New owner Cohen taps former GM Alderson as team president
NEW YORK — Steve Cohen has gone public with his first move as the next owner of the New York Mets, and it involves bringing in a familiar face.
Cohen will hire Sandy Alderson as president of the Mets, he announced in a statement Thursday. Alderson, the Mets general manager from 2010-18, will oversee all baseball and business operations.
All of Cohen’s impending transactions as majority owner are pending approval by 23 of 29 team owners. The owners’ vote to approve Cohen is expected to come in November or earlier.
“If I am fortunate enough to be approved by Major League Baseball as the next owner of this iconic franchise, Sandy Alderson will become president of the New York Mets and will oversee all Mets baseball and business operations,” Cohen said in the statement.
“Sandy is an accomplished and respected baseball executive who shares my philosophy of building an organization and a team the right way. I am excited to have Sandy in a key leadership role with the Mets if my purchase of the team is approved.”
Alderson, 72, has been in baseball for more than three decades.
He worked as the Oakland Athletics’ GM from 1983-1997 before Billy Beane took over. He promoted Beane from advanced scout to assistant GM in ‘93. Alderson was one of baseball’s first GMs to embrace analytics, identified as a progressive thinker and statistical
pioneer.
He arrived in Flushing before the 2011 season and succeeded Omar Minaya as Mets GM. His ballclubs were losing 90 games a year early in his Mets tenure before Alderson put together an Amazin’s team that went to the 2015 World Series.
In June 2018, he announced a leave of absence to be treated for cancer. He was originally diagnosed after the ’15 season and underwent surgery and chemotherapy before the cancer recurred in ’18. He announced he was cancer-free in January 2019.
The trio of assistant GM John Ricco, J.P. Ricciardi and Omar Minaya ran the club’s baseball operations in Alderson’s absence before Brodie Van Wagenen was hired as GM ahead of the 2019 season.
Cohen’s decision to hire Alderson brings into question Van Wagenen’s future role with the club.
Van Wagenen signed a four-year deal worth $10 million as GM in 2018. With Alderson taking over baseball operations, Van Wagenen’s current decision-making becomes superfluous unless their respective duties are divided.