Aid desired: Possible applicants for Mountain ranges overall manager opening

This is an interesting piece by Patrick Saunders from The Denver Post talking about several important events this week. Patrick Saunders recently published this and I thought it was a great post for syndicating here.

The Rockies announced that they will hire a permanent general manager to replace Jeff Bridich after the current season ends. Following is a list of five possible candidates.

Thad Levine

Team/position: Twins, GM

The Rockies would like to talk to Levine, who’s been the Twins’ GM since 2016. In a market similar to Denver’s, Levine transformed the Twins from a 103-loss team in 2016 to a 101-win team in 2019. Levine worked with the Rockies from 1999 through 2005 and he’s been interested in the job in the past, but that ship might have sailed. He reportedly turned down the job to become the head of baseball operations for Philadelphia over the winter.

Josh Byrnes

Team/position: Dodgers, VP of baseball operations

The former scouting director in Cleveland followed former Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd to Denver, where Byrne became an assistant GM. He was also an assistant GM under Theo Epstein in Boston and was the GM for Arizona (Oct. 2005-July 2010) and San Diego (Oct. 2011-June 2014). He’s currently the No. 2 man in Los Angeles. He might want the top job again, but is the Rockies’ job attractive enough?

Dana Brown

Team/position: Braves, VP of scouting

Brown is a hot commodity because he helped build a Braves farm system that entered the year ranked No. 6 by Baseball America, despite graduating a number of prospects to the majors. He’s compiled an impressive résumé that includes drafting more than 40 big-leaguers and seven all-stars for the Nationals and the Blue Jays before going to Atlanta.

Randy Flores

Team/position: Cardinals, director of scouting/assistant GM

Flores pitched parts of eight seasons in the majors, including two stints in Colorado (2002 and 2009-10). Before taking over the Cardinals’ scouting department, he was a coach and broadcaster. Flores also founded OnDeck Digital LLC, a tech startup company that assists in the instruction and evaluation of amateur baseball players via customized in-game video streaming and data integration.

Scott Sharp

Team/position: Royals, VP and assistant general manager

A 15-year veteran of K.C’s front office, Sharp became one of GM Dayton Moore’s right-hand men. He has a background in scouting and player development and his name has surfaced in other GM searches. Sharp helped develop the core of players that powered the Royals’ 2015 World Series championship.