Photo: Steve Marcus
According to a report by Joe Pantorno of AM New York, making a big splashy signing is not a top priority for the New York Mets this offseason.
A source with knowledge of the situation disclosed that newly minted owner Steve Cohen is focused on “beefing up the team’s analytics department”and laying the foundation to build long-term success for the franchise.
The Mets currently have the second-smallest analytics department in Major League Baseball with just three analysts led by Adam Guttridge, who was hired in 2019.
Guttridge co-founded NEIFI (normalized empirical individual forecasting index), worked with the Brewers as manager of baseball research and development.
The New York Yankees, by comparison, employ 20 analysts in their analytics department.
In his very first move as team owner, Cohen brought back former GM Sandy Alderson and named him president of baseball operations
Alderson, of course, is known for utilizing analytics long before they became a widespread practice throughout the league, and he was the mentor “Moneyball” protagonist Billy Beane of the Oakland A’s.
While it is expected that the Mets will aggressively pursue some key free agents this winter, it’s encouraging to see that they plan to go about it intelligently and methodically.
In Alderson and Guttridge, the Mets have a solid foundation to build on, with two of the leading analytics-centric minds in the game.
