In what can hardly be considered a surprise, given the team’s performance this past season along with the firing of manager Luis Rojas, almost all of the major league coaching staff was let go or reassigned. The one potential holdover on the major league staff is Jeremy Hefner. It sounds like the new manager will determine Hefner’s fate – if he’s still on the MLB staff or if he’ll be given some other role.
The hitting coaches will return to the minor league jobs for which they were originally hired.
It’s good to see decisive action quickly upon the end of the season. My opinion is that they should have done this with Rojas when Cohen/Alderson took over. But I’m guessing they had so many other things on their plate, they didn’t want to kick to the curb a guy who had been with the organization for years and didn’t have the ideal conditions with his late hire followed by the Covid madness. Their decision in regards to Rojas was understandable. It was also wrong.
Here’s hoping they can get the front office hires they were unable to successfully get last year. There will be no excuse this time over late starts and surprising decisions – both from teams who wouldn’t let talent interview nor guys who preferred to remain in their current situation. With the August swoon, they should have had an entire month or more to plan for these hires.
And it’s also good that the Theo Espstein pipe dream has already been shot down in the media. While it would have been a great get, it was a longshot from the word go. It probably would have been more realistic to sign Trevor Bauer, J.T. Realmuto and George Springer last year. It’s time to focus on real possibilities.
Hope they keep Hefner as I believe he did a good job. JT didn’t want to play here and they were outbid for Springer. They must have forgotten that the qualifying offers would be $19 mil plus. So $25-30 mil a year for Springer was not outrageous. But Trevor Bauer might be the worst signing in years. Does no one do a background check before areeng to multi-millions. Good luck to Rojas. He exceeded expectations on the number of games a manager impacts by making stupid decisions. Had to lose us at least 6-10 games this past season. And yes I know he doesn’t hit, field or pitch.
The Mets are moving swiftly, which is generally a good sign, and it is the right thing to do regarding employees that won’t be retained. As news is evolving quickly, I have become convinced that the best move is to offer the QO to both Syndergaard and Conforto. There is some news that Conforto will decline, and Syndergaard has hinted that he’ll accept. In either regard, I think this is best in order to leave the cupboard as full as possible for the POBO, even if these weren’t moves that POBO would make…they are only a one year commitment or draft picks.
Now with the house cleaned it is POBO search front and center, and my preference is for Stearns from Milwaukee. As stated by others, a Beane hiring is not a 100% break, and that is concerning.
Getting Stearns will not be easy as he is under contract and the owner won’t simply let him walk. I would not “trade” a prospect chip, but I would deal a player or two to obtain him. But, this does require the unthinkable right now…rooting for a Braves sweep to get access asap.
If you get a younger GM, the rebuild the team needs will take 5 years. If you get Billy Beane, it could take 2. Young guys do not have the gravitas to make the really big moves the Mets need. I like getting an experienced. confident guy to come in and demolish the house, hire his manager, and make the Mets interesting with bold moves. Without a decent core and a new spirit, good, smart FAs will simply sign elsewhere, like JT Realmuto did.
We’d better hope that Billy Beane wants the challenge.
Really glad to see the end of Gary DiCarcina. Never thought he inspired smart base running, and too frequently held runners at third with two out that should have scored… a wimp. Gimme Ron Washington!