“He has been credited with working with Rick Peterson to devise a state-of-the-art analytical system back then that now helps pitching coach Dan Warthen prepare for upcoming opponents.”

Heaven help our country’s future if he does for academia what he’s done for our pitching coach based on well prepared our bullpen has been all year and our starting pitching has been of late.

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/46665/stat-guru-baumer-leaving-mets-to-teach

All along this 2012 club reminded me in many ways to that 73 club.
But there is one difference:
The 73 club was winners. Yea, most of that season was a struggle. The Mets never got going until the last 5 weeks–late August. But those guys had a history of winning (this was only 4 years removed from 69) and guys like Seaver, Kooz, Buddy, Rusty and Cleon had a history of winning. They “believed” in themselves. These guys have no history of winning.

I wish (and hope)I’m wrong though. We are still in this thing and if we could put together even a medicore winning streak, we could be in the thick of things. But I dont see it happening.

Well, since there still seems to be a dispute between what exactly Sandy Alderson’s role has been in the evaluation and judgement pertaining to player personnel decisions, here is a little history about Sandy and the Oakland front office during his years with the team.

First, in terms of the front office.

There was an overhaul in the front office office going on in Oakland at the time Sandy came on board. Sandy wasn’t in charge of it as he was a part of it. Yes, he started out as general manager in 1983. But his function was that of vice president/legal counsel and in 1984 became the the vice president for baseball operations.

However, when Sandy was hired as the VP Legal Counsel, Bill Rigney was also hired as the Assistant to the President for Baseball Matters. So, when Sandy started out as General Manager, his function pertained to legal matters with nothing at all associated with baseball. Rigney, on the other hand, was in charge of baseball matters. Yes, in 1984 Sandy’s function became that of the Vice President for Baseball Operations, however, Rigney’s title and responsibilities were unchanged. He continued as the Assistant to the President for Baseball Matters and continued with those responsibilities even though he began reporting to the executive vice president in 1989 as a special assistant to the general manager and and then directly to general manager Sandy two years later.

Now, one needs to distinguish between the words “operations” and “matters”.

From the Free Dictionary on line -

“Operations” is a noun described as execution, handling, management, procedure, proceeding, process, production, routine, step.

“Matters” is a noun described as action and cause. In the context of being a subject, it is quantified as: business on hand, case, case in question, claim, concern, debatable point, dispute, field of inquiry, institutum, issue, item on the agenda, point, point at issue, point in question, problem, proposition, propositum, question, res, subject for inquiry, subject matter, topic, topic for discussion

So according to these definitions of title and responsibilities, Sandy was in charge of legal matters (action and cause) and then baseball operations (execution, handling, management, etc.). There is a specific difference and specific responsibility associated with each. There would be no need to have Rigney in charge of baseball matters if Sandy was responsible for it instead (action and cause). And again, Rigney reported to the President – not the Vice President – as clearly stated in his title – until 1989.

Front Office Changes:

To continue with the front office overhaul at the time, In 1984 Karl Kuhl became the Director of Player Development. Walt Jockeway was Director, Minor League Operations and in 1984 was promoted to Director of Baseball Administration. Four major positions in two two years up there in the executive suite. The followings links from Baseball America, a highly regarded source, gives the history of all four during their years in Oakland.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/execdb/?show=exec&eid=aldersa01

http://www.baseballamerica.com/execdb/?show=exec&eid=rignebi01

http://www.baseballamerica.com/execdb/?show=exec&eid=kuehlka01

http://www.baseballamerica.com/execdb/?show=exec&eid=jockewa01

So even though I use both Baseball America and the Free Dictionary on line as evidence, I suspect to be questioned once more about providing nothing of substance despite these two sources.

The front office not being honest with the fans and media? Where did you ever get such an idea? LOL

Why not!
I don’t believe this team or TC have given up, they have run into their really tough stretch that includes not just expected tiredness, sore arm, slumps, but losting Gee for season, No Han to hurt ankle, R.A. pitching back to really good vs awesome pitcher and total implosion of BP along with losing any semblance that we had of a closer in FF injury.

Harvey’s start along with Edgin now settling into his role and being that swing and miss lefty in BP will add some excitement to team that may or may not translate into wins but you can’t as a team be any higher than Harvey winning last night AND BP saving game.

Lets Go Mets! I Believe!

Great post.

This front office resembles little of a baseball operation than it does the legal office of a big corporation trying not to apply for Chapter Eleven. So no knocks on Sandy but rather on an ownership wanting to desperately hold onto the franchise despite it’s disasterious financial footing. That is their right but by winning the battle, the Wilpons might find out they lost the war.

Of course, the new “vision” of the team is all hype and spin and full of BS. But I’m afraid those of us old enough to remember when the vision of the front office was to try and win would be called condescending by some due to our ages.

I think you meant Tom Seaver and not Dwight Gooden when referring to the starting rotation of that 73 team.

Dwight would have only been eight years at the time…..

But a healthy rotation of Seaver, Koozman, Matlack and Stone with a resurgent Tug McGraw in the pen and the return of Harrelson and Jones certainly showed us what it means to come back from such adversity so late in the season.

and for ’73, they had the thing that most teams that gone on that kind of streak have: dominant SP. Having Gooden, Stone, and the guys all clicking finally made it hard to ever lose a few in a row.

and I highly disagree with one of your statements (that The Phils are out). Wrong. they are what, 3 games back of the Mets? So if the Mets are in, the Phils certainly are. And they just got back halladay and howard, and are getting Hot.

I actually think the Phils now are pretty much a lock for being one of the WC teams, and if they miss, they are going to be making a run and getting damned close.

so don’t discount them from the equation.

And I will believe they have given up when they actually give up. If Wright and Dickey get traded, I will concede they waived the white flag. beyond that, the guys on hand were going to have to carry them anyway, with reinforcements primarily from the system or the DL (Baxter, Edgin, Santana)

BP first half was a major disappointment. SP depth too thin, hence Batista getting any starts.
The OF right now is a mess and consists of nothing more than platoon type mixing and matching.

On the positive side, getting the production we did from Johan before he went on the DL was a plus. Dickey’s first half was amazing. Ruben’s development has been fun to watch. Wright’s numbers and defense up until this recent slump were more than we could have hoped for. Gee’s credibility of a back end rotation arm before he went down for the season was good.

We’re now starting to see some of the results of our better prospects development – i.e. Harvey’s start last night.

Lots of positives to look for, for this team going forward, IMO.