Another Great Hire...

The holiday season started early for Mets fans, with the hiring of new GM Sandy Alderson on October 28th, and it continued today, as the Mets provided a late Halloween "treat" with the announcement earlier today that they have hired former Blue Jays GM, JP Ricciardi, to serve as one of Alderson's "special assistants."

Ricciardi, who formerly worked with Alderson in the A's system (for 12 of his 16 years with that organization), brings knowledge of both current major and minor league systems to the table. After being fired from his job as Blue Jays GM following the '09 season, Ricciardi, who had served as an ESPN analyst this past year, chose to work again with his old mentor rather than taking a "standing job offer" from Theo Epstein and the Boston Red Sox. (It's always a great sign when a team can add someone that Epstein wanted!)

Alderson, on Ricciardi:

"J.P. brings a wealth if knowledge and a breadth of experience to the organization,” Alderson said in a statement to reporters. ”I worked with him for over a decade in Oakland and I know first hand he’s a superb talent evaluator. He’ll be a tremendous resource in a variety of areas.”

Ricciardi, once skewered by the likes of baseball writer (and personal favorite) Joe Posnanski in Sports Illustrated for his outrageous contract signings, saw the majority of his success as a GM via player development, a point he discussed in the press conference.

"I think having a background in player development and scouting has probably always been my strength -- the ability to evaluate," Ricciardi said. "I think having been a general manager for eight years, and seeing the pace that goes on, and what it's like to sit in that chair, I think, is going to be helpful in different capacities. Obviously we're trying to put a winning team on the field. We're trying to do the best we can, and that entails a lot of different ways to attack putting a major league roster together."

With Alderson looking over his work, in conjunction with an additional, strong assistant like DePodesta, the concern for Ricciardi repeating some of the contracts he structured in Toronto is minimal. A link to the article can be found here.

The Next Steps
The next steps on Alderson's agenda, in no set order are:

1.) Filling out the rest of the front office (possibly adding Paul DePodesta, new scouts, etc.).

2.) Hiring a new manager (see tomorrow's post, when we create a mock "face-off" to determine the best candidate).

3.) Hiring a new coaching staff (Razor Shines is the only coach who knows for sure that he WON'T be back next season.)

4.) Make a final offer for reliever Hisanori Takahashi - the deadline was extended to November 5th.

5.) Prepare a rough draft of the teams' 40-man roster (there will be a number of players who won't make this cut, with Eddie Kunz, Joaquin Arias and Sean Green not likely to make the cut).

6.) Pick-up Jose Reyes' 2011 option (then he can decide whether or not to sign the shortstop to a long-term contract).

7.) Begin making decisions on which, if any, free agents the team might be interested in signing, as the Free Agent "start date" is 5 days after the completion of the World Series, or this coming Saturday, November 6th.

Back to Ricciardi
As a Mets fan, it's exciting to realize that the executive team now includes two people who would make great GMs for any team in MLB, instead of doubting whether anyone in the organization was actually qualified to run the "baseball side" of the operation. If/when DePodesta is added, or perhaps another Alderson cronie, Grady Fuson, the team will truly be in great hands, but also "current hands." By "current hands" I mean, of course, people who are currently familiar with most of the players in both the major and minor leagues today, as a number of people who were critical of Alderson's hire were concerned/critical of his lack of knowledge of most of the minor leaguers currently playing due to his not running the day-to-day operations of a team in a number of years. However, it's silly to think that Alderson, who counts disciples on nearly every team in the game, wouldn't surround himself with trusted lieutenants ready and able to fill in any knowledge gaps he might have.

This executive team is starting to become reminiscent of Frank Cashen's old team, which included, at one time or another, Gerry Hunsicker, Steve Philips, Joe McIlvaine and a number of other great baseball people who had varying levels of success after leaving the Mets. It's certainly looking to be a far more inspiring group then the previous folks tasked with running the show under Omar Minaya, and so far, the "off-season" is starting with a bang for the Mets. Let's hope they continue to bring us such wonderful "gifts"...