Well, that didn’t last long.
A little over a month after hiring him, the Mets have fired GM Jared Porter following an ESPN investigation that showed him sending multiple inappropriate texts to a female journalist back when he worked for the Cubs in 2016. So, in the span of about a year, the Mets have now had to fire both a recently-hired manager and GM.
This looks bad but bully for the Mets for standing up for the principles established by Steve Cohen. It’s one thing to say you’re all about integrity and zero tolerance. It’s another thing to walk the walk.
You would think that with multiple rounds of interviews that the Mets could do a better job of screening these high-profile hires. Perhaps along with beefing up the analytics department, the Mets can do something with their HR group, too. If nothing else, they should hire an Executive Search firm to do the background checks for them.
by John from Albany
SNY.TV: Mets sign RHP Jerad Eickhoff to minor-league deal: report. “The contract will reportedly pay him $1.25 million if he makes the big-league roster, with up to $750,000 in incentives also part of the deal. Jared Eickhoff spent five seasons with the Phillies from 2015-2019, where he compiled a 21-30 record with a 4.15 ERA, striking out 396 hitters over 440 innings.
Mets.com: Michael Conforto’s agent, Scott Boras, said Tuesday that he wouldn’t anticipate contract talks to start until the two sides begin arbitration negotiations, which typically don’t happen until early January. ‘Normally, when you have a player who’s in arbitration, you kind of prepare for the obvious negotiation,’ Boras said. ‘If there’s anything that Sandy or [general manager] Jared [Porter] want to do, they kind of let us know later in the process, so that’s something I have to leave with them.’”
NY Post: Mets’ interest in Liam Hendriks hinges on bigger MLB free agency idea. “But team president Sandy Alderson and new general manager Jared Porter’s appetite for such an addition could be dictated by whether the Mets add one or two starters to the rotation and at what level. For instance, if the Mets were to add two starting pitchers, they could fill a five-man rotation and comfortably move Seth Lugo back to the bullpen.”
MLB Trade Rumors: Report: MLB Looking To Delay 2021 Season Until At Least May. “The league and the owners want players and all team personnel to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before arriving at spring camp, which doesn’t seem feasible by early-to-mid-February (the usual start date for Spring Training) given that coronavirus vaccines are still in the early stages of distribution.”
Scott Boras disputed MLB’s assertion that it lost money in this pandemic season today on his annual winter meeting chat, saying teams “lost profits” — not money. An MLB spokesman reasserted in response that “clubs lost $3B — $100M per team.”
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 16, 2020
Transactions:
New York Mets signed free agent Rusty Staub of the Texas Rangers on December 16, 1980.
New York Mets traded Charlie Puleo, Lloyd McClendon and Jason Felice to the Cincinnati Reds for Tom Seaver on December 16, 1982.
New York Mets signed free agent Rickey Henderson on December 16, 1998.
New York Mets signed free agent Pedro Martinez of the Boston Red Sox on December 16, 2004.
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by John from Albany
FanGraphs: Mets Make Trevor May Their First Major Offseason Addition. “May ranked 21st on Craig Edwards’ Top 50 Free Agents list at the beginning of the winter, the second reliever listed behind ex-A’s closer Liam Hendriks, and ahead of big names such as Brad Hand, Blake Treinen and Kirby Yates…the ranking isn’t so much a reflection of May’s past as it is the potential teams see in him.”
MLB Trade Rumors: Complete List Of Non-Tendered Players. “Some of the more notable non-tenders included Kyle Schwarber, David Dahl, Archie Bradley, Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall, Maikel Franco, Nomar Mazara, and Carlos Rodon.”
The fact that there is no MLB-MLBPA agreement on the universal DH for 2021 completely undercuts the large group of corner OF/DH/corner slugger types among the free agents. An already bad situation for those players made worse.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 3, 2020
Oscar Luis Colas, a two-way player who has been called the "Cuban Ohtani," has been declared a free agent by his Nippon Professional Baseball team and will now petition for MLB free agency, a source tells @JesseSanchezMLB.
More on the 22-year-old: https://t.co/C0eV0Vj0Zu pic.twitter.com/8LTSUjNeo6
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) December 2, 2020
Transactions:
New York Mets traded Amos Otis and Bob Johnson to the Kansas City Royals for Joe Foy on December 3, 1969.
New York Mets traded Arsenio Diaz, Curtis Brown, Billy Carthel and Don Koonce to the Montreal Expos for Jim Gosger on December 3, 1971.
New York Mets traded Tug McGraw, Don Hahn and Dave Schneck to the Philadelphia Phillies for John Stearns, Del Unser and Mac Scarce on December 3, 1974.
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by John from Albany
MLB Trade Rumors: Latest On Mets’ Front Office Search. “Ken Rosenthal and Jayson Stark of The Athletic note the possibility that New York might just hire a GM for now. “The pool of available executives might not be deep enough for them to hire two top decision-makers to work under” team president Sandy Alderson.”
NY Post: “Despite being linked to potential front office openings with the Mets and Phillies, Epstein wrote a letter to “Cubs Friends” stating his intention to sit out next season.”
CBS Sports: Former Marlins Exec. David Samson: Why Theo Epstein will end up working with Steve Cohen and the Mets. “You’re looking at the new president of baseball operations for the New York Mets with a piece of the team… He will sign a long-term deal for $10 million a year with a piece of the team because Steve Cohen recognizes that you don’t become pennywise and pound foolish. He’s from Wall Street. You pay your best Wall Street guys $10-30 million and you give them bonuses.”
Ken Davidoff NY Post: Mets’ hunt for top baseball exec far trickier than superstar search. “Early indications, however, are that Cohen and Sandy Alderson, who aspired to make the hire by Thanksgiving, might not land the sort of full-blown, front-office stud whose move to Flushing would shake the industry. They might have to build baseball operations excellence through depth rather than star power.”
On this date in 1985 — Pitching phenoms 20 year-old Dwight Gooden (Mets – NL) and 21 year-old Bret Saberhagen (Royals – AL) win the Cy Young Award. The right-handers become the youngest players in their respective leagues to win the coveted freshman pitching honor.
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by John from Albany
MLB.com: Cohen’s goal for Mets: Champs in 3-5 years.
NY Post: Fans will see Mets finally spend like a major-market team.
Jeff Passan ESPN.com: Saying New York Mets ‘should set high goals,’ owner Steve Cohen begins team’s bold, new era. “In other words, Steve Cohen said, he is going to be everything that the Mets haven’t been.”
Forbes.com: Meet The New Boss — Steve Cohen. Not The Same As The Old Boss.
Syracuse.com: New Mets president slots Binghamton into organization’s minor league lineup. While the confirmation wasn’t a surprise in Syracuse, Brooklyn or St. Lucie, it did cause a sigh of relief in Binghamton. The Rumble Ponies were one of the teams speculated as a candidate for contraction under a new Professional Baseball agreement being negotiated between the minors and majors. Alderson also indicated that Brooklyn, currently a short-season New York-Penn League team, will make the move to a full season-squad. The Columbia Fireflies and Kingsport Mets, both Class A teams, are gone as affiliates.
MLB.com: The case for each Cy Young finalist. “the altered schedule uniquely hurt Jacob deGrom, who made all 12 of his starts against the potent offenses of the NL and AL East.”
MLB.com: Experts agree Realmuto going to [this] team. The MLB writers think it is the Mets.
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by John from Albany
Our introductory press conference with Owner & CEO, @StevenACohen2 and Team President, Sandy Alderson is scheduled for Tuesday, November 10 at 12:30 p.m.
You can tune in live right here on our Twitter, #Mets YouTube, Facebook and https://t.co/WAlLZfFZ6K. #LGM https://t.co/ctYYhf1xAW pic.twitter.com/mvQ53jCBFt
— New York Mets (@Mets) November 8, 2020
*****
Should be unveiled near the start of the season
— Steven Cohen (@StevenACohen2) November 8, 2020
*****
More good Mets news today. @Buster_ESPN opines that it’s a “safe bet” the DH will remain in the NL for 2021. Barring a trade, having Dom Smith and Pete Alonso in the lineup at the same time lengthens the batting order; and that’s before they make other potential additions.
— Howie Rose (@HowieRose) November 8, 2020
*****
Happy Birthday, Whitey Herzog. He turns 88 today: https://t.co/MK1aMVDFrA #LGM #MetsRewind pic.twitter.com/JlCDSfidab
— Mets Rewind (@metsrewind) November 9, 2019
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