Larry Beinfest finishes high among general managers rankings

Tim Marchman with SI ranked baseball general managers and Larry Beinfest did good.  And even in the rankings he figured out that Beinfest isn't actually the general manager of the Marlins.

4. Larry Beinfest, Florida Marlins

Duly noted that Michael Hill is nominally the Marlins' general manager. That said, Beinfest, technically the team's president of baseball operations, consistently gets more wins for his dollar than anyone else in baseball. Since he took over following the 2002 season, the Marlins have won a World Series and posted winning records in five of seven seasons, despite consistently ranking at or near the bottom of the majors in payroll. Beinfest has picked up players every way you can -- trading for Hanley Ramirez, acquiring Dan Uggla in the Rule 5 draft, and bringing up players from the farm -- and on the few occasions he's had money to spend, he has spent it shrewdly.

Beinfest does an overall good job with the constraints placed upon him.  And there is no doubt, sometimes he has been, if you will, lucky, especially when it comes to trades and retreads.  And sometimes he hasn't.  It is hard to say what is the main strength of baseball front office, or at least it is for me since I'm not privileged to the inner workings.  It could be the team of scouts, who seem to know everyone's minor league system better than the other team knows their own organization.  Or maybe Michael Hill, the actual general manager, has it figured out the way to handle the Marlins situation.  Then again, it could be all Beinfest and without a doubt he has the final say.  My guess it is a team effort from all of the above.

But whatever the case, the Marlins baseball operations do more with less, meaning money available, than any other team in Major League baseball.  And they should get credit for that.