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| Sandy Alderson |
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| Wally Backman |
The next step for Alderson and the Mets is to start looking for a manager. Since Manuel was fired, Mets fans have been pushing for Wally Backman as the team's new manager. Alderson, with his Ivy League education and Marine Corps background, doesn't seem like the type of guy who will give in to a popular idea simply because it's popular. Most sources close to Alderson and the Mets believe that Alderson is not considering Backman, and is instead looking for a candidate with major league managerial experience who is well-versed in dealing with the media (can you say Bobby Valentine?). Whomever the Mets pick, I feel more comfortable with Alderson at the helm.
Mets fans will be anxious to see how Alderson handles his first major test. What will he do with Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, Carlos Beltran, and K-Rod (almost $55 million dollars worth of problems right there)? Hopefully, under the new Alderson era the Mets can expect a sense of credibility and common sense that they haven't had in the last few years under Minaya.
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I like this move for the Mets. Mets lacked a strong baseball operations leader. Omar Minaya was a talent oriented GM but did a very poor job of running the organization as a whole. Considering the mess that is the Mets, Alderson is a good choice to clean up what is seemingly more than just a poor collection of talent.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be suprised if Alderson advises hiring a new director or advisor who will focus more on the player personnel, talent, and scouting while Alderson focuses more on the entire day to day operations of the entire organization.
I like the move too Ben. And I completely agree with you on Alderson's strengths. Alderson is very good at finding people that understand certain aspects of the game better than him and hiring those people. He'll find talented executives with experience in scouting and personnel so that he can focus on bringing order and structure to the Mets.
ReplyDelete"The only caveat to Alderson is that he hasn't run a team's day-to-day baseball operations since 1997"
ReplyDeleteThis may be more of an issue than people think. Baseball is run very differently now than it was in 1997 and technology has taken over. It'll be interesting to see how much Alderson is able to adapt to that.
I'm not saying it's a bad hiring, but if I was a Mets fan I would be a little wary of this. If you look around the game, the best GMs (with a few exceptions) are young guys who understand the advancements in the game. Hopefully you both are right and Alderson gets the right people working under him who understand that
This is true, but the best GMs are also business savvy and tend to have less of a background in scouting and talent evaluation than they do in business and statistics. Yes, Alderson probably is a bit behind on the statistical revolution from the past 10-15 years but he most likely still has a good idea on how a baseball club is run (he did work for the League and was a club CEO).
ReplyDeleteI trust that he will hire the appropriate personnel to help run the ballclub.