ON THE SOLUTION TO THE NY METS PROBLEM

September 1, 2023

I’ve been a baseball fan all my life…or at least as long as I can remember. I’ve been a New York Mets fan since Day 1. And, it’s a team that has had its ups and downs. But what happened these past two years was not only ridiculous but also embarrassing. And, we have both owner Steve Cohen and general manager Billy Eppler to thank for the present disastrous state of affairs. Why? Here’s why.

They traded away two really good quality players for Lindor and signed him to a $360MM (!!!) contract. Insane? You bet!
They signed Scherzer to a 3-year $130MM (!!!) contract. Two things were a given when he signed: he is not going to get better and he is more likely to get hurt. Insane? You bet!
They signed Verlander to a 2-year $86MM (!!!) contract. Two things were a given when he signed: he is not going to get better and he is more likely to get hurt. Another mediocre pitcher at this point in time. Insane? You bet!
They traded away two fairly good starters and signed two grandad starters. Insane? You bet!

My above analysis was made before the facts … not after the facts. I called all of these disasters before they occurred. In the meantime, check the Met’s performance this past month!

Who made the above decisions? Does it matter? Of course it does. Since it was Billy Eppler and Steve Cohen, the Mets better make sure that these two are not going to be involved in any decision-making processes in the future.

That was then and today is today. The Mets now have two problems going into the future.

They need to field a competitive team next year (2024).
They need to put a program in place that will bring a World Series for this franchise and its fans. Can it be done? Of course, and here’s how.

The problem can be solved by applying the Delphi Panel Approach I introduced to you three months ago in my newsletter. In case you have forgotten, here is how the DPA works.

The DPA works for a complex problem that needs a solution. At the simplest level, a group of experts are brought together to discuss the problem in order to reach a consensus as to its most appropriate solution. The procedure is iterative with feedback between iterations and involves five steps once the experts have been chosen. The five steps are as follows:

Select, in isolation, independent solutions and reasons for justification for the solution from the experts.
Provide the initial solutions and reasons of each expert to the other experts.
Allow each expert to revise his or her initial solution and provide the reasoning for any change to their solution.
Repeat Steps 1 through 3 until a “consensus” solution is approached.
Use the “average” of the final solution as the best estimate of the solution to the problem of concern.

The panelists? I suggest retired intelligent baseball professionals in the following six areas:

A manager
A player
An umpire
A corporate executive
A sports writer
An announcer

These six should be able to do the job. The key is to definitely remove Eppler and Cohen from this process. All that remains is for Cohen to foot the bill for the solution that will turn the franchise’s future around.

Forgive me, but I need to close by stating in no uncertain terms that acting alone, I could do the job. Forgive my ego.

Comments?

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NEXT POSTINGS

OCTOBER 1: On a Dying Sport

NOVEMBER 1: On Begin the Beguine

DECEMBER 1: On – Goodbye Baseball, Hello Basketball

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This entry was posted on Friday, September 1st, 2023 at 1:00 am and is filed under Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to ON THE SOLUTION TO THE NY METS PROBLEM

eharidopolos@cfl.rr.com says:

September 18, 2023 at 5:25 pm

Hello Lou. Good to hear from you. Georgia

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