In a post to NY Baseball Digest, Mike 
Silva explains why Wally Backman should be hired to replace Tony Bernazard, and run the team’s player development department.
Meanwhile, Bill Price of the Daily News asks, “Can we all now stop kidding ourselves that the Mets have a shot at the wild card?”
In a post to Brooklyn Met Fan, Adam explains why tonight’s a Must Win, adding, “I realize it’s borderline absurd to say tonight’s game is a must win but if we’re gonna have any hope of landing the WC we simply cannot lose 3 of 4 to the D-Backs.”
Mike Pelfrey has found at ‘out pitch,’ according to Amazin Avenue.
That said, Matthew Falkenbury of the Daily Stache wonders when Pelfrey will put it all together, as he’s 26–27 in 72 career starts.
In post to Mets Police, Shannon Shark investigates Jeff Wilpon’s professional baseball career.
Lastly, in case you’re interested, you can find me and MetsBlog on Facebook, here, and on Twitter, here.
It would be interesting to have Backman in the organization but I don’t think he is right for player development considering all of the off the field problems that he has had.
A year or so ago, the Reds fired their GM Wayne Krivsky. The Mets hired him as a “special assistant” to Minaya in some sort of consulting capacity. I am not sure he is with the team but he was known as a scouting guy and I think he would be the type of person that the Mets may use to scout their system as well as other systems. He was responsible for acquiring Volquez at the expense of Josh Hamilton. Kind of a wash.
That Mets Police piece was interesting. Just shows how Jeff Wilpon is truly the Grand Prize Winner of the DNA gene pool. Barely played single A ball, graduate of Palm Beach Community College and now COO of the New York Mets. God help us.
There’s our first problem. We have an owner who thinks he knows baseball
Could you enlighten un on the OWNERS that have a deep rooted history of playing baseball and developing baseball players?
Not to mention the guys who did not inherit their fathers business?
My problem with Fred is not with his baseball knowledge – I assume he has some given that he went to high school with Sandy Koufax and all.
My problem with Fred is his blatant nepotism in appointing his son as COO of the Mets. By any objective measurement, Jeff Wilpon is clearly unqualified to be COO of a major league ballclub. Most of the issues the Mets have had since Fred assumed full ownership of the Mets can be traced back to Jeff.
I guess you are just not going to answer either question?
Or perhaps he should just randomly select a caller to WFAN or a poster to Metsblog as the COO, because clearly, that would be solid.
First of all, there’s a difference between not having any baseball knowledge but thinking you do and not having any baseball knowledge.
As for owners who didn’t inherit their money, I’ll start with John Henry, Arte Moreno, Jerry Reinsdorf and Frank McCourt. Sorry I don’t have the detailed financial history of baseball’s owners at my fingertips, but hopefully those two will suffice for now.
Oh, Frank McCourt he never was connected to anyone.
John Henry is the prinicipal in the ownership group that includes Tom Werner, he being a real rag to riches story that Werner.
Moreno and Riensdorf are legitimate, made it on their own guys, but I highly doubt they will pass ownership of their franchises to anyone but their family.
OK first off, my original post said NOTHING about Fred Wilpon’s lack of baseball knowledge; it was about Jeff Wilpon being the Grand Prize Winner of the DNA gene pool.
Secondly, this is the second time you have leaped to Jeff’s defense. Do you seriously think he is qualified to be the COO of anything, let alone the Mets? Can you tell me with a straight face that he would be where he is today if he wasn’t Fred’s son?
Finally, I would hope that there is a third alternative between “randomly selecting someone from WFAN/Metsblg to be COO” and “appointing your half wit son as COO.” If I were to hazard a guess as to what that alternative might be, I’d say it would be something along the lines of reviewing the resumes of qualified candidates and interviewing the best ones for the position. Just a hunch.
I dont really give a crap where he would be today if he was not Fred Wilpons son. I did not suspect Fred Wilpon would randomly fork over control of his organization to someone he did not know.
What qualifies someone to be COO of a baseball team. Show me a single qualified owner and COO of a baseball team other than they had enough money to buy a team and a connection to the buyers.
You are acting as if the other 29 teams have some magical methodology the Mets have not figured out yet.
It’s one thing to randomly fork over control of a baseball team to somone he doesn’t know. It’s another to fork it over to someone who’s sole qualification for the position is he’s the owner’s son. If Jeff Wilpon is the only guy Fred knows and trusts in the baseball world, then he seriously needs to get out more.
But to answer your question directly, Martin Greenspun, COO of the LA Dodgers is an excellent example of someone who is qualifed to be a COO of a major league ballclub. Before becoming COO of the Dodgers, Greenspun spent six years as CFO of the Yankees. So he is someone with financial expertise, has operated previously at the executive level and comes from outside the organization (and is in no way related to Frank McCourt).
And the guy who succeeded Greenspun, Dennis Mannion, is even more qualified.
http://mlb.mlb.com/la/community/executives/mannion.html
Adam: How do you get into baseball?
Jeff: Have dad buy the team.
I have a friend who played college lacrosse. Doesn’t mean I know which end of the stick is up.
Will Mike pelfrey put it together…. He’s obviously servicable as a number 4 or 5 starter on a good team. he’s not performing up to 2 or 3 expectations. He could have a long career as a journeyman. The problem is that you can’t throw 100 pitches in 5 innings and expect a big payday (unless you’re Ollie Perez and Omar is bidding against himself)
If he isn’t everything you hoped for, trade him before he becomes expensive
Backman is going to be outside of the Wilpon’s realm of acceptable considering who they just got rid of. Backman deserves a job in MLB somewhere, but more likely as a minor league manager first before thinking about a PD job.
Nice to see the info on Pelfrey, this blog should link to more articles like that. Good to see his slider be effective and showing signs of being a quality pitch.