O’Connor: Sandy Alderson should apologize to fans for his role in baseball’s Steroid Era

Yeah, but wasn’t it Alderson that uncovered the “high end” spectrum of the live ball? Oh, that no count…steroids better story.

But when he steps to the microphone Friday as Omar Minaya’s replacement, Alderson should take the time of offer an apology. He should say he’s sorry for being an enabler at a time when baseball desperately needed a whistle-blower and a leader.

He should say he’s sorry for allowing the monstrous steroid culture to grow fangs on his watch.

...Once more, with feeling, there’s a lot to like about Sandy Alderson, starting with the fact he risked his life for his country. He made himself a wildly successful major league executive despite a minimal background in the game and, as detailed in Howard Bryant’s book, “Juicing the Game,” Alderson stands as a founding father of the sabermetric set and the movement to take team-shaping powers out of the hands of managers and into the hands of GMs.

As Selig’s emissary, the ex-Marine did profound work in the Dominican Republic, where more than a few good men were needed. And if any franchise could use a drill sergeant’s touch, the Mets sure qualify.

But Alderson has a hole in his game the size of Citi Field, as do scores of fellow executives and union leaders who once looked the other way. Alderson is likely to preach accountability with the sad sack Mets, and that’s fine.

He would make that pitch credible if he started with himself, and took a few minutes Friday to apologize for an opportunity lost.