After a first round of interviews, the Mets have narrowed their general manager search down to two candidates: Sandy Alderson and Josh Byrnes. Both have experience running a team, Alderson with the A's (1983-1997) and Byrnes with the Diamondbacks (2005-2010), and both surely have different strengths and weaknesses. Byrnes gives them a younger exec perhaps more well-versed in today's game, Alderson a veteran front office presence with deep roots in the game.
Both Alderson and Byrnes will interview for the second time this week, and a decision will presumably be made shortly thereafter. Time for the poll…
Who should the Mets hire to be their next GM?
Click here to vote, and here to see the results.
I still cant believe the Mets are bringing back Byrnes for another interview instead of Rick Hahn. As Tim pointed out a couple of weeks ago, like AA and Hoyer, Hahn has GM Potental to be like those guys given his knowledge of advanced stats and expierence working under KW like Hoyer for example, worked under Theo Epstein.
That said, Alderson should get the job.
Umm .. Byrnes was Theo’s Assistant General Manager from 2003 thru 2005.
That said, front office guys that rely solely on advanced stats are on their way out. Look at the history:
Ricciardi – Failed with Blue Jays
Byrnes – Failed with DBacks
Depodesta – Failed with Dodgers
Epstein – Failing now that most of Port/Duquette/Lucchino players are old or gone
And Mr. Moneyball himself Billy Beane has failed miserably, having never won an LCS game in 13 years as Oakland GM. The Athletics haven’t even had a winning season since Barry Zito left.
You seriously think that Billy Beane has failed? Ridiclous
If not Beane, who do you think is primarily responsible for 13 years of Athletics futility in a weak 4-team division?
Billy Beane is the best GM in Baseball and since when have the Athletics been in “13 years of futility”? They have more good seasons than not in this past decade and currently boast a great farm system after he had to dump and rebuild the 07 A’s and turn them into what they have now. They currently have maybe the best young rotation in the AL and win on no money whatsover.
Okay, so Beane has been GM of the Athletics for 13 years and his teams have never, EVER won an LCS game. How many more years will it take before the “best GM in baseball” will actually win one?
And you’ll notice I haven’t even brought up the Athletics’ involvement with BALCO.
If you were a fan of the A’s like myself and knew everything they go through, you’d understand all the challenges and road blocks that Billy Beane has to face.
Span-D, I think the comment about Beane being the best GM in baseball is over the top. He had a lot of success, but hasn’t been able to replicate it in a long while.
I know he works with a low payroll, but he had Hudson, Mulder and Zito under control and didn’t get back prospects (or develop his own) to raise the team back to an elite level.
It’s not a record that’s worthy of saying that he’s #1 in the game. If he gets them back to playoffs and makes them relevant again, then I think he’ll be re-evaluated by fans.
Actually, Mark Mulder and the anatomy of that trade consists of pretty much the whole A’s team. He is the best GM in Basebal and from where the A’s were in 07 to where they are now is what I call progress.
It must be nice to believe that everything works with only one variable. Keep on keepin’ on though, ignorance is bliss.
I understand Theo was in a nasty internal power play, the details of which a Yankee fan like myself couldn’t care less about, but he heads a well run organization. Without proof that the Red Sox minors are going dry and the team will fall out of regular contention, I do not see Theo Epstein as failing. In fact, if not for massive injuries, they may have been the best team in the East this year. With the Rays cutting payroll I expect the Red Sox to be Division Winners or Wild Card next year. Either way doing that in the AL East means winning a lot of games against pretty tough competition.
It’s been a steady decline for the Red Sox since their 2007 championship, and since you are a Yankee fan I suppose my bringing up the astronomical amount of money Theo has wasted on bad contracts would not register with you as a reason why he has been failing, along with bad trades and bad drafting that has been covered up by big spending. Yes, believe it or not money has a way of making GMs look better than they actually are.
The team with the 3rd worst bullpen in the AL would have been the best team in the East this year? Do you not realize the top 4 bullpens in the AL this year were Rays, Yankees, Twins and Rangers – all the playoff teams.
I absolutely would not count out the Jays or O’s next season, especially without knowing what they will do this winter.
emailed response went with wrong email – correct response below
I completely agree that spending has everything to do with being good or bad, based on results. But Theo has to spend what he has to try to keep the team in it. Sometimes, when you have the money, taking some bad contracts is worthwhile.If you are correct and he has screwed up the organization, then the BoSox will soon be out of it, and we can all see it and agree with you. For now, they have recently developed a good number of homegrown players, and they are still very much a contender, so I’ll hold my judgment of Theo until a later date.
Bad drafting? Have heard and seen many complaints regarding the Red Sox from both people who claim to be fans, as well as people who are not, but bad drafting is certainly not one from anybody who know anything about the team, nor understands the organizations depth and players in the organization.
Sure injuries to players like Britton, Tazawa and Hagedone (all TJ) were unexpected and Hagedone was THE key piece used to get the 1 1/2 years worth of service for VMart..Then people not familiar with the farm system may not know that, nor that Britton is another of the big bonus players Boston enticed into forgoing college 3 years ago, throws upper 90’s and 2010 was the 1st full season look the Sox got of him after swiping him in the 23rd round that season..
No.. The Epstein run farm system has not changed, just a serious rash of unexpected injuries set back the likes of Hagedon, Britton and others that people would be seeing at higher levels right now and left a slight gap at the AA and AAA clubs, but people are there, such as Lavarnway, Iglesias, Rizzo, Anderson.
This is not 20-25 other teams who draft for the 1st 2-5 rounds and then fill in with fodder the rest of the way.
My drafting comment was based on two things:
1) Ever since Theo took over as GM in 2003, he has produced via the draft just two established starting position players – Pedroia & Ellsbury (I suppose you can also add David Murphy now). That’s not a very good track record for such a long period of time and when you consider the amount of money the Red Sox have spent on the draft. You’ll notice that virtually every offseason when the Sox need to fill a backup position or every year when they need a midseason replacement for an injured position player, they inevitably bring in someone who came from outside the organization (ie: McDonald, Nava, Baldelli, Cash, Salty, Hermida, Hall, Patterson, Van Every, etc) because their own draft picks have been so disappointing. Maybe Kalish will break that trend, I hope he will.
2) Do you know which GM signed a MLB-high 16 draft picks to above-slot deals between 2007-2009? Theo Epstein. I know links are frowned upon here, but Marc Hulet of Fangraphs had a great 07/16/10 article about the very same subject. Look it up if you get a chance, you’ll see the return on those multi-million dollar investments hasn’t quite been what the Red Sox had expected thus far.
Oh stop it. That’s ridiculous. They’ve also drafted and turned over Justin Masterson, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, Papelbon, Manny Delcarmen, among others. Way to cherry pick something. They’ve done a fine job of developing from within.
Of course the Red Sox will spend more money than other organizations signing draft picks because with the exception of one of them, he has the budget to do it. Why wouldn’t he use his competitive advantage? Being worried about ‘value’ and ROI isn’t the same for the Red Sox that it is other organizations, so why would he care?
Please do some research before accusing somebody of being wrong ….
Theo didn’t draft Lester, Mike Port did.
And Theo didn’t draft Delcarmen, Dan Duquette did.
Regardless, you seem to have misread my comment because I made it pretty clear I was referring to position players – not pitchers. Theo obviously has done a good job of drafting pitchers, I never said otherwise.
The fact remains, Theo’s regime has drafted only three legitimate position players since 2003.
As for his spending money on the draft, I’m obviously not complaining because the more he spends the more talent will be available in the Red Sox farm system. I had simply pointed out that Theo’s ability to outspend every other team on the draft doesn’t make him a great GM, just like Cashman’s ability to spend a half billion dollars on the three best available free agents two winters ago doesn’t make him a great GM.
Not sure if you are more trying to get the Sox to focus on failed 70’s-90’s policies of wasting money on free agency spending, or just stop spending as much money on the draft period, but the most important aspect period that seems to be overlooked is that the way the Henry, Luchino, Epstein and folks are running this organization is simply working and that is with the draft 1st and foremost, pitching has been very well that you did leave out and yes, lester was not a part of the Epstein Era, but pieces used in trades have been, like Cla merideth, Craig Hansen, Nick Hagedne. You just can’t throw positional players out there and say that this philosophy does not work when the proof is there and pretty easy to see.
Say the Sox spend 10M each year on the rule4 draft (they do) and not spend that much on a washed up 35YO middle reliever, or backup type outfielder like Mike Cameron.. Which is likely to yield the best results in the long run, both impact wise for the team, as well as potential trade chips with a team that has as many scouts and as good of a department as does Boston?
Would you rather have that veteran taking up a spot on the bench for 1 year and maybe producing something to nothing, or trade chips in a couple years, plus 1-2 potential impact players out of a draft that might actually help the team? choosing option “A” is how 20-25 teams operate and exactly why Boston is able to grab as many top draftees in the 1st place…
They should promote one of their hot dog vendors to GM since the Wilpons like to think they can run things themselves anyway. All they need is somebody to take the media heat.
There is one hot dog vendor at Citi Field named Mike Marshall. Great guy. If I had to pick one Citi Field vendor to be GM, it would be Mike. He looks a lot like Jeremy Davies. He also is a beer vendor in the left field sections at Yankee Stadium. Awesome guy!