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Gerry Hunsicker | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gerald Hunsicker (1950-06-10)June 10, 1950 (age 74) |
| Alma mater | Florida International University,Miami, Florida |
| Occupation | Baseball executive |
Gerald Hunsicker (born June 10, 1950) is an American baseball executive. He is the senior advisor of baseball operations for theLos Angeles Dodgers ofMajor League Baseball. Hunsicker has been an executive with theNew York Mets andTampa Bay Rays and thegeneral manager of theHouston Astros from November1995 until the end of the2004 campaign.[1] He graduated from Saint Joseph's College, Pa. in 1972.
Hunsicker received amaster's degree ineducation fromFlorida International University inMiami,Florida, in 1976. From 1975 to 1978, he was an assistant coach of the FIU baseball team, before entering professional baseball.
From 1988 to 1992, he held various positions with theNew York Mets, including director of minor league operations and assistant general manager.
He was hired by theHouston Astros as general manager byDrayton McLane on November 10, 1995.[2]
Hunsicker would have eight MLB drafts to help assemble a lineup that contained two future Hall of Famers withCraig Biggio andJeff Bagwell. His first pick as a GM inMark Johnson did not work out, although he would be used in a trade for .300 hitterMoises Alou in 1998; other choices would develop better.Roy Oswalt was drafted by the team through shrewd scouting that resulted in a 23rd round pick in 1996; five years later, he would become a ten-year star for the Astros and be a key piece in the 2004 & 2005 teams. In1997, he draftedLance Berkman in the first round. He would make five appearances in theMajor League Baseball All-Star Game in his eleven years spent with the Astros. After losingDarryl Kile in free agency to theColorado Rockies, he used the compensation pick granted by the move to draftBrad Lidge with the 17th pick in the 1998 draft, andChris Burke was drafted by him in 2001 as the tenth overall pick. He would also find some success within other rounds of the draft, such asChad Qualls (2nd round, 2000) alongsideHunter Pence (who had not signed when drafted by Milwaukee in 2002) in 2004 alongsideBen Zobrist.
The Astros would have their first 100-win season in team history in 1998, which notably finished with the acquisition ofRandy Johnson as a summer rental, for which theSeattle Mariners acquired three prospects (Freddy García,Carlos Guillén, andJohn Halama). Of the three prospects, only Garcia made an impact for the Mariners, having two All-Star Game selections.
Notable free agency signings included players such asKen Caminiti (where he played 137 games in two seasons in the second tenure with the team),Jeff Kent (best known for his walk-off home run in Game 5 of the 2004NLCS),Andy Pettite, andRoger Clemens. There were a handful of trades that would shape the Astros in later years, such as trading forBrad Ausmus in 2000 after he had been traded from theDetroit Tigers to Houston and vice versa in 1996 and 1999. Ausmus would be a mainstay in Houston in two tenures that combined for ten seasons. However, not all of his decisions worked to his benefit; most notably, when it came time to protect players for the 1997 expansion draft, he chose to protectRichard Hidalgo overBobby Abreu (he would be selected by theTampa Bay Rays, who bizarrely traded him soon after to thePhiladelphia Phillies). While Hidalgo had a couple of decent years with the Astros, Abreu thrived well in Philadelphia, and Hunsicker admitted his mistake years later.[3] An attempt to trade for five-timeCy Young Award winnerRoger Clemens from theToronto Blue Jays in late 1998 stalled due to their demands that left him angry at the agent of Clemens, who ended up landing with the New York Yankees for the next five seasons.[4] OwnerDrayton McLane tried to keep the interest alive, even coming to an idea to trade pitcherScott Elarton, shortstopJulio Lugo and outfielderRichard Hidalgo to Toronto, but it fizzled out.[5]
In nine seasons at the helm of general manager from 1996 to 2004, the Astros would go 793-665 under four managers (Terry Collins,Larry Dierker,Jimy Williams,Phil Garner) while having a payroll generally out of the top ten in the majors. They would make the playoffs five times (including four division titles in a span of five seasons, all under Dierker), with just one season finishing under .500. In the playoffs, success was less forthcoming, as they lost in the first round each of the first four times.Billy Wagner had criticized the team (specifically ownership) in 2003 for not building a team worthy for the playoffs (owing from ownerDrayton McLane trying to save money) and found himself traded after the year had ended.[6] In 2004, however, things swung in the way of the Astros. It did not start out with the best of beginnings, as managerJimy Williams would be fired after winning half of the team's first 88 games.[7] A trade on June 24 between the Astros and two other teams gained them the services ofCarlos Beltran, who would hit 23 home runs. Spurred on by the arrival ofPhil Garner as manager, he would lead them on a hot streak that included winning 36 out of the last 46 games to finish 92-70 and sneak into the playoffs as a Wild Card team by one game. That year, Clemens would win theCy Young Award (his seventh all-time) while Beltran tied the record for most home runs hit in a postseason with eight. The Astros would fall one win short of making the World Series, but Hunsicker's nucleus of players had reached a level that the Astros had not managed to reach before. He would step down as the GM for the Astros after the 2004 season, whereuponTim Purpura would replace him. Reportedly, he resigned due to being tired of McLane's influences on team management, and it was believed that McLane was jealous of Hunsicker getting credit for the success of the team, which extended to Hunsicker being a friend to lower management, as he had to push for McLane to start a 401K retirement plan and have the team office remain closed between Christmas and New Year's Day. Hunsicker even interviewed for theNew York Mets job in 2003 with McLane being close to letting him go. Former Astros managerLarry Dierker once related a story about how Hunsicker had to be the one to tell him about the displeasure shown by McLane because a Diamond level ticket holder didn't like Dierker resting prominent veterans for a game. Among the last things done with Hunsicker as general manager was to pick up the club option onCraig Biggio for 2005 (which amounted to $3 million) while declining the option forJeff Kent (which was at $9 million); reportedly, the decision was more the idea of McLane (who apparently had been phoned directly by Biggio two years prior when he wanted a new contract) rather than Hunsicker.[8] On November 1, 2004, Hunsicker resigned from his position.[9][10][11][12]
He spent seven years with theTampa Bay Rays as senior vice president, baseball operations and left that post to join the Dodgers front office in October 2012. Hunsicker advisedAndrew Friedman with the Rays, and he was reunited with Friedman when he was named the Dodgers' president of baseball operations in October 2014.
Hunsicker is the longest-lasting general manager of the Astros. That year, led by Oswalt, Berkman, Clemens and various Astros acquired by Hunsicker, they advanced all the way to winning theNational League pennant and advanced to theWorld Series (where they lost in four games).
In 2005, he was recognized by FIU as one of its outstandingalumni. He received his bachelor's degree fromSt. Joseph's University,Philadelphia,Pennsylvania.
| Preceded by | Houston AstrosGeneral manager 1995–2004 | Succeeded by |