One new feature I’m working on for the site is GM scores for the MLB. Inspired by reading Traded, I’ve looked at the WAR a GM has added or subtracted from his team during his tenure.

I selected WAR because I feel it’s a more accurate way to judge a transaction. As I said in my review of Traded, my problem with the evaluation method in the book was it looked at the total future value of a player. In my scores, I used the WAR they achieved for the team.

Using the GM Trade Histories from MLB Trade Rumors and the yearly rosters from Baseball Reference, I’ve looked at each player a GM is responsible during their tenure. Some were tedious work, while others were quick.

I’ve looked at the players drafted, traded, and signed by the team. For the trades, I take the Net WAR for the GM. Conditional deals and trades for cash were given a WAR of 0.0. Any prospect that doesn’t make the majors is given a value of 0.0. For the signings and draft picks, I take the total WAR for when that player was with the team. If a player signs an extension, then the WAR will shift to a signing. If a player was a waiver claim, a Rule V draft, an international signing, or had a contract purchased from an independent league, they are considered signings.

The first entry will be up today – Billy Beane of Oakland Athletics. After this, I’ll attempt to get one up per week; once I start getting to the more tenured GMs, I might be slowing down on the weekly posting.