The playoff years of 2015 and 2016 seem like a distant memory, and Mets fans have retreated back to their pessimistic views on the front office after a season in which the team had an abysmal 70-92 record.
Fangraphs recently ran a poll with the straightforward question: What do you think of your favorite team’s front office? This excluded ownership, so the question focused heavily on things that were out of the front office’s control.
Out of 30 teams, the Mets came in 28th overall in front of only the Baltimore Orioles and Miami Marlins.
The top two teams, respectively, are the World Series champion Houston Astros and the runner-up Los Angeles Dodgers. The Washington Nationals came in at No. 8.
As author Jeff Sullivan points out, there’s a strong relationship between front-office rating and recent success. This makes sense as to why the Mets are ranked so low as fans just suffered through a grueling and disappointing campaign.
While Sandy Alderson and John Ricco aren’t a perfect combination to head the front office, they still have brought the team to the playoffs in two of the last three years, and have a lot of residual talent that could make it back there again, coupled with some external signings or trades they will certainly make.
All in all, this isn’t something to put a lot of stock in. It’s essentially perceived front-office quality from the fan base over actual quality, but it is interesting to see how a bad season can sink any faith a fanbase has in a front office.
The entire piece can be found here.
