What happened to the quote in Alex's column? What was different?

That was the quote that was in there this morning. Verbatim, I saved it.

Again, I still don't think this is appropriate for him to comment on, especially in this manner. I really have no idea what the apology is for. I do not see this in a different light and I certainly don't think that BP is in any way at fault.

Confused - it reads as what Sherman said in his article. Is it that he really was re-stating something that Selig told him (so it wouldn't be attributed)? Or it just got attributed to the wrong guy and Sherman doesn't rate for the quote machine?

Setting aside what the exact quote was, the Mets should care not at all about how the GM that they hire will be perceived. They should care about who will do the job best. Maybe that person is Alderson, maybe it isn't, but how he would be perceived shouldn't enter the equation.

The GM is a very public position. Of course how he'll be perceived matters some.

Is it appropriate for the commissioner to be commenting on a job opening one way or the other?

My understanding is that the owner is the owner, and the commissioner is, in effect, an employee of the owners.

John, does the MLB policy regarding the consideration of minority candidates apply to GMs, too, or only managers? I thought the former.

Like others, I find it strange that the Commissioner should make any comment on how the Mets should fill this position. Has he made any comment on the Mariners/Lueke situation? Surely that is far more contentious than whether the Mets pick a good or bad GM. Or does he not have the power of the other Commissioners?

Alright, this isn't getting much play. Why did BP apologize? Did MLB Corporate offices call this morning or something?

I don't really understand, but OK.

Bud Selig might be a nice guy, but does he have any credibility left to speak authoritatively about baseball, regardless of his position? I think not.

I'd like to know why BP apologized too. First, I don't see much substantial difference between Selig (in a position of power and authority) in the league directly telling the Mets to hire Alderson and strongly encouraging them to hire them. In fact, I think he did a bit more than strongly encourage them to hire him, from that quote. Second, why does Selig care so much about this, and why does BP go to the trouble to fawn over the commission over an error of degree? Selig is clearly involved, on some level, with what ought to be an internal Mets process and I think that's the substantial point.

And lastly, this apology sounds an awful like Peter Pascarelli's mea culpa earlier in the year. It's no more tasteful now than that was then.

I get the feeling that Selig said almost exactly that 'off the record' and the reporter went with it when he was supposed to use the other quote. That Selig would say either thing to a reporter seems specious enough. Considering that they are planning on punishing agents who 'negotiate' thru the media. But if he's going to push that hard, things must be really really bad in the Mets front office. I've never heard him say such a thing. The Mets 'hired' Minaya and Selig doesn't have to take responsibility for him like he did when he ran the Expos.

Did I forget, or am I confused. I know the NFL has a policy regarding hiring practices to ensure minorities get interviews for positions, doesn't MLB have something similar.

If so, isn't Selig's tampering directing a team to violate that policy?

If not, well, then this was just reading practice.

Well considering that no one replied to this, I am going to have to assume that the Commissioner's Office called and BP got muscled. No big deal, I just find it odd that this, as well as the original Quotes article, is extremely ambiguous. This post makes zero sense. Let's go through this, and by all mean, I am open to criticism, that's why we are here.

"Mr. Selig has long been an advocate of baseball journalism"

Right, he is fabulous.

"Thus, the last thing we would want to do is damage the media's relationship with him."

So, are you worried about your quote or Sherman's quote?

"In the story, we quoted Selig as telling the New York Post's Joel Sherman that he was ordering Mets owner Fred Wilpon to hire Sandy Alderson, currently working as Major League Baseball's point man on corruption in the Dominican Republic baseball system, as the franchise's next general manager. However, that was not the case."

Operative words are "ordering" and "not the case".

So, what is the case?

"This what Selig actually told Sherman: 'He would bring the Mets an intellect they have been missing plus instant organization, credibility and the perception throughout the game that the general manager—and not ownership—is running the baseball operations. None of the other candidates can do this. So if the Wilpons do not pick Alderson now they should know the first reaction is going to be that they will be giving their fans more of the same."

Ok, sounds good.

This is what your line originally said.

—Commissioner Bud Selig, advocating the Mets hire Sandy Alderson. (Joel Sherman, New York Post)

Please let me know, if Selig is not advocating Alderson, what is he doing? Mind you, all of this could have been perceived as nothing, had Selig not stated, "None of the other candidates can do this". You guys are smart, part genius in my opinion, and I think my membership is worth every penny that I pay. Why was this clarified? Are we missing something?