Updated 10/13 11:00 AM by Joe D.

I just wanted to add some interesting info to Tom’s fine post.

Alderson received a glowing endorsement from his protégé, Oakland GM Billy Beane, who worked for Alderson for more than half of Alderson’s tenure as GM of the Athletics. Beane spoke to the NY Post via telephone on Monday.

“There’s no question he would change the image there. Right away, there would be direction and vision. That seems to be what people are calling out for.”

Beane said he expected Alderson would return to a team again at some point.

“I’m not the least bit surprised he was interested . I know he wants to run a club again. He loves being a part of the fraternity of working for an organization and he loves a challenge.”

And while some baseball people doubt Alderson could co-exist with the Wilpons and their occasional hands-on approach, Beane insisted it wouldn’t be a problem.

“I wouldn’t even consider it an issue. I have zero doubt that it would work; no reservations. His background suggests that he would thrive with something like this situation. It would be an incredible fit.”

Original Post: 10/10 11:00 PM

The Mets are in search of a new visionary to lead the organization into a new era. There are numerous former GMs and current assistant GMs thought to be in contention for the job, but one stands out above the rest: Sandy Alderson.

Sandy Alderson is exactly what the Mets need. Alderson has been around baseball for a while, having served as general manager of the Oakland A’s from 1983 to 1998 and as CEO of the San Diego Padres from 2005 to 2009, but he is not an old school GM that relies too heavily on scouting and simple statistics. Alderson may have been the first general manager to implement sabermetric principals into his evaluation of players. Alderson built very successful A’s teams in the 1980’s that captured three AL pennants and one World Series title, but some of his most important work came after he remained GM of the A’s when new ownership took control of the team in 1995. The A’s new ownership asked Alderson to significantly slash payroll. Alderson wanted to find a way to keep his teams competitive despite a small payroll. Alderson began to rely on sabermetric statistics and on OBP (on base percentage) to determine which players to spend the team’s limited resources on. At this time Alderson had an assistant GM by the name of Billy Beane. Beane embraced this new emphasis on OBP and on sabermetric statistics. When Beane became GM of the A’s, after Alderson left to work in the commissioner’s office, he continued this emphasis on OBP and sabermetric principles.

Alderson is a good fit for the Mets in another sense as well. The Mets have been viewed at in recent years as a dysfunctional and disorderly organization. Many reported a lack of communication and decisiveness in the organization under Omar Minaya. Things would be much different Alderson. Alderson, a former marine, built his A’s under strict orderliness. When Alderson began to use OBP as a way of evaluating players, he had the A’s minor league system focus on having young players understand the importance of base on balls. This organizational philosophy of the importance of base on balls was shared by every minor league coach, front office official, and big league coach. It is doubtful the Mets had any organizational philosophy in recent years; they couldn’t even get half the people in the organization on the same page.

Alderson and the New York Mets are a perfect fit. The Mets are in need of order, an organizational philosophy, a tighter budget, and a better perception around the league and Alderson has proven that he can provide the Mets with all of these needs. Alderson has proven that he is as good a baseball executive as you can find with his work as A’s GM and Padres CEO (Alderson can be partially credited for the Padres turnaround in 2010 since he drafted and developed many of the young players that contributed to the Padres success). Alderson also knows the rules of the game having worked in the commissioner’s office on numerous occasions. I am confident that Sandy Alderson can turn this franchise around and get the New York Mets to where they need to be.