You’ve seen a bunch of interviews posted here with writers from our site. Well, John from Albany, who runs the Mets News & Links site, conducted one with me recently. Here’s a snippet:
If you could have dinner with 4 current or ex-Met managers, players or executives, who would they be?
Love this question! It’s going to be tough to pick just four.
Sorry, I can’t limit it to just four. So, I’m going to cheat and give you four managers and four executives. Gil Hodges to grill him about why he drove Nolan Ryan and Amos Otis out of town. Joe Torre, to hear about how he went from player, to player-manager to manager. And to find out how he ran a bullpen, an area where he made chicken salad out of chicken excrement in his time with the Mets. Yogi Berra, to ask him about how he became Mets manager, how aware he was of Whitey Herzog’s desire to manage. And why on earth he didn’t pitch George Stone in Game 6. And Davey Johnson, just to pick his brain and learn about how he handled that wild bunch.
As for execs – Bing Devine and how he viewed the Mets job and all of the wheeling and dealing he did while with the club. Jeff Wilpon, just to hear his view on how things were when he was in power. Sandy Alderson, to give the real version of what happened. And Nelson Doubleday, who would be fascinating to hear his tales, from buying the Mets at their lowest and how he helped turn them into the best team in franchise history.
And really, M. Donald Grant should be in the above list rather than Wilpon. But I know if I had the chance, I’d punch that racist, elitist prick in the mouth. And that would put a damper on the evening.
You can read the full interview here. And I hope to return the favor and send John some questions, too.
John is great, and he has a way of tirelessly giving all the news, I mean a l l the news out there on the Mets. He uses Sportspyder to link but he is tremendous. Living in Binghamton, he often has interviews with personnel from the B-Mets. Too, he goes to all their dinners so you hear about players’ personalities as well.
His comments are always spot on and although we don’t see many comments from him here, I get the feeling we are in his shortcuts of favorite sites.
Thanks Gus and Brian. I actually live just outside of Albany (shh…don’t tell anyone I am no longer in Albany) but I try to go to one game a weekend in Syracuse, Binghamton, Hudson Valley Game (to see the Cyclones when they play there), or down to Brooklyn .
Thanks for having a great site and thanks for agreeing to the interview.
Amen on George Stone and Game 6 of the World Series!
Brian, could you expand some more on the toxic climate under Alderson? This is something I never heard about before and getting the inside story is one reason I became an early lifetime subscriber.
Toxicity is in the eye of the beholder.
But here are some examples for your consideration:
-His last two major front office hires were a GM who ended up fired for sexual harassment and an Asst. GM let go because of a DUI
-He sacked the team’s hitting coach and his assistant and replaced them with two guys who insisted on a particular style of hitting, one which forced the puppet manager to start attending hitting meeting to try to keep the peace.
-On his first day officially back with the Mets, he fired/let go a ton of people with experience – BVW, Omar Minaya, Allard Baird, Adam Guttridge and Jared Banner and kept the young and impressionable Luis Rojas.
The last one on the surface sounds like standard operating procedure – new guy comes in and gets rid of the old regime. But the idea that none of those five guys had something to give the Mets in some capacity but Rojas did – seems (in hindsight, at least) like settling old scores and getting rid of guys for personality over results. And keeping Rojas for personality over results, too.
When who gets fired/hired/promoted/kept depends more on other factors than it does on results, that seems like a non-healthy environment to me.
Thanks, Brian. That is very helpful. Reasons for firings are rarely explained.
I don’t agree that Alderson caused a toxic hitting approach. There is always a team approach and the one Alderson tried to instill on hunting fastballs was used by the Yankees in the late 90’s to win four championships. Wasn’t it Alderson who brought in Kevin Long that changed Daniel Murphy into an MVP player?
As for the cleaning house upon returning, that may have been a grudge. We all heard that Alderson was pushed out when he had the cancer treatment and as a human being, it pissed him off. He knew that he saved the franchise for the Wilpons and expected better. I can understand both sides.
As for the puppet manager, right on! Don’t get me started. As for the toxic hires of Callaway and the GM, shameful work indeed. But as Alderson said, the vetting process was kind of archaic. He just accepted it. He deserves his fair share of blame, but not all of it.
I have never read anything about it, but there’s got to be something up with Alderson’s kid being the Director of Scouting. Maybe he merited the role but it sure looks suspicious. Nepotism.
Bull, it has come up many times, but each time it appears it’s on merit. Look, it’s not the only time that it has happened. Al Avila has his son Marty Shottenheimer had his son, Kyle Shannahan had his son, Don Shula, Mike Brown, etc
Bryn Alderson worked in MLB from 2003-2011 before being hired by the Mets. He worked for the Mets for five years before getting his first promotion. He was kept by the club after his father, Sandy, left and got his second promotion under the BVW/Allard Baird front office.
“Bryn brings great experience having worked in advance and pro scouting over the years and he and Jeff complement each other with their evaluation skills,” said Vice President, Assistant General Manager Allard Baird. “Both have a great ability to communicate effectively and bring a fresh perspective to our operations.”
https://www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-mets-name-bryn-alderson-professional-scouting-director