No provisional titles. No quick searches. No bandages.
Sandy Alderson now has to take charge of the Mets’ baseball operations until the next off-season. He needs to bring stability and confidence to this department and make it attractive so that in October / November 2021 the best candidates are lining up for interviews, unlike what happened last time.
The Mets failed to recruit aspirants of sufficient quality for president of baseball operations, in Alderson’s opinion. So they introduced this and started to hire just a general manager and landed at Jared Porter. And Porter has now landed at Mets. Returned them to Wilpon Mets. An organization embraced by a black cloud.
Alderson delivered a mission statement to Steve Cohen, which led to him being hired as a team president. He imagined the Mets becoming a beacon instead of a laughing stock; implicit was moving away from the Wilpons to a new reality. At his introductory press conference in November, he put these words about that thought: “We have a chance to be an iconic franchise … We have a chance to write an epic story.”
So Alderson’s first big signing ended up having a closet full of horrible things. It was revealed by ESPN on Monday night that in 2016 – as a Cubs executive – Porter had sent more than 60 offensive and obscene texts and photos to a foreign reporter. Alderson said Porter claimed that those were in fact his texts and photos. The Mets had no choice and on Tuesday morning Porter was fired and, at 41, probably made a career in the Major League Baseball.
Porter’s runner-up Zack Scott was also hired to serve as executive vice president and assistant general manager. The two worked together in Boston. But those who know the Mets’ internal dynamics say that Cohen and Alderson were so impressed with Scott in the interview process that they pushed the idea to Porter more than the other way around.
So the easiest decision here would be to elevate Scott, or at least give him the provisional title.
The Mets shouldn’t do that. Scott was brought in largely to build and build the Mets analytical wing. He was admired in Boston for his work in this area. But he was not seen as a dynamic figure, the kind you can imagine sitting on the podium and selling the visions of a large market team. At least not yet. So, why the rush to give Scott the provisional mark?
Consider this a 12-month hearing. The Mets can see how it operates. How it fosters culture within the organization, deals with increased responsibility, etc. If all goes well, the job will still be there in the next off-season and all Scott will do until then is the job he was hired for, but with a little more responsibility.
Remember that before Porter and Scott were hired, Alderson led an operation that hired Trevor May and James McCann. They had started the main legwork in the trade that would yield Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco. Those dealing with the Mets say that Porter was just running Alderson’s handbook.
At the introductory press conference, Alderson said: “I am not going to make baseball decisions. I expect a seat at the table, but not at the head of the table. “
But there is some Hyman Roth in “The Godfather: Part II” in that. Alderson is a personality and thinker too big to have influence and not to exercise it. So let’s not even pretend that he isn’t at the head of the table, especially now.
And that’s where it should be.
Because he and Cohen are also testing. When Cohen’s money was injected into a large-market franchise, the idea was for candidates to come together to run Mets’ baseball operations. Cohen and Alderson were dismayed when that didn’t happen. One reason is that the best and the brightest – the ones that Cohen and Alderson were initially convinced they would beg for work – did not take into account concerns about Cohen.
One of those candidates said that “Black Edge” was being distributed as a library book among the first harvests. The book detailed – among other items – a toxic culture at Cohen’s SAC Capital, which went bankrupt after paying a record $ 1.8 billion fine for insider trading. Cohen’s follow-up company, Point72 Asset Management, settled a complaint last year with an employee who alleged a sexist work environment.
These questions gave owners a pause before approving Cohen’s purchase of the Mets and sent a stop signal for candidates to direct baseball operations.
So Alderson and Cohen have this year to show that this is a new business, a new day and the new Mets. Alderson must find the old Marine in himself and take on the task of running baseball operations and providing relentless signs of success, sanctity in the workplace and persistent competence. It cannot be delegated to Scott or someone who would leave another search so close to the start of spring training, when even more candidates will be off limits.
Cohen insisted that his Mets would have integrity at his core, which he cited when he fired Porter less than 12 hours after the dark revelations.
This is just a step away from the first crisis. The next step should be Alderson leading baseball operations this year. It’s the best alternative to try to turn yet another epic Mets disaster into an epic story.