So when one asks “You don’t see how the 2 might be related?” and changes the unmistakable issue I was raising from that of an individual’s role to that of the organization itself, then all I can say is “don’t bother, you completely missed the point”.

Sometimes more than one individual on the executive level is required to fix a problem. That’s why one might not be connected to the other. Are you sure you still want to compare Sandy’s background to that Branch Rickey and imply Rickey’s success came from being an accountant and not a baseball man?

From his biography on line:

“He was a catcher on the baseball team at Ohio Wesleyan University and, in 1903, signed a contract with Terre Haute, Indiana of the Class B Central League, making his professional debut on June 20. Rickey was assigned to Le Mars, Iowa of the Class D Iowa-South Dakota League. Later, he spent two seasons in the major leagues, debuting as a St. Louis Brown in 1905. Sold to the New York Highlanders in 1907, Rickey could neither hit nor field while with the club, and his batting average dropped below .200. One opposing team stole 13 bases while Rickey was behind the plate, setting a record which still stands a century later. Rickey also injured his throwing arm and retired as a player after just one year. (During this period, Rickey also spent two seasons—1904 and 1905—coaching baseball and football and teaching at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania.)”

That doesn’t sound like an accountant . It sounds like a major league baseball player with limited skills but a great baseball mind who went on to become an innovative front office man being credited with developing the modern minor league system. He obtained great players with the Gas House Gang before achieving success with Brooklyn. He can be called a miser when it came to player salaries with no resources to build upon and thus he knew that the Pirates could finish last with or without Ralph Kiner

In fact, this is the job description of a general manager according to Inc.Com:

“The General Manager outlines the key job information, tasks, specifications, and compensation and benefits. The description should be used when defining the role of any of the following executive positions within a company: CEO, Executive Director, Operations Manager, Executive Assistant, and General Manager. This description is customizable to your company’s usage.”

Yes, the description can be customizable to include player personnel decisions in sports. But it also shows how a General Manager can indeed wear many a hat. As far as Sandy’s training and expertise, after graduating Harvard Law School he worked for Farella Braun & Martel in San Francisco, California. According to the firm’s website, this is what they specialize in:

“We are practiced trial lawyers. Our experience includes complex litigation involving class actions, antitrust, and unfair competition; business litigation involving securities, commodities and M&A disputes; intellectual property and technology litigation involving patents, trademarks, trade secrets and copyrights; and environmental litigation involving natural resources, federal and state cost recovery, CEQA, Proposition 65 and complex toxic torts. Farella Braun + Martel is regarded highly for our employment, construction, insurance coverage, and white collar criminal experience, and is regularly sourced for our proven appellate capabilities.”

Sandy left the firm for the Oakland A’s to serve as it’s legal counsel. He became the general manager two years later. In 24 months being involved in Oakland’s legal administration did he then acquire the professional expertise to be promoted to General Manager making decisions on player personnel or was it for other purposes as described above?

Why is it that he can’t be perceived as one who handles the business aspects of the club rather than the baseball end? There is nothing shameful or wrong in that. His background in law and business certainly shows he is amply qualified to handle the rigors of a major sports organization that relies ons such individuals as well as those with baseball background. His assignments with the Commissioner’s Office have included the investigation of corruption in the Dominican Republic. He has lectured at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business. With San Diego, he was the Chief Executive Officer with Kevin Towers serving as the general manager.

So what is wrong attributing to him the running of the club in the perspectives that many of us believe he does? In itself, that is a major responsibility. And do we then say the reverse was true of Omar, that as General Manager he was also in charge of the complex legal and business operations of the club?

Paul DePodesta was hired by Sandy as the Vice President in charge of player development and scouting instead. Is it because under Podesta (who also has great faith in sabre metrics) after a few years neither the Dodgers or Pardres faired well while the reverse was true Oakland did that the emphasis on baseball decisions is being placed more on Sandy instead of Paul.? It might be that the issue is less about Sandy and more about the value of working “outside the box”.

You don’t see how the 2 might be related?

the Madoff thing was not the only problem. It forced the issue to the forefront and made the Wilpons and MLB deal with it.

Madoff didn’t cause the attendance decline. Madoff didn’t cause the franchise to bleed money. Madoff took away the safety net. If the Mets were a successful franchise, the Madoff thing would have been a blip on the radar.

The organization was broken top to bottom. On the field and in the offices. You can’t fix one without fixing the other.

That is true…

That’s the point many of us raise about the differing roles of the general manager.

I do believe Sandy gets undue credit for giving the kids on the current roster a chance to show what they could do due and that his plan for “rebuilding” and being fiscally more responsible has less to do with player decisions than it was the Madoff situation gave the Mets no other choice and/or that he doesn’t believe in spending like Grant. Without a combination of both, commitment to the kids and to keeping certain more expensive veterans on the team to blend in with them (along with certain free agent signings) I think the club is on the wrong path.

On the other hand, that does not let Omar off the hook. Omar might have just continued signing free agents and trading away prospects for veteran players and thus would never have given Duda, Davis, Gee, Neise and others the chance to show what they could do and though that might be a good solution for the short term, that would have hindered our progress in the long term as we know it already has.

I think we would be better having someone in the middle ala an Omar Anderson instead of being extremely one side or the other.

But, Rickey was just an accountant, not a real baseball man.

I tend to agree Sandy is here to do what saves money regardless of what the fans think and when he has done that he will leave and take the bad feelings towards him with him!

He is nothing but a fall guy to do what the fans hate and then leave!
He is NOT here to fix the team long term, build a winner or win a championship!
Something the folks who have railed against Sandy have been saying for quite awhile,
only to be called crazy and wrong by those who wish to say he is here for things that aren’t true!