
Why James Woods was a bad GM for his era
“In his 30 years, James Woods played more than half a million games in the Major Leagues.
And he played better than any GM in the game’s history, ever.
Woods did not need to win to be a great GM.
But he didn’t do it.
He did it by being terrible.
He was a player who, as I said, did not have to win.”– Bill Simmons, ESPN SportsCenter”James Woods is the only GM in sports history who played every game.
He played more games than anyone.
He has never played a worse game than the 1987 NLDS against the Yankees.
He threw for fewer runs, but he was a worse pitcher.
Woods is also the only team-wide manager who lost every single game.”– Michael Kay, ESPN.com”Woods was a terrible GM.
And now he’s the only one in the history of the game who hasn’t won an NLDS.”– Paul Lukas, ESPN The Magazine”He’s not the only manager who never won an American League pennant.
He’s the first.”– Mike Piazza, ESPNBoston Herald”I think James Woods will be remembered as one of the worst GMs in baseball history.”– Dave McMenamin, ESPNChicago Tribune”I don’t think James Wood is the greatest GM of all time.
But I do think he is the best, because he’s not even close.”– Bob Nightengale, ESPNNew York Daily News”Wood was a good GM, but when he made bad trades, he made them on purpose.
If the fans didn’t care, he didn.
He wasn’t interested in winning.
He wanted to win in the playoffs.
He made bad moves to win, but that’s what he was.”– Ken Rosenthal, Fox Sports”James Wood’s trade for Joe Torre made the New York Yankees a better team.”– Jon Heyman, CBSSports.comA closer look at the Boston Red Sox’s trade deadline moves from January 4 to 6, 1987, and the impact they had on the teams success.