MLB team owners should hire whomever they "determine to be the best candidates" to fill front-office openings, but some within the league feel the Twins' pending move to hire Derek Falvey as President of Baseball Operations "fits a pattern of several recent hires for top decision-making positions -- he is young, a graduate of an elite private institution, well-versed in analytics, relatively inexperienced [and] white," according to Ken Rosenthal of FOXSPORTS.com. People in MLB claim the league is "working harder than in the past to develop a pipeline of minority candidates." But teams need to seek "not just racial, ethnic and gender diversity for their top positions, but intellectual diversity, too." Nationals President of Baseball Operations & GM Mike Rizzo: "I do see that guys who grew up in the game, started at the lower levels, worked their ways through the front office ... there are less and less of those type people." Rosenthal noted the Twins will be the 15th team since August '14 to hire a new lead baseball exec, and only Tigers Exec VP/Baseball Operations & GM Al Avila is a minority. The frustration with Falvey's hiring "includes a new twist" -- a perception that search firm Korn Ferry is "fueling the trend toward younger executives." Korn Ferry, which also works with the NFL, NBA and NCAA, has yet to place a minority in a "key position during its limited time in baseball." MLB in August '15 retained Korn Ferry to "provide support for candidates preparing to interview for baseball operations positions, with a special emphasis to the preparation of female and minority candidates." However, baseball officials said that they "yielded that responsibility as it began working more closely with individual clubs." MLB in January named Pirates Dir of Player Personnel Tyrone Brooks Senior Dir of Diversity. Korn Ferry Vice Chair Jed Hughes said, "When they hired Tyrone, it kind of went to him to lead that initiative" (FOXSPORTS.com, 9/29).
GLASS CEILING: NBCSPORTS.com’s Craig Calcaterra noted MLB has a "distinct lack of women and minorities in key positions," but he does not believe it is because the league is "maliciously racist or sexist." The trend likely is because baseball is "acutely prone to copycat behavior that breeds homogeneity." Calcaterra: "Today's preference for 30-something MBAs is radically different than the old model of hiring some old 'baseball man' to run baseball operations." However, that only "came to the fore after the sabermetric and analytical model forced its way into the conversation." Calcaterra: "I don’t believe that baseball’s homogeneity in the executive ranks is a function of bad people who believe bad things making bad decisions. ... it’s about fear and conformity more than anything else" (NBCSPORTS.com, 9/29).
ALSO AN ISSUE IN NBA: THE UNDEFEATED's Marc Spears noted despite the NBA being made up of 75% African-American players, there are are only two African-American at the GM level -- the Pelicans' Dell Demps and the Knicks' Steve Mills (Raptors President & GM Masai Ujiri is Nigerian). Former T'Wolves GM Milt Newton is among the "esteemed short list of black former NBA general managers who haven't returned to the position." Newton said he would be "naive to think" the lack of African-American GM is "not a problem." He said, "At the end of the day, I don’t want to concern myself with that. I know it's difficult for us African-Americans to have opportunities to interview for these jobs, to have opportunities to be part of these management teams." Newton believes having a "comfort level" between team owners and prospective front office executives is a "key to being hired regardless of race" (THEUNDEFEATED.com, 9/28).
