Given a three year extension. If you can't sign players why not sign more GMs.

Bay's $$ has to go somewhere.

J.P. Ricciardi was fired as the GM from the Toronto Blue Jays because

1) Bad Contracts like Vernon Wells seven years $ 126 million with full no trade clause, Alex Rios,
B.J. Ryan, Frank Thomas

2) No playoff appearances in 7 years as GM

3) Poor record in drafting

4) Poor handling of the media, comments about Adam Dunn, and lying about B.J. Ryan's injury

Yep, the Mets have an Omar Minaya clone in their midst. They are using the $ saved on Bay's deferred buyout to groom their future GM. You just can't make this stuff up.

Don't worry. Riccardi is a product of the Moneyball movement, so he's a numbers guy. His title is Special Assistant, so he's basically a sounding board for Sandy, along with a number of other guys.

During the season, he does a lot of Major League scouting around the league. Lots of traveling.

Good extension. Talented guy in a lower position than his reputation warrants? Great extension.

Out of all the assistant roles, I really like Ricco. Guy's talented.

He's Omar Minaya's twin brother, based on his record with the Toronto Blue Jays.

He is clueless when it comes to negotiating contracts. If you review his draft record you will see who he drafted and the players that he could have had that were drafted after his choices.

I read that he could have obtained David Wright for Jose Cruz Jr. ( by Steve Phillips ) and JP Ricciardi
passed and had negative comments to add about our David Wright.

JP’s reaction was, “I’m not trading a major league player for some guy in the Sally League.”

Now the Mets are using the savings from the Bay contract buyout to reward this incompetent.

I think you are still confused on his role. He doesn't control anything. He is just part of a board of committee. An ex-GM acting as a special assistant is a huge plus. I'd love if Omar had returned in a lesser role. These guys who have been GM's made it there for a reason, but most of them just didn't do the role well. But they are still talented business people.

And I think they have different salary sections for front office and players. Don't think Bay's buyout has much to do with front office contracts.

Sorry the team's priorities are mixed up. The team $ that are budgeted for the FO in this case should have gone to acquiring a major league catcher & OF. The team should be looking to reallocate $ from other areas into improving the on the field product. JP Ricciardi's extension should not have been on the table as the front office has done very little to merit a bonus.

So if it is a plus to have this guy in a lesser role than his rep dictates, what benefits have we reaped from this? We need better players on the field, not big name muckety mucks who contribute zero in executive positions.

Exactly. You are preaching to the choir. Spend the $ on a catcher & OF not on featherbedding for the do nothing FO. Other teams do much better with much less $.

>> Exactly. You are preaching to the choir. Spend the $ on a catcher & OF not on featherbedding for the do nothing FO. Other teams do much better with much less $.

Teams that do better with less money do so because they have a deep farm system that keeps developing good young talent. The Mets have pitching depth in the system, but little depth in position players, and only a few kids considered to have a high ceiling. The FO has little money so they can't afford big name FAs, only a few kids to trade for real value, and only two guys on the roster that you could trade and be sure to get excellent quality for. They are pretty much stuck in neutral.

Sounds like an excuse. What I am saying is that other teams last year acquired affordable free agents. Baltimore signed Nate McLouth in June 2012 off of the scrap heap. When the Yankees signed Ichiro and released DeWayne Wise where were the Mets? He was a better CF option than keeping Torres. Oakland signed Yoenis Cespedes, traded for Josh Reddick, acquired Jonny Gomes.
Where were the Mets? Now they complain that they don't have an OF.

They should have non tendered Pelfrey and signed a catcher.

The front office has been asleep at the switch, while Baltimore & Oakland were in the playoffs because they made astute signings.

I do like muckety mucks tho.

>> Sounds like an excuse. What I am saying is that other teams last year acquired affordable free agents. Baltimore signed Nate McLouth in June 2012 off of the scrap heap. When the Yankees signed Ichiro and released DeWayne Wise where were the Mets? He was a better CF option than keeping Torres. Oakland signed Yoenis Cespedes, traded for Josh Reddick, acquired Jonny Gomes.
Where were the Mets? Now they complain that they don't have an OF.

It's not an excuse it's the situation the organization is facing. The wilpons have run the organization into the ground and they are paying for it now. If they hadn't neglected the farm system things wouldn't be so bad. At very least they would have more options. The lack of money kept them away from Cespedes. They got rid of Bay, and Bay and Duda were Omar's guys. The only kid they brought up this season that has all-star potential is Harvey. You got to have the right guys. Some teams just have a bit better chips. It may look like a team didn't give up much of another likes some team's lessor propsects you're out of luck.

>> They should have non tendered Pelfrey and signed a catcher.

I could wrong about this, but even if they non-tendered Pelfrey they had to pay his salary.

>> The front office has been asleep at the switch, while Baltimore & Oakland were in the playoffs because they made astute signings.

The Giants, the Braves and the Cards made the playoffs mostly due to their home grown kids. Gio was a very sought after pitcher so the A's were going to get good quality back. The kids they got surpassed expectations last season.

>>>"J.P. Ricciardi was fired as the GM from the Toronto Blue Jays because"<<<

JP was hired to be the GM of this team. Just because things didn't pan out as well as some might of hoped for him in the GM seat with the Jays, it doesn't mean he can't be a credible assistant in his specific duties here. Also, there are some crediable GMs who have been let-go from a prior position before.