Red Sox hire outside consulting firm to audit organization

mwonow

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They can't outsource much of security. No benefit to doing so. They generally promote from within, too, so if entry level is outsourced you lose your supply of upper level security folks. And with ticket sales what they are(n't), getting rid of sales staff makes no sense
Completely off topic, but there are real drawbacks to promoting security from within.

It's not about "setting one up." This isn't an expansion team. It's about seeing the ful scope of this one and how to best use/change the one he has.
His experience, as many here cautioned at his hiring, is pretty limited. (I think the consensus here was that he'd be very able nevertheless, but it's indisputable that he's had zero time in the head chair).


This may end up with personnel changes, but I agree that's unlikely to be the goal. I take him at his word. He is at the top of a giant organization, and he wants a neutral evaluation/explanation of what all the facets are doing and how they interact with each other toward the overall goal of sustainable winning, something that has been conspicuously absent for the last 10 years.
To those who think this is about $$---how much money can the team really save by canning a bunch of mid-level exec types?
Sake of argument, let's say that a blended bag of behind-the-scenes office workers makes ~$150K, benes/etc. in.

Average MLB salary is $4.5M

So, if a bunch is 30 - one MLB salary? Of course, the back office types rarely get injured...
 

TonyPenaNeverJuiced

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There is also the fact that the organizational philosophy has been *ahem* fluid, and boom or bust has been the nature of the organization for almost 15 years. Ownership has been yanking the rudder back and forth in a very reactionary way. There has been very little consistency.
Absolutely leads to high turnover. It includes "baseball operations" staff, but with it goes support staff that came/goes with them or who don't want to be around the turmoil (especially in an industry that notoriously does not excellently).

Breslow is clearly a data driven guy, and this is his first time running the show of a massive organization. I'm not sure that this will be effective or we as fans will notice any changes, but I can see some non-nefarious explanations for why Breslow would want a 3rd party to lay out for him who is doing what across the entire organization and potentially compare it to what peer organizations are doing for illustration.
I like the idea of a 3rd party doing it because 1. it ain't my money, and 2. no one within the Sox has to take (much) time away from, you know, making the team better, during this audit. You bring in an outsider for independence and, if you can afford it, the luxury of keeping your resources allocated as you wish (for now).

The idea that breslow etc al need a consulting firm to evaluate who does what to me completely escapes reality.

Now, if you want to follow the framework that FSG is now a big holding company and they told breslow to hire some consultants to satisfy some investor somewhere that things are running well, certainly that happens in bureaucratic organizations all the time, and if that's what the Red Sox are now, so be it.
. . .
But breslow is toeing the company line here saying it's his idea. There's no way he needs a consultant to tell him how to run baseball ops.
If the final product is an org chart - yeah, big waste of time and money.

But for the reasons stated above, you can see how you could examine how, say, the communication and coordination between Boston and the Dominican Academy is, or whether the Sox are best deploying their resources in Asia, or if more water pressure is needed in Greenville's shower room, could lead to good results. And having someone else spend the time and do the work every organization ought to be doing because you have the luxury of buying their time and expertise . . . is a good use of resources. Is it worth the $X costs of [blank] free agent? Who knows, but maybe it sets up the org better long term.
 

DanoooME

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"It’s big. It’s grown a ton in the last three or four years."

This is what stood out to me (granted I can't read the whole piece). Apparently, Bloom hired a "ton" of people, and it seems like Breslow is wondering why. Also seems like he doesn't have the time to investigate it himself, so he hired someone to do it.

Of course it'll result in layoffs, but ultimately I suspect it'll be a nothing burger. They'll draw some new org lines, codify some new processes, and no one outside the org will have any idea things changed.
So why bring in an outside organization to do it? Isn't that why you hire underlings, to do that very job and run the department you're put in charge of?

Yes, there will be bloodletting and people will be let go. I work in a Fortune 500 company that does this shit all the time, and now even farmed an entire department out to consultants, in which they fired half the staff and kept half for a 3 year contract at which point they will be able to come back to my company, in theory. In reality, the consultants will probably keep one or two and dump the rest and the consultants end up being the bad guy in the long run and everyone else has to go looking for new jobs.
 

Sprowl

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Enough with the Office memes. We've all seen them way too many times.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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Completely off topic, but there are real drawbacks to promoting security from within.
Interested in your opinion why? I know a few members of security,, the hardest part is finding guys who want to do the job year after year, as the hours suck, and the non game day jobs are generally boring, if you can even get enough hours to live on. Getting guys willing to put up with that to become supervisors or just experienced enough to get lead roles seems to do a good job of getting the cream to rise to the top. With outsourced security, much of the time the good workers will end up on other gigs and not get enough Fenway experience to take lead roles.

.
Sake of argument, let's say that a blended bag of behind-the-scenes office workers makes ~$150K, benes/etc. in.

Average MLB salary is $4.5M

So, if a bunch is 30 - one MLB salary? Of course, the back office types rarely get injured...
If they can cut 30 office workers, then yes, saving $4.5 million on the bottom line matters. Has nothing to do with player salaries. But this isn’t just a “who goes, who stays” project, it also looks at other costs including software redundancies, resource wasting processes, like unnecessary meetings, etc, etc. Helps the team redirect assets to more effective needs.

if they expand the gig to FSG as a whole (do we know they haven’t?) I expect the savings will be even more significant.
 

RS2004foreever

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Maybe I'm not as cynical as most here (which might be a first), but I've worked with outside consultants at several different employers who were brought in to evaluate our processes and workflows in order to make things more effective and efficient. It had nothing to do with personnel, apart from determining if there were better ways to utilize people and their interactions.

Some of you watch too many movies and TV shows.
I worked for PwC for 18 years. We were the consultants the corporations hired. It was the same thing over and over. New leader needed help moving boxes on the org chart, and the new leader wanted to get rid of the old regime.
If you do not know what a RIF is count yourself lucky (And I mean this very seriously).
Because what I posted was a joke - but the reality - and it is the reality - is very different - and not funny at all.
 

BringBackMo

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Whaaaaa! The Sox traded Mookie!
Whaaaaa! The Sox are cheap and want to cut payroll!
Whaaaaa! Everything the Sox do is wrong and stupid and bad!


Anyone who bothered to read the article, or did so with an open mind, might conclude that Breslow, likely with the behind the scenes encouragement of Theo, is interested in a genuine and thorough evaluation of how the Sox have operated over the past several years.

Some of you are very unhappy with the front office’s performance over the past half-decade or so. It seems as though the new brain trust may share some of your concerns. Maybe relax and enjoy this fun 2024 team.
 
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Pat Spillane

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Gahhhh US Multinational corporate crap speak. Not only do I have to deal with this Mon - Fri 9-5 but its now invading my hobbies. I mean I know its a business but lets try to keep this crap behind the curtain to keep some of the magic of Baseball alive. I dont want to hear about your internal silo's, collaboration or all hands meetings. Just put a good team on the field and keep the CEO speak to yourselves
 

sezwho

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I worked for PwC for 18 years. We were the consultants the corporations hired. It was the same thing over and over. New leader needed help moving boxes on the org chart, and the new leader wanted to get rid of the old regime.
If you do not know what a RIF is count yourself lucky (And I mean this very seriously).
Because what I posted was a joke - but the reality - and it is the reality - is very different - and not funny at all.
You are well quite well informed here, and I also think this is what happened.

Breslow is seeing some very entrenched roles/business functions and doesn't have the clout to do anything about it without air cover. These Boston Brahmin types soil themselves at the thought of a Bain (or whoever) consultant providing a robust word salad and ppt presentation that justifies what he was going to do anyway...can you tell I've seen this movie too? : )

Seriously though, even if the outside group isn't necessarily 5-Star (which this one would be) just having a group whose only allegiance is to the CEO that just contracted them, it can be valuable.

RIF = Reduction in Force and its another way of getting pink slipped.
 

Max Power

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Do teams really have analytic groups of 70+ people now? I remember back in the old days when Theo was first hired it was a big deal that they crammed 10-15 stat guys into the "new" offices that were where the Fenway bowling alley used to be.
 

lexrageorge

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I've witnessed first hand the impact of "corporate consultants" when they are brought in by a new CEO or VP. Sometimes the result is nothing more than reshuffling the top of the org chart deck chairs, with a couple of VPs replaced in the process. In other cases, the result is super valuable employees who did nothing wrong suddenly looking for jobs simply due to the preconceived notions of the consultants when it comes to jobs or technology that they simply do not understand. Still, sometimes it is a necessary step in order to at least provide cover for the new boss to implement needed change. But, yes, the cynicism and "Office memes" are well deserved in most cases.

We obviously know very little of the workings of the front office, so for now, it's Breslow we trust when it comes to these matters. While I don't expect it to have any impact on the field, a well run baseball ops department is not a bad thing. Theo really had something when his team drafted Betts & Co, and recreating that effectiveness is clearly a goal of the owners.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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Do teams really have analytic groups of 70+ people now? I remember back in the old days when Theo was first hired it was a big deal that they crammed 10-15 stat guys into the "new" offices that were where the Fenway bowling alley used to be.
They continuously added to that team during the years I was with the Foundation. Our desks kept getting moved until we were in the old bowling alley, and then across the street. Always due to “more analytics guys”. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were 50 when I was last there in 2019
 

TomRicardo

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So now the team is paying money to figure out a way to blame Cora (guys no consulting group in the world is going blame the guys that hired them, so FSG is getting nothing but cosmetic blame).

Sam Kennedy is really working to be one of the worst owners (principals) in sports. I wonder where Salah is going this summer.
 

soxhop411

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So now the team is paying money to figure out a way to blame Cora (guys no consulting group in the world is going blame the guys that hired them, so FSG is getting nothing but cosmetic blame).

Sam Kennedy is really working to be one of the worst owners (principals) in sports. I wonder where Salah is going this summer.
facts not in evidence.
Off the top of my head in just baseball

Angels
A’s
white Sox
Mia
Rockies
 

lexrageorge

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So now the team is paying money to figure out a way to blame Cora (guys no consulting group in the world is going blame the guys that hired them, so FSG is getting nothing but cosmetic blame).

Sam Kennedy is really working to be one of the worst owners (principals) in sports. I wonder where Salah is going this summer.
The audit has nothing to do with Cora.
 

TomRicardo

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This is what I think it is, the Yankees did the same thing this past winter and nothing obvious has resulted.

"The identity of the company hired to help the New York Yankees has finally been revealed.

Zelus Analytics, a sports analytics company, will allow the Yankees to view how they crunch their numbers in terms of player performance, in-game decision-making and much more, according to a league source. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

On Aug. 31, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner told The Associated Press the team was “looking to bring in possibly an outside company to really take a look at the analytics side of what we do.” That company is Zelus, which has worked with several other Major League Baseball teams, and with teams in other professional sports since it was founded in 2019.

Two of Zelus’ co-founders once worked in the Dodgers’ front office. Doug Fearing, chief executive officer, founded the Dodgers’ research and development department while Dan Cervone, its principal data scientist, was Los Angeles’ former director of quantitative research. Its website lists 70 employees, many with “scientist” in their job titles. Andrew Hopen, Zelus’ senior data scientist, worked in the Yankees’ analytics department.

Vince Gennaro, the associate dean of the Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport at New York University, said Zelus’ employee list looks like a “dream team of analytics.” "

https://theathletic.com/5022695/2023/11/02/yankees-zelus-analytics-offseason/
This is a bit different.

It seems like the Red Sox brought in management consultants, while this is detailing technical consultants with OCM capability.

Technical consultants would look at your technical methodology and make recommendations or help adopt methodology that should land with better results. The Red Sox are bringing in a team to look at their workflows but essentially their workforce. This is scary because the Front Office of MLB team is not a huge unit in terms of personnel. Most teams do not employee more than 50 FTEs. The Red Sox do not have a particularly large FO, but it is a bit larger than 50. A majority of these individuals role up to a single person (either a special assistant to or advisor).

The only thing I could think of is they have five assistant GMs which is odd. They have inflated titles and maybe it hard to track accountability? Their org chart is a bit different from other teams as well.

I joked earlier about this being a way to get rid of Cora. It could be an exercise to trim the scouting, analyst, and advisor roles
 

sezwho

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The audit has nothing to do with Cora.
My honest guess is there are probably now like 10 people with titles like ‘director of pitch analytics’. And head of ‘pitch optimization’ and they were all utter useless sacks of shit, which is why our pitching was a dumpster fire until Breslow showed up and put them on ice.

I’d also challenge the idea that these are a bunch of 150K fully loaded people this effort is concerned about. I guarantee the driveline guy was in the millions and Bailey is in the millions as well. Those senior tenured analytics leads are going to be incredibly expensive, base salary 250k+ and I suspect all the VPs are 500k+
 
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TomRicardo

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The audit has nothing to do with Cora.
Then it is a really shitty audit. Even if you are explicitly looking at just the FO without the coaching staff how are you going to audit the effectiveness of the FO without looking the interaction, feedback, and effectiveness of the coaching staff from output of the FO. We already know two things, the performance of the product is underwhelming long term and revenue has lowered.
 

TomRicardo

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My honest guess is there are probably now like 10 people with titles like ‘director of pitch analytics’. And head of ‘pitch optimization’ and they were all utter useless sacks of shit, which is why our pitching was a dumpster fire until Breslow showed up and put them on ice.

I’d also challenge the idea that these are a bunch of 150 K fully loaded people this effort is concerned about. I guarantee the driveline guy was in the millions and Bailey is in the millions as well. Those senior tenured analytics leads are going to be incredibly expensive, base salary 250k+ and I suspect all the VPs are 500k+
You would be surprised. While this would the case in corporate America, a lot of people take a discount to work from the Sports Teams. They don't pay market rate for data scientists.
 

Erik Hanson's Hook

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Whaaaaa! The Sox traded Mookie!
Whaaaaa! The Sox are cheap and want to cut payroll!
Whaaaaa! Everything the Sox do is wrong and stupid and bad!


Anyone who bothered to read the article, or did so with an open mind, might conclude that Breslow, likely with the behind the scenes encouragement of Theo, is interested in a genuine and thorough evaluation of how the Sox have operated over the past several years.

Some of you are very unhappy with the front office’s performance over the past half-decade or so. It seems as though the new brain trust may share some of your concerns. Maybe relax and enjoy this fun 2024 team.
Maybe you are oversensitive to the criticism(s)? Who said anything about Mookie or not enjoying the 2024 team?

Edit: Edit: "Some of you"..."your concerns"...do you think it's been a well-run front office? Thank you for keeping us all in line, btw
 
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joe dokes

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Then it is a really shitty audit. Even if you are explicitly looking at just the FO without the coaching staff how are you going to audit the effectiveness of the FO without looking the interaction, feedback, and effectiveness of the coaching staff from output of the FO. We already know two things, the performance of the product is underwhelming long term and revenue has lowered.
Because Breslow himself thinks he can probably make an informed decision on Cora. But maybe not so much about the working relationship between the Dominican Academy and the international scouting cross-checkers or some other far-flung groups.
 

lexrageorge

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Then it is a really shitty audit. Even if you are explicitly looking at just the FO without the coaching staff how are you going to audit the effectiveness of the FO without looking the interaction, feedback, and effectiveness of the coaching staff from output of the FO. We already know two things, the performance of the product is underwhelming long term and revenue has lowered.
Breslow seems to have a good handle of the coaching staff already. And the team is currently outperforming its talent level by a significant margin.
 

sezwho

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You would be surprised. While this would the case in corporate America, a lot of people take a discount to work from the Sports Teams. They don't pay market rate for data scientists.
Interesting, I could see this. Recall from NESN adjacent conversations that the draw for someone from this region to join is so strong it creates its own incentive.
 

Rovin Romine

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Breslow seems to have a good handle of the coaching staff already. And the team is currently outperforming its talent level by a significant margin.
I would instead say the pitching talent (at least) is now being properly cultivated and utilized. You could perhaps even say it's being maximized.

We've also seen actual improvement in some other areas of concern. There's generally been more defensive competence in terms of positioning and backing-up and hitting the cutoff man. We've even had some discrete player improvement: Duran and Valdez's fielding, for example.

Players don't magically stop developing when they cross the AAA/MLB threshold for the first time.
 

lexrageorge

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I would instead say the pitching talent (at least) is now being properly cultivated and utilized. You could perhaps even say it's being maximized.

We've also seen actual improvement in some other areas of concern. There's generally been more defensive competence in terms of positioning and backing-up and hitting the cutoff man. We've even had some discrete player improvement: Duran and Valdez's fielding, for example.

Players don't magically stop developing when they cross the AAA/MLB threshold for the first time.
Agree. Which reinforces the point that the consultants are not coming in to evaluate the coaching staff. But there are a whole lot of other employees in baseball operations department (the article hints at a few hundred perhaps), and if Breslow or Theo or Sam Kennedy or Tom Werner or John Henry want to spend money to find out what everyone is doing, so be it. Whether doing so is a waste of money or not is literally of zero concern to me as a fan of the product on the field.
 

bankshot1

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I assume this is mostly about timely communication amongst all the direct and indirect reporting lines and is data and info getting to where it has to get to without too many barriers interfering with optimal decision making process.

And not for example, why is so and so still in A and not AA, unearthing the Mookie trade, Gulden's or Frenchs or deciding when to bunt.

Macro and not micro.
 
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Rovin Romine

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Agree. Which reinforces the point that the consultants are not coming in to evaluate the coaching staff. But there are a whole lot of other employees in baseball operations department (the article hints at a few hundred perhaps), and if Breslow or Theo or Sam Kennedy or Tom Werner or John Henry want to spend money to find out what everyone is doing, so be it. Whether doing so is a waste of money or not is literally of zero concern to me as a fan of the product on the field.
I get what you're saying.

To take a step back - I don't know whether this particular audit will be a waste or not, but at the end of the day the club's fortunes will rise and fall on the number of viable ML players the organization produces. At the ML level you can play those guys or trade 'em for ML talent. You can acquire them through the draft, or MiL FA, or as IFAs, or via trade. But that's really the core of it. Teams that acquire the most viable ML talent have a better chance of winning. Free Agency has a role, but it's unlikely to add as much (or for as long as) a solid pipeline will.

If nothing else, this season has shown that introducing changes (the Breslow/Bailey effect) can get you better results from what you already have in-house.

So I think it's only smart to evaluate what the club is doing compared to other teams. What works and what does not? What needs to be tweaked? Where can you maximize returns? Where do you want to invest?

There's probably a Breslow/Bailey corollary at the minor league level. Player development getting improved not only in the sense of who you pick, but what exactly you do with them when they're in the org. And if you drop a handful of analytic and marketing guys to hire a dedicated analytics-friendly IF coach or two, maybe you get Hamiltons who can field. Which is probably worth a lot. And then you play those guys or trade them. . .

So in that sense, I think the coaching staff is probably under review in a kind of high-level overview audit.
 

JimD

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Gahhhh US Multinational corporate crap speak. Not only do I have to deal with this Mon - Fri 9-5 but its now invading my hobbies. I mean I know its a business but lets try to keep this crap behind the curtain to keep some of the magic of Baseball alive. I dont want to hear about your internal silo's, collaboration or all hands meetings. Just put a good team on the field and keep the CEO speak to yourselves
I don't get this reaction. Nobody forced any news of this story on you, you literally had to search for it (or click on this thread).
 

Harry Hooper

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Maybe Breslow asked for something like another $8-10 million for payroll, and the ownership tasked him to wring it out of the organization first before they would consider dipping into the coffers further?