Looking back at some great MLB decisions

Recently came across Jon Heyman's article at SI.com via Rob Neyer on ESPN.com where he examined the best 15 baseball management decisions of the past year. I loved the list and wanted to talk about a couple of them.

• 1. The Nationals' signing of Stephen Strasburg. In June of last year, I opined that the Washington Nationals should pass on drafting the phenom. I then stated a few months later that the Nats made the right decision, mainly because they signed him for less than I thought they would. And of course, Strasburg has been awesome so far, putting up unbelievable numbers: 2.27 ERA, 1.54 FIP, 13.64 K/9, 1.5 WAR. All of this in just 5 starts and about 32 innings. Amazing. But let's not get too crazy. While Heyman is right that it was a good decision, Strasburg might be a once-in-a-lifetime player, or he might be Mark Prior. Time will tell.
• 4. The Padres' decision not to trade Adrian Gonzalez and/or Heath Bell. I predicted that the Padres would finish a distant fourth in the NL West, but San Diego GM Jed Hoyer had a better handle on his team than I did (no big surprise). He held onto his two best players, and they have both contributed to one of baseball's biggest surprises (3.3 and 1.1 WAR respectively).
• 6. The White Sox's decision last August to claim Alex Rios and his $12-million-a-year contract on waivers. Man, I thought the White Sox were crazy when they claimed Rios. And now he's hitting 312/368/534, which would be his best line ever. Will he stay there? Not likely, but he's a great fielder, and even if he falls down to his 06-08 level, Chicago made a great call.
• 9. The Rangers' decision to stick with manager Ron Washington. This is one where I think Heyman missed the mark. Yes, the Rangers lead the AL West by 4.5 games, but there's no reason to believe another manager couldn't have done just as well. I think the decision was still very hypocritical of a sport that is punishing drug users.
• 14. Adrian Beltre's call to turn down Oakland's multiyear offer to sign with Boston for one year. As Heyman points out, if Beltre had signed with the A's, he might have been stuck with the same moniker he had in Seattle: great glove, bad bat. Now he's hitting 340/379/547, thanks to a 404/649 OBP/SLG at cozy Fenway. (Editor's note: These are actually his away splits. He's his OBP/SLG is acually 370/500 at Fenway. Wow.) And he's been great with the glove. This guy is making himself a lot of money, and I hope the Sox resign him, as long as he stops hurting our LFs.