LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON
Ponder this if you will ...
Fred Wilpon never hired a general manager who he didn't previously know personally well. Now his son is following in his footsteps.
On very good advice, Fred Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday upon purchasing the team in 1980 hand over their baseball operations to Frank Cashen. By the end of his tenure in 1991, Cashen cultivates a crop of front office executives (Al Harazin, Joe McIlvaine, Jerry Hunsicker, and junior member Steve Phillips) that at the time become the envy of the league despite their growing reputation as notorious infighters.
Entering the 1992 season, Frank Cashen and Fred Wilpon promote Al Harazin (the least qualified of the lot) to the rank of general manager. Angered at being passed over, both Hunsicker and McIlvaine leave the organization. Jerry Hunsicker becomes general manager of the Houston Astros; Joe McIlvaine accepts the San Diego Padres position. Fred realizes his mistake two years too late, and phones Jerry Hunsicker pleading for his return, but is rebuffed. Fred then dials-up Joe McIlvaine, who agrees to rejoin the Mets and succeed Harazin as its next general manager.
After McIlvaine is fired, Fred promotes Steve Phillips, who in turn is responsible for bringing into the Mets front office fold Jim Duquette and Omar Minaya. However, Minaya soon accepts the Montreal Expos' general manager position. When Fred Wilpon fires Phillips, he turns to his lone remaining in-house front office executive, Jim Duquette. However, his time in office is short-lived. Duquette is replaced when Fred reverts to past practice, and dials up old friend Omar Minaya, who gladly returns to the Mets.
The main point to be taken away from all this is, familiarity. Firing Omar Minaya ends Fred Wilpon's run of in-house general managers. All Fred's previous hires are selections from house stock furnished by Frank Cashen and Steve Phillips, and he exhausts them all. For the first time since purchasing the team and handing over operations to Frank Cashen, the Wilpons are forced to seek out a new general manager through their own volition.
After receiving professional consultation, both Fred and Jeff Wilpon conduct a rather ineffectual search that leaves them no closer to hiring a legitimate executive than when they first begin. Not until Bud Selig intervenes by making Sandy Alderson (working for MLB in Dominican Republic) available do the Mets reconcile their front office. I would also argue Alderson is more than just a friendly recommendation. His primary function (IMO) is to keep MLB's National League club in an operational state while ownership attends to their unfolding financial calamity. In any event, the Mets fruitless search for a general manager ends post haste. What should have been a joint decision involving Fred Wilpon making his last hire, and Jeff Wilpon making his first general manager hire, turns out being neither.
Sandy Alderson stepping down this past summer due to health reasons puts the Mets back in the same situation they found themselves in 2010, only this time the way is finally clear for what will certainly be Jeff Wilpon's first effectual hire.
Before even formulating a list of potential candidates, Jeff Wilpon in no uncertain terms sets preconditions for the team's next executive. Both he and Fred want Mickey Callaway back to start the 2019 season. Jeff, meanwhile, prefers Omar Minaya, J.P. Ricciardi, and John Ricco, be retained as part of a greater front office enterprise.
This makes me wonder what right-minded, confident, and qualified executive of high regard (with a backbone) would accept such preconditions particularly coming from an ownership which promises autonomy, but who's reputation for being overly sensitive, reactive, and meddlesome, precedes them. I also question Jeff Wilpon's decision regarding John Ricco's involvement through the first round of screening.
It's not unreasonable of me to say being general manager of New York City's National League club should be one of baseball's most highly sought out positions, but it's not. Once the likes of Ben Cherington, Thad Levine, and Mike Chernoff express little to no interest, I sense the Mets are in big trouble. The remaining list of candidates itself is not overly impressive: Gary LaRocque; DeJon Watson; Casey Close; Dave Littlefield; Kim Ng; Doug Melvin; Chaim Bloom; Brodie Van Wagenen; etc.
All the while an internal struggle is simmering between Fred and Jeff Wilpon. Fred wants to hire an old school executive with a traditional background in scouting and development. However, Jeff wants the Mets veering off in a new direction and catching up with 21st century analytics. Ben Cherington was my main consideration, but I would have been agreeable with Kim Ng. Her resume speaks for itself. However, the list of candidates is whittled down to three finalists: Doug Melvin, Chaim Bloom, and Brodie Van Wagenen. Melvin initially emerges as the favorite, but then is suddenly declared out of the running.
That leads me to believe one thing: Jeff wins the tug-o-war with his father. If you were unsure before, know this now: Jeff Wilpon is firmly in control of the New York Mets. And I submit to you he is making the same mistake as his father.
At first glance, hiring Brodie Van Wagenen appears out of the box. I beg to differ. Above all else, Ben Cherington, Kim Ng, Doug Melvin, Mike Chernoff, Chaim Bloom, et al, are all unknowns. They all also represent contrarian opinions and ideas. Outside of Frank Cashen, hiring Van Wagenen is no different than Fred hiring Harazin, McIlvaine, Phillips, Duquette, or Minaya, because they were all friends to Fred first, and executives second. Likewise, Brodie Van Wagenen and Jeff Wilpon are friends. They've formed quite a relationship over the years. That gives Van Wagenen a great personal understanding into Jeff (and his father). Said another way, Jeff ensures himself of having a compassionate friend by his side. Chaim Bloom would truly have been thinking outside the box. But he's a stranger, and a contrarian. Now we go from a three-headed monster, to a four-headed monster. Lest we forget Jeff Wilpon's stipulations.
Never once did Fred willingly go out of his comfort zone. Sandy Alderson was the lone exception. By hiring Brodie Van Wagenen, Jeff Wilpon gets to remain in his.
Like father, like son.
The organization now moves forward according to Jeff's vision.
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