Why the Mets can't hire a GM
Sandy Alderson says it is the white-hot spotlight of the New York market. Wrong!
Also in this edition:
Albert Pujols wins with hustle in the Dominican Winter League.
Back to the ballpark
Trivia question and last editon’s answer
HEART OF THE ORDER
©Zhukovsky|Dreamstime.com
Is New York really the problem, Sandy?
The problem just might be you, or the position you occupy, or the dysfunctional culture on your watch, or your son . . .
MLB teams were holding their general manager meetings last week. And the Mets went anyway, even though they don’t have a general manager.
The meetings were held in Carlsbad, Calif., at the Omni La Costa, which has a nice pro tour quality golf course — used for PGA Tour and WGC events — and tennis courts. Legoland is nearby, and there’s the beach, though you probably wouldn’t want to swim there in November. Carlsbad is a suburb of San Diego, a city with wonderful amenities.
I can’t remember a big news story coming out of the GM meetings, but plenty of reporters show up anyway.
So a baseball exec who didn’t want to play golf, tennis, take in some really cool structures made of plastic bricks, or visit the San Diego Zoo or Seaworld, could always feed a reporter a story.
Which is what the Mets’ team president, Sandy Alderson, did.
Alderson has been looking for a GM for some time. And going to the GM meetings and not having one is probably something like showing up to a parents’ night at a school. Everyone asks which one is yours and if you don’t have one . . . well, it’s just awkward.
Alderson was quick to shift the attention from himself or the organization or his boss, owner Steve Cohen to where it belongs — the city that never sleeps.
“I think it’s mostly about New York, and not about, you know, Steve or the organization or what have you," he said Tuesday, Nov. 9. "It’s a big stage and some people would just prefer to be elsewhere.”
Swings and misses
Alderson is no doubt a little miffed that the Mets so far have whiffed on their candidates. And, as these things often go in the Big Apple, it has all been quite public.
A dozen candidates reportedly have turned down the Mets.
Before going further, we need to clarify something because of title inflation in baseball front offices. The person who carries out the duties that of the traditional general manager — trades, singings free agents, drafting players, firing the manager, etc — these days often carries the title president of baseball operations or senior vice president of operations or something along those lines. There is often a No. 2 position that is still called a general manager. The Mets were looking to fill both a president of baseball operations and a general manager slot.
The Mets general manager Jared Porter was fired after a report that he sexually harassed a female reporter. Zach Scott who was filling in after Porter was axed was himself bounced after being charged with DUI.
The first candidate publicly named was David Stearns, the Brewers’ president of baseball operations. The Brewers did not give Stearns permission for the Mets to talk to Stearns.
Then the Mets went after Billy Beane of the Athletics, and curse breaker Theo Epstein, most recently with the Cubs.
Why would those Beane or Epstein take the job?
Beane is and Epstein was at the top of the baseball food chain in their front offices. If you take the job with the Mets, you have Alderson, a man who has considerable experience in baseball operations between you and the owner.
Here is a sentence that has never been uttered in the history of the English language: I would like to answer to yet another boss at my job.
(Now I have gotten along with most of my bosses, past and present, some of whom are readers of this blog. But as great you all have been, I am not really looking for more people to supervise me.)
Inside information from me: none
Stearns grew up in Manhattan as a Mets fan, worked for the Mets’ minor league affiliate, the Brooklyn Cyclones interned in the Mets front office in 2008. So maybe that loyalty — if owner Mark Attanasio would allow him to seek the job — would overcome the drawback of having to toil under Alderson’s watchful eye.
But Attanasio is not letting Stearns out of his contract, the length of which we don’t know. On Wednesday, Nov. 10, The Athletic reported that the Mets are going to play wait-and-see with Stearns for the president of baseball operations job and just fill the GM slot now.
Those of you who know me well know that Stearns worked for me as a summer intern on a newspaper in Arizona when he was in high school. But the kid quit asking for career advice from me —wisely —about 17 years ago.
I have no idea what his thoughts are about all of this. But if he did ask, I’d tell him to steer clear of the Mets.
Even if you didn’t grow up as a fan, the position has some positives. The Mets are a distant second in the New York market these days, but they still have a large fan base and the team has a lot of resources, especially under Cohen’s ownership/
That said, Cohen is an incredibly rich guy, a big fan and he seems like maybe he’s a bit too much of a hands-on owner.
Then you have a layer of management between you and the big boss. And that layer is Alderson, who has proven he can do the job and is doing it this winter. He basically ran the club from 2010 to 2018, when he left because he had cancer (now in remission). He worked as a special assistant to Beane in 2019 with the Athletics and then came back to the Mets in 2020.
Alderson’s son Bryn works as assistant GM with the Mets. So you have the possibility of your workplace developing a “Game of Thrones” vibe, sans dragons, of course.
Add to that, the host of problems with guys — and they were all guys — Alderson hired or supervised during his time with the Mets.
And finally, it’s worth noting, that with the search going badly, Alderson called out candidates for being afraid of the pressure of working in the Big Apple.
As if you could somehow goad someone into taking the job.
BONUS FRAMES
‘The Machine’ wins with wheels
Albert Pujols promised he’d play in his native Dominican Republic before he retired from the MLB.
Pujols wants to come back next season for what likely will be his last year. “The Machine” as he was known in his Cardinals days was released by the Angels early last season. and then signed with the Dodgers.
He was an asset for the Dodgers, hitting .254 with 12 homers on a team that made it to the World Series. The Angels missed the postseason once again and paid him an estimated $30 million to play for their crosstown rivals, who paid him the MLB minimum
The best revenge is living well.
Pujols is off to a slow start with Leones del Escogido in the Dominican Winter League. Going into Saturday. Nov. 13, he was hitting .200. But on Wednesday he went 2 for 4 with a double. His highlight of the early season had to be legging out an infield single to drive in the winning run in a walk-off victory shown in the video above.
He is a free agent and will no doubt be considered a catch for a contender that wants a right-handed power bat off the bench. He had 679 career home runs, so 700 is an outside possibility if pays one more season.
He is fifth among major leaguers. Fourth place is held by Alex Rodriguez, another Dominican native, with 696.
Taking aim: One of my favorite memories of Pujols as an Angel was the night he trolled Fernando Rodney’s victory ritual.
Rodney was the closer for the Mairners, and the Angels came back against him and won.
Afterward, Pujols pretended to shoot an arrow into the sky, just like Rodney did whenever he saved a game.
They are teamates with Leones del Escogido. No hard feelings now, I hope.
Shortstop of the future of the recent past: Another Leones del Escogido teamate is Willi Castro of the Tigers. At the end of the 2020 season, Castro looked like he might be the Tigers’ shortstop of the future.
He played 36 games in 2020 and hit .349. He was fourth in AL Rookie of the Year voting.
Last off-season, GM Al Avila and manager AJ Hinch spoke of how they saw him developing into the Tigers’ everyday shortstop, even though Castro had some defensive lapses. Alas, those 36 games in 2020 turned out to bea mirage — at least at the plate.
His defense was just as bad or worse. Castro was moved to second and then to left field. He hit .220 with 9 homers and a woeful .273 on-base percentage in 125 games.
This offseason the Tigers have been vocal about how they are looking in the free-agent market for a shortstop and seem willing to pay top dollar.
Shortstop of the future of the more distant past: Leones del Escogido faced Licey on Friday night, and Hanley Ramirez, the 2009 National League batting champion, was playing first base.
Ramirez was a shortstop in 2009 with the Marlins and finished second in the MVP voting.
He was never a great defender, but he could rake. He has a career OPS-plus of 124, meaning he is about 24 percent better than the MLB average in on-base and slugging in the years he played.
Eventually he was moved to third base.
Cleveland let him go in 2019, and though he is only 37, no MLB team has picked him up.
He played 2019-20 in the Domican Winter League. There was no DWL season in 2020-21.
Back to live action
My plan — depending on what happens with our hot water heater, which is leaking — is to attend a baseball game in person this week for the first time since March 2020.
I went ro an Angels-Indians spring training game in Tempe — I think it was a Tuesday — right before the world broke.
We were supposed to have crappy weather later that week. So I figured that might be my only chance that week to see a spring training game (Or at least one with good weather — I refuse to watch exhibition games and freeze.)
The Angels apparently thought they might not get in a game for a couple days. So they pretty much used their whole regular lineup. The Indians sent a bunch of scrubs and Francisco Lindor.
I don’t remember that much about the game except that Indians, with hardly any major leaguers on the field, won — and Mike Trout tried to make a diving catch, failed, landed awkwardly, and did a little forward roll. I thought his season might be over.
That Friday we began sheltering in place. And my wife and I have been doing that ever since.
We are vulnerbale, given our ages and some health issues.
I go outside every day to water the plants, that sort of thing. And we have been on drives, seen some friends outdoors.
Two weeks ago I went inside a store for the first time since March 2020. This daring trip was to get our booster shots.
My plan is to go to an Arizona Fall League game.
The booster will be at its most potent now. The crowds are small. It should be safe.
From there, we will wait and see what happens.
Trivia time
Name this player. He was a teammate of Babe Ruth’s with the Yankees. The player was best known for his home-run hitting prowess, but he never led the majors in round-trippers. But he did lead MLB in triples and RBI.
Answer in next edition
Last edition’s question: While Ray Fosse and Pete Rose provided the most memorable moment of the 1970 All-Star Game, neither was named the game’s MVP. Who won the award?
Answer: Carl Yastrzemski of the Amercan League