New York’s a lonely town

This title line is from a forgotten 1960s pop ditty about a California surfer dude who moves east and experiences some severe culture shock. It also pretty well sums up the Mets’ futility and frustration in the hiring of some top front office personnel. They’ve been rebuffed at every turn. Did you ever hear the old saw “Reach for the stars and you’ll end up with the moon?” Well, team owner Steve Cohen and President Sandy Alderson have reached for the stars and ended up with Newark. Front office legends Theo Epstein, Billy Beane and David Stearns – more on him in a bit – were all approached about taking on the reshaping of the admitted number-two baseball franchise in the nation’s biggest market, with the grandiose title “President of Baseball Operations.” Each knew it would be a monumental task and each declined in short order – Stearns was actually denied permission from his current employer, the Milwaukee Brewers, to break his current contract for the same position in New York. So, the search moved down to the next tier of proven commodities or up-and-comers: Josh Byrnes, Brandon Gomes, Scott Harris, Matt Arnold, Peter Bendix. The Mets heard “no” from each of these candidates, for one reason or another. They tried reaching back to the past, inviting former assistant GM Paul DePodesta to interview for the post, but currently seeing to the hugely successful rehabilitation of the reputation of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns has been more appealing to him than switching sports again. So, thwarted again and again, they have pivoted downward, ditching the PoBO idea to simply find a new General Manager – basically the same strategy employed last year. And look how well that turned out.

As far as we know, they inquired with Raquel Ferreira – senior assistant GM of the Boston Red Sox, who would have been an historic hire, since she’d be the second female shot-caller for an MLB club – but that fell through as well. Right now, supposedly the talks are heating up with Adam Cromie, formerly assistant GM with the Washington Nationals, who would be coming back into baseball from the legal profession. I can already hear the jokes from Mets-haters across the land about their “crummy” GM, but his isn’t a done deal yet, either. At the rate it’s going, the team will end up with a choice of bringing back either Brodie van Waganen or Omar Minaya. So, the question must be asked: why?

Is the New York market/press/fan base so daunting as to discourage anyone from taking the job? Is Cohen such a potentially Steinbrennerian figure that the thought of working for him is absolutely repugnant? Is Alderson that power-mad that anyone who takes on the PoBO or GM role that fearful being made redundant? I mean, let’s face it, anyone who does take on the job and succeed will have their name etched in the front office cannons forevermore, right next to Branch Rickey, Larry MacPhail, Epstein and Beane. Nobody seems to want to take that chance and it does all seem hopeless. For 2022, it might be, but that’s something not etched in stone, which brings us back to David Stearns.

Stearns grew up a Mets fan in Manhattan and interned with the team after graduating from Harvard in 2008. By all accounts, he wants the job, but that pesky contract is keeping him in Milwaukee until it is completed. That would be at the start of 2023. Sandy Alderson’s calm demeanor through this entire process leads one to believe the Mets are content to bide their time until then, effectively punting on improving their lot in the near term for some better fortune down the road. If they are able to bring Stearns in at that time, it would be a move applauded far and wide, but meanwhile it leads the fan base to question whether or not Steve Cohen is much of an improvement over Fred and Jeff Wilpon as an owner after all. Have we been hoodwinked? Again? Getting this hire right is absolutely crucial to assuaging our fears. I’m willing to give them enough slack to rope in Stearns next winter.

If they can’t do that, it’ll be just enough to hang Alderson’s and Cohen’s respective reputations.