Grading Baalke

[generaldreedle]

http://www.bayareasportsguy.com/grading ... -49ers-gm/

[MHSL82]

Read this on the Hoopla:

Baalke again using every excuse to ditch Harbaugh. Note that the Cleveland story was a leak, this loyal to Roman story was a leak as well. Baalke is a slimeball.

Baalke is in control of player personel and hiring/firing, he could've fired Roman at any time, Harbaugh was under contract. Harbaugh was loyal to everyone (including the franchise and the front office) note that he never, not once made a negative comment about anyone assocated with or formerly associated with the 49ers.It's a BS story.

Another one that kills me is "Harbaugh played Smith more than a few plays" Baalke should've suspended him if he had the balls. Not forced that decision on the coach.

"Politics, politics, politics... pass the buck, it's not my fault" Baalke

[CrimsonCrew]

Meh. It's an interesting, in-depth look at most/all of Baalke's moves, but the whole grading system is flawed. It's basically arbitrary, with nothing more concrete than the author's personal feelings to guide it. I'm also a little hazy on how he ends up with the final grade of B- as the three grades he gave (for draft, FA, and trades, respectively) were a B-, B, and A-. Obviously the draft is the most important piece, but it's hard to say those grades add up to a B-.

I'm not going to go into too many specifics, but it's obviously very early to grade the 2013 and 2014 drafts at all, and the C+ for 2013 seems low given that Reid has been very good (I think he was underrated this year as a big part of the reason why the D kept playing well), Tank and Dial were both coming along toward the end of this year, and the jury is still out on several other guys. I'm not ready to give up on guys like McDonald and Lemonier just yet, though admittedly it doesn't look good. The 2014 guys are babies. Some that looked good could fall off (see 2013 draftee Lemonier, Corey), and others who haven't done much could really come on.

I also don't think it's fair to criticize Baalke all that much for having good players from McCloughan's tenure. It was a good roster (one that was adversely affected by coaching) when McCloughan left. Baalke did a nice job of identifying and re-signing talented players early in their contracts, though. Certainly he deserves credit for retaining the talented guys McCloughan added.

The biggest issue is that it's unclear what significance the overall grade has. This isn't a vacuum. Other teams are adding players as well. How do those teams/GMs stack up? Is C average? Is B?

[generaldreedle]

I agree, the grading system seemed completely arbitrary but it did provide a nice in depth look at his tenure and his moves, not just the draft.

[CrimsonCrew]

I wanted to compare Baalke and Schneider when it comes to drafting.

Baalke:

Draft - Five drafts, four pro bowlers, three all-pros, 10 day one "starters" - 50-odd % of snaps - this year (and four defensive players who became starters and comported themselves quite well for big chunks of the season), 29 players still on the team in some capacity. He also added two starters (Brock, Williams) and a role player (Dobbs) in UDFA.

The initial article goes into quite a bit of detail. Other than 2012, which was an unmitigated disaster, Baalke has been at least solid. He's typically been effective in the first round, has added a pro bowl player each year, and has found talent throughout the draft. The two most recent drafts are still big question marks. 2014 is looking very promising, though some of that depends on Ward. 2013 is also a big question mark with so many red shirt guys, but I think we could see three or four guys from that draft starting week one next year.

Schneider:

Draft - Five drafts, five pro bowlers, two all-pros, 13 day one starters this year, 28 players still on the team. He also added two starters in UDFA (Kearse and Baldwin).

If we're looking at individual drafts, he probably rates more consistently than Baalke. He doesn't have something like 2012 for Baalke, but he's made more of his living finding talent late. His late picks of Wright, Sherman, and Maxwell saved what would otherwise have been a disastrous 2011 draft (three of his first four picks have to be considered busts, even though Carpenter has turned into a tolerable OG). His two most recent drafts have offered nothing in terms of instant impact, with only Luke WIllson coming close to playing a significant role. He's also been pretty shaky with his early draft picks. Okung hasn't really lived up to his draft spot, Carpenter is an outright bust, and even Irvin, though good, hasn't been in impact player. Paul Richardson didn't do much to take advantage of his opportunity when Harvin left this year.

I'm not going to argue that Baalke has been better than Schneider, but I think there's at least a conversation there. And Schneider is widely recognized as being perhaps the best GM in the league over the past few years. A B- for drafts seems far too low, basically punitive based on one awful, awful draft.

[jackwindham]

Prior to this season, there were a good amount of people who were calling Baalke the best general manager in the NFL.

[B-King]

In regards to Balke, I would like to know who made the call not to bring in another kick returner before the NFC Championship lost to the Giants. Leaving it solely to Kyle Williams was a huge mistake. He was reckless as rookie when they had him returning kicks and you could see the train wreck coming. Was it Harbaugh who was being loyal to his current roster or Balke that made the call?