The Bergen Record’s Bob Klapisch has rarely treated the Mets with kid gloves, and he strikes a markedly different tone in analyzing Sandy Alderson’s ascent to power in Flushing. Amongst the tidbits dropped in Klapisch’s Alderson tribute, there’s news the Amazins will soon add Bill Plaschke’s least favorite baseball blogger (above) to their front office.
It took guts for the Wilpons,to hire a tough, self-confident man like Alderson, because it means they™ll both have a lower profile from now on. The Mets, who™d carved out an industry reputation for endless meetings and an inability to act decisively, will usher in a new era of business practices.
It starts with a GM who moves and thinks quickly, who is unafraid to make mistakes, not intimidated by the Yankees and has the respect of the 29 other GMs in the game. That could be the most powerful revelation “ that the Mets are finally closing the intellectual gap on the rest of the industry. Just as Beane said, the Mets will soon be considered among the best and brightest in baseball. It™ll no longer be possible for other GMs to have the upper hand every time they put a call into the Flushing offices.
Alderson will start by hiring Paul DePodesta, who currently works in the Padres™ front office, but was Beane™s assistant before being named as the Dodgers™ GM in 2004 at the age of 31.
Alderson™s most important hire, however, will be his manager and it means plenty that Wally Backman is flying in for an interview next week. Backman was on Alderson™s original list of candidates that he submitted to the Wilpons “ and that was before he was hired.
Alderson™s interest in Backman appears to be more than just a way to appease fans. It™s been wrongly assumed that Alderson wants a weakling in the dugout, someone he can control “ someone like, say, Art Howe, who he hired in Oakland. But Alderson also hired Tony LaRussa, which means he™s not necessarily afraid of brains and charisma. Backman, it seems, has a chance with this new regime, others who™ll be interviewed include John Gibbons, Bob Melvin and possibly Clint Hurdle.