Freshly minted Mets owner Steve Cohen seems to be having a blast in his new role atop the organization, but that doesn’t mean it’s all coming easy. While the club looks to be a prime landing spot for industry executives, Cohen and president Sandy Alderson have not had the easiest time of recruiting new baseball operations leadership.
Cohen acknowledged as much in comments this evening, as Mike Puma of the New York Post covers on Twitter. “I thought it would be a little bit easier than it has been,” Cohen said of his efforts to build out a new staff, including a replacement for outgoing general manager Brodie Van Wagenen.
The problem, per Cohen, is that it’s tough to get qualified candidates in the door for a chat. “Baseball is kind if funny,” he says, “where you have to ask for permission and we are not getting a lot of permission.”
It’s interesting to wonder whether the deep-pocketed Cohen is facing stiffer-than-usual headwinds in his rookie offseason. Regardless, it appears that the Mets have been stymied at least in holding exploratory talks with several intriguing potential targets.
That explains why the club recently decided to drop the concept of hiring a president of baseball operations in favor of pursuing a GM. Then again, it may not only be a matter of being thwarted by fellow teams. Zack Meisel of The Athletic indicates (subscription link) that Indians GM Mike Chernoff elected on his own accord not to pursue the president of baseball ops opening in New York.
At the moment, relatively little is known about the Mets’ preferred candidates for the top remaining baseball ops openings. Former hurler and league executive Chris Young is known to have interviewed recently, but he’s the only publicly identified GM possibility. (Michael Hill is also known to have interviewed, though it may be that he was being looked at for the now-abandoned president of baseball operations gig.)
There is one new name to keep an eye on. Former club exec J.P. Ricciardi is on the radar of Cohen and Alderson, according to SNY.tv’s Andy Martino. Ricciardi is certainly a familiar face, having served as a special assistant to Alderson for the entirety of the latter’s original tenure as GM.
Though the market is open, it doesn’t seem the Mets feel much urgency in this arena. Martino says the organization is active in pursuing improvements but isn’t yet close to making significant additional front office hires.
Hire slowly. Fire fast.
Confucius say, “That make for small Christmas party”
Just the comment I needed to see in 2020 times
Perfect comment!
@mets fans what’s biggest offer/most years you’d offer DJ
4 years $90-$100 mil
Depends on who else they have. If he’s 3rd after a C and CF, 4×20. If they strike out on JTR, McCann & Springer, 4×22.5.
Biggest is 5/100. I think he will get 4/80-85 and go to NYY
Eat us, Yankee. You still think every player wants to play for your crap team? Stay on your own message board.
No, alproof, he actually said that. That is why I posit he will return to NY most likely. I don’t, however, believe every free agent will come to NY as you so eloquently stated, you verbal gymnast, you.
@YankeeClipper
Your lexicon and logic is lost on alproof and others of his / her ilk. There’s a certain segment of local fans that is getting all excited about Super Steve. They’re feeling their oats, but lack any experience to behave like they’ve been there before.
You root for one of the greatest sports franchises in history. You have witnessed tremendous success and expect more. The gap between now and the last WS win will always matter to true baseball fans (NYY included), but it’s not the arbiter of what fuels your confidence in the team and its drive to win. Alproof’s fandom is much more shallow. Think of him as the ‘poor relation’ more to be humored or pitied as we think ‘there but for the grace of the baseball Gods go I” .
Not enough that he’ll sign here given that he’s a completely unnecessary piece who’s signing is being pushed by people thinking that Cano needs to be replaced.
I say skip DJ, go after bullpen help, starter help, catcher and CF…
The way to win Championships is to develop a young core of talent, to oversee the operations with a combination of analytical and scouting management, and to supplement them with prudent FA signings to fill holes. The FA signings need to he short term preferably or else the signings become an economic burden down the road. The Mets need alot of work and more than just spending $ on FAs. The team has fundamental flaws and is poorly constructed with little regard for baseball fundamentals, situational hitting and defense.
Robrock30
You’re an anachronism. That level of logic and common sense is lost in the real world much less baseball fandom much less the populus living within a couple hours of Citi field. That said- hat tip to you and a safe and happy Thanksgiving to all
My first team I loved was the 60s St Louis Cardinals with Lou Brock in my screen name and then switched over to the Mets until I left for Chicago in 74. I lived near Bill Veeck and befriended his favorite daughter so I watched alot of White Sox until I returned to New York at the e d of 82. I loved the 86 Mets team and was hooked until 93 when I couldn’t take it anymore and fell in love with Bernie Williams and watched mostly Yankee games through their dynasty while never being a Yankee fan. I eventually found the Angels in June of 02 and remain an Angels fan whole I have also watched alot of Red Sox Yankees games which were must watch. I have seen mostly great baseball in my life and am truly blessed with everything.
Nothing. Doesn’t fill a need, payroll better spent elsewhere
Manny acta as GM
At least that would keep him out of the dugout.
Perfect comment #2. This is becoming a great read
You don’t think their is a some kind of reasoning behind them not letting their executives interview or executives declining the chance to do so? Sounds like something is up.
What’s up is that Cohen made the mistake if giving Anderson the POBO job, then thinking he could just swipe some young hotshot from another team to be GM. Sorry, Mets, but you’re not special. If you want the best from another team, you need to promote them and sink or swim with the unknown, like the Brewers did with Stearns. You don’t just get to overbid for a now-proven Stearns while handing him a lesser title. These guys ain’t free agents.
But, Alderson is the team president, not Pobo. They abandoned the search for a POBO……
Alderson is not POBO. He’s president. He’s in charge of both the baseball and business sides. The idea was to hire a POBO to run the baseball side. In general, permission is granted to interview someone where the new position would be a promotion but not necessarily for a lateral move, like Stearns. None of the people they have been tied to would be taking a demotion.
I don’t understand Cohen’s confusion about needing permission–in the business world, you can’t poach someone under contract, and many have non-compete clauses that extend beyond the contract–unless they’ve been denied permission to interview GMs for the POBO job or assistant GMs for the GM job.
Unless he thought he could come in & hire a current POBO,& his executives informed him of the fact that nobody was going to grant him permission for said lateral move.
On the other hand, with the current expectations, it’d be very difficult to find someone to pull off and thread the needle. The game is run on the extremes now. The expectations resonated and clearly excited fans. The Dodgers did it, but Friedman had two distinct advantages working for him, he had a substantial amount of farm talent on the cusp and a completely different financial environment. He had a tremendous understanding of the farm, as they scouted heavily from it. They are however in similar organizational positions with the way the team was run.
The Mets are not good enough & posses to many holes to which money won’t purchase all, and to good to just rebuild. Much like the Dodgers, too, a rebuild won’t be tolerated and they are in that interesting honeymoon period. A period in which fans can dream they pull of the ole 4 huge signings+ multiple big trades to make this team an actual contender. Inheriting such a position may be a hard sell for those who are inherently successful where they are at now. Seems a ton of factors to consider especially as if you fail at a POBO in NY it may be the sole opportunity.
I think it’s funny that Mets fans wouldn’t accept a rebuild. They just endured Wilpon for decades. I think they’d be willing to trust the new to follow a plan to put out a winner.
This team is way to good to rebuild. We wouldn’t accept one
The team that finished in last place?
People like you don’t really understand baseball and why last season isn’t a good representation of how good the Mets are. And other teams too… would have the Mets won the NL east???? No. They aren’t the last place team in a “real season” it should be obvious
It’s not like they were wonderful in 2019, a year they were uncharacteristically healthy.
Mets and yanks fans think baseball revolves around them, but it’s been awhile since either team made it very far, especially Mets, such dreamer, mayb 2021 they can finish in 3rd place instead of cellar
They were an 86 win team in 2019, and lost their number 2 & 3 sp last year… people really think if Syndergaard and Stroman pitched they wouldn’t have made playoffs? They would have fairly easily. Offense will continue to improve as most are entering prime years (Conforto, McNeil, Smith, Alonso, even Nimmo)… and they’re sure to sign either springer or Realmuto, and add a sp (if not Bauer, then two quality arms) and rp… I’m not delusional to think that means they’re a WS contender, but if they don’t make the playoffs, I’ll be shocked
Marc f b
Cohen as a part ( minor) was only exposed to the lackluster Wilpons and not the decision makers for other teams. He’s finfing out that the competition is stronger than what he experienced with NYM.
He’s had a lot of success in his field and may have expected to quickly be a prominent figure on the baseball scene too. Now learning that he’s not playing with the kids in the street. Baseball has talented executives too.
How much he accomplishes this offseason will be determined by how quickly and well he adapts to this new competitive environment and IMO if he’s willing to take the lesser side of some negotiations (i.e. not ‘win’ them) to sign any given FA or make a deal for a very good player by overpaying to some degree.
@cream: The team that gave 60% of its starts to guys w ERA higher than 5.50, and that is poised to potentially replace them with Stroman, a top tier (or at least above average) free agent, and half a season of Syndergaard. The team that had one of the top offenses in the NL and might replace their weakest position with Realmuto. Last year’s record is not relevant.
Rebuilding is dumb unless you actually lost like 100 games. Being intentionally bad isn’t a good plan towards becoming good.
Yes the Mets fans would accept a rebuild
these mets are a last place team, time to finally tear it down and rebuild.
They won 86 wins…. in the toughest division at the time. With the Nats who won the WS and Braves. They were also easily a 90+ win team if they got 2020 Diaz. Please stop
Wrong the Cohen 14.5 Billion is greater than the combined wealth of the top 4 wealthiest team owners . In this baseball financial climate Yes Steve Cohen if he wishes to can buy a championship caliber team in just weeks.
No
What if they got 2020 Thor? Granted, this season was an anomaly, but, you are what your record says you are.
Stearns was apart of Met Organization till 08(Bernie Madoff)when Wilpons doubled down on being dumb.He grew up a Mets fan. Chernoff’s pop is VP to WFAN local station. I think the bigger issue is everyone around baseball sees Theo Epstein the guy running the show in a year. That prevents good young talent from progressing long term
Andy McPhail is Lee McPhail’s kid, and i hope he isn’t coming.
Ot is because nobody outside of the Mets organization wants to work under Alderson. They don’t feel like they will have any real power or say so.
Braves25… That’s what I’ve been thinking
I wonder how many “levels” down they would go before considering MLBTR writers? Jeff, have you sent in an application yet, or are you happy in the mountains in the middle of nowhere?
Until they hand a contract to someone, I’m rolling with the theory that Sandy will run baseball operations for the next year before making a Gruden-level, unprecedented type of commitment to Theo Epstein.
We’re already in December. Even if an executive is hired in the next two weeks, can that executive responsibly hand out big contracts or trade prospects having been on the job so soon?
I wonder if the relationship between Alderson and Cohen has scared off the best candidates, Even though Sandy isn’t technically the POBO, the appearance could be that he’s a de-facto POBO who has clear influence with Cohen.
If they continue to struggle in finding candidates, I wonder if they’ll finally give Ricco a shot. It seems like he’s been the next man up for an eternity
I keep saying Ricco too. Unless he personally is saying no thanks. Some Job titles just have less job security than others.
This is the exact reason why people are declining the job.
Sandy Alderson already informed manager Luis Rojas the failed holdover from last year that he is returning. Who in their right mind as incoming GM would accept that?
Wonder if it’s permission not being granted, or people not wanting the pressure of that job and asking their team to block it for them. Instead of having to say “I don’t want the job” directly.
Bringing Alderson back was a mistake. He blundered his way to a we appearance in ’15. But his record otherwise is mediocre. Both as GM of the Mets and as president of the Padres. He hasn’t built a real winner since the late 80s with Oakland. Not happy that he’s back again. At 73 he’s over the hill and needs to retire.
He managed to put together a team that made it to the world series with Jeff Wilpon having power.
And he did it without being allowed to go over slot in the draft, having to cut payroll by a third, and not being given a hard budget in the offseason. He was the best GM since Frank Cashen.
Sandy Alderson created his protégé Billy Beane from scratch, and Beane was obsessed with Bill James, and Bill James invented sabermetrics, and sabermetrics changed baseball into being run by algorithms, and Billy Beane was the subject of Moneyball, and Moneyball was turned into a movie, and the movie starred Brad Pitt, and Brad Pitt is a huge movie star.
So needless to say, you’re wrong about Sandy Alderson.
What is your point? So Anderson is not over the hill because money ball was a movie with Brad Pitt?
86mets I agree with you here 100%.
Bringing Alderson back was not a mistake. Most felt it was a necessary, calculated move to assure Cohen would get ownership approval to buy the team. After that Sandy hires a POBO and GM, and let’s them run the team, while he serves as a major upgrade to Jeff Wilpon. Let’s at least give Cohen a full off-season if not a year before we make judgements.
So hiring Sandy Alderson was a ruse just to get Owners on Board?
That’s overly simplistic, but mostly yes. Cohen had a lot of reasons approval was questionable. That’s why he reinstated pre-pandemic salaries, is paying out of work part-time employees, pledging city donations, and named Alderson early. I’d rather have some obstacles in securing a POBO and GM, than have Cohen not own the team.
Mets started strong with new ownership….. what the hell happened? Why wouldn’t someone want that job with potentially unlimited (in today’s terms) spending from someone who is taking up baseball ownership as a hobby? I would assume executives would not be asking their team to block them; but then again, is 2020, so who knows?
I know I gave my people permission to venture on over to Queens if they so choose –
Sincerely,
Brian Cashman’s undercover account
@YankeeClipper
Lol. Very droll indeed. I enjoy seeing someone else articulate how MLB isn’t half as impressed with Super Steve as the Metsies fans are. They’ve all WAP Happy like a bunch of youngsters.
Keep up the good work
Jeff Luhnow is probably available.
Ha! Could you imagine? Now that would be risky business.
Steve Cohen needs to hire Theo Epstein by making him an offer he can’t refuse.
It’s time to break the biggest curse in MLB which is the Mets culture.
There is too much deadwood in the Organization and it needs new blood.
The Mets and their culture are nowhere near cursed. I never understand that. 2 WS for a franchise that only started in the 60s. That’s not bad. Maybe it’s a little sibling complex from always being compared to the Yanks, but there are plenty of franchises worse off than the Mets. Looking in their own division the Phillies haven’t even seen the playoffs since 2011 and their FO is a disaster.
The 1969 Miracle Mets with Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Bud Harrelson, Ed Kranepool et al were legit.
The 1986 Mets were stacked with talent and were dominant. Fortunately I grew up with 69 Team and returned from Chicago in 83 when Darryl Strawberry arrived to catch that wonderful 80s team. Then the Wilpons wormed their way into control and if you have watched the Organization over the last 30 years you would understand how toxic the culture has been.
How are the Mets cursed? That is being over dramatic to suggest that.
Ricciardi had his opportunity already and he failed miserably. On top of that he was arrogant and made too many excuses. Hiring an undeserving and unworthy failure like Ricciardi is the example of how and why it took people like Kim Ng this long to break the ceiling. Not to say Ng will be a great General Manager but she at least had experience worthy enough to be considered. These guys block others like Ng. Ricciardi’s failures in Toronto could arguably be the worst of any GM over the last 20 years.
I agree JP Ricciardi was the Worst GM in the World. He passed on drafting Tulowitzki for SS because he had previously drafted Russ Adams (Who?). He turned down a trade offer of David Wright when he was in A Ball for Jose Cruz Jr. He was responsible for the worst Contracts in MLB at the time Vernon Wells and Jose Rios. Run For the Hills boys.
Make that Alex Rios not Jose Rios sorry
He also turned down Ted Lilly for Ryan Howard around 2005. He and Keith Law and company drafted Russ Adams and Aaron Hill, then passed on Tulo. Yet they saw Adams as a SS and didn’t see Hill as a SS.
Apparently they also opted for Luke Prokopec over Eric Gagne in a trade with LA for Paul Quantrill and Cesar Izturis. Also lost the Shannon Stewart trade. They also didn’t deal Delgado yet started spending $$ a year later. Aaron Hill was the best player they developed during his run and the Jays could not draft or develop players for years thanks to Ricciardi firing scouts around 2oo3. Jays had produced the most MLB players up to that point and JP thought he could do better. He didn’t.
How do you Mets fans feel about the idea of Chris Young as GM? If I remember correctly he was a pitching coach a couple of years back. Has he had a front office position of any kind before or would this be his first? The article had mentioned something about him being a league executive but I don’t really know what a “league executive” does. In a way I kinda like the idea of a general manager not being too far away from his playing days, there is a possibility he could bring a different perspective when it comes down to roster decisions.
The Mets just tried an outside the box GM with a Players agent Brodie Van Wagenen who failed.
Enough with these out of the box guys and Steve Cohen had previously stated that he is looking for experienced individuals that won’t be learning on his dime.
That is a very fair point Rob. I was a little surprised when I saw that they were interviewing for the general manager position. I remember one of the reasons the Phillies brought him to be the pitching coach was he was a guy who really got into analytics. Analytics doesn’t always translate to good results of course. There is something to be said for experience, especially in a job as is important as general manager.
The real problem is that Steve Cohen erred by bringing Sandy Alderson back who is a Wilpon retread and who is past his expiration date. He turns off the new blood that the Organization needs and he only knows his old cohorts from back in the day. He is arrogant and many Mets fans are all too familiar with his same old. His wrongheaded ideas are responsible for the mess the Mets are in now.
His “wrongheaded” ideas got the Mets to the WS
He’s young, has varied MLB experience and is wicked smart. Cohen actually recognizes talent like this (see interest in Stern) and wants him in the fold.
CY would be a great hire even if GM isn’t the perfect fit on day 1. He’s smart enough and self confident enough to even coexist with Sandy for a short while. Super Steve can play chess while others play checkers.
@Mrtwotone
There’s a good article elsewhere on the site that talks to CY Executive role for MLB. He’s a candidate bc of his playing, coaching and managerial experience tempered by the fact that he’s apparently very capable and smart. Most people with his level of playing and coaching experience aren’t college grads. Most college grads aren’t Princeton grads. He’s now acquitted himself well as a league Executive to show he can apply his knowledge. Makes him a fast track candidate in an increasingly technical business.
Or owners like Ivy League grads for reasons that have nothing to do with Baseball.
Yeah they’re smart and this one comes with varied MLB too
I do think this maybe an owners “ push-back “. Steve Cohen is entering a market ripe for someone like himself. That he had more resources than the top 4 owners combined could be scary. With the pandemic and a split Nation on how to proceed there are likely teams fighting to stay afloat. History reminds us 100 years ago Col. Jacob Ruppert came on the scene and built the dynasty of the last 100 years.
It’s all supposed to happen in five minutes or something is wrong?
The Mets will get someone who is good. Be patient.
Don’t worry, the Mets are maybe bringing back the black jerseys, so it’s all good.
black jerseys are absolutely hideous.
they are not the mets.
Don’t worry, Cohen bought the Bill Buckner ball so it’s all good.
Patience Mets fans. Cohen is going to be just as passionate if not more than any of us and he wants to win. Most of all, he won’t be tinkering with his people during games like Jeff used to do. He is letting Sandy do his job and find the best candidate for the job at hand. Also, I love that he is up front and open saying that they are in contact with all the top free agents. They know who has the money this offseason and the Mets are only a few players away from upseating the Braves. Lets Go Mets and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
wish they kept BVW.
I don’t think you’ll get much agreement on that comment
Well dugmet you are the only one. BVW was a joke
Honestly, who thought the van Wagenen hiring was a good idea? I dont recall anyone saying “now theres a good choice” It was all, “hmmm, that’s different.”
Given the ownership he had to deal with Von did alright. Fans jump on the Cano-Diaz deal. Stop many good baseball people saw Diaz as the steal of the year. Thinking of how Ralph Kiner would always suggest “ trades often take 3 to 5 years to evaluate”. Signing deGrom and the Wilpon’s let Wheeler walk. Stop blaming our former GM’s for the work of the Wilpon’s it’s wrong and unfair to these professionals.
Maybe because Steve Cohen has a record of insider trading where his employees go to jail but he doesn’t?
He’s essentially Jim Crane with more money.
I understand Cohen wants Jared Kushner for the job.
Would be hilarious if Cohen turned out to just be a richer Arte Moreno. It certainly shouldn’t shock anyone. Hedge fund investors are con men by nature
rebuilding year.
That’s overly simplistic, but mostly yes. Cohen had a lot of reasons approval was questionable. That’s why he reinstated pre-pandemic salaries, is paying out of work part-time employees, pledging city donations, and named Alderson early. I’d rather have some obstacles in securing a POBO and GM, than have Cohen not own the team.
First rule in hiring – Don’t settle for second best.
My first team I loved was the 60s St Louis Cardinals with Lou Brock in my screen name and then switched over to the Mets until I left for Chicago in 74. I lived near Bill Veeck and befriended his favorite daughter so I watched alot of White Sox until I returned to New York at the e d of 82. I loved the 86 Mets team and was hooked until 93 when I couldn’t take it anymore and fell in love with Bernie Williams and watched mostly Yankee games through their dynasty while never being a Yankee fan. I eventually found the Angels in June of 02 and remain an Angels fan whole I have also watched alot of Red Sox Yankees games which were must watch. I have seen mostly great baseball in my life and am truly blessed with everything.
Ugh… got hacked or something… had to change username/account, which was NOT easy. I’m back now. I’m sure everyone is thrilled.
Depends. What was your old name
Cosmodeus
Trade mcneil,gimenez and ginn for arrenado and then sign lemahieu
Why? McNeil alone is almost as valuable as Arenado at a fraction of the cost. And we’ll still need pitching and a catcher.
If Sandy is serious about finding a GM there is a name I’ll throw out here. Now Considering not just Sandy’s requirements but also Steve Cohen desire to have an organization that can compete in the market against the Yankees. There is such a man available. Has signed names like Beltran, Matinez and Wagner. Is familiar with the organization from top bottom. His eye for finding young pitching among the best.It wasn’t Omar who failed the Mets. The Wilpon’s did that all on their own. We are in a unique financial times and Latin players have a respect for Omar Minaya unmatched.