There has been a little consternation regarding the hiring of Paul DePodesta to join the Mets new, restructured front office. Not so much because of the hiring, but that the Mets have spent so much money on the front office. I haven’t so much read any of the complaining, but I’ve read a little of the complaining about the complaining.
The best way I can put it to you is this: What would you rather spend: a million on Paul DePodesta? Or a million and a half on a .210 hitting infielder with intangibles? (Of course, five minutes after I type this, Jon Heyman brings this exact … exact Alex Cora analogy up on WFAN. So let me say now that I did not steal that idea.)
Not that I know what DePodesta is making with the Mets. It’s none of my business. But if you believe the Mets need a new direction as I do, then you have to accept that more money is going to the people entrusted to make the decisions for the next five years. And that includes the front office, the scouting department, the minor leagues, everything. You can’t take shortcuts anymore. And this isn’t to blast Omar Minaya, but when you build an academy in the Dominican Republic, and don’t get me wrong that’s a good, smart investment, and you depend less on every other aspect of building an organization because you’re sitting back waiting for players from the academy to roll in, that comes off as a shortcut. You can’t win with shortcuts. Hiring Ricciardi and DePodesta will ensure that no stone will be left unturned, and that there will be no shortcuts.
Now, if DePodesta brings in .210 hitting infielders with intangibles, then I’ll shoot myself up with LSD and jump off a high building while hallucinating hundreds and hundreds of tiny Jayson Werths flying around me. But until then …
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