Willie Singleton wasn't exactly the coolest kid in his high school days. He was that tall lanky kid with the glasses that always wore the collard shirts. You could say he was a nerd... but while the other "nerds" talked about their comic books and computer games, Willie was crunching numbers... specifically baseball numbers.
You see, Willie had always had an affinity for baseball but wasn't anything special despite playing 3 years of Varsity baseball. What he lacked in talent, Willie more than made up with in his baseball IQ which was through the roof. As a high school kid, he probably knew more about the game than the commissioner. He could spit off records, important games and give you his opinion in one quick conversation. It was his baseball IQ and his affinity for his game that would later shape his future.
Willie ended up graduating from Harvard University in 1999 with a degree in political science and a minor in economics on an academic scholarship. In order to push himself through Law School, Willie went to work as a financial adviser for AIG (American Investment Group). The world of economics however was not all it was cracked up to be. So Willie would arrive at work at 7:00 AM, well before anyone else and would finish his days work by noon or one in the afternoon. The rest of the day, Willie would sit at his desk with his calculator, a pad of paper and the days' sports page and would crunch numbers until 8:00 PM when everyone else had already gone home.
Just Prior to the 2003 baseball season, Willie got a call from the newly anointed Boston Red Sox GM Theo Epstein asking if he had time to come down to Fenway for a job interview. Willie hopped into his Mustang and drove from New York up to his hometown, Boston.
Theo met Willie at the gates and they walked up to the press box and sat in the front row and looked at the field. Theo had brought Willie up to Boston because the Red Sox were looking for cheaper, alternative ways to build a franchise. Phase 1 of Theo's plan was finding smart people that could crunch numbers and analyze them. Not wanting to be stuck behind a desk all day and with an opportunity to live out his dream, Willie accepted a position with the Boston Red Sox Organization title "Special Adviser to the General Manager".
From 2003 to 2011, Willie worked in the Boston Red Sox with the legendary Bill James trying to uncover players that could be valuable to the franchise and that would be cost effective, by doing his favorite thing, crunching numbers. After the disastererous 2011 season, Willie followed Theo Epstein and other members of the Boston Red Sox to the Chicago Cubs. There, Willie became Theo's Vice President of Scouting and Player Development. In his tenure with the Cubs, Willie found talented players such as Javier Baez and Albert Almora while playing a critical roll in the decision to trade for First Baseman Anthony Rizzo.
However, things were changing for Willie. For the past 10 years, he had compiled an impressive resume and was at the forefront of the industry in analyzing and creating numbers. His talents and accomplishments weren't going unnoticed by the baseball industry. Prior to the 2013 season,
www.mlbtraderumors.com listed Willie as the #4 GM Candidate in baseball.
Prior to the 2013 season, Willie was offered a position titled "Special Assistant to Baseball Operations" by the New York Mets. The unusual position title was to serve as a smokescreen which translated to "Future GM Successor". Willie had played second fiddle for most of his career and this position was just what he needed to start the next chapter of his career. Willie was ready to run things the way he wanted. He helped rebuild the Red Sox, he created the opening phases of the Cubs' rebuild project and now, it was time for him to begin
his own rebuild project...