DAVID RUBIN: Welcome to Owning The New York Mets! Here is your Initial Operations Manual! Part THREE of THREE

Welcome once more to the final part of your initial Operations Manual!  We have covered so much already, but we could have gone so deep in each of these areas that you’d be reading until the cows come home (and when WILL those darn cows finally come home???) We again want to remind you that the full Operations Manual, consisting of 145 sections and filling a whopping 450 pages is available for purchase should you decide to hire us on as full-time consultants, or via a one-time purchase.

Today, in our final portion of this manual, we are going to cover two important segments of your team, the on-field management/coaching team, and the all-important fanbase, of which our lead consultant, David Rubin, has been a part of for more than 50 years. There is, as you will see, a distinct tie-in to these two categories, as the manager is the point of derision for the fanbase, as they tend to blame all of the team’s woes on the manager, as their face of the franchise. But we will get into that in the final section. Happy reading, and thanks for reading these sections so far.

ON-FIELD MANAGEMENT / COACHING STAFF

Let’s get to the second part of this section first- the coaching staff. BVW has actually put together a mostly excellent coaching staff, consisting of some excellent former players and very intelligent baseball-lifers, with only one question mark.

Coaches

Hensley Meulens – Bench Coach: A very hard role to rate, because you don’t know how much or how little a bench coach actually effects a manager’s decision-making. One must guess that, since Rojas is a new manager, he’s been leaning heavily on Meulens’ recommendations, considering Hensley had been part of a number of manager searches in recent times and has a vast amount of experience as both a player and a coach. He’s bilingual, which is very important in a sport that’s made up of at least 35% Latin players, and he’s been a vital part of future Hall of Fame manager’s Bruce Bochy’s staff in the past. We would definitely give Hensley the benefit of the doubt, and highly recommend keeping him.

Chili Davis – Hitting Coach: For medical reasons in the time of COVID, Chili had to coach the 2020 season from home, via Zoom. We know this was especially frustrating for this old pro, as he’s spent the majority of his 60 years in the game, in the dugout and the clubhouse, a vital part of his team as both player and coach. And Chili has definitely made a mark on this team, as players like Dom Smith, Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil and JD Davis can attest to. In spite of the fact that Met hitters were having a huge problem, especially early in the season, of driving in runs, Chili cannot be blames for that because these hitters understand what needs to be done, and no matter the message preached to them it’s still on them to actually perform. It’s something that, too often, fans forget when they throw their vitriol at the manager and coaches.

Chili is a big presence in person, and the hope is that, in 2021 he can return to his rightful place in the dugout instead of using Zoom and assistant hitting coach Tom Slater to get his message across. Definitely a keeper!!

Tom Slater – Asst Hitting Coach: In Chili’s absence, Slater has had to handle a difficult situation in logistically ensuring that Chili’s messages were getting across to the team. He’s obviously doing a good job in spite of the fact that the team’s ability to drive in runs with runners on base has been anemic. Again, that’s not the hitting coaches’ fault – hitters have to hit, as it’s what they are paid well to do. Slater works well in conjunction with Davis, and it’s a pair that we recommend keeping in place.

Jeremy Hefner – Pitching Coach: Hefner was an interesting pitcher in his time, using guile and movement to make up for his lack of high heat. We were big fans of his when he was breaking in, as we compared him to Bobby Ojeda in the ’86 rotation – a possible pitcher in the middle of a bunch of flame-throwers. Sadly, due to injuries, Hefner never bounced back, but his intelligence and ability to digest important analytics brought him to being a first-time pitching coach with his old team. 

Hefner is actually the wild card we discussed, as the performance of the pitchers, particularly the starting staff, is quite hard to properly evaluate this past season. Losing Thor in the Spring and having Stroman opt out ensured that too many arms were going to be called on to replace them. To Hefner’s credit, he helped David Peterson jump into the rotation mid-stream, and the results were definitely impressive. 

However, vets like Michael Wacha and Rick Porcello have been having a true mixed bag of results, looking like world-beaters one inning and then not being able to get out of the next of their own accord. StevenMatz, in particular, has taken a big step backwards, and he is someone that Hefner was working very closely with to completely refine his technique and pitching arsenal. The results have not been pretty, and it’s near impossible to count on Matz in 2021 as a starter, unfortunately. 

Again, pitchers have to pitch, regardless of who the pitching coach is, and beyond deGrom’s excellence and the unexpected positive results from Peterson, not a lot went right with the rotation. Now the bullpen is another story; working closely with Diaz and company, the bullpen took great steps forward as a unit and proved to be closer to the positive off-season predictions of greatness, of great relief to the fan-base. Yes, there have been the usual hiccups, and even old standby Seth Lugo has had some really bad appearances. 

Overall, though, you can definitely see great improvements so in rating Hefner’s performance, you have to give him the benefit of the doubt. You need to give him another season to prove himself, and we will discuss the overall plan in the recommendation section.

Jeremy Accardo – Asst Pitching Coach

Tony DeFrancesco – First Base Coach

Gary Disarcina – Third Base Coach

Brian Schneider – Quality Control Coach

Ricky Bones – Bullpen Coach

Eric Langill – Bullpen Catcher

Dave Racaniello – Bullpen Catcher

This is an excellent group of coaches/instructors, particularly Disarcina, who has had excellent results in working with Davis, Rosario, Gimenez, McNeil, Guillorme, Alonso and Smith on their defense, in particular. These are hard roles to properly evaluate, except to say that the players interacted well with them and there was definite improvement in the collective defense and running. The team has finally stocked their staff with a group of professionals and new blood, and they have seemingly worked well together and in conjunction with their manager, the subject of our next section.

Recommendation: Keep this group, as is, and keep a strong eye on Hefner and Accardo. We recommend having another potential pitching coach candidate in your hip pocket, but hopefully with another year at the helm, you should see some more tangible results from Hefner’s efforts and the expectation is that he will prove himself to be well more than adequate.

Manager

Luis Rojas

Rojas is a baseball lifer, a second-generation legacy and a strong communicator. He is of course bilingual, and he knows the game, and a good majority of his players, inside and out. Like most current managers, it’s almost impossible to truly gauge their performance as front offices interfere more and more. Their penchant for adding saber-metrics and interfering in game management means that a good part of the manager’s job is simply disseminate the information that the front office gives him and his staff to the player’s in a way they can digest and not get overwhelmed.

By all accounts, Rojas is very liked and well-respected in the clubhouse, and while fans are quick to point fingers over pitching changes, lineups, etc, as is their want, they have to realize that it’s still, and always has been, up to the players to actually perform on the field. The days of Billy Martin’s, Whitey Herzog’s and Sparky Anderson’s are long gone, and the best thing a manager can do is keep his players loose, happy, and ready to perform. Rojas has done that and works well with his current staff. 

Overall, right now, there’s no reason to make a change here, in spite of what many fans would like to believe – and urge you to do. Look, Wally Backman isn’t ever going to be in this seat, so the fans have to move past that and learn to appreciate the current occupant of this office. Hopefully, he will be here to stay for many years.

Recommendation: A team always needs great potential managerial candidates in their system, and for some reason the team removed a very strong candidate this past offseason in Edgardo Alfonso. One of our consultants, John From Albany (full name withheld pending a restraining order 😀) was shocked and outraged by this move, and we highly recommend bringing him back to the organization, either as an addition to the big league coaching staff or as either a minor league manager or as an organizational supervisor. 

You will also need to identify some potential future managerial candidates, particularly younger ones, and add them to your system in some capacity, whether as coaches or managers. Like on-field talent, you can never have enough good replacements in your system raring to go.

Overall, Rojas and team have done a very good job under the most trying of times, and there’s no reason to look for a replacement just yet. With some more time under his belt, Rojas can potentially be a long-term manager for your organization. If, however, you decide during the 2021 season that a move has to be made, remember that one-time Met, and future hall-of-famer Bruce Bochy is on the sidelines, waiting for the right opportunity to come back to. We hope that move doesn’t have to be made, and again think that Rojas can be your long-term answer at manager.

FANBASE

Everything bad that can be done to a fanbase over the past almost 40 years has been done to these fans, courtesy of the prior ownership group, led by one Fred Wilpon. Whether it’s poorly conceived and over-priced tours of CitiField, or putting inferior teams on the field, the Wilpons have done everything bad an ownership group can do. Obviously they utilized the fake Madoff returns to build CitiField, create SNY and spend money on misguided free agents, but once that well dried up they would run out of money yearly. 

Heavily in debt, they rarely spent the extra bucks necessary to fix glaring needs on the field at key points in time, leaving them out of the running for a playoff spot. The Wilpons seemingly shat upon the fanbase over and over, and these fans made multiple pleas to finally, once and for all, sell the team to an ownership group that is prepared to spend the right way and most of all treat the history of this franchise with the love and care that it so deserves.

Finally changing the address to Tom Seaver Way was a good start, but as always their promises fall short. Remember that Seaver statue that was promised? Hmmm…have you heard anything about that lately? (crickets……………………………………………) Exactly!! This rabid fanbase spends millions and millions of dollars on merchandise, and we have seen Mets caps all over the country and across the world. Game-used memorabilia sells as fast as the team can put it up for sale, and bobbleheads are bought and sold like they were gold- and many fans would say they are!

Look, once upon a time, under the de Roulet / Payson Family ownership team, led by Chairman M Donald Grant (or, as our Lead Consultant David Rubin calls him, “The Devil Incarnate”), the fanbase in the stands could be counted in the low-to-mid four figures. Ownership had totally abandoned the team, it was obvious, and fans chose to protest by not going to games, even as television ratings remained strong on then-Channel Nine. 

Finally, an enthusiastic group of new owners, led by Nelson Doubleday, John Pickett and Fred Wilpon took over the team and, under MLB mandate, hired Frank Cashen as General Manager and Head of Baseball Operations, a move we now know was vital to the team’s eventual success. Thankfully, the Wilpons haven’t done equal damage to the fanbase, mostly because the team has had just enough great players, and just enough flirting with contention, to keep them entertained if not ultimately disappointed.

The Mets fanbase is well-informed, VERY opinionated, but ultimately loyal to a fault. Treat them well – don’t lie about or cover up injuries, keep prices down or more reasonable, offer special incentives on tickets, concessions and merchandise, and most of all, treat them with the respect and dignity that they deserve!! Don’t lie to them – they will see right through you and your honeymoon will be very short-lived.

Most of all, as we’ve said throughout this report, you need to spend money, lots of if, on the players and their development, and everything else will fall in line with that success. Show this fanbase that you care, which we know you do as your wallet has already shown, and you will be the recipient of amazing gate receipts, concession and merchandise monies, and most of all, loyalty across all areas of involvement. Like a child eager for attention, this fanbase isn’t asking for much – love them with your attention to detail, your honesty, your on-field investment and the loyalty and concern back to them and your investment will never be one you have to worry about. 

After all, there is NO fan-base like the one in Flushing, and the Mets boast the most dedicated group of fans, referred to as "The 7Line Army" that can be found not only taking up huge swaths of real estate at home games in Citifield, but also can be found on various trips to away teams stadiums as well. Dedication like that, you don't see outside of Wrigley Field- do NOT screw this up!!!!

ONE LAST THOUGHT

If you've noticed, since Andrew Friedman took over running the Los Angeles Dodgers, they haven't just spent money all over the place. Initially they had to overspend to bring in top talent, as we said earlier, but moving forward they've put a strong emphasis on player development with their minor league system, supplemented by big acquisitions like their trade this year for Mookie Betts. The ONE thing, however, that they do NOT get enough credit for is in their major league development department and the job they have done in both acquiring talent that other team's haven't properly valued, like Justin Turner and Max Muncy, but also in taking talent like those two and former relief star Jake McGee and maximizing it after mistakes made by their former teams.

Take McGee for instance; his most recent team, the Rockies, had him relying less and less on his fastball, which was truly his main pitch, which he used to throw upwards of 95% when he was at his most successful. The Rockies played around with everything from his motion to his pitch selection, and McGee quickly became an also-ran bullpen arm. In their pitch to sign him this off-season after he was released by the Rockies, Friedman and company explained to McGee that they had spent considerable time in crafting a success program for him, which had him throwing his fastball harder, far more frequently and higher in the zone. They consistently find value in this way, which too often their competitors can not.

Therefore, it's not just about spending all of your money and in the right places; it's also about finding those players who can have a great, unexpected pay-off because your team is doing the kind of due diligence that few, or none, of your competitors are. If you do that, and continue to do that, then you should eventually become the type of perennial contender that the Dodgers have become. And then, maybe, the type of exciting post-season games like the ones we saw in 2015 between these two teams will become a regular occurrence!

OVERALL SUMMARY:

You have purchased a very valuable asset, one that has been subject to more ups and downs than any fanbase should ever be susceptible to. You have older fans that are desperate for another World Series win in their lifetimes; young fans who have never seen one of those victories; and middle-aged fans who could easily shift their attention elsewhere if you don’t pay attention to the important things. You have a better than average minor league system, and a lot of talented players on your roster. 

You will need to spend a lot of money this offseason, but again that’s what you signed up for. This is New York- the lights don’t get any brighter, the vitriol never more potent and plentiful when you lose. You have purchased an asset that, quite frankly, you own only the P&L of- the fans own the victories and losses, the historical assets and the spiritual health and well-being of this team. You are now its caretaker, and that is both a full-time and mostly thankless role. Take it seriously, as we know you will, and make sure that you listen to the voices that matter – your front office staff AND your dedicated fans.

We know you’re going to be successful- you have the resources and capital to make this happen. We’re here for you, as much as you will allow us to be – don’t forget what makes this franchise go, and your investment will be far more enjoyable then you would ever believe.

As always, the thing that matters most are the three words that reverberate in every fans heart, in every fans soul:

LET’S GO METS!!!!!!!!!!!