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10/27/21

Mike's Mets - The Search Goes On


 By Mike Steffanos

The latest news in the Mets' search to find someone to lead their baseball operations is Mike Puma reporting in the New York Post that they have spoken with Matt Arnold, the Milwaukee Brewers GM under David Stearns. There are reports that the Mets have already talked with Arnold. Some reports say the Mets have even already offered the man a contract. Meanwhile, SNY's Andy Martino repeatedly insists on Twitter that the Mets need permission to speak with Arnold and have not yet received it. So it goes with the constant swirl of rumors about the search for a PBO.

Delving into Matt Arnold a bit makes it clear that the man is an extremely qualified candidate for the job. SNY.com has a piece up on Arnold if you're interested in finding out a bit more about him.


I have no industry sources to tout here but, whether the Mets end up hiring Matt Arnold or not, it reinforces my belief that there are excellent candidates to run the Mets' baseball ops beyond the big names that were being tossed about by the media a couple of weeks ago. It's the point I was making in my post from the weekend. The idea that not hitting on their initial targets somehow signaled the effort was doomed to failure was ludicrous. And the same holds true if Arnold doesn't wind up getting the job. There are genuinely excellent candidates out there, even if they're not household names.

Back in 2018, the San Francisco Giants were looking for a new executive to run their organization. Farhan Zaidi wound up with the job, of course, but Enos Sarris listed some potential candidates in a piece in The Athletic at the beginning of the process. Matt Arnold was one of the candidates. Sarris wrote of the man who was at the time the Brewers' Assistant GM in charge of scouting and development:
Arnold's skill set may come across as similar to [then Astros Assistant GM Mark] Elias', but there are a few key differences. While Arnold was also a former director of pro scouting who came up through the scouting ranks on forward-thinking teams, he did so for more teams. In order, he worked for the Dodgers, Rangers, Reds, Rays, and Astros before joining the Brewers — and in doing so, made many of the connections that will help him when it comes to striking up trade conversations.

He also learned different organizational structures, and that's a fluency that might be undervalued. How to give employees autonomy so that they can do their jobs the best and feed information upward is an important part of the job. Arnold may have unique insight into what works and what doesn’t in that regard.

Lastly, he worked on "biomechanics and human movement analyses" with the Rays, and that sounds like something that speaks to his ability to work with analysts on the best practices for player development.

Sarris' link was to an article on MLB.com from 2015, when Matt Arnold was David Stearns' first hire for the Milwaukee front office to run their scouting and development. The more I read about the man, the more I believe he would be a terrific choice for the job.

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13 comments:

  1. This didn't age well.

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  2. Does anyone else think there may be a bigger issue here. Everyone is turning down what would or should be considered a plum position?

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  3. I think they are going after people in winning organizations. The trouble with that strategy is those people would rather stay in winning organizations.

    Bob W

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  4. Xx Terry Collins has a fan in Cohen. Don’t be surprised if TC is the stop gap GM.

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  5. Tom Arnold says , "No dice."

    Goes back to Roseanne, or tries to anyway.

    Wayne Knight next up.

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  6. I do like this guy though...

    Brian Sabean, past SF Giants successful GM.

    My thinking...

    Maybe he could lure Bruce Bochy out of retirement to manage here. Bruce was not lured by the Padres though. But he knows Sabean.



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  7. It isn't always how much money that a team spends in the off season for new players.

    But rather where the bulk of the salary budget actually goes.

    I mentioned earlier about maybe trying to get two more good starters, making it four. Guys like Rodon and maybe Gausman. But instead of Gausman, I might go after Robbie Ray as the second starter addition instead.

    Reasoning:

    You have to figure that with four good starters (Jake deGrom, Carlos Rodon, Noah Syndergaard, and someone maybe like a left handed Robbie Ray) that the Mets could then afford losing one to injury (if case need be) and still be fine for a playoff run second half with the three top starters. This to me is imperative.

    Most NY Mets fans want another good bat always, each off season. I understand this. Who wouldn't. But big bats don't always get the gold ring. But I believe that two more solid starting pitchers here in 2022, could be the injury bug cure. Rodon (LSP) made $3.0 mill in 2021 and Robbie Ray (LSP) made $8.0 mill last season on a one year. The thing that you have to remember, is that the NY Mets could obtain this second pitcher via trades even as well, since they do have some pretty good ball players available for that.

    But two more is highly recommendable and needs to be entertained and discussed by NYM management carefully.

    With two more really good and proven starters, you could field the Bad News Bears and still do quite well. But the Mets already have players like Alonso, Lindor, Nimmo, JD Davis, maybe Cano or Wilmer Reyes at second, so that this nucleus is already formed and healthy.

    Guys like Dominic Smith are potent players off the bench too. He can sub-in at first and left or handle DH'ing if that goes through in '22. Or Cano could be the DH. This isn't a bad ball club here at all. It has things covered aptly.

    Sure, the fans and sports news networks will want one more big bat, you know how that always goes here because their banter for this is quite endless. But with a reasonable signing of say a Rodon and Ray for the rotation, you get two top grade lefty starters this team (to me) desperately needs added into the mix. Plus, five good vets starting in the field and three deserving younger MiLB players as well starting who are hungry for their shot.

    Am I the only one who sees this here? Hope not.

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  8. Or

    With the four solid starters mentioned above, the Mets could seriously consider going with a six-man really good rotation, with Taijuan Walker and Tyler Megill (or even a Drew Smith possibly as the sixth). This would alleviate concern for getting the starters more down time through the long season and maybe better keep them intact and on the field.

    It's worth consideration perhaps. If ever there was a time to go to this strategy, it is right now.

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  9. Bob

    Making this a truly winning organization is front and center a concern right now. It can be accomplished I believe. But the player personnel additions this off season have to be perfect in order to do so.

    Perfect is a tough word in that it allows no margin for error. Things have to be right on.

    I still say it can be done.

    Look at the huge turnaround that the NY Knicks are in the process of accomplishing right now for inspiration. The Mets are next up.

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  10. One Tweet said that "the presence of Alderson and his son in the organization has been a massive turnoff for multiple POBO candidates who have turned down an interview for the position".

    Could be a factor.

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  11. "the presence of Alderson and his son in the organization has been a massive turnoff for multiple POBO candidates who have turned down an interview for the position"

    Horse sh*t...where do people come up with such crap?

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  12. I think people are just trying to figure out why a number of people keep saying no. Who ever is leaking these names out is not good for the organization.

    Time for them to leak out all the people they don't want to hire. That way the other teams will go and extend them.

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  13. On Terry Collins and Sandy Alderson

    I just think that possibly the better move now to make, would be for owner Steve Cohen to go in a "new direction" with the Mets and sort of leave behind the old ways under the Wilpon ownership. You want to start a new era for this team.

    But owning an MLB organization has got to be a terribly daunting task for someone new, and having people like Sandy Alderson (someone well experienced with this ball club) was probably a good idea especially in year one of Steve's new ownership.

    I personally would like to see all new blood running the management side. I think most Mets fans would too.

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