I once had a recruiter sell me very hard on the supposed joys of working for Steve Cohen.

Maybe that guy should be in charge of the GM search.

Cohen is mostly talking with uninformed people, like former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and folks at his hedge fund, Point72, who serve as some of his advisors during the search, according to a source familiar with the situation. Christie joined the Mets’ Board of Directors in February, and his son, Andrew, also works for the Mets as the coordinator of amateur and international scouting.

Wilpon 2.0

I will again express my willingness to take on the job for a very reasonable guaranteed salary. No need for an interview, simply scroll through my previous brilliant diagnoses of the Mets' problems over the last couple of decades via my BBTF posts. As long as the checks clear, I am happy to let Mr. Cohen interfere as much as he likes.

Hell of a cover letter, Walt. Can't see it failing.

Maybe they could get that Van Wagonwheel guy to come back

Derrick S. Goold @dgoold ·2h

#Mets reached out to #Cardinals late last week for permission to talk to GM Michael Girsch about the opening to run baseball ops in Queens, according two sources. He elected to stay with the Cardinals, a team source confirmed.

It was one things for guys like Epstein or Sterns or Beane to turn them down - either cause they have enough money or power already - but this now makes the 3rd different GM that is declining to go for a promotion. Something is fishy here. Maybe those 3 weren't really candidates for POBO and wouldn't be getting the same power/money/whatever* as the first 3 big names so the reporting is just not precise enough. Or maybe those guys are leaking their names in a bit of self-promotion. Because I don't care how bad things are with the Mets - and honestly, they're not that bad - it's not passing the smell test for me that so many guys would pass up a legit opportunity like this (I think we got a little bit of a family excuse for Harris, but it's not like he's a SF lifer as he was with the Cubs before his current role in SF; I don't know as much about the other 2).

*Obviously they couldn't command as much money

What really successful MLB FO executive wouldn't want to leave their current position to go work for an over bearing convicted criminal? Well the answer appears to be none at this stage!

What really successful MLB FO executive wouldn't want to leave their current position to go work for an over bearing convicted criminal? Well the answer appears to be none at this stage!

If he gives you a 5-year contract, there's nothing he can do to you except give a long, paid vacation.

Maybe Adam Starblind can be the GM since he seems to know the Meta so well.

From following on Twitter, it seems like the NY media don't have the type of inside sources within Cohen's Mets that they did under Wilpon. And they really seem to resent it.

They appear to have no idea what's going on with the search, will repeat anything that anyone tells them, and then change their story 5 minutes later. And then they criticize/ridicule the team based on that "information."

There's simply no point in paying attention to any of it until the Mets announce who they've hired.

If he gives you a 5-year contract, there's nothing he can do to you except give a long, paid vacation.

I understand that. However the people he has apparently contacted already are successful in their own right, it's not like he's giving anyone their big break. Sure, there appears to be a promotion for a few of the names mentioned, but it's not a huge step and so far doesn't seem worth it to any of those spoken to already.

All billionaires are pretty ruthless, I just think this guy's past is something a little beyond that and this is being considered and hence the lack of interest thus far.

Or as mentioned above, by Inge, the press is just making stuff up.

but this now makes the 3rd different GM that is declining to go for a promotion.

Brandon Gomes, who's not even the #2 guy in LA, also declined.

. Maybe Adam Starblind can be the GM since he seems to know the Meta so well.

I’m concerned about Bryn Alderson.

Hmm. Looks the the only way to outbid Walt is to promise to not even show up for work for the 5 years of the contract. That way Cohen gets exactly what he wants.

Hell of a cover letter, Walt. Can't see it failing.

It's the Mets. My chances can't be worse than 50/50.

If it's not me, you know they're gonna break up the broadcast team by hiring one of them and you don't want that do you?

Looks the the only way to outbid Walt is to promise to not even show up for work for the 5 years of the contract.

Silly whippersnappers. If you don't even bother to show up, the press are gonna be calling you every day. Not worth it. Just roll in around 3 pm before night games, 10 am the rest of the time, be sure to show up for the press conferences in some over-priced polo. Load a waiver wire app. Buy a copy of OOTP so its AI can screen your trades -- you guys don't mind if I trade Nimmo and McNeil for 12 of the Cubs' #21-50 prospects do you?

Most middle-aged people in a place like stl would not give up a plum job for a promotion to New York City. A few people might but Girsh has probably got kids in school there, a job for life, and a place his wife likes. Most people I grew up with there would not move to NYC. The only ones they might are younger.

Walt’s chances are looking a little better: BLUE JAYS DENY METS REQUEST TO INTERVIEW MARK SHAPIRO.

Most middle-aged people in a place like stl would not give up a plum job for a promotion to New York City. A few people might but Girsh has probably got kids in school there, a job for life, and a place his wife likes. Most people I grew up with there would not move to NYC. The only ones they might are younger.

Individually, this and all of the other explanations make sense. But *all* of these people — who have scratched and clawed to get *near* the top of their profession — are turning down becoming President of Baseball Operations for the Mets, for family reasons? Doesn’t add up. And I also have trouble believing it’s because “Steve Cohen is a jerk.” He probably is, but it’s not like he’s a jerk to such an extent that stories are leaking out of the Mets organization. There has to be some maliciousness by other owners at work here.

What really successful MLB FO executive wouldn't want to leave their current position to go work for an overbearing convicted criminal?

Lots of people worked for Steinbrenner back in the day.

Baseball execs are more savvy nowadays and less good old boys network. That changes the calculation for taking jobs.

Most middle-aged people in a place like stl would not give up a plum job for a promotion to New York City. A few people might but Girsh has probably got kids in school there, a job for life, and a place his wife likes. Most people I grew up with there would not move to NYC. The only ones they might are younger.

But he's not from there, he moved there to work for the Cards. And also, as people point out all the time, working in baseball (or sports) is not comparable to "most people" and their jobs. I also don't think any job in baseball is a "job for life."

There has to be some maliciousness by other owners at work here.

That's a helluva conspiracy theory. It's much more likely the press is just wrong/overstating.

What really successful MLB FO executive wouldn't want to leave their current position to go work for an overbearing convicted criminal?

Yeah, I don't think Cohen is that bad, especially compared to most pro sports owners these days.

Pure conjuncture, but I would think an unclear power structure is keeping most of these second-round guys from the Mets job. They don't want to sign on and then have Bryn Alderson going above their heads or having Cohen himself trying to sign free agents or telling them whom to staff their office with.

What really successful MLB FO executive wouldn't want to leave their current position to go work for an overbearing convicted criminal?

Yeah, I don't think Cohen is that bad, especially compared to most pro sports owners these days.

It's also a lie, for whatever that's worth these days.

I understand that. However the people he has apparently contacted already are successful in their own right, it's not like he's giving anyone their big break. Sure, there appears to be a promotion for a few of the names mentioned, but it's not a huge step and so far doesn't seem worth it to any of those spoken to already.


Then he's probably not offering enough money.

That's a helluva conspiracy theory.

"What, me collusion?"

Non-responsive. What's the incentive for the other owners to get the Mets from hiring someone to run their team? Collusion had a very clear purpose.

Non-responsive.

Uh, overruled?

filibuster

If he gives you a 5-year contract, there's nothing he can do to you except give a long, paid vacation.

He would absolutely sue you for the balance, though. Or stop paying and make you sue him.

"Everybody is out to get my favorite team" is never the answer.

Cohen is a slimy, unscrupulous shitbird, but so are most hedge fund guys, and there are other hedge fund guys in baseball that don't inspire this response.

It's entirely possible that people inside the game know something about him that we don't.

What I don't get is why he's starting with established, previously successful GMs. Why would one of those guys want to leave? They're making good money, settled in one city, have their own guys in key positions.

The guy you go after is the assistant GM who's blocked by the top guy.

Cohen aside, the ability to work in New York with a New York budget has got to be appealing to someone, right?

the Mets don't have nearly the tortured history as the Red Sox and Cubs once did, obviously, but in the mid-1980s the Mets were more popular than the Yankees in the NYC region by a number of measures.

that's a pretty enticing opportunity, one would think.

it's a relatively fickle "town," potentially, and one-upping the Yankees in the #1 market in the US - is there a bigger draw?

I'm a reasonable commute from CitiField and not currently under contract to another MLB team. Steve, talk to me and I'll consider working with you.

Cohen aside, the ability to work in New York with a New York budget has got to be appealing to someone, right?

Cohen's a pretty vocal owner, particularly on social media, and I wonder if that has perspective GMs a little wary. The last thing a GM wants is to have the team owner chirping about woulda-coulda-shouldas when you can't pull off a trade, or if the free agent you passed on has a big year.

What I don't get is why he's starting with established, previously successful GMs. Why would one of those guys want to leave? They're making good money, settled in one city, have their own guys in key positions.

The guy you go after is the assistant GM who's blocked by the top guy.

I think that *is* the GM these days. The person who does the stuff GMs used to do is now POBO.

the ability to work in New York with a New York budget has got to be appealing to someone, right?

it's a relatively fickle "town," potentially, and one-upping the Yankees in the #1 market in the US - is there a bigger draw?

So even with these and a host of other really great opportunities for taking the job, not one of these insanely competitive people has stepped up yet.

So it might be a combination of Cohen is crook, Cohen's going to be a huge pain in the arse, the money isn't differential enough to what these guys are already getting paid. There's something(or a few things) there that are stopping these guys from taking the role.

(35). It doesn’t add up.

So it might be a combination of Cohen is crook, Cohen's going to be a huge pain in the arse, the money isn't differential enough to what these guys are already getting paid. There's something(or a few things) there that are stopping these guys from taking the role.

I think "Cohen's a crook with a track record of doing crooked things that get people into trouble" is enough to make the other, underlying problems make most people say, "This isn't worth my trouble."

(35). It doesn’t add up.

Yes, it's obviously a conspiracy . . . against the New York Mets, a sports enterprise that nobody gives a #### about.

make most people say, "This isn't worth my trouble."

Well surely the Rays have some pimply-faced work experience kid they can throw a few million a year who'd jump at the chance. Everyone that comes out of there seems to know their stuff.

Of course he'd have to get his mom's permission first before moving out of her basement. She would probably yell at the poor kid for choosing to work for "that crook Cohen", whilst shaking her fist.

C'mon, how many potential GMs know and care about Cohen's past. More realistic speculation IMO: The search process is messed up so nobody trusts what's going on. Any candidate looking at this is likely to suspect this means they are going to be answering to Cohen's hedge fund bros, not actual baseball people (not to mention Alderson is still around). Also, while I assume they made big offers (approaches really) to Theo, etc., they are low-balling the 2nd tier. That's the way it works in their world, isn't it -- work your ass off for not really very much to prove yourself, then if you're a star you can command millions.

That's how it's working these days at the managerial level -- maybe you make a big offer to an established manager, otherwise you give some newbie a 2/$2-3 deal and move onto the next guy if this guy isn't a success ... or maybe even if he is but demands a raise to $3 per year. If the statnerds are telling you that the manager rarely makes a big difference, if the manager is mainly a personnel manager, managers look fungible. Well, if you think a PBO/GM is mainly an asset manager then Cohen and his buddies know more about that than some shclub from Milwaukee.

In short, if they had approached the Brewers' GM (or whoever) with a 5/$20 guaranteed offer and convincing assurances they are the #1 guy on the baseball side, this search would be over. Instead it's some combination of low-ball offers with little security and the impression that Cohen will really be running the team. The latter would also explain why Theo, etc. dropped out early. The simplest explanation is that Cohen is the next Angelos/Moreno and any serious candidate will try to avoid a meddlesome owner ... and not consulting baseball people on the search is a big red flag as to how ownership views baseball people.

C'mon, how many potential GMs know and care about Cohen's past.

All of them? I mean, knowing is easy - anyone at that level is going to do some research on the place they're potentially interviewing at, and there's enough people coming and going between clubs that it's not out of the question that you've heard stories second-hand from your staff. The upper echelons of this business is a small world, and a lot of these guys probably have college friends who have been in the hedge fund world. If there's something toxic about the Mets or its owner, the small pool of candidate is going to know.

All of them?

Seriously. These guys aren't interviewing for jobs at the Plaid Pantry.

Dodgers Assistant GM Jeff Kingston became the latest to decline an interview with the Mets since Walt expressed an interest in the job. Many more names dropped at the link.

Also, while I assume they made big offers (approaches really) to Theo, etc., they are low-balling the 2nd tier. That's the way it works in their world, isn't it -- work your ass off for not really very much to prove yourself, then if you're a star you can command millions.

Literally the opposite of the right way to do it.

What Cohen is offering -- or should be offering, if he knows what he has, which I doubt -- is entry into the top tier. The way you play that hand is to find the very best guy in the second tier and offer him a shot at the big time a few years earlier than he would get it on his own.

Offering first tier guy first tier wages = piss off, I've already got what I want.

Offering second tier guy second tier wages = piss off, I'm going to get a better offer than that in a couple of years anyway.

Offering second tier guy tier 1b wages = loyal acolyte for life, will work his butt off even if he suspects the boss is objectively a scumbag.

This is *not* intended to go in a Godwin's law direction, but read up on how Stalin came to power sometime. He would constantly give young up and comers their first real shot at the big time several years before they objectively deserved it.

If he's not careful, Cohen is going to end up with some young guy who doesn't mind being treated as a doormat or some old guy who has been passed over so many times he knows it's his last chance.

Stalin kept giving young up and comers a shot because he shot the people that had held the position previously. That's how he maintained power. Through fear.

Fear was certainly an element, but the other half was so that he could fill the vacancies with his guys.

Other people had the glory positions under Lenin. Stalin was the personnel guy.

"his guys" were also quickly killed off. He did lots of purges.

In the hedge fund world, compensation is heavily incentive-driven. Your positions perform well, you get paid well. This would be unusual in the baseball world but I’m sure Cohen could do something creative and give one of these guys some big upside.

Yes, it's a trick he went back to multiple times.

To steer the discussion back in a baseball direction, I don't think hedge fund compensation rules are going to apply, because the distribution of returns is much more limited in baseball than in finance. The difference in revenue between the Yankees/Dodgers and the Marlins is what, 2 or 3 to 1?

I was thinking more in terms of on-field performance. Give the next GM a chance to make 1st tier money if the team makes the playoffs, and better than that if they win the pennant / World Series. There are a lot of ways to do it and tie it to long-term performance (to disincentivize extreme risk taking or mortgaging the future for one good year). This is assuming that they're not already offering these guys guaranteed first-tier money to begin with.

Re: Zach and McCoy, I'm perfectly willing to accept that Cohen is a reincarnation of Stalin. (Cohen was born in 1956, three years after Stalin's death.)

GM candidates will know Cohen's rep within baseball but that's only a couple of years and doesn't have anything particularly negative attached to it (other than one GM hire that backfired). As to his hedge fund history, none of the GM candidates will give a flying #### about that. He's a "crook" -- why do they care? You're assuming the GMs are making a moral choice AND that they don't share Cohen's morals. The GMs who are proteges of the guys who canned all the scouts, neutered the managers (while dropping salaries), that make the decisions to save $2 M by non-tendering the "expensive" arb guy, oversaw the cheating scandals, play service time games, do their best to low-ball Dominican kids (not as successfully as they used to), who are regularly accused of colluding with other teams? These guys are concerned that Cohen may have engaged in insider trading?

I was thinking more in terms of on-field performance. Give the next GM a chance to make 1st tier money if the team makes the playoffs, and better than that if they win the pennant / World Series. There are a lot of ways to do it and tie it to long-term performance (to disincentivize extreme risk taking or mortgaging the future for one good year). This is assuming that they're not already offering these guys guaranteed first-tier money to begin with.

I'm pretty sure if Cohen offered 5 years guaranteed, $3M p.a. salary. $10M/1 year extension if you win a pennant, $20M/2 year extension if you win the World Series, he'd get the best of the non-POBOs interested.

#55 yes that's what I was thinking, along with some protections against going all-in on one season. I.e. to hit the incentive, the team needs to win >50% of its games over the 5 years, and they have to finish with >75 wins the year after the pennant/World Series victory.

GM candidates will know Cohen's rep within baseball but that's only a couple of years and doesn't have anything particularly negative attached to it (other than one GM hire that backfired). As to his hedge fund history, none of the GM candidates will give a flying #### about that. He's a "crook" -- why do they care? You're assuming the GMs are making a moral choice AND that they don't share Cohen's morals.

It's more than a couple of years, IIRC - he's been a minority owner of the Mets for a while before buying the majority stake, and while he probably couldn't influence much, he could have been around enough for there to be scuttlebutt about him around the upper echelons of baseball management. There's an old saying about how when you go in for an executive-level job interview, you're deciding whether you want to be part of the organization as much as they're deciding if they want to hire you, and I suspect that goes for the vetting process. These guys are going to do as much research on the Mets organization as it's doing on them.

I don't necessarily think all these GM candidates are making moral choices, as much as pragmatic, but there's still reason to be concerned on that front. If Cohen has a reputation for being toxic as a boss, or the Mets organization has a similar reputation without Cohen having cleaned house, it's a red flag. I wouldn't be shocked if Alderson still being around in some capacity makes candidates wonder how much autonomy they'll have (he's stepped aside before, then stepped right back in). Perhaps they're hearing that they're not going to be able to do much in terms of filling out their own staff because of situations like the Christies and fell like having their hands tied like that is being set up for failure. Possibly they look at the volatility of the stock market these days and think that Cohen might take a big loss or get hit by the FCC and decide the baseball team is the part of the organization that's going to try and pinch pennies. They've got access to information that fans and the press don't, even if it's gossip.

Maybe the reports of candidate disinterest are exaggerated, but it sure seems like something is keeping a bunch of highly-competitive people from even interviewing for a job on a bigger stage with a position and salary bump and a lot of resources, with Cohen and the Mets organization the common denominator. I suspect these guys are also approaching these jobs a bit more warily than they used to, since it is more likely to be their only bite of the apple than it used to be (fired GMs were once automatically looked at as top candidates for the next job opening because of their experience, but now they're more likely to seem like failures compared to someone looking for a promotion who might be the next Theo Epstein). Heck if I know.

Another lesson on why drinking with the boss is seldom a good idea - Mets Parting Ways With Acting GM Zack Scott.

Another lesson on why drinking with the boss is seldom a good idea

Drinking with the boss is usually great for you career; getting ####-faced with the boss and committing a crime that attracts negative publicity is the problem.

If it's a work event, you go, have your two drinks, make sure you talk to the boss a decent amount, and leave before anyone has the chance to get foolish.

the claim by the Mets(ex) MGR back then was that the GM left the event about 6 hours before the arrest.

perhaps double "fwiws" there

I worked for a guy who was notoriously difficult to work with and he operated a business that was notoriously difficult as well. Lots and lots of people turned high end jobs with this guy and lots of people put in their year or two to prove themselves and then got out. The place was constantly in turnover and turmoil.

@danconnolly2016

Both @Britt_Ghiroli and I are hearing from sources that #Orioles Assistant GM/VP Sig Mejdal is on @Mets radar for their GM post. Unknown whether the interest is mutual. No formal interview has occurred as of today. O's would need to OK an interview if Mejdal has interest.