stewart believed he was in good position to become the fourth general manager in the history of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Gord Ash had just been let go following the 2001 season; Stewart had apprenticed in Oakland, San Diego and under Ash for three seasons. But the search committee, led by then-president Paul Godfrey, didn’t feel Stewart was qualified enough and decided instead to give the job to an even more unproven J.P. Ricciardi.
“I was ready to do it,” Stewart said on Wednesday prior to the Jays game against the Diamondbacks, for whom he is now general manager.
“I worked for Sandy Alderson (A’s) in my first job. He was part of a group that when it came to the economics of the game knew how to handle that stuff. Then going to Kevin Towers with the Padres, the Padres didn’t have deep pockets. Then finally coming here to work for Gord. He was very, very smart in budgeting, planning, so I think I was ready for the job at the time, no matter what period of time we were in.”
Now, 15 years later, the Oakland native finds himself employed as the fourth GM in Diamondbacks history, named to the position Sept. 25, 2014. The 59-yearold is far different than any other GM in terms of dealing with media and the public. He voices his opinion on players and openly speaks of his interest in certain trades or free agents.
And he does not apologize for his candour.
“We all have (personnel) needs, and whether you say it publicly or you say it in the room when you’re meeting with the other general managers it’s still going to be known at some point,” Stewart reasoned. “None of us are going to do deals that don’t make sense. For me, I can’t get outside of what my personality is. I am an up front and direct person. That’s how I practise the business.”
Speaking of the business, after being turned down by the Jays and others, Stewart made the unusual transition to player agent, opening his own company and running it for 13 years until being hired by the D’backs.
Oddly, he feels even if he had been awarded the Jays job — even with PED testing during that era leading to huge mistakes with established free agent sluggers leading to millions of dollars in misspent payroll — that he would have been the same GM then as he is now.
“I always considered myself to be a people person,” Stewart argued. “I thought I was connected in the game and so, really, being an agent allowed me the opportunity to keep up with the times. Thirteen years allowed me to experience all the changes that were happening in the game from the other side. And so the changes, both from management’s side as well as from the Player’s Association side, they’re all the same.
“And so the best part of being an agent — I still had an opportunity for every change that took place, I was right along with it.”
Back in ’01, another difference with the GM position in the majors was that there were far more MLB personnel execs that were former major-league players.
Now, it seems there’s a bunch of 30-somethings, many that never played the game at a pro level and who rely on analytics and computer printouts, reluctantly mixing in traditional scouting.
It’s only Stewart, Billy Beane (A’s) and the Mariners’ Jerry DiPoto that have played in the bigs out of the 30 GMs.
“That (analytics) part of the game, I do think there’s a place for it,” Stewart said in sharing an appreciation for WAR and pitchers spin rates. “There’s a need for it, but at the same time I’m not overwhelmed with it. We’ve got an analytics department here. We also have our pro scouts and our major-league scouts that I depend on heavily. When it comes to making baseball decisions, I’m not more about analytics vs. baseball or baseball vs. analytics. In each situation, you make a decision based on what you see. Obviously, my gut plays a lot in some of the decisions that I make here, too.”
Even though Stewart played in Toronto just a couple of seasons and was an executive for three he has tremendous empathy for the city and the organization.
“The people, the environment in which I had an opportunity to play baseball, other than playing at home in Oakland I can’t think of a better place to play baseball,” Stewart said.
“This is my second home, my home away from home. I enjoy the fans, I enjoy the city. Great restaurants, and then when it came to the baseball part of it, I had great teammates. Playing with Joe Carter, Paul Molitor, Jack Morris, Pat Hentgen, Todd Stottlemyre, (Pat) Borders, being managed by Cito Gaston. With Robbie Alomar, Devo White, I can just go on and on.
“I played with a bunch of great guys, it was a great situation and a great time to be here in Toronto.”