Reese Kaplan -- The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same

One of the things that Mets fans hoped to see with the transition from the Wilpons to Steve Cohen was a new way of doing business. 

Ask anyone what was wrong with the Wilpon family approach and the list of grievances will come back quickly and be rather extensive.  From failing to sign the best of the best free agents, cowardice in making trades, abandonment of most foreign markets for player resources, odd selections of in-dugout and front office personnel and a laundry list of embarrassing media encounters, the Wilpons were fans’ special kind of hellish gatekeepers that prevented the club from becoming true contenders.

With Steve Cohen the fans received an owner who not only had money, but indicated he was not afraid to spend it.  Thus far there have been some fundamental changes in the approach, including the big trade that brought Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco to New York (as well as the Mets’ record-setting contract for the new shortstop). 

There was a below-the-radar free agent signing of Taijuan Walker that’s proven to be outstanding.  Then there were some more conspicuous choices like Trevor May who is at best a work in progress.

What didn’t change with the arrival of Cohen to the big boy’s chair was his chosen GM, Sandy Alderson.  Mets fans are highly familiar with Alderson’s way of doing business.  How much of it was him, how much of it was the Wilpon directives and how much was a combination of the two is somewhat unclear.  

We do know that in 2018 he was behind the hiring of sexual predator Mickey Callaway and then when he returned in 2020 he was also behind the job offer to another sexual predator, Jared Porter.  

These incidents are just one aspect of Sandy Alderson’s history with the Mets that needs to come under scrutiny.  There are the personnel approaches that are at best aggravating, sometimes stunning and often the cause of great anxiety.  He has generally stayed out of the big ticket section of the warehouse store, preferring instead to find value picks who might somehow revitalize their careers in New York after being shunned by other clubs nationwide.

Then there is the issue of how the minor leagues have been run, glacially moving people up the ladder, insisting in most cases of full years at rookie level, A ball, AA ball and AAA ball.  While that patience can perhaps be understood and lauded for teenagers signing directly out of high school, for college graduates already 21 or 22 years old it would seem excessively cautious in curtailing their availability to play in the major leagues.

Earlier this week in an article criticizing this Mets pattern, it was pointed out that allowing people to reach the majors sooner would mean they would hit free agency at an under-30 age and potentially let the front office and team in general look bad if you had a 27 or 28 year old walking away for big dollars somewhere else.

Really?  Is it a matter of vanity or Scrooge McDuck level of financial planning that bringing up a ballplayer when he is available to help the club win is therefore a much lesser priority?

While it may be clear that certain players need time to establish themselves in the minors in order to be ready for The Show, other players are ready to compete at a much earlier age. 

The frustration is that the Mets never seem to realize it unless multiple injuries force their hand, but even then they’re much more enthusiastic about picking up DFA scrap heap picks from other teams than allowing their younger players the chance to prove themselves.  Sometimes you get Khalil Lee results.  Other times you get Tylor Megill results.  

It would appear that if the Mets are indeed going to be seeking a new direction for the architecture of the club (including, perhaps, a new General Manager or a conversion from Interim to GM for Zack Scott), maybe it’s time for Sandy Alderson to step down.  No one here really thought that a team with balsa wood bats would be in first place at the All Star break.  No one expected the huge number of injuries. 

What people did perhaps expect (and grimace) was the same old same old in terms of how the club is dealing with their roster issues.  Changing batting coaches didn’t accomplish anything.  Finding real quality ballplayers is apparently not part of their personnel strategy under Alderson. 

They keep hoping to keep the plates spinning while awaiting the return of many from the IL who were not exactly setting the world on fire before they got hurt.  That doesn’t sound like a formula for either short term or long term success.  

Thank you, Sandy, for helping guide new ownership through the start of a full baseball season.  That effort is appreciated.  How you’ve background checked people, hired people, found players, addressed free agency and mostly avoided trades has not suggested that anything much has changed.  It’s high time it does.