Problems in the Big Apple
A year ago, I placed the Mets at #5 on my list of the healthiest organizations in baseball.
My bad.
Yesterday’s he said-he said recounting of the events surrounding Carlos Beltran‘s surgery are just the latest sign that the organization is a ship without a captain. Even the most conservative reading of the events looks really bad for the Mets – at best, their front office lacks the ability to communicate their desires to their team’s best player, at worst the player has reached the point where he simply doesn’t care what they say.
And then there’s the handling of the news. Word began to leak out on Wednesday that Beltran had surgery and that the Mets front office was extremely angry about it. It’s one thing to do a controlled leak of news that will come out eventually, as most teams in baseball do – it is entirely another to bring reporters into what should have been an internal issue. Then, to cap it off, the Mets held a conference call (necessitated by the leaks) that was run by Assistant GM John Ricco, ostensibly because Omar Minaya wasn’t able to find a working phone in the rural back-country known as Phoenix, Arizona.
More likely is that the Mets just didn’t want Minaya on that call for fear of what he might say. Say what you will about Minaya’s roster construction (and I have), but when you don’t trust your GM to meet with the press, you need a new GM. A significant part of the General Manager job is to handle the relationship with the press about the affairs of the team. The Mets apparently do not believe Minaya is fit to fill that role any longer.
Ricco’s handling of the conference call only goes to further confuse the chain of authority in Queens. Minaya is clearly not in charge, as the Wilpons continue to exercise more than a usual amount of influence on the front office. But they won’t willingly admit to running things either, leading to a nebulous power situation where there is simply no clear leader.
This is dysfunction on a large stage. Much like the last days of Jim Bowden’s reign in Washington, you have to wonder whether they’ll be able to escape growing evidence of a lack of control in the front office – never mind the questionable decisions Minaya has made spending the Wilpons’ money.
At this point, they just need to start over. The current situation isn’t working and it’s getting worse, not better. The team has a new ballpark in a huge metropolitan area and some terrific pieces to build around – they should be contenders. They should be well-run. But they aren’t. It’s time for some wholesale changes before things get any worse, if that’s possible.
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Minaya has to lose his job before they’ll rebuild though.
The front office needs rebuilding, not the team. Trading stars like Reyes, Santana, or Wright would be silly. If the team trusts their prospects they should have a solid nucleus coming up in another year in Thole, Davis, F-Mart and to a lesser extent (further away) Nieuwenhuis, Havens, Mejia, Tejada. Heck they could be looking at an all-home-grown infield by 2012: Wright-Reyes-Havens-Davis and Thole catching.
you could probably do this with almost every team. what is Thole’s realistic ceiling? and should a team with a $150M settle for that type of player simply b/c he is “homegrown”?
Though I agree with you about Thole (not super-impressed), focusing on him sort of skirts the point – overall the Mets do indeed have some intriguing young talent, several players of which stand a good chance of graduating and contributing in 2011. I’m not sure every team can say that.
Unless the Mets’ front office makes a dopey trade (which would dovetail with Dave’s point), I wouldn’t be surprised if by this time next year we’re talking about the massive improvement in their farm system.
Dave isn’t advocating trading the players. He’s advocating ditching the front office. Hence the beginning of the post about organizations, not teams. The team is fine, but the front office is killing the health of the overall org.
I definitely agree with that; like I said, rebuild the front office, not the team.
As for Thole, his defense will likely make or break him. He has little-to-no power but his contact skills are very strong. Whether he’ll end up a backup or a starter is debatable, but I’m just throwing the idea out there. Davis and Havens are probably more likelier hitters to be starters for the Mets in 2012.
Actually, I hope Minaya keeps his job so that my Mariners have another team with a dumb GM with whom to make trades
Don’t worry, Bavasi will get another GM job eventually.
Minaya will be forced out and replaced by Bavasi!
Just the thought is making me giddy. If Bavasi get’s the Mets gig I will dance in the street for a full day!
What are you doing? For the sake of all the other teams in baseball I don’t want another well-run NY team. I hope Mr. Minaya keeps his job for a looooong time, or if he has to go maybe they can hire Dayton Moore.
When Dave points out the stupid move a team has made, he gets called a hater of that team. When he points out how a team can improve, apparently he’s a hater of the other 29 teams in baseball.
It’s a thankless job, that’s for sure.
(This is a repost)
Nobody knows for sure yet what exactly happened with beltran. Knowing this “son becomes boss” situation, my bet is it’s jeff’s fault. Jeff tells boras/beltran to wait, but does not tell omar about it. Beltran calls omar about the surgery, and omar says, go ahead. Jeff finds out and blows a gasket, then tells ricco to do the press conference.
Who’s fault is this? jeff’s. Why? It’s jeff’s responsibility to make sure all on his team know what the plan is. He didn’t, and things got messed up.
Jeff will not accept responsibility for poor communication. Next step in the “silver spoon” saga, the brat blame game. Jeff blames omar for approving the surgery without his knowledge.
I hope jeff gets tired of this toy soon. The wheels are already coming off.
Frankly, the above scenario from since68 is the only circumstance that I can imagine which should not result in Minaya’s firing. If it went down in the way/s initially reported, Minaya should have been fired as he stood in the hotel lobby in Phoenix.
I’m curious, can John Ricco construct an intelligent, cogent sentence? We already know that Omar needs to focus more in his ESL class.
This is a plausible scenario, perhaps, but without more information that’s all it is. It’s possible when Beltran and Minaya talked the latter didn’t understand, or wasn’t told, that the procedure could result in surgery or a long rehab. Unless these guys tape their phone calls, you end up with this kind of idiotic “he said – he said” argument where everybody colors their memory of the conversation to support their side of the story.
Where the rubber meets the road for me is this: the doc who did the surgery says he got approval from the team doc and trainer including the paperwork to ensure he gets paid. That seems to constitute organizational approval, regardless of who in the org claims to have known or not known about it at the time. If Minaya can’t be reached in Phoenix and the underlings decide to go ahead anyway, or he has simply been bypassed by the informal chains of command, is pretty irrelevant: the Mets’ front office is a place where nobody seems to be on the same page, and the nominal leader of the organization is incapable of exerting command authority. That’s a failed organization.
Looks like a job for JP Ricciardi?
yes, I am really glad the Jays finally fired Riccardi, for the PR reasons like this catastrophe
curious to see where Toronto ranks with AA in charge now
The Mets could have bought themselves at least a year’s worth of goodwill by simply hiring Bobby V as their manager. It would have cost a pittance and would have re-energized their fan base. Not to mention that he is a much better manager than the stand-up comedian they currently have (although I selfishly want him to stay since his post-games, especially his ridiculous laugh, are so enjoyable). Just to reiterate the sentiments expressed in this article, say what you will about Omar’s roster moves, the fact that Omar (or Mets ownership) decided to forego such an obvious (and cheap) move shows how out of touch they are with their fan base and is an indictment on their leadership.
the best solution is for the wilpons to sell, but i doubt that’ll happen.
the second best solution is for the wilpons to get out of any operational decisions entirely, but again, I doubt that’ll happen.
Omar can leave, and they can hire someone else, but, i’m pretty sure, as long as the wilpons are sticking their noses in everything, the organization is going to remain dysfunctional.
Don’t give up hope completely. I thought the same thing about Chuck Armstrong and Howard Lincoln so when Bavasi was let go I was just expecting more of the same. Turns out it took a long time but they seemed to learn something somewhere along the way and made a heck of a hire.
God please let them have a fire sale –> rebuilding period.
There’s no reason for them to have a firesale. This isn’t the ’99 Marlins or the ’03 Indians. They are a large market team in a new stadium with a core of strong players. A good front office could make them competitive very quickly. But that’s not the current front office, and you have to have your doubts about the Wilpons hiring the right one. But the Mets have the resources to muddle along indefinitely, never reaching their potential but never tearing down either.
The wilpon’s will never sell, Fred Wilpon has made that known. What he needs to do is get his meddlesome son and the shyster David Howard out of the baseball ops. The reason I believe the Beltran/Boras version of what happened (just to show you how low esteem I have for Jeff Wilpon, Scott Boras is the rational one in this mess YIKES!) before and incision could be made on Beltran’s arthritic knee the Mets had to submit Workman’s Comp and insurance forms so Dr. Steadman could get paid. The good doctor was not taking this case on as a charity. After consulting with team physician Dr Altchek both Dr’s agreed that arthroscopic surgery was needed. Mets head trainer Ray Ramirez then sent the proper insurance papers to Steadman and the surgery was done the next day.
Jeff Wilpon’s p.o’d because he says Dr Altchek is not authorized to make this decion. The head of of the Mets medical staff is not authorized to make a medical decsion. Let that ratle around in your mind for awhile.
Hey Dave, what in the world did you like about this organization 1 year ago?
Is it so hard to click the link he helpfully provided?
Firing or not firing Omar wouldn’t make one damn bit of difference, the problem isn’t Omar it’s the incompetent owners. I mean just look at their track record, Omar is probably the most competent gm they’ve hired in the last ten years. Not to mention there’s some reports that say Omar doesn’t even have much power anymore and Jeffy is calling the shots. We can rebuild the front office every year and it won’t matter as long as the Wilpons are the ones doing the hiring.
Agree 100%.
Please please please hire Bavasi as a replacement…
Yeah, I’ve been making the same request to the Baseball Gods
Forget Bavasi. Hiring him only helps one family. Recruit Sabean away from SF and millions of Giants fans will benefit.
(takes toothpick out of mouth)
…I’d like to say that I’d be very interested in the Mets job, its always been a dream of mine. I see that good left arm of Santana and that young arm of Pelfrey and I just salivate at the thought being able to run them out there over and over again. I will make Francisco break his own saves record by secretly combining saves and holds…I love my boy Jerry, he true gangsta, but he doesn’t know how to handle a pitching staff. My boys Cueto and Bailey have been telling me how great NY is and all, and even showed me pics from when they went on vacation there, so I’d like to manage there one day, I have to say they’ve been very supportive.
(toothpick back in mouth).
Oh, and aw aw……(takes toothpick out)
…And I’d like to endorse Bill Bavasi as the GM, Dayton Moore as the sabermetric scouting director, and JP Riccardi as the media relations expert. We need to get as many minds in there as possible, and shove all that IQ down people’s throats!
(toothpick back in mouth)…
Fangraphs is a neat site and I’ve heard good things about USS Mariner, but DUH. ANYONE who lives in NYC and follows baseball could have told you this more than a year ago. For the record, I’ve been a Yankee fan since 1961 and have seen plenty of dysfunction from them over time as well, but never on the medical side as much as the Mets.
Bring in Isiah Thomas!
Okay, but this is nothing new to Mets fans. How about sharing your ideas. Define wholesale change. Does it mean firing Minaya, Ricco and/or anyone else? Should Fred remove Jeff, his sone, from COO and/or tell him to get out of the way of the GM? Should they sell the team?
What wholesale changes do you advocate?
A fish rots from its head.
Nothing will change until/unless the Wilpon’s sell the team. Dysfunctional front office, managers, and players will be replaced by more dysfunction.
The Mets are a train wreck that’s gotten progressively worse since the Wilpons became sole owners. I’m no Minaya fan – but the real problem in Fred and Jeff – mostly Jeff – Wilpon. I would bet money that Jeffy Boy was somehow involved in last week’s Beltran debacle.
The indication of just how bad this team is is when you look at some of the players like Santana who are amazing year in and year out, then consider that even with those guys this team will still be lucky to make the playoffs.
This is a good baseball team…The overreactions are a complete joke…There is no need to trade any of the core players, unless you are just a Mets hater who is afraid of them being good…It’s just fun to dump on the Mets to some people because the Yanks are back on top so you can’t do it to them…A lot of anti-NY bias…It’s complete crap and you expose yourself as someone who has very limited knowledge…The Mets need to keep the core players that had them in first place before everyone got injured…The same guys that won about 90 games in 07 and 08 and 97 games in 06…They need to actually get some good secondary players to surround those guys and that has always been the problem…The one year they had decent secondary players is when they were 1 inning from the World Series…Guys like LuDuca and Valentin in 06….Omar has done a terrible job with these secondary players…Most Met haters would love to see them trade Beltran, Wright or Reyes but it’s not going to happen nor should it…It’s complete ignorance to suggest that and reeks on just dumping on the Mets because some people find that fun to do…That says a lot more about you than anything else
****.Omar has done a terrible job with these secondary players****
THIS!
Though one could say its pretty easy to be a GM when it comes to tossing a ton of money at a big name guy…its the secondary moves that separate a guy like Minaya from a Gillick.
Ah, the Mets are rebuilding as we speak..their reluctance to trade young players or minor leaguers is a clear indication they’ve seen the light.
Of course, the fact that their system is pretty barren and they dont really have much to trade either way. They simply can’t afford to give up what few prospects they have left at this point.
Firing Omar will make the Mets worse off! That’s no compliment to Minaya. More like a slap across the face to Jeff Wilpon.
If you go back through the years (by sifting through google results about Jeff Wilpon), you find interesting quotes, for example from former owner Nelson Doubleday around the time he sold his share of the club to Fred Wilpon. Basically he said it was time for the baseball people to run for the hills now that Jeffy boy wants to run his own baseball club.
Jeff Wilpon himself said he wants to run his organization so that in 10 years time, other teams in baseball will be trying to copy his blueprint. LO-freaking-L.
Also recall that the year before Omar was hired, the Wilpons reached out to him to be part of a clusterf*ck arrangement (I’d like to call it a Jeffy special) where he’d be some kind of psuedo-GM along with Jim Duquette and the notorious Super Scouts that had ownership’s ear. Omar said NO. He wanted full authority. Another special year of stinking the joint out came and went. But this time, the dysfunction of Mets management being one of Mike Francessa’s favorite subjects on Mike and the Mad Dog during the late summer, as well as plastered across the backpages of the Post and Daily News. In the meantime, every GM candidate worth a damn was turning them down on their offers for the GM job. It was then that the Mets hired Omar and strived to make it clear that he had full authority.
Maybe Omar did have full authority for a while. Things were certainly looking up for the Mets at that time. He’s not among the best GM’s out there–but he’s certainly not the worst. When you sit down to think about how good (or bad) a job he’s done, keep in mind the constraints ownership put on him (such as: not willing to throw their financial weight around in the amateur draft, and the win-now philosophy they demanded in the runup to open Citi Field.)
Now, looking at the whole time period before and after Omar, I’m scared. Because Omar will go, and then some yes-man will be fronting for Jeff Wilpon. And no doubt he’ll be setup to let the axe swing on his neck for the inevitable next Jeff Wilpon Stupid Met trick.