The "Genius GM" Trap Is Killing the Mets 👀

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The New York Mets fired the wrong guy
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because they couldn't fire the right
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guy. And the right guy
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right now is without a job.
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And the right guy right now is swimming
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unemployed. But really, was it Carlos
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Mendoza's fault?
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The issue with David Sterns
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is that when you do it in a small market
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and you prove yourself to be smartest
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guy in the room, you lack resources, but
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you're just creative in how you put
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together a team, put together a winner,
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and with a marginal budget, you keep
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getting to the playoffs. You begin to
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have to believe that it's your knowledge
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and your sophistication that is getting
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your franchise that far. And then when
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you get a bucketload of money like David
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Serns, the GM of the Mets has gotten,
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well, you know what? It's not enough to
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just go spend it. It's not enough to
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just cut checks to Juan Sodto and
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company because then what have you
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proven? You have not proven that you're
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smarter than the average GM. See,
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therein lies this kind of trap with
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really bright small market guys. And I
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think this might be the reason Billy
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Bean stayed in Oakland as long as he
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did. Billy Bean had his pick of jobs
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across Major League Baseball and yet
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continually went back for the punishment
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of working for John Fiser and the A's on
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a shoestring budget, knowing that all of
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his great drafting and developing and
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player acquisition was just going to
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walk out the door the moment that it
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fully blossomed. He would never be able
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to build a true winner. Why did he stay?
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I think when it comes to guys that
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become geniuses at the small market
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level,
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it can be intimidating to go to a big
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market because then you're not the
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genius anymore. Then you just have the
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hammer.
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Then there is no kind of of magic behind
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your persona. You're just the guy that
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can outspend. And I think this really
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got in David Stern's way this year.
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David Sterns could have probably spent
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his way out of a lot of problems with
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the Mets roster, but instead he let Pete
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Alonzo walk. He had to trade Brandon
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NMO. He had to break up Jeff McNeil. He
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had to do all these things to prove that
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when he brought in the deals, the
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bargains, the guys that were under the
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radar, we're going to build through
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defense and up the middle and chemistry
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and on base percentage. He tried to find
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those voids in the marketplace to prove
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once again he was the smartest guy in
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the room because I think there is this
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underlying insecurity about the smart
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guys from the small markets just
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spending an owner's cash cuz anybody can
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do that. So how do they validate
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their salary? How do they validate their
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hiring? They validate it by boss, I'm
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going to save you money here because we
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found we've found the the inefficiency
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in the marketplace. Boss, you can trust
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me. We're doing it a smarter way. You
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know, if you just keep going to your
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boss and saying, "Well, I need more
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money. I need more money to spend our
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way out of this. We need to fill this
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hole." The boss is going to come back
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and be like, "Well, I can I could give
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anybody a a blank check."
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And I think David Cerns overthought
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the construction of this roster and
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thought he was going to be the smartest
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guy in the room. It has completely
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imploded in his face and Carlos Mendoza
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was the fall guy for it. And it's not
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right cuz you can't sit here and say
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that managing was the problem with the
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2026 Mets. No Mets fan, including
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myself, would ever say that it's
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Mendoza's fault that they're in the rut
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that they are. It's roster construction.
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But when you entrust the smartest guy in
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the room, when you entrust the big bad
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GM, when you entrust a guy like David
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Sterns to build a franchise,
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you are really reticent to fire that guy
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because you've handed over the keys of
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the franchise and then it would set it
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back even further. But David Sterns dug
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his own hole here. He had to be smarter
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than your average GM. He had to couldn't
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help himself. Had to validate his own
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worth. There you go.

The "Genius GM" Trap Is Killing the Mets 👀

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The "Genius GM" Trap Is Killing the Mets 👀

orangefizz.net