There are a few GMs that seem like fucking children, age-wise. Scares me and makes me sad.
I like Andrew Friedman a lot these days. I was a big Terry Ryan fan before he stepped down. Dombrowski is strong. Theo is still up there.
I cannot include Cashman, despite my Yankee love. Maybe in the 2nd tier of GM's. Kenny Williams, while often a douche bag, is at least not afraid to make changes.
Friedman is Tampa, right? Yeah, it's hard to gauge them, they got so many high draft picks for so long...they eventually had to be good, right? That said, clearly they have an excellent system and generally drafted well (as we've seen across many sports, high picks does not equal success)
As well as having a high payroll does not equal success (NY collapsing Mets, Dodgers until this season). Theo deserves credit but it's just hard for me to give credit to him and Cashman with those payrolls.
I look at the Marlins, who were an expansion franchise, won the WS 4 years later, had a firesale, rebuilt, won the WS in '03, had another firesale and have been consistently good or decent (.500) throughout. That's one hell of an organization actually. Shit stadium and shit fan support, watch out when they build that new stadium in downtown Miami, they might be a true powerhouse in the NL for decades after that.
Detroit was awful for years (sorry Dalton) before Dombrowski got there and he built the Marlins WS teams in 97 and 03, although he wasn't there in '03.
Kenny Williams is good but he is kind of an ass, isn't he?
Terry Ryan I hadn't thought about, excellent choice, talk about success with little resources. Great organization.