Reese Kaplan -- Why Would a GM Want the Mets?

I have long cultivated a well-deserved reputation for being the Debbie Downer of this site, always looking at the negative side of things.  Part of it is simple personality type and part of it is my professional training.  

Optimists are people who continually go through life expecting the best will always happen.  Pessimists always anticipate the worst.  Frankly, I’d rather be in the latter camp and be continually pleasantly surprised when I’m wrong than to go through life with one disappointment after another.

Consequently, when I read Mack and others make the assertion that no one in his or her right mind would want to take the Mets GM job as evidenced by executives like Thad Levine, Ben Cherington, Josh Byrnes and now Mike Chernoff refusing to even sit for interviews, well, there’s some validity to what is being asked. 

So let me try to exercise those seldom-used optimistic muscles and think why someone would want the job as GM of the Mets:

Starting Rotation

Led by Cy Young Award frontrunner Jacob deGrom, then Cy Young Award future contender Noah Syndergaard, Comeback Player of the Year possibility Zack Wheeler and the when healthy often unhittable Steven Matz, that core is going to help keep the team in pretty much every game.  Behind them you have Jason Vargas who showed flashes later in the year, Seth Lugo and other reinforcements in the minors on their way up. 

Young Offensive Core

Brandon Nimmo was in the discussion for a reserve role on the All Star game this year after beginning the season in the minors.  Michael Conforto has already been an All-Star.  Jeff McNeil picked right up where he’d been in AA and AAA when he got to the majors, finishing his rookie campaign with a .329 batting average.  Amed Rosario really turned in on in the last 1/3 of the season, showing his speed, some power and becoming someone feared in the batter’s box. Soon to join them will be pounding Pete Alonso, he of the 36 HRs and 119 RBIs split between AA and AAA last season.  He's doing everything in the Arizona Fall League to show that was not merely an aberration.  Behind him you have Andres Giminez who should start the year where he left off in AA and be on a fast track to Queens.  

Veteran Support

I’m not here to argue right now the merits of having signed both Todd Frazier and Jay Bruce to multi-year contracts last off-season.  What’s done is done.  However, what can happen if they remain healthy is a return to All-Star form which would help support the burgeoning young core who may know how to swing the bat and field their position but not really know the nuances of the game itself.  No one can forget Frazier’s variation of the hidden ball trick on a diving “catch” of a foul ball.  They don’t teach that in the Spalding guides on how the game is played. 

The Honeymoon Period

While the Wilpons are both notoriously meddlesome and dysfunctional, the fact is that once someone is hired they have greater latitude up front about making changes than they might have down the road.  If those changes work, that might extend the honeymoon.  A prospective GM might relish the opportunity to bolster the bullpen and find a solution for behind the plate that the club has pretty much lacked since the days of Mike Piazza.  With those pieces in place, there’s no reason this team can’t contend quickly.

The First Gig

Everyone has to start somewhere, and for folks who have worked their way up the ranks with a single team (like Chaim Bloom of the Rays) or someone who has bounced around between proven winning organizations like the Yankees and Dodgers (as Kim Ng has done), the brass ring they’re all seeking to grab is the full GM title.  Even veterans like Gary LaRocque of the Cardinals who is approaching his golden years baseball-wise has not yet had that chance (and word came out yesterday he won't this time, either).  Whether it’s the title itself, the challenge or the fulfillment of a dream, no matter if it was the Mets, the Cleveland Browns or the Los Angeles Clippers, someone is going to want to be in charge (or as much in charge as Jeffy will allow). 

Final Thoughts

While there’s certainly something to be said for experience, it’s really a two-way street.  Just because someone has been doing a job for a long time doesn’t necessarily mean he/she has been doing it well.  When word filtered out that Dave Littlefield most recently of Pittsburgh was up for consideration I got bad Terry Collins flashbacks of someone who’s been around the game a long time but was unable to win anything.  Dan Duquette of the Orioles would be another of that ilk. The Mets went in an unexpected direction last year when it came time to choose a new field manager with Mickey Callaway.  Yes, there were growing pains for sure, but by the end of the year the team was hitting on most cylinders.  I’m hoping they take another chance on someone with potential rather than proven mediocrity.