The Athletics have announced the hiring of veteran baseball executive Sandy Alderson. He’ll join the organization as senior advisor to baseball operations.
Alderson, 71, just wrapped up a tenure as the general manager of the Mets. He had previously served as CEO of the Padres and, before that, as GM of the A’s. Indeed, Alderson helmed the Oakland baseball ops department from 1983 to 1997, when he handed the reins to then-GM and current president of baseball operations Billy Beane.
While Beane has become perhaps the most widely known baseball executive, due in no small part to the fact that he was once portrayed by a rather well-known actor in a certain feature film, it’s fair to note that Alderson was calling the shots during the club’s last championship run back in 1989. Of course, both worked closely together before Alderson left for a MLB post and are no doubt excited to get back to work together in an effort to continue the strides the ballclub made in 2018.
Alderson, of course, did not finish his tenure with the Mets in the manner he would have preferred. In addition to overseeing a pair of disappointing seasons, he battled cancer and was forced to step away from the club in the middle of the 2018 season. The New York organization ultimately hired Brodie Van Wagenen to replace Alderson after the latter’s contract expired at the end of the season.
Fortunately, Alderson said over the weekend that his treatment has been quite promising to this point — so much so that he has been deemed cancer-free for the past four months. It’s great to see that he was able to get back in the game so quickly.
Great to hear his health is returning!
Sandy definitely leaves behind a complicated legacy with the Mets, but I have no ill will toward him. I hope he continues to recover, and I imagine that staying in the game in a lower pressure environment will be good for his spirits.
Good luck to him, his work in Oakland was hall of fame worthy.
He knew he needed to come home to be part of the best baseball city in the country. #cityofchampions
Then why is he going to oakland instead?
*County. Not country. Best wishes Sandy!
Oakland has a lot of championships, don’t you know?
Nice to see him return to good health. Cancer’s no joke
Mets’ fans who use this thread as an opportunity to criticize his job performance, deserve perpetual mediocrity — even with BVW
I’m glad his health returned too. I loved watching him talk to the media when he was here in NY, It’s a great time to return to the A’s organization, I’m sure there will be more success in the future!
You can’t judge Sandy’s performance with the cheapness of ownership. At the news conference he said,”I’m glad to return to a small market team willing to invest rather than work for a large market team that wants to spend like a small market team.”
Exactly!
Wow
I will be honest to say that I’m happy that is cancer has beenhandled. But I do find it fishy after seeing that he is back in the sport as an executive, that almost sounds as if either he was too embarrassed to remain as Mets general manager or they pushed him out and use his cancer as an excuse to relieve him of his duties. by the way I for one wish him the best of luck. Cancer is no joke but I sure as hell hope it wasn’t used as an excuse to push him out. But knowing how the Mets executives are, it really sounds like they used it as an excuse to relieve him.
I suppose anything is possible in a world in which Warner Brothers and Zach Snyder used his kid’s death as cover for why he was being replaced as director of Justice League (allegedly)…
But the more likely explanation is his health has allowed him to return to a more part time role. Seing as how he had no real relationship with the current Mets GM it makes sense he’d return to Oakland.
Also his exit was described as a “leave of absence,” so if he wanted to return to the organization I’m sure there would have been some way to make it happen.
The real architect of Oakland A’s moneyball returns. Smart move.
Glad to hear he’s in better health and wish him no ill will but I am amazed how people in baseball just keep resurfacing
Beats digging ditches.
And he’ll do a better job for A’s than a former ditch digger.
The man that brought analytics to the A’s. Taught the concepts at UC-Berkeley.
Hired Billy Beane and explained it to him.
Hollywood got another one wrong.
Beane still made a ton of great moves, regardless if Alderson brought him up or not.
Glad he’s healthy again.
Reason for this move is help in getting the new stadium built. Sandy knows all the people to get the ball rolling. Shows how serious they are for the new stadium.
Good riddance. Gavin Cecchini, a great pick among many great picks. Terrible. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Name one team Sandy has helped turn around? He usually hires who? With him? Omar Minaya?
Umm Sandy Alderson helped turn the A’s around… At least once.