Mets to hire Sandy Alderson as GM

[love_that_reefer]

DePodesta did suck as a GM for the Dodgers but that doesn't mean he wasn't good before that in a smaller role. He is a stat guy and what Alderson is looking for in that capacity. JP sucked at signing big deals like Wells and Rios but he did great at scouting and pretty much built that pitching staff you saw last year.

[ljshorty89]

Exactly. DePodesta can be Alderson's right hand stat man. Ricciardi can be the right hand scouting guy. And then, Alderson takes info from both of them (as well as assistant GM John Ricco, who is highly thought of) and makes the moves he chooses. Seems to me that makes the most of all of their talents...

[NYgiantsfan5689]

Opening statement of his first press conference, "I take the position of General Manager of the Oakland.........uh...New York Mets.....*laughter*"

Great start Sandy

[ljshorty89]

Yeah, every Mets press conference needs one mistake.

I like what he said though, in one of his highlights "Right now, I'd say we're middle of the pack, and in our situation we should never be middle of the pack." Totally right, Sandy, now go fix it!

[love_that_reefer]

JP is officially part of the Mets staff.

[ljshorty89]

Yeah, Special Assistant to the GM. I'm ok with that. Ricciardi has his skills, and Alderson can avoid the mistakes Ricciardi would make.

[ljshorty89]

I know some people are skeptical about Ricciardi, but as many have mentioned, he did develop a lot of good pitching for Toronto that is coming into their own. Also, the Red Sox have been trying to get him to take this same position in their organization for a year now, and not that the Red Sox could never make a mistake in judgement, but they usually don't screw around. Between these things and some others, I think Ricciardi is a solid addition to this front office.

[love_that_reefer]

I think so too. The only real criticisms I have were the Vernon Wells and Alex Rios signings. He does have a great eye for talent and did get the White Sox to take the Rios contract off of the Jays hands. He is definitely a great addition and all Mets fans should be glad.

[love_that_reefer]

Every one of Ricciardi’s drafts from 2002-07 produced at least one major league regular. Dave Bush (2002), Shaun Marcum (2003), Aaron Hill (2003), Casey Janssen (2004), Adam Lind (2004), Ricky Romero (2005), Travis Snider (2006), Brett Cecil (2007) and J.P. Arencibia (2007) are all Ricciardi draftees. It’s still early to be evaluating the 2008-09 draft classes, but Tyler Pastornicky (2008, no longer with Toronto), Eric Thames (2008), Jacob Marisnick (2009) and Chad Jenkins (2009) are promising.

Jose Bautista deserves credit for turning his career around, but Ricciardi was the one who traded for him. Ricciardi also bought low on Marco Scutaro, Rod Barajas, Scott Downs, Scott Richmond, Josh Towers and others. They aren’t all MVP candidates like Bautista, but none of those players cost the Jays much and they all contributed.

Not bad at all.

[ljshorty89]

That's really telling actually. As I said, bringing him in will allow him to do what he's really good at (evaluate players) and avoid the pitfalls of contract negotiation, where he had some errors. Sandy can take care of that, and Ricciardi can give scouting input.

[realmofotalk]

because Depodesta worked wonders in San Diego.

hello? beer pricing?

[love_that_reefer]

Kevin Burkhardt of SNY reports that the Mets have hired Paul DePodesta as vice president of player development and amateur scouting.
Quite a get for the Mets. DePodesta worked alongside A's GM Billy Beane and new Mets GM Sandy Alderson in the 90s and early 2000s during a run of success in Oakland that was made famous by the Michael Lewis book Moneyball. In 2004, DePodesta was named GM of the Dodgers at the age of 31 but lasted only one year. He's far better suited for a background role and should gel easily with Alderson and the rest of the Mets' new front office.

The holy trinity is complete!

[ljshorty89]

Wow. I'm actually quite impressed. While Ricciardi and DePodesta may have their flaws and people can pick on their GM experience, the reality is that both are pretty well respected in the baseball world. Having those two with Sandy in the front office is a damn good start. Now we can focus on choosing our manager...

[realmofotalk]

LOL.."Dream Team"

They finally signed a free agent this offseason and it happens to be on the same day the Braves got Justin Upton.