When we at The Athletic began interviewing ballplayers in February about the reputations of major-league clubs, the Colorado Rockies were coming off a season in which they compiled the worst run differential since the 19th century. The Chicago White Sox were coming off a third consecutive 100-loss campaign. The Pittsburgh Pirates had gone a full decade without tasting the playoffs. The Athletics were bracing for another season in a minor-league ballpark.<\/p>\n
Some four months later, each of these teams is experiencing a level of optimism typically reserved for spring training. The White Sox have been the surprise leaders of the American League Central. The A\u2019s have a 23-year-old MVP candidate in Nick Kurtz who can hit the ball out of any building. The Pirates have the majors\u2019 hardest-throwing pitching staff and a top-five offense. The Rockies remain in last place, but under a new regime, they offer reasons for hope.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s still early. Half a season is not enough to erase certain longstanding perceptions. As part of our annual player poll<\/a>, we wanted to know: Which organizations have good reputations among uniformed personnel? Which organizations have bad reputations? Players were allowed to offer multiple responses to each prompt and were granted anonymity in order to speak candidly.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s start with the results of the latter question, which was posed to just over 100 players from 23 teams across the league.<\/p>\n Some quotes have been lightly edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, fewer of the players we polled were eager to answer this prompt.<\/p>\n One American League pitcher answered this question with a question. It sounded rhetorical.<\/p>\n \u201cWhich,\u201d he said, \u201care the ones that are cheap as f—?\u201d<\/p>\n On Opening Day, each of the aforementioned teams had one of the majors\u2019 10 lowest payrolls. Given their lack of on-field success, it came as no surprise that those four clubs were viewed as organizations with poor reputations. The Rockies, on the heels of a historically awful season, received the most mentions with 28. They were followed, in order, by the Pirates, A\u2019s, White Sox and Los Angeles Angels, who continue to have a decent-sized payroll but seemingly little direction.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have no idea how to make anyone better at anything,\u201d another pitcher said of the Angels. \u201cAnd that\u2019s from guys who worked there. They have no idea what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n For years, many have said the same of the Rockies. Now, first-year president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta is tackling baseball\u2019s most unique challenge<\/a> with the aid of first-year general manager Josh Byrnes, an alum of the Los Angeles Dodgers\u2019 front office. The difficulty level at altitude is as high as ever. But the bar, in Denver, is low.<\/p>\n \u201cColorado has been bad for a long time, but it sounds like they might be improving now with some new people,\u201d an AL hitter said.<\/p>\n In their own wordsOn the Rockies<\/p>\n \u201cBehind on everything analytically. I\u2019ve seen the way they do their business as a whole, and they make a lot of decisions where I\u2019m like, \u2018What are you doing?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor a while \u2014 I would say for a good 10 years \u2014 they didn\u2019t have the resources in place to help players stay in the big leagues. It was kind of, \u2018OK, you\u2019re here. If you produce, you can stay. If not, next guy up.\u2019 You have to have some type of resource for the players to help them get through their struggles, because you end up weeding out good players.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think they scout and draft well, but development-wise, there\u2019s no R&D. You\u2019re trying to figure it out on your own. Some help would be nice. Charlie Blackmon was completely self-made.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cColorado is just somewhere pitchers don’t want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n On the Pirates<\/p>\n “They just don\u2019t want to spend money on anything. It\u2019s like fighting tooth and nail to get equipment, get treatment stuff.”<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re spending a little bit of money now, but still going to say the Pirates.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOwnership.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe fans are there. But building an organization, a team that is ready to compete, to win, you know?\u201c<\/p>\n On the Athletics<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re playing in a minor-league stadium with awful amenities. I think they\u2019re building a good team, but I think it\u2019ll be hard to add top talent until they get to Vegas.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe in-between it\u2019s at right now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a dumb way to not invest $60,000 a year on, like, childcare at the field. People won\u2019t even consider going there because they\u2019re like, \u2018Yeah, I\u2019m not going to subject my wife and kids to not liking it. They don\u2019t treat them well.\u201d<\/p>\n On the White Sox<\/p>\n \u201cFrom teammates who\u2019ve played there, they\u2019re like, \u2018The video room is one laptop in a closet.\u2019 They\u2019re just behind on that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLove Will (Venable). It\u2019s not a bad reputation for the manager. It\u2019s a bad reputation from the top. Refusing to spend but also refusing to, like, care for families and players, to do the little things right.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey fail a lot of players.\u201d<\/p>\n On the Angels<\/p>\n