They were on track. Doesn't mean Gorton was great or perfect. Doesn't mean he didn't have some significant mistakes on his resume as GM of the NYR.
Never blindly defer to authority without analyzing a situation in full.
Curious what specifically what you're referring to here and what your criteria is for a significant mistake. It certainly has to be more consequential than Ryan Graves, right? To me it has to have big enough consequences that the organization is in a drastically different spot had the decision not been made.
I see a handful of trades/picks and moves that weren't perfect, along with a bunch of really good ones. For me, the closest he came to a "significant mistake" was the Kreider extension, but someone could certainly argue that the jury is still out on that. The LA pick was close as well, but I don't really think the organization is significantly different one way or another if a different pick is made in that spot.