Former Bulls general manager Jerry Krause, who built teams that won six NBA championships, is changing sports.
Krause is joining baseball’s New York Yankees and will be introduced on Tuesday as a special assistant, baseball operations.
Krause met Monday with Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner and vice president for player development Mark Newman in Florida. He expects his role to be further defined in a Tuesday meeting with general manager Brian Cashman.
Krause, 64, stepped down as Bulls general manager on April 7, ostensibly for health reasons, but made it a point to say he was resigning and not retiring.
“When I left the Bulls, after a couple of months I really felt that void of competitiveness,” Krause said Monday. “Jerry [Reinsdorf] offered me a consultant job, but I didn’t want to do that. I’m too competitive. I’m a better person when I’m competing. You can’t fish every day.”
Krause, a baseball scout for four teams over 16 years earlier in his career, was a frequent visitor to Wrigley Field last season, mingling with the scouts in their seating area behind home plate. He was satisfied that he hadn’t lost his eye for talent.
“I had planned when I left the Bulls to go back to baseball,” he said. “When I [saw] I had the same abilities and desires and itch, I talked to several teams. The Yankees stepped to the plate.
“I wanted to be with somebody who likes to win. They will let me be creative and let me use my resources and my knowledge.”
Krause said he’ll be involved in player evaluation on all levels.
“I’m going to be working with the major-league club, all the minor-league clubs and cross-checking kids across the country,” Krause said. “I’ll also do some special-assignment work when trade possibilities come up and they need a scouting report. It’s a varied job. I’ll have a lot of different responsibilities.”
Krause scouted for the Cleveland Indians, the Oakland A’s, the Seattle Mariners and the White Sox, and had a hand in Sox transactions involving Ozzie Guillen, Greg Luzinski, Tom Seaver, Ed Farmer, Julio Cruz, Greg Walker, Ron Karkovice and Ken Williams. Guillen is now the team’s manager, and Williams is the general manager.
As an NBA scout for the Baltimore Bullets, Krause was responsible for drafting Hall of Famers Earl Monroe and Wes Unseld. And he surrounded Michael Jordan with enough complementary talent to win six NBA titles for the Bulls.
“Scouting is the same,” Krause said. “If you can scout, you can scout. With the Bulls, I scouted more than any general manager in the NBA. Plus this is a natural progression for me. I’m going back to my roots.
“I’m too young [to retire]. My health is better. It feels good to be back in baseball. I enjoy the game. And I love scouting.”
Krause said it was “flattering” to go to work for the Yankees.
“George likes to win,” he said. “And you can never get enough rings.”
