How To Make The Mets Great Again
Want to know why the prospect of life after Sandy Alderson terrifies me? For the same reason that life before Sandy Alderson once terrified me: The Wilpons are no better prepared today for running this organization than when they hired Sandy Alderson eight years ago.
Think about this: Fred Wilpon, nor Jeff Wilpon, have never once been forced to venture out into the unknown and secure a general manager of their own volition.
They tried, once. But the matter in the end was settled for them. Otherwise, all the footwork had already been taken care for them previously by Frank Cashen, Steve Phillips, and most recently by former commissioner Bud Selig.
I bring into question the last thirty years in support of my claim.
The late former co-owner of the Mets, Nelson Doubleday, by his own admission believed in hiring good baseball people and staying out of the way.
Fred Wilpon ... not so much.
Partner or no partner, Fred to varying degrees has always exercised managing control of the New York Mets. A dismayed and betrayed Nelson Doubleday learned that the hard way. Despite Wilpon and Saul Katz originally buying in as mere two percent owners, since day one and throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and through the 2002 season, Fred Wilpon served as team President (until his partnership with Doubleday reached its acrimonious end, after which he assumed the role of Chairman). As such, Fred historically has been at the forefront of all matters concerning executive employment, specifically the team's various general managers.
Frank Cashen is easily still the greatest hire either owner ever made, and perhaps goes down as one of the few times Nelson and Fred ever agreed on anything. Frankie Bow Tie served as general manager from 1980 through the 1991 season. His job description was understated to say the least. For he conducted business as the Mets grand mystic high exulted ruler of operations virtually unopposed throughout the 1980s. Ownership essentially signed off on all things Cashen deemed fit. Deservedly so as he was a supremely qualified baseball man who long ago proved his prowess as an executive.
With Cashen in place, reports of ownership meddling in baseball affairs were virtually non existent. On the other hand, Cashen succeeded in transforming the Mets front office featuring Jerry Hunsicker, Joe McIlvaine, and Steve Phillips, that despite becoming the envy of the league, quickly earned a reputation for being notorious infighters (but that's neither here nor there).
By 1992 Cashen was getting up in years and so elevated himself for one season to the position of team COO (after which he continued in a consulting role). Ponderously, he appointed Al Harazin (assistant general manager since 1986, and perhaps the least qualified of his executive choices) to succeed him as Mets general manager.
Insulted and disrespected, both Hunsicker and McIlvaine understandably flipped their respective lids and bolted from the organization with haste. Hunsicker left to become general manager of the Houston Astros, and Joe McIlvaine likewise accepted the general manager's position at San Diego. Only Steve Phillips (brought into the fold in 1990) stayed put.
Meanwhile, Al Harazin's two years as general manager were nothing short of terrible. The 1993 season in particular goes down as one of the more embarrassing campaigns in all New York Mets history. This two year episode can certainly be blamed on Frank Cashen. Not coincidentally, though, this is when Fred Wilpon's tribulations begin. Because by this juncture in Mets history Cashen is no longer serving as buffer between ownership and baseball operations.
Free to fill the void left behind by Cashen, Mr. Wilpon earnestly begins intervening in baseball affairs. Acting on his own behalf, he turns to the only people with whom he had previously gained any sense of familiarity: Jerry Hunsicker and Joe McIlvaine. The former rebuffed outright Wilpon's plea to return. However, McIlvaine acquiesced and returned to Flushung.
Fast forward through the Generation K years, and Wilpon is growing increasingly perturbed with Joe Mac's many unscheduled and often lengthy scouting trips during which he would routinely fail to return Wilpon's calls in a timely manner ... if at all. Wilpon ultimately makes Joe Mac's aloof and irreverent behavior an issue, and fires him midway through the 1997 season.
Fred Wilpon turns to the next familiar face. An in-house hire, Steve Phillips is elevated to the position of general manager. Phillips in turn is responsible for bringing into the fold both Omar Minaya and Jim Duquette. But in 2002 Omar Minaya leaves to become general manager of the (then) Montreal Expos.
Steve Phillips earns his pink slip a year later. Fred Wilpon not surprisingly turns to his lone remaining in-house option, elevating Jim Duquette (whom Wilpon would effectively dictate his day-to-day terms of employment to the point Duquette is literally rendered inconsequential as a team executive. The freeze placed upon him coincides with Fred Wilpon's efforts towards securing financing for the construction of Citi Field).
By 2003-2004, Mr. Wilpon has seemingly exhausted all internal executive options left behind by Frank Cashen and Steve Phillips. Or so we thought. In a bind, Fred Wilpon dials up Omar Minaya begging for his return to Flushing just as he had once before with Joe McIlvaine. And like McIlvaine, Minaya agreed. However, in his haste to secure Minaya, Mr. Wilpon failed to relieve Jim Duquette of his duties in a timely and professional manner. If nothing else, this made for a typically Metsian transition.
With this blog as my witness ... by 2009 and 2010 I began accusing the Mets of being a hopelessly inbred organization, completely bereft of an original idea. Hardly a hasty conclusion considering for thirty years Fred Wilpon had limited his front office personnel to only those he was familiar with and knew well. While Jerry Hunsicker goes down as the one that got away, Joe McIlvaine, Steve Phillips, Jim Duquette, and Omar Minaya were all either groomed by or recruited into the organization. As front office resources, Fred Wilpon exhausted every last one. As such, this blog began imploring the organization to finally venture off campus for sake of recruiting someone not previously tethered to the Wilpons.
When circumstances turned against Omar Minaya, the future of the organization further terrified me. I believed then as I do now, the Wilpons do not possess the requisite, acquired, or even applied experience, nor the industry intellect to identify, recruit, and ably secure a learned and aptly qualified baseball executive.
To reiterate, my reason is because they've never before been forced out of their comfort zone where it concerns employing general managers. Much to my dismay, I was right. Upon Minaya's dismissal, ownership first sought consultation within the industry before initiating a (farcical) search for a new general manager. Multiple candidates were interviewed (including in-house executive John Ricco). Well into the process, however, Fred and Jeff were no closer to hiring a replacement than they were on day one (Jeff Wilpon is now team COO and in control of front office operations, whereas previously and right up until Omar Minaya's hiring this was formerly Fred's domain).
Enter commissioner Bud Selig. He suddenly makes Sandy Alderson available who at the time was conducting MLB operations in Dominican Republic. For ownership, a veritable stroke of luck. Upon Selig's not so subtle insistence, they hire Sandy Alderson Johnny-on-the-spot thus ending their general manager search post haste. So truth be told, it is purely by default that Jeff Wilpon makes his first general managerial hire.
Fast forward again, and we've now arrived at a point where Sandy Alderson either faces getting fired, or retires on his own terms.
The objective observer might view John Ricco as a natural candidate for general manager considering his time and experience within the organization's front office. Perhaps best known for performing damage control in 2010 during Omar Minaya's colossal media meltdown, John Ricco not only survived Minaya, but seems as if he may outlast Sandy Alderson as well.
I on the other hand view John Ricco as a worst possible scenario. He's been tethered to the Mets for at least a decade. He is too familiar with ownership, and them with him. He strikes me as just another potential yes man as I refuse to believe Ricco would be granted full autonomy. J.P. Ricciardi is also still on board. But I was never impressed with his body of work as GM of the Toronto Blue Jays. In either scenario, the club would be reverting back to in-house candidates, further inbreeding of the executive pool, and once again insulating the organization from foreign and/or innovative thought. Re-hiring Omar Minaya would be no different.
Nelson Doubleday warned fans of this looming mismanagement ...
Fairly or unfairly, Jeff Wilpon has long been accused of being a micro-meddler. The local tabloids are littered with such scuttlebutt. How many times through the years have you heard the Wilpons trying to maintain a collegial style front office operation? Isn't that corporate code for meddling? We know his father is still actively meddling when it was disclosed he sheltered Terry Collins knowing Sandy Alderson wanted him fired. How more many times have both Jeff and Fred made baseball decisions for the wrong reasons by putting issues of money, attendance, and public perception, ahead of actual winning? When an organization is run by a reactive (dare I say impetuous) COO, be sure meddling will be order of the day.
We can't make the Wilpons sell the team. But there is a way of removing their fingerprints from baseball operations. A strict chain of command has become necessary. Hire a learned and independent minded President of Baseball Operations. In the age of general managers basking in the spotlight, I realize employing a Team President seems somewhat archaic. I understand teams just do not operate that way anymore. But in this particular case, a buffer between ownership and baseball ops is just what the Wilpons and Mets fans need if they are to continue forward in an agreeable manner towards reestablishing this public trust.
A Team President of Baseball Operations must be someone the Wilpons can trust unconditionally with keeping their best interests front and center at all times, and above all having said interests satisfactorily met. But ownership must then be willing to completely separate themselves from baseball operations.
In turn, the President of Baseball Operations oversees the entire operation. He/she hires a general manager and makes sure he/she stays on the straight and narrow, adhering to team objectives, and making sure organizational resources are allocated in the most effective way possible, all the while ensuring the primary focus remains on the agreed upon mission (handed down by the President of Baseball Operations).
The general manager then sets forth on the Team President's mission, and reports directly back to same. The President then occassionally reports back and assures the owners their interests are still being met. In this system owners do not speak directly with the general manager where it concerns baseball matters. In return, the President of Baseball Operations is left to decipher ownership's nonsense before acting upon, and disseminating pertinent information.
All that being said, I believe it's time the Mets instituted a disciplined chain of command.
Sandy Alderson's record is a matter for another discussion. But as it relates to this narrative, he is likewise tethered. And this is precisely the organizational condition which must change.
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