Reese Kaplan -- How to Find a General Manager

Mets fans can't seem to agree upon anything when it comes to correcting the direction the ball club is taking and the ways in which they need to move forward.  For the most part people focus on player transactions, then move onto the guy with the lineup pencil.  However, as is often said, it all starts from the top.  

Since the fans and media cannot do anything to change Steve Cohen's role as owner of the Mets, instead it's time to focus on the front office personnel.

There appear to be a few philosophical ways for Cohen and his associates to tackle the question of how to construct the new baseball operations management team.  How you go about building your hierarchy depends on your personal philosophy of what you're trying to achieve. There are pros and cons to each method.  

The George Steinbrenner Approach

A great many baseball fans are willing to look far past Steinbrenner's off-the-field antics and his win at all costs approach because the results were a winning team.  During his heyday it was clear that the Yankees would be in first place or certainly in strong contention for it year after year.  

To take this approach it's more than just reaching deeply into your pocket to buy and trade for the most expensive players in the game.  You have to commit to taking the potential All Stars away from the competitors in your division.  You have to be prepared to swallow what doesn't work, shrug it off and try again by spending more money.  

The success in terms of winning and losing is hard to dispute.  However, many would refer to this strategy as buying the pennant.  Nowadays there are payroll caps and penalties for overspending which, to some extent, have curtailed many teams from emulating those Bronx bomber days of yore.  In this GM scenario you need someone who is not afraid to make the deals and will cow to whatever whims the owner cares to express.

The Highly Regarded Newcomer Approach

While the Mets have had a recent legacy of embarrassment using this methodology, there are circumstances with other teams where it makes sense.  We don't need to recite the detailed litany of failure of Brodie Van Wagenen, Jared Porter nor Zack Scott.  

In each case these gentleman were given their first ever GM opportunities and promptly engaged in behaviors that were counter to winning.  In the case of Van Wagenen, it was clear that being a golf buddy of Jeff Wilpon counted for more than front office experience. After the sexuality issues of former manager Mickey Callaway, the news about Jared Porter couldn't have been all that surprising.  The third "gem" in this group seemed grossly under qualified and dealt with the stress of the situation by drinking and driving.  

On the flip side, however, is what the Miami Marlins did when they gave former Yankees and Dodgers second-in-command Kim Ng her first opportunity to handle the reins in the full GM role.  She had interviewed for and not gotten many other GM openings until leaving the MLB offices to take the role in south Florida.  

While it's too soon to tell how she will do in the role, the fact is she has done the requisite leg work in baseball operations to prepare for the job and while there was no surprise pennant for Don Mattingly's boys, the fact is they're finishing the season ahead of the Washington Nationals who not too long ago were considered primary contenders. 

The idea many newcomers bring to the job is that winning is a long term goal, not a one-season splash that challenges the owner's credit rating.  It is about improving minor league operations, making far better draft choices and understanding that payroll costs that are minimized through this route can go to address other baseball business needs.  Some teams move in this direction because the newcomers cost very little compared to other potential resources.

The In-Between Approach

Here is the most common model in which a team goes after well known names who have indeed shepherded another team as a full GM before getting fired for not living up to the team owner's expectations.  Here you would simply go down the list of candidates without a job or who are on expiring contracts to decide who would look good in Queens.

Think of this recruitment the same way you do when the on-the-field manager openings evolve.  Some clubs take newcomers but the majority want to extend the reins to a person who has done the job in the past and knows how things are done.  Again, you sometimes wonder why folks like that get new opportunities elsewhere, but it's a lot easier to justify hiring a person who has hundreds and hundreds of games under his belt than it is to make folks jump on the rookie manager bandwagon.  

Consequently, for every Brodie Van Wagenen newcomer there are innumerable experienced losers who have the former attributes which make the fans and media in your team's town less likely to crucify you if something goes wrong.  You might succeed in luring away a GM from another team if their team allows him/her the luxury of attending an interview, but more likely it's a matter of looking at who's playing golf full time instead of between front office duties.  

What Approach Will the Mets Take?

Given the poor history they've had with newcomers, the likelihood is that they will want to make headlines by securing a highly experienced GM for the role.  They can then ride the wave of the person's track record of past achievement while resting assured that the person with "Mets" on his paycheck will be more well regarded when engaging in trades with other teams and when negotiating with free agents.

The problem with repeat performers is that they usually don't respond well to change and rarely embrace their failures.  Think of how Sandy Alderson handled his duties in the Mets front office.  Granted, his Wilpon years were not an era of deep pocket spending, but it still appeared that he was looking at AAAA players and castoffs from other clubs rather than being creative enough to bring in one or two top notch players while shedding payroll of others.  

Now that Alderson is ensured to be back in a role more involved in the running of the business side of things, the personnel decisions should be front and center for a newcomer.  What worries me is that ultimately no deal will be approved without working its way up the hierarchy, so Alderson will still be a part of the mix and his eye for talent both on the field and in the office looks badly in need of Lasik.  

It may well be that Cohen is ready to try the Steinbrenner approach, but as a man cautious managing his funds he may find that reckless spending is not desirable.