Statheads in the front office

As many of you may know, I am fascinated with the decision-making process of major leagues teams. I’m particularly interested in the statistical side, although obviously the scouts play an invaluable role (and the merging of the two “sides” is vital). The question I’ve seen asked most from people who read the Chris Long interview was, “do the have one of these guys?”

So I took some time to look through each team’s official Website to see if they have a similar position (Senior Quantitative Analyst). I’m also adding in other people I know, even if they aren’t listed on the team’s site. There are plenty of people like Chris Antonetti and many current general managers who kind of bridge the gap (with a strong statistical background), and I’m largely leaving those guys out. I’m trying to go strictly with the hardcore sabermetricians here.

Please feel free to mention any people I miss on your favorite team (or any you know, of course) and we’ll try to make this into a little bit of a resource.

edit: Be sure to check the team media guides for more info on some of the front office execs.

AL East

Red Sox
-Bill James: Senior Baseball Operations Advisor — I don’t think he needs much of an introduction
-Zack Scott: Assistant Director of Baseball Operations — Scott used to work for Diamond Mind
-Tom Tippett: Consultant, Baseball Operations

Rays
-James Click: Coordinator, Baseball Operations — Click, former Baseball Prospectus writer, sits down with Rays Digest

Yankees
-Michael Fishman: Director, Quantitative Analysis

AL Central

Indians
-Keith Woolner: Manager, Baseball Research and Analytics — Here’s a great bio of Woolner, creator of VORP and former BP writer

Royals
-Jin Wong: Director, Baseball Administration
Mat Olkin: Consultant

AL West

Athletics
-Farhan Zaidi: Manager of Baseball Operations – His interview with Sabernomics

NL East

Mets
-Ben Baumer, Statistician — Mets.com article mentions the Baumer hiring toward the bottom

Phillies
-Jay McLaughlin: Baseball Information Analyst

NL Central

Reds
-Sam Grossman: Baseball Operations Analyst – h/t: On Baseball and the Reds

Astros
-Charlie Norton: Director of Baseball Analysis and Research

Brewers
-Karl Mueller: Manager, Advance Scouting and Baseball Research
-Dave Lawson: Baseball Analyst/Research — Interview with Brew Crew Ball
-Michael Schwartz: Coordinator, Baseball Research and Special Projects

Cardinals
-Sig Mejdal: Senior Quantitative Analyst — Here’s an mlb.com video interview with Sig

Pirates
-Dan Fox: Director of Baseball Systems Development — Fox was a former writer for Baseball Prospectus and the Hardball Times

NL West

Diamondbacks
-Helen Zelman: Assistant, Baseball Operations — h/t: Chris Long

Padres
-Chris Long: Senior Quantitative Analyst — Our interview with Chris
-Paul DePodesta: Special Assistant, Baseball Operations — Here’s an interview with Gaslamp Ball.
-Josh Stein: Coordinator of Baseball Research and Advance Scouting
-Jeff Kingston: Director, Baseball Operations — Via Padres media guide, Jeff “oversees the Padres statistical analysis and video scouting systems.”

Former front office staffers
-Mitchel Lichtman — Former consultant for the Cardinals
-Tom Tango — Consulted with a major league team(s)
-Voros McCracken – Consultant to Baseball Operations, Red Sox ( 2002-05)
-Gary Huckabay — Consulted with A’s (and possibly other teams)
-Eric Walker — Consultant for Giants and A’s from late 70′s – late 90′s
-Allan Roth
-Craig Wright
-Mike Gimbel — Red Sox and Expos (90′s). Rob Neyer article on Gimbel
-Keith Law — Old Rob Neyer article profiling those last four guys, plus some others
-Steve Mann — Alan Schwarz article that mentions Mann (1979)
-Ron Shandler — Cardinals (2004). Here’s a profile of Shandler from the NY Times.
-David Gassko — Consultant, multiple teams
-Jeff Sackman — Consultant, multiple teams
-Mark Johnson — Senior Analyst of Baseball Development, Cardinals (2004). Baseball Prospectus interview
-Dayn Perry — Padres (2002-03)
-Eric Van: Consultant, Red Sox – Van’s a poster on Sons of Sam Horn. His work there helped him land a job with the Red Sox.

Location unknown
-Eddie Epstein — Multiple teams currently and formerly consulted for the O’s and Padres (h/t: Rob Neyer)
-Joe P. Sheehan — Former writer with Baseball Analysts took an internship with a major league club

That’s all I have for now. We’ll try to update this. A lot of the titles on the MLB pages are very broad or vague (special assistant to GM, assistant in Baseball Operations, Senior Advisor, etc.). Anyway, I have a feeling this is a very incomplete list. That’s where you come in! If you know anybody else, please feel free to throw their name out in the comments. Also, don’t be afraid to discuss anything related to the topic.