WHILE the Yankees are playing the biggest series of their season this weekend (and all the baseball world is watching), the Mets are once again a punch-line, muddled in their own mess somewhere out on the Left Coast.
The Mets have managed to turn themselves into a platinum version of the Pirates. Fred and Jeff Wilpon did not have it mapped out this way.
For things to change, though, Mets ownership has to start thinking big. And I’m not talking about big free agents. That’s another matter.
It’s the big picture that’s important. It’s building an organization that is detail-oriented and ahead of the curve, instead of one that is lost at the finish line. The Mets have some good people working for them, but there needs to be a change in direction. There needs to be a better plan throughout the organization.
Tony Bernazard destroyed a lot of things the Mets were trying to build, but he is just a symptom of what ails this organization.
There needs to be a culture of success in the front office. Most everyone throughout baseball says the same thing about general manager Omar Minaya, and it usually starts like this: “I like Omar, he’s a great guy, but . . .”
You can fill in the blank. The essence of which is usually “too many things have gone wrong under his watch.”
The Mets need to make a change at the top to get this mess under control.
The Mets need to think big now, and that means going after one of the most respected general managers in baseball, and the guy just happens to be an ex-Met, Billy Beane.
William Lamar Beane has worked wonders throughout his years as the Athletics’ general manager, building up the franchise, only to have to tear it down because of financial constrictions. A’s owner Lew Wolff has complete faith in Beane, and Beane might not want to leave, but the Wilpons need to make that call to find out exactly what’s going on with him.
First, they need to come to a resolution with Minaya, because right now he is walking the same walk that Willie Randolph and Bernazard walked in their final days with the organization. They have a job, but ownership has questionable faith in them. No quality general manager is going to talk with the Mets about their position unless the position is open.
If the Mets could land Beane, it would be a coup. It would also mean letting go by the Wilpons. Can the Wilpons do that? They can be involved, but the final decisions will be left up to Beane.
There are some other possible general managers names floating around. Welcoming back Gerry Hunsicker (Tampa Bay) would be a move in the right direction. Then, of course, there are the young assistant general managers, whose names are being pushed by different media members — assistants such as Boston’s Jed Hoyer, Arizona’s Peter Woodfork or the White Sox’s Rick Hahn. But if the Mets were to go in that direction, they already have a well-respected executive in their own front office, assistant general manager John Ricco, who could take the same route Brian Cashman did.
The goal here, though, is to go after the best and that’s Beane. Since 1950, Cashman has the best winning percentage of any general manager with seven or more years experience, a .605 mark, but Beane is fifth at .549, working with much more limited funds. The Red Sox’s Theo Epstein is in his seventh season and came into this year with a .581 winning percentage. The only other active general manager in the top 12 is San Francisco’s Brian Sabean at .531.
The constant rebuilding and tearing down of the A’s might be wearing on Beane. The A’s also don’t have a new ballpark in sight. Their payroll is just $62 million compared with the Mets, who are at nearly $150 million. The challenge of working in the biggest market with a monster payroll and a beautiful new ballpark could entice Beane to the Mets.
One way or another, the Mets have to get this right, and Beane would be the perfect fit. It’s time to move forward and take a shot.
In New York, Billy Beane could bring whole new meaning to the term Moneyball.