Kuzul

Like The Who said, “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”

Technically, your New York Mets have yet to officially name Sandy Alderson as the new General Manager, but that’s mostly out of respect for the World Series than anything else. Mets fans everywhere can rejoice as the hiring of Alderson is set to start a whole new era of Metropolitan baseball.

Or is it?

The “Sandy Plan” was the topic of an article in this mornings NY Post by Dan Martin. It’s a good read for any Mets fan who wants to know more about the new guy in charge and who had little interest in watching the Knicks open the season in Toronto. Even as a Yankees supporter, I recommend checking out the article.

That being said, the following quote from a former Alderson co-worker should come with a few red-flags:

“It’s a totally different job when you have the revenue to work with that he’ll have with the Mets,” one former associate said. “But having the background of having dealt with a lack of revenue will only help him now.”

Well, that’s all well-and-good, except that it sounds exactly like what was being said about the last guy who held the GM spot for the Mets. If you remember correctly, Omar Minaya was applauded for his ability to build a contending team in Montreal despite the Expos being owned by the other 29 teams and financial resources being, well, limited.

The prevailing thought was that if you just give Minaya the means, he’ll be able to build a champion. And by means, we mean dollas.

And we all know how that turned out.

Yet that’s the exact tune we are now hearing about Sandy Alderson. Grady Fuson, who worked with the Mets NEW general manager in both San Diego and Oakland, had this to say:

“He realizes that there are different expectations in New York,” Fuson said. “And that there should be no five-year rebuilding process when you have the resources the Mets do.”

So all of a sudden the Mets aren’t a rebuilding process? ‘Cause they have the money the Wilpons made off Bernie Madoff and a GM who won a World Series when the first George Bush was President?

I dunno, Met fans. Y’all love to jump down the Yankees throats, but it seems to me it’s your franchise that keeps repeating history. And unlike the history of New York’s CONTENDING Baseball team, the history of the New York Mets doesn’t seem like something worth repeating.

This article originally appeared on The NY Sports Digest. If its off-beat and it’s about the Mets, Yankees, Knicks, Giants, Jets, Islanders, or Rangers, than The Digest is the spot to get it. Stop with the mega-sites and get a feel for the true pulse of New York at www.NYSportsDigest.com

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You can find more Mets analysis at The Shea Faithful

Well Mets fans, it’s finally that time. We knew this day was coming, we could see it from a mile away.

Now that Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel are officially gone, the Mets are moving on from the roller coaster six years of the Minaya era. It’s a shame, more than anything, that it had to come to this. Minaya and Manuel were nice guys and good baseball men, but when it got right down to it, they just couldn’t get it done.

The Wilpons have vowed to fix this, and so far, they’re off to a good start. The Mets plan to interview five to seven candidates in person, with at least three interviews scheduled for next week.

Confirmed by team sources as candidates so far are White Sox assistant GM Rich Hahn, former Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes, and former Royals GM Allard Baird. The three will interview at some point next week. It’s also been reported that the Mets will talk to Sandy Alderson, a long-time former Athletics GM who is currently a consultant to the commissioner.

After all candidates are interviewed, there will be a second round of interviews before the team makes an offer to a potential hire. All four are intriguing options, in my opinion, and it lets me know the Wilpons are serious about finding the right man for the job this time around.

During a news conference last Monday when the Wilpons announced the firings of Minaya and Manuel, Jeff Wilpon made it known the team intends to interview candidates with varying levels of experience.

Whether it’s a young up-and-comer like Rick Hahn, who’s never been a GM before; a guy like the 40-year-old Byrnes or the 48-year old Baird, who have done it before; or the 62-year-old Alderson, who’s a longtime veteran, the Wilpons are determined to find the right guy for the job.

Regardless of who gets the position, they’ll have to prove that they’re the right person for the job. Adam Rubin of ESPN New York lists a skill set of qualities he’d like the next general manager to have, from intelligence, decisiveness and good attention to detail, to common sense, discipline, and the willingness to draft over slot (something the Mets rarely did over the past few years).

Rick Hahn is interesting as a rookie candidate. Hahn graduated from the University of Michigan, the same alma mater of Fred Wilpon, before moving on to Harvard Law. He joined the White Sox in 2002 and provided a good compliment as a financial and statistical analyst as an assistant to GM Kenny Williams, a former player and scout who is more of a talent evaluator.

Before he was hired by the White Sox, Hahn was an agent for two years. He was promoted to his current position of vice president/assistant general manager in 2007 after demonstrating expertise in negotiating contracts, as well as a strong comprehension of the sabermetric analysis that has revolutionized the game in the past decade.

In March, Baseball America voted Hahn as the No. 1 general manager prospect in baseball. He previously interviewed for the St. Louis Cardinals job before withdrawing his name from consideration, and the Pirates and Mariners expressed interest in interviewing him as well.

I’m not sure if the Wilpons will feel comfortable handing the keys to the franchise over to a first-time GM, but if they do, it might as well be Rick Hahn who gets that assignment. If Hahn nails the interview, he may get the job.

After all, the goal is hire the best candidate for the job, and who’s to say the inexperienced Hahn isn’t that guy? Unlike the other candidates, at least Hahn can say that he’s never failed as general manager before, something I’m sure Byrnes and Baird think about.

Josh Byrnes was a big up-and-comer when he was hired by the Diamondbacks in 2005 at age 35. He previously had worked as an assistant GM under Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd and later Red Sox GM Theo Epstein. In his second season as GM, Byrnes’s Diamondbacks won the NL West and advanced to the NLCS where they lost to division rival Colorado.

Byrnes was rewarded in February of 2008 with an eight-year contract extension that was supposed to last until 2015. But the Diamondbacks crumbled over the last few years and the team cleaned house midway through the 2010 season, firing Byrnes and manager A.J. Hinch shortly before the All-Star break.

Allard Baird is currently the head of the professional scouting department for the Boston Red Sox and an assistant to GM Theo Epstein. He has not surfaced as a general manager since being fired by the Royals midway through the 2006 season.

Baird worked for the Kansas City Royals for 18 years, including the role of general manager from 2000-2006. Often hamstrung by financial limitations, Baird’s reign as Royals GM is mostly remembered for the Royals’ constant parting with their top prospects, like Johnny Damon, Jermaine Dye, and Carlos Beltran.

The Royals only had one winning season during his time as GM, with three 100-loss seasons in the AL Central. The small market Royals rarely spent money on both the major league roster or the amateur draft, as the Royals continually drafted cheaper, easier to sign players as opposed to the top prospects available.

If Baird got the Mets job, he wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore. The Mets have always been a big spender on the free agent market, and they would likely give the new GM the payroll flexibility to rebuild the roster. There’s even talk that the Mets are more willing to ignore baseball’s slotting system and go get the best players available in the draft, which is a breath of fresh air.

Sandy Alderson, the veteran ex-GM who now works for MLB as a top executive, is the other end of the candidate spectrum.

Alderson was the GM of the A’s from 1983-1997 before taking a job as MLB’s Executive Vice President for Baseball Operations in 1998. He held that position until 2005, when he was hired as the CEO of the Padres. He resigned from that spot in 2009, and has worked for the commissioner since then.

Alderson has an impressive track record. After the A’s ordered him to slash the team’s payroll in 1995, Alderson began focusing on getting more bang for his buck, developing the philosophies that would enable him to field a cost-effective team. He and assistant Billy Beane became known for this style of managing, and Beane is famously the subject of the 2003 book, Moneyball.

Alderson certainly has the experience as a successful general manager, and if he’s truly interest in the job, I’m happy the Mets are bringing him in to interview.

Like I said, it’s a good start for the Wilpons. Hahn, Byrnes, Baird and Alderson will interview next week, and it’s a solid start in the search for a new GM. Let’s just hope the Wilpons are more than just lip service and get it done this time around. The Mets are in desperate need of a winning identity, and it’s up to Fred and Jeff Wilpon to decide who’s the right man for the job.

Hey, ya gotta believe, right?

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Owners of professional sports teams are a fascinating set.  Usually wealthy, some charismatic, some stoic, others intensely private.  Only a select few people accumulate enough wealth to own a professional sports team, so naturally they draw a fair amount of interest.

What has changed in the past 20-odd years,however, is what is expected of owners.  For quite some time, owners thought of teams as their own personal toys.  Owners enjoyed the perks of an owners box, courtside seats, being thought of as a member of the team without having any kind of athletic ability, and, of course, the privilege of accepting the championship trophy from the league commissioner.  Owners didn’t run clubs to make money, and had minimal involvement in the day-to-day operations of the club, usually filling the front office with friends, colleagues, and, um, nice scenery (wink wink nudge nudge). 

But as evidenced by Mets owner Fred Wilpon and COO Jeff Wilpon’s comments yesterday after the dismissal of manager Jerry Manuel and general manager Omay Minaya, that reality has changed.  Owners now bear the direct responsibility for the successes and failures of their teams, forcing them to take on heightened involvement and participation in the club’s day-to-day operations.  When surveying the landscape of professional sports, it’s a general truth that successful clubs have a common element of good ownership, whereas losing clubs usually have bad ownership as a common element.

The comments the Wilpons made floored me:

Jeff Wilpon: “Last year, I said that we’d put together a championship caliber team on the field.  We failed. . .we are all responsible here, ownership is responsible. We’re frustrated and upset like our fans, ownership is accountable”

Fred Wilpon (on that it’s like to watch the Mets the last couple of years): “Painful, very painful. Disappointment is one thing, but it’s really painful, and I live it everyday.  People who know me would understand that I’m anguished when we lose a game” 

SNY’s Kevin Burkhardt: “You think that people realize that. . .that you live and die with every pitch?”

FW: “Perhaps not, and maybe that’s my fault for giving them that perception. . .we’re not any less disappointed than the fans.”

It amazes me how such masters of the universe, who are wealthy beyond belief to be able to own a professional sports franchise in New York, so willingly accept the blame for the teams failures and admit that it is their own doings, and not just those of the people they just fired, that resulted in the team’s shortcomings.  

However, in this age of heightened transparency, where news spreads like wildfire and the more open businesses and entities are the ones that succeed over the closed and secretive ones (reference the BP Oil Spill and ensuing aftermath), such admission of wrong doing is not simply appreciated by leaders, it’s required.  The paying public simply will not give their business and hard earned dollars to organizations and entities that don’t care about their customers and constituents.  

And in this modern era of professional sports, fans simply will not support teams where the ownership is asleep at the wheel, the same way customers will not buy from businesses whose leadership appears to not care.  That’s why it was important for the Wilpons to come clean and make the comments they made yesterday.  

To be an owner of a professional sports team today requires more than an enormous bank account and an ego.  It requires savvy, smarts, desire, and good business sense.  It requires a team of dedicated, knowledgeable, and talented professionals in the front office who are always ahead of the competition, not cronies and bombshells just there to have a job in sports.  And finally, it requires the ability to take responsibility for failure if expectations are not met.

SNY’s interview with Fred Wilpon:

http://web.sny.tv/media/video.jsp?content_id=12745353&topic_id=6479520

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The New York Mets have good news and bad news right now. As the season is winding down, they are finally at the .500 mark and for those keeping track at home, 13 games out of the division. That’s not the news I refer to.

They have multiple injuries on their roster (see Jason Bay, Jenrry Mejia, Johan Santana, and several others) and even in the farm system (Reese Havens) too. That’s not the news either. They have had more drama this season (see the veteran’s hospital incident and K-Rod) than a daytime soap opera. That’s not even the news I am speaking of at this current time.

I am an optimistic person at heart, despite recent articles, so I will start with the bad and work my way to the good. The bad news is that the Mets are a desperate team. They are desperate for a few reasons. One, they are desperate for new leadership and direction from that leadership. The current regime has not been the answer.

Earlier this season, ownership gave GM Omar Minaya a pat on the back and said his job is safe. Now there are so many stories floating around about a new general manager taking over, so that once rock-steady secure position has been shaken to its core. It may be a foregone conclusion that the once securely employed Omar Minaya will be gone at the end of the season.

If the rumors and the speculation are all true, then Jerry Manuel’s job will not be safe. In fact, he will be the first on the chopping block, I’m sure. Why would a new GM keep the old manager? He wouldn’t, not in this case anyway. Those rare exceptions are reserved for winning managers.

These players need a rude awakening. They need motivation. If they see the organization is serious about performance on the field, they may play harder and perform better. Who knows?

The next thing they are desperate for is to relieve themselves of the burden and weight of so many massively large contracts they bear. They have realized this. They have tried this past July to shop Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez.

They only managed to trade off Jeff Francoeur in August and Rod Barajas prior to that, but neither one had a large contract. They were inviting to other teams since they came cheap.

No team the Mets shopped Ollie and Luis to were desperate enough. It seems the Mets are stuck with those contracts. That’s the bad news. Now that this is out of the way, allow me to present the good news.

The Mets are NOT the only desperate team in the league. They may be next to broke or financially strapped next season, but that does not mean they can’t make moves, if they are wise.

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PHILADELPHIA—After what the Mets did in their finale against the Braves, you’d think everyone was getting axed.

Instead, Mets owner Fred Wilpon came out yesterday and declared GM Omar Minaya’s job safe for next season and beyond.

It’s really a head-scratcher. Why announce this after the team suffered what basically was a knockout punch from their worst rival?

It’s just the way the Mets operate these days. They never go the extra mile to bring players in, and they never let go of someone after a crisis.

So now, knowing who’ll be running the team for the foreseeable future, the Mets limp into another house of horrors, Philadelphia. They’ll begin a three-game weekend series tonight, attempting to at least play spoiler if nothing else.

After all, with the Mets now eight games back in the NL East, all they can do is try to put a crimp in the Phillies’ chances.

There are many players trying to rebound from poor efforts. The whole Mets team is, but so is tonight’s starting pitcher, Jon Niese.

In his last start against the Diamondbacks, with the Mets needing to win the series at home, Niese blew up after a solid start.

He hadn’t allowed a hit through the first 3.1 innings, but then allowed the first of two three-run home runs to Adam LaRoche. He lasted only 4.1 innings, allowing seven runs (six earned) on seven hits.

Niese hadn’t allowed more than three earned runs in a game since June 22 against the Tigers, but that was a game in which he got thrown off by a prolonged rain delay. So he actually hadn’t given up more than three earned runs because of his own doing since May 11 against the Nationals.

That’s how good Niese has been in his rookie season. Niese pitched a heck of a game in Philadelphia on April 30. It was a win that extended a Mets win streak to eight games. He’ll have to be just as good to get the Mets off on the right foot tonight.

Pitching for the Phillies will be Joe Blanton. He has had a terrible season, pitching to an ERA close to six. He has been extremely inconsistent while giving up 130 hits in 106 innings.

In his last start against the Nationals, he got roughed up for four runs and nine hits in six innings.

This series may be the Mets’ last important one of the season. If they were to lose two of three, or even get swept, they would be too far behind this late in the season to keep playoff hopes alive.

The good thing is, they’ll miss out on newly acquired Roy Oswalt in this series. The bad thing is, they’ll have to face both Cole Hamels and Roy Halladay after tonight.

It’s a shame that this series doesn’t mean a little more to the Mets in August (like the Yankees-Red Sox series) but at least they can play spoiler. Or, they can shock everyone and make a huge statement.

Jon Niese vs. Philadelphia (April 30)

Win, 7 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 7 SO

Joe Blanton vs. New York (May 26)

Loss, 5.1 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 4 BB, 2 SO

2010 season series (New York vs. Philadelphia)

April 30: New York 9, Philadelphia 1
May 1: Philadelphia 10, New York 0
May 2: Philadelphia 11, New York 5

May 25: New York 8, Philadelphia 0
May 26: New York 5, Philadelphia 0
May 27: New York 3, Philadelphia 0

Mets lead series 4-2

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Two years ago, Mets GM Omar Minaya went to Anaheim California to deliver Willie Randolph and Rick Peterson a pink slip. Randolph deserved better; if the Mets wanted to fire him, they should have done it that Sunday after the Mets split a double-header with the Texas Rangers at Shea Stadium.

Plus, Randolph brought the Mets out of the doldrums of the Art Howe years, taking the Mets to within one inning of the 2006 World Series.

Two years later, we see little difference in the work of the Minaya/Manuel administration.

In fact, times have gotten worse, not better.

If Omar’s outburst directed at Adam Ruben didn’t raise red flags, if Omar’s rather inactive offseason didn’t raise a red flag, than a 19-20 club that is tied for last in the NL East should be the cherry on top.

One would think.

Blame Jerry Manuel for batting Jose Reyes third. Blame Jerry Manuel for sticking with Oliver Perez and John Maine for far too long. You can blame Manuel for just about anything, but one thing you can’t blame him for is the fact that he has found ways to get some fight out of this undermanned team, a team he never put together.

In fact, like the photo above, Minaya has been virtually unseen all season. In fact I can’t remember him doing a public interview since that infamous November afternoon when he appeared on Mike’d Up with Dave Howard and Wilpon at his flank.

Minaya has failed. He thought he found gold when he acquired John Maine and Oliver Perez in 2006. Both pitched well that year, but as time has worn on it was fools gold! We have found out why the Orioles and Pirates were so willing to let those two go.

He thought he had enough pitching for the 2010 season, so he refused to even think about signing Jon Garland or Randy Wolf on the cheap. Both Garland (4-2, 1.88 ERA) and Wolf (3-3, 4.66 ERA) are pitching well for the Padres and Brewers respectively. And dare I say, Omar and the Wilpon’s refused to throw some $80 million at John Lackey, a bull dog who would have fit nicely behind Johan Santana? Lackey is 4-2 with a 4.86 ERA for the dreadful Boston Red Sox.

But these recent failures are not the only Minaya mistakes. Luis Castillo and his lackluster style of play, dropped pop ups and mediocre hitting was enough for Minaya to give him a four-year contract worth $6.25 million per year!! And there was a better second baseman on the market at the time of the deal in Orlando Hudson, who has stated in the past he wanted to be a Met.

Pedro Martinez? That worked out…for one season. The remaining three years with Pedro were marred by injuries and a Pedro who was a shell of his former self. That’s the way to spend $53 million isn’t it?

Even the minor league system is still thin. Yes, there are some promising prospects: Ike Davis, Jon Niese, Jenrry Mejia, Ruben Tejada, and Wilmer Flores, but Fernando Martinez has lost value due to injuries, and Bobby Parnell became a bust faster than you can say “go.” Three of these top prospects are already in the majors, which is a plus, but more has to be on the way if the Mets want to build a successful franchise for years to come—the development isn’t there.

Being a GM is not easy. One day you look like a genius, the next, a buffoon.

Nobody questioned Minaya in 2005 when he brought in Martinez and Carlos Beltran, and followed that up with Billy Wagner, Paul LoDuca, and Carlos Delgado in 2006. He was regarded as the genius, the savior, the man who knew more than Steve Phillips. Yet, the opposite has been proven true ever since.

Minaya should not be allowed to survive another manager; he must go, and go now.

John Ricco, the assistant GM, is not the answer; the last time the Mets promoted from within Jim Duquette proved to be more of a novice than Phillips. For the stench to completely abate, the Mets would have to blow every last one out of that office.

J.P. Ricciardi, formally of the Blue Jays, and Kevin Towers, formally of the Padres, are out there waiting for another top GM job.

Ricciardi was born in Massachusetts; he knows what the atmosphere of baseball in the North East is all about, having worked in the AL East. He played in the Mets’ minor league system, before joining revered A’s GM Billy Beane in Oakland as his assistant.

Ricciardi went to Toronto in 2002 and built a feisty team with the likes of Roy Halladay, Vernon Wells, Alex Rios, Aaron Hill, and Adam Lind. They could never really compete in the AL East because of the powerhouse Yankees and Red Sox, and never really had much revenue to stay competitive over the long haul. Yet, if Ricciardi had the payroll like the Mets, imagine what he could do?

Want another reason to think about Ricciardi with the Mets…he works on Baseball Tonight on ESPN, and shares the desk with some guy named Bobby Valentine.

Towers built a World Series contender in San Diego in 1998. His Padres had a lot of bumpy years ever since, a lot of that due to low revenue and time for its prospects to develop; Towers got the axe after another bad season in 2009.

Towers spent 14 years in San Diego, and is widely considered a guy with an eye for young talent, and an overall good guy. He found a star in Adrian Gonzalez and managed to keep him San Diego, in spite of constant trade rumors. Kevin Kouzmanoff, who leads the Oakland A’s in RBI this season, was a Towers draft pick in San Diego. Towers even got a steal when he acquired reliever Heath Bell from the Mets to be his closer.

Currently Towers is a scout in the Yankees orgainization—if an opportunity knocks to run a wealthier franchise like the Mets, Towers may jump at it.

So, whatever that 90 minute meeting was really about between the Mets brain trust, the next time it happens, Wilpon must make sure that Minaya packs up shop, before any Met coach ever does.

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