As expected, both David Stearns of the Brewers and Billy Beane of the A's are now officially out of the running for the Mets front office. The whispers were at Broadway theater volume so it comes as no surprise. Now, perhaps, the Mets will stop focusing on these two guys (and the also uninterested Theo Epstein). It's time to move forward as I'd suggested earlier in the week.
Right away the media was filled with the Mets being unable or unwilling to spend to get the right talent. That Wilponesque belief is obsolete and Steve Cohen only happens to be the wealthiest owner in baseball. Money isn't going to be the problem.
What needs to be fixed is the perception of what kind of team the Mets are now, will be in the future and can be with the right mix of management and on-the-field talent. Of course, saying how the Mets will change is a lot easier than actually making it happen. People have heard stories for years that always seem to end with "we'll get em' next year."
Now wait, folks are thinking...why would getting rid of Alderson make a difference?
Think back to why he was hired in the first place. He was a somewhat respected and moderately well regarded baseball man who was going to make the ethically challenged and newcomer Steve Cohen somewhat more palatable.
There was a real feeling that his presence in the front office was one of the key reasons that Cohen's ownership takeover blazed through the MLB vetting process with nary a blip. In a way, the presence of Alderson leading to the Wilpon departure will perhaps live as the high water mark of the senior executive's Mets career.
If we want to start a list of the low water marks, it's a lengthy one indeed. There is the vetting issue which involved players, managers, general managers and replacement general managers. There is the loyalty thing where you keep someone who is not doing the job and not motivating the players long past Yoenis Cespedes singlehandedly saved his job back in 2015.
There is the fact that front office folks, managers and top tier players want nothing to do with the Mets unless Mr. Cohen digs deep into his well tailored pockets to pay them over market value for the privilege.
Now, to be fair to Alderson, the Mets' perennial fighting to stay out of last place, their inability to bring in the best players, their trading away of low cost minor league talent for waning veterans and other odd circumstances were almost a direct result of the Wilpon family's unwillingness to commit to spend what it would take to field a winning team.
However, this past season Alderson did not have these constraints and had the phone in his hand when it came to figuring out how to deal with the myriad of issues that were crippling the team's chances. Still he acted more like a Wilpon employee than a Cohen leader. The exception mid season was the trading of a hot prospect for a rental of Javy Baez, but nothing else much was done to try to help the club win.
That inaction was all too familiar to Mets fans and folks rapidly tired of it as the team went from 100+ games in first place and the remainder looking like a second division Little League club.
Whether or not it's fair to put the blame entirely on Alderson isn't the issue here. The bigger concept is creating a perception that the Mets actually will do what it will take to win. The movement out the door of Alderson would send that signal and doing it under the guise of retirement or health issues allows him the grace to exit with dignity rather than being kicked aside like others who have failed in their roles.
Reality is shaped by perception and for now the perception is "same old, same old." The club needs to do something to shake that image and opening the exit door to Sandy Alderson at year's end would certainly help in that regard.
In business, I never found firing someone in an upper management position before having secured that person's replacement a wise decision.
ReplyDeleteMany franchises find ways to win - the Mets find ways to lose. Potential free agents see that. The hitters see it is a lousy hitters' park and the pitchers see they will likely always struggle for runs. The Mets need to make a lot of right decisions to break the losing aura and make this a high priority destination and a high success team. The Yanks, Red Sox, and Dodgers have done that. The Mets now have to. No magic answers.
ReplyDeleteThis team needs to stop relying on FAs and trades
ReplyDeleteSo true Tom so let the word plagiarize be our new motto dam it!
ReplyDeleteNow that it looks like Baez maybe signed are we all "thumbs up" on that idea:)?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, most of Mr. Alderson's reputation comes from his pre-baseball career and his time with the Oakland A's. Even his time with the A's has been questioned as how much he was responsible for the success of the team and how much drugs were actually responsible for the player's success. His total time with the Mets as both their General Manager and as President of the club is questionable as well. His hiring of Front office personal and managers has been a failure. His judgment of baseball personal whether it be free agent signings or releasing or allowing players to leave has been a total failure as well. All GM make bad decisions at times but when they consistently make wrong decisions( Murphy and Turner) then they usually are let go themselves. I hope that at least the hiring of either or a new POBO and General Manager will be handled by someone other than Mr. Alderson. How can the Mets successfully change the culture within this organization by allowing those that helped create or at least perpetuate the old culture? Please Mr. Cohen the Mets don't need a big name to start this change the Mets just need someone fresh and with a background of working in a successful environment
ReplyDelete@Mack -- in my final paragraph I said to show Sandy Alderson the door at year's end. That timeline presumes they will have found the POBO, GM and Manager before then.
ReplyDeleteReese: Love Sandy Alderson as a human being and respect him totally as a devoted Mets GM. But your article here is correct. It's like Ben Roethlisberger on the Steelers. A time comes for all of us, if we are lucky enough to live so long.
ReplyDeleteMack: I concur with your post above regarding FA's and trades.
ReplyDeletePerhaps similarly as yourself, I believe in assessing the team's needs, drafting carefully, and developing your own players.
To me, an over-reliance on FA's and trade players only as a result suggests of an organizational hierarchy failure to draft carefully for need from seasons prior. Drafting takes keen and honest assessment abilities, and an eye for the future as well. It addresses potential weaknesses now and then looking ahead as well. Then building from within to make it all happen.
However too, drafted players do take some time to properly be trained, and made ready for the bigs.
For 2022, I see the starting rotation 1-3 spots (by far) as "the most urgent needs" to address this off season, mainly because this team has never replaced Zack Wheeler at the two starter. To accomplish this will require an FA or a trade for a high end lefty starter, someone like the CWS FA Carlos Rodon. This should be the main focus of this entire off season.
With Noah and Jake down, there was no one to assume the top of the NYM's rotation who actually deserved to be there. So they lost games, a lot of games. The closest thing that the Mets had as a 1-3 starter was Marcus Stroman. But to say that Marcus was capable of this assignment would be an overstatement of facts.
The second most urgent positional need (I think) is the starting catcher position one. We did not get the production I was hoping for between Nido and McCann. One should be traded away. Francisco Alvarez absolutely deserves a look-see for this starting catcher role. His ceiling is very high, he has solid offensive and defensive capability. Yes, he is a bit of a rush up here. But something in me says that he could handle this. I might suggest some winter ball tutoring. Could also throw Patrick Mazeika into this mix as well as the backup.
The third base position should be all Mark Vientos in 2022 (I have watched a lot of his videos and see what I needed to see from him there), and right field either Khalil Lee or Jake Mangum.
We need a fresh blood infusion made. Michael Conforto may not be the guy that he once was going forward, and his re-signing here is a bit too risky to take. As far as Javier Baez, to me he's a solid fielding .264 BA, 25-30 HR player. But he strikes out a lot, hits inconsistently, and has some injuries in his recent past from a hip to a knee one. The Cubs are not a stupid team. Know this.
All these moves suggested above provide for the organizations best MiLB players of current to start here in 2022. To me, they are all necessary and a win/win for here. But it all evolves around the acquisition (from outside) of a top flight no.2 lefty starter to go between Jake and Noah. The 4 and 5 roles should not be a problem for this team to fill from inside.
The why part to all this.
The 2021 NY Mets performance second half looked dismal to me at best. It lacked all the necessary ingredients that we had witnessed first half, partially because Jake deGrom went down injured, and I understand that. But as a unit it lacked hustle and drive that many of these players had always before displayed. I am personally unable to accept what I saw second half. There needs to be some serious changes made.
As a Mets fan, I also want this team to get a manager who can actually relate to the players open door style. One who knows not only this game inside out, but can read, evaluate, and strengthen his players. Then too, a GM who has his finger on the pulse, and brings a new way of thinking and winning to this organization.
I want the 2022 season to be all Mets, and the above were my suggestions how.
Allicin
ReplyDeleteif you guys get a chance to, look this up... Garlis's Allicin. Might be something. But not sure. Always consult your own doctor for his/her insight into something as a new idea like this. Always. Just something someone recently told me about.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.15.444275v1.full
s/h/b
ReplyDeletegarlic not garlis.
need to go eat some lunch.
The POBO has nothing to do with SA's presence. They had a wish list
ReplyDeleteof 3 long shots that weren't likely to leave their current positions...and didn't. Now the real candidates will be identified
and whoever they end up being, probably someone young and smart, will
come here. This was always going to be the outcome.