Deadspin Editor Emeritus Will Leitch is previewing all 30 MLB teams for Deadspin. Today's post is titled "The Charming Incompetence of Ed Wade." It's as pretty as it sounds, drawing a comparison to Isiah Thomas.
Ed Wade is the Astros general manager, and he is current Public Enemy No. 1 in sabermetric schools. The reasons are obvious. The Astros minor league system is a mess, the team is old and overpaid and there seems to be no resolution in sight. Wade is one of those old baseball men that sabermetrics folks have had in their crosshairs for years, and he's one of the last ones left. That he has hung on this long might be related to how he started his career, in public relations. Whereas most teams now realize that building the farm system, keeping young players around and cost controlled, understanding your window of opportunity and punting when it's closed ... Wade and the Astros do none of that. This is a team that employed Darin Erstad last season. Wade is spending cash to tread water, to sneak through a door that slammed shut years ago.
It gets worse from there. I'm working on an "In Defense of Ed Wade" manifesto, and this is forthcoming. Can we all be wrong about Ed Wade?
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
