I think they're going to fire Alderson

[Centerfield]

The local papers have been letting him have it recently, including the Daily News. Which I think may be a sign that the Mets are preparing to make him the fall guy.

Pretty self-serving and convenient. For the most part, the beat writers gave him a pass all winter. Now that those crap moves have blown up, they're throwing the blame on him. Would have been nice to call him out during the winter when there was time to do something about it.

Anyway, I have mixed feelings about this if it happens. I think Sandy has done a terrible job, but I have no confidence that they can find anyone better. Plus, the Wilpons are going to Wilpon, so it's not like much is going to change.

Still, if the ceiling on this organization is to someday put together a team built to win 85 games and contend for the Wild Card, I guess it's possible we can find someone who's better at doing this than Sandy.

[Ceetar]

I've waffled on Alderson over the years. He's made some good moves and bad. Some good moves that went bad too. I have no idea what his fascination is with Jay Bruce who he presumably has been constantly trying to trade at various points since he's been here and it seems like he's the only one that wants him.

I don't think this is Mets prompted though. This is media driven to cast blame further up. Your moves didn't work this time so it's your fault. The Wilpons, as they often do, will cave to what the media tells them is pubic pressure, and move on. Hopefully anyway. It seems like they have two moves, either fire the guy and move on, or micromanage him/put on restraints and screw things up. i.e. I believe a trusted GM could tell the Wilpons they have to get Machado, whereas a one at the end of his rope cannot unless they themselves think it's the move.

I kinda hope they don't though. I think I like Callaway and I worry a new GM does a whole new shakeup. I believe this team can win next year, but I worry a new organization might take a conservative "Let's assess what we have" type year. Of course, they might need a shakeup, organizationally, in terms of player development/coaches in the whole system. On the other hand, they might not, and might end up losing good people to organizational churn.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Reports are surfacing that Sandy is taking an immediate leave of absence
to address health issues.

[Frayed Knot]

NYP:
Sandy Alderson is taking a leave of absence from the Mets to battle a recurrence of cancer. Alderson was originally diagnosed with cancer in 2015. He said it had returned in April or May this year.
“Since that time I’ve been undergoing treatment,” the Mets general manager said at a news conference Tuesday. “I expect to have surgery later in the summer. My prognosis is actually good.”

Without Alderson, the Mets’ baseball operations will be led by John Ricco, Omar Minaya and J.P. Ricciardi. Alderson may not return to the role, regardless of how his treatment goes.
"If I were to look at it on the merits, I’m not sure coming back is warranted", Alderson said.
“I feel personally responsible for the results that we’ve had, ... At the same time, I have confidence in our manager, our staff, our players that this will change.”

Mets co-owner Jeff Wilpon would not say whether Alderson would return as GM, only indicating he was worried about Alderson’s health and not his future with the team.



https://nypost.com/2018/06/26/sandy-alderson-is-taking-leave-to-battle-cancer-recurrence/

[HahnSolo]

Best of luck to Sandy.

I don't like the three-headed monster approach. I hope they will name a single, interim General Manager.

[Benjamin Grimm]

My guess is that Ricco will be the decision maker.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Joel Sherman tweeting to the effect of the 3-headed monster, being the most Wilponian solution.

I myself was surprised Sandy returned given the health troubles and his age but you'd figure an orderly transition would have been in the offing but not with the Mets. From the remarks accompanying the Minaya hiring last winter there's obviously some unease with that arrangement from the Ricco/Riccardi end of it.

A freaking mess for sure.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: My guess is that Ricco will be the decision maker.

That's what Jeff'll say.

When it's a bad decision.

[Ceetar]

hopefully they'll being the process of looking for a replacement immediately and this will be temporary.

You gotta feel kinda bad if you just wrote a "Sandy Alderson is DESTROYING THE METS AND MUST BE STOPPED" post though.

[bmfc1]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: My guess is that Ricco will be the decision maker.

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[Guest 41Forever]

Wishing Sandy a swift and full recovery. If he decides not to return, I thank him for making 2015 and 2016 special.

[Valadius]

Did Sandy Alderson just low-key resign?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

yes

[Guest d'Kong76]

That's my take watching his announcement replay just now.
Probably should have started another thread, but was lazy being
on mini-tablet device.

[Mex17]

I think Alderson handled himself amazingly in the press conference. It's not easy to look your own mortality in the face, let alone having to do it in the public eye. The guy is a Marine, through and through.

Now, as for as the future of the organization. . .

The front office just became the Roman Senate, and that's not a good thing at all. Ricco, Ricciardi, and Minaya might all be nice guys and competent baseball men, but now they are all in the position where they are going to try and one-up and outmaneuver the other two in order to gain favor with Caesar. That is just the way this sort of thing goes when an organization (of any type) is set up this way. Remember when Charles Wang tried the front office with four guys having equal voices or the Jets for all those years under Hess when there was no clear-cut GM? Furthermore, when Caesar is a incompetent spoiled impetuous man-child, that makes it all the worse. Alderson was supposed to be the guy coming in from the outside at the behest if the Commissioner who had the gravitas to put baby in a corner and he could not do it. How can we expect anyone else to do it from among these three or even from the outside of the organization?

I am 47 years old and have spent my entire life looking for the silver linings, the best case scenarios, and the implausible pathways towards ultimate success with regard to this baseball team. There is no fixing this.

Edited June 26, 2018 by Guest

[ashie62]

Best of luck to Sandy

I was surprised he came back the first time

I believe he asked for a "cold hard look" at the team as it stands.

[Guest cooby]

NYP: Sandy Alderson is taking a leave of absence from the Mets to battle a recurrence of cancer. Alderson was originally diagnosed with cancer in 2015. He said it had returned in April or May this year. “Since that time I’ve been undergoing treatment,” the Mets general manager said at a news conference Tuesday. “I expect to have surgery later in the summer. My prognosis is actually good.” Without Alderson, the Mets’ baseball operations will be led by John Ricco, Omar Minaya and J.P. Ricciardi. Alderson may not return to the role, regardless of how his treatment goes. "If I were to look at it on the merits, I’m not sure coming back is warranted", Alderson said. “I feel personally responsible for the results that we’ve had, ... At the same time, I have confidence in our manager, our staff, our players that this will change.” Mets co-owner Jeff Wilpon would not say whether Alderson would return as GM, only indicating he was worried about Alderson’s health and not his future with the team. https://nypost.com/2018/06/26/sandy-alderson-is-taking-leave-to-battle-cancer-recurrence/

Wishing him well. There is no way this mess of a team is his personal responsibility*


*edited to correct error made by posting with my phone

Edited June 26, 2018 by Guest

[Lefty Specialist]

Best of luck to Sandy, but this will be a chaotic front office now.

[G-Fafif]

Howie clearly shaken by the news tonight.

[Zvon]

[tweet:1grobfd7]https://twitter.com/martinonyc/status/1011761622887665676[/tweet:1grobfd7]

[MFS62]

We were waiting for, some wanting, him to leave.
Nobody wanted it to be this way.
I can say from recent experience that facing your mortality is tough. And he's younger than I am.

I wish you well, Sandy.

Later

[Centerfield]

Jeff Wilpon has every opportunity to say “When Sandy recovers, we fully expect him to resume his position as the General Manager of the Mets. He is our guy and has our full support.”

Instead, he stood by and deflected as Sandy fell on his own sword.

Sandy Alderson was fired today. Make no mistake of that.

Sandy did a terrible job but is a good man. It’s terrible that his cancer has recurred. It’s an absolute fucking travesty that his dickless employer is using this illness to skirt taking responsibility.

[Zvon]

Centerfield wrote: Jeff Wilpon has every opportunity to say “When Sandy recovers, we fully expect him to resume his position as the General Manager of the Mets. He is our guy and has our full support.” Instead, he stood by and deflected as Sandy fell on his own sword. Sandy Alderson was fired today. Make no mistake of that. Sandy did a terrible job but is a good man. It’s terrible that his cancer has recurred. It’s an absolute fucking travesty that his dickless employer is using this illness to skirt taking responsibility.

Fantastically said CF.

If you don't tweet that, I will.

[Zvon]

GAH! Way to many letters for a tweet. But I condensed and still twatted. Used every damn letter available.
I wanted to credit you CF, but alas.....

Jeff had every opportunity to say “When Sandy recovers, we expect him to resume his position as the GM of the Mets. He has our full support.”Instead, he stood by as our GM fell on his own sword. Sandy was fired today. Make no mistake of that. Sandy is a good man, this is a shame.

[Centerfield]

No worries. Just followed you!

[Zvon]

Centerfield wrote: No worries. Just followed you!

Cool. Please give me your twitter handle.

I'm going to have to go to school on Instagram, but first I have to graduate from twitter, which I'm getting good at.
It moves so damn fast (at least during the game, which has pretty much the only time I'm active there). Instagram might be the best for my image stuff.

PS: I'll drive you crazy during games CF, lol. Or crazier. lol.

[metirish]

Best to Sandy

The presser was unseemly, Jeff Wilpon is a horrible person, who needs notes at things like this.

[Ceetar]

Centerfield wrote: Jeff Wilpon has every opportunity to say “When Sandy recovers, we fully expect him to resume his position as the General Manager of the Mets. He is our guy and has our full support.” Instead, he stood by and deflected as Sandy fell on his own sword. Sandy Alderson was fired today. Make no mistake of that. Sandy did a terrible job but is a good man. It’s terrible that his cancer has recurred. It’s an absolute fucking travesty that his dickless employer is using this illness to skirt taking responsibility.

It's be unfair to the Mets to hold that job for him. You don't think they talked about this before hand? Doing that almost mandates that they go forward with this three-headed monster rather than actively look for a replacement/future. They'll miss a guiding hand at the trade deadline, but otherwise this is a particularly slow time and a great time to hire someone. (It's pretty obvious they were waiting for the draft to end)

And come on, the Mets love to give their old execs cushy jobs. If Alderson wants to come back in some capacity, the Wilpons will make that happen. That's the sorta meddling we complain about right?

Anyway, Good luck Sandy.

[MFS62]

While he's gone, I'm not forgetting that JP Ricciardi WAS a major league GM (Blue Jays).
Keep Minaya where he excels - player scouting and development, and let Riccio handle the contract and administrative stuff, with JP in charge.
That's how I would organize the management team.

Later

[Guest cooby]

Zvon wrote: GAH! Way to many letters for a tweet. But I condensed and still twatted. Used every damn letter available. I wanted to credit you CF, but alas..... Jeff had every opportunity to say “When Sandy recovers, we expect him to resume his position as the GM of the Mets. He has our full support.”Instead, he stood by as our GM fell on his own sword. Sandy was fired today. Make no mistake of that. Sandy is a good man, this is a shame.

He was fired? Couldn't they have worded it a little less harshly