Prior to the 2013 season, Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera was not highly regarded. He probably came into the season on the list of coaches who were on the hot seat. Then something happened and Rivera started in with some aggressive play calling. The moves worked, the Panthers chalked up some wins and “Riverboat Ron” came into our sports lexicon.
Meanwhile, after roughy three years on the job, Sandy Alderson developed a reputation as someone the exact opposite of “Riverboat Ron.” While in large part due to circumstances, Alderson approached matters as conservatively as possible. He didn’t do anything recklessly and his main criticisms came from those frustrated when his style resulted in no action whatsoever being taken.
But Alderson has come out with guns-a-blazing this offseason and the last thing anyone could call him would be “Tight Sandy.” He cut a bunch of guys from the 2013 roster, including one who pitched like a #2 SP before getting hurt. That gamble paid off when Alderson was able to re-sign Jeremy Hefner to a minor league contract.
He cut Justin Turner, a player many fans liked and who some of us believed was a sacred cow. And not only did he cut him, he did not argue when some unnamed official said the reason was because he didn’t hustle. While there’s not a lot to be gained by trashing someone on the way out the door, it’s refreshing that someone on the team noticed Turner’s jogs to first base. If you’re going to be a gritty glue guy – you’ve got to bust it all of the time.
Alderson went against the grain and made an early free agent move, signing Chris Young to a deal prior to the Winter Meetings. Some thought it was for too much money, others complained that no option was attached to the contract but no one criticized him for being passive.
Many of us were upset when Alderson eliminated the Mets from consideration for players who would command a $100 million salary. But this turned out not to be an excuse to keep the purse strings tightly closed. Instead, Alderson went the extra year to get both Curtis Granderson and Bartolo Colon, spending a combined $80 million on two guys the wrong side of 30 – or wrong side of 40 in Colon’s case.
After essentially sitting out the last three years of free agency, Alderson became the poker player who stays in on every flop – ready to take advantage of any situation that presents itself. Shoot, he even had a meeting with Jay-Z about Robinson Cano, even though he was the short stack at the table and didn’t need a second baseman.
There were always rumors that linked the Mets and Granderson. But if you were to lay odds on November 1st – would you have made it even money? And what would have happened to those odds after the Mets signed Young on November 22nd? Yet here is Granderson and not only in the fold – but saying all the right things about Mets fans, too.
Which brings us to Colon. My assumption was that Colon would be a good Plan B on a one-year deal. But here is Alderson making him Plan A and giving him a two-year deal, to boot. Who saw that coming? Here it is 15 hours later and I still don’t know what to think of this deal. My best theory is that this is a high-risk, high-reward signing.
Sure, it’s only two years but at his age, Colon could fall off a cliff at any moment. And he’s now the third-highest paid player on the club. Still, it’s hard to look at his 2013 numbers and find any warning signs. If you didn’t know his age, you would think he could command much, much more on the open market. Now we have to hope he doesn’t injure himself swinging a bat or running the bases.
Barring a last-second Stephen Drew signing or Ike Davis deal, Alderson has one last gamble on the line here at the Winter Meetings. He left a starting pitcher who had a 1.83 ERA and a 0.864 WHIP in 13 starts and 78.2 IP at Double-A Binghamton unprotected in the Rule 5 Draft. Yet Baseball America lists 30 prospects for today’s Rule 5 and while it includes a Mets farmhand, it’s outfielder Darrell Ceciliani and not southpaw Darin Gorski.
Gorski has no future in the Mets’ organization but it would be a shame to lose him for $50,000 in a Rule 5 claim. But this is the time we’re living in here as Mets fans in the “Sandy Goes Wild” era. It’s quite a change from what we witnessed the past three years. May it turn out as well as the “Riverboat Ron” era has turned out so far for the Carolina Panthers.
Gorski went unclaimed.
They are at a “meeting” and you know how “after business meetings” get with the libations. I’d look Sandy over closely and see if he has any new tatoos. If not, then and only then would I believe this was his “plan”. 🙂
Seriously, Sandy played a good poker face. Lady GaGa would be proud.
All of these moves show promise, but it’s a crap shoot with any signing. Matt Kemp went from being MVP to barely playing for two straight years. Where is the durability anymore?
We’re stuck with the Wilpons, but at least Alderson is finally making some moves that will motivate fans to watch games. But they still need to boost the hitting at shortstop. My guess is that they might go the three years for Drew and sign Dice-K or Harang, as well as a couple of free-agent relievers. They do that and they might be a .500 team, with an outside shot at a playoff spot.
Now,if only he had just let Terry Collins go.Sigh.
Yeah, that’s the one move that doesn’t fit the narrative.
Maybe we can spin it that he’s gambling on the leopard changing his spots…
I’m interested to see who he flips Ike for. Sandy has always proven to get maxed value when he holds out.(Dickey, Beltran, Byrd, etc.)
He does get great value, and he’s among a number of fine GMs when it comes to trades … I think of Rizzo (Nats) and Bean (A’s). At least we don’t have the Phillies GM. If I had to bet on the Davis trade, I’d put my money on Jimmy Nelson.
That said, I have to wonder who he believes he can trade for in the SS market. I just don’t see where that can come together.
My starting assumption with all this critiquing of the Mets and all their business on and off the field is that the people who make their living doing this (the owners, GM, assistants, manager, coaches) must know more than I do. They do it professionally. Doesn’t mean they’re necessarily good at it or above criticism, but they’re on the inside living it and I’m on the outside speculating about it.
Sometimes when I read this site and others, it’s amusing to hear how worked up people get over this and that, and how certain they are that they know the right thing to do and the people who do this professionally are clueless idiots who don’t know what they’re doing. Sometimes I agree with them… can’t say I’m a big fan of the Wilpons as owners or Collins as manager. All the same, I know I’m in the peanut gallery and those guys are on the (metaphorical and/or actual) playing field. There is all the difference in the world between doing and being a critic.
I think well of Sandy Alderson. One day maybe we’ll know all the back room wheeling and dealing it took to get him to agree to be Mets GM, at a time when the job ranked just below manning the complaint counter in Hell in terms of undesirable employment. But whatever it took to get him to agree to do it, he put on his waders and stepped into the mess and set about cleaning it up. That’s what the past 3 years have been about – cleaning up the mess and positioning the team to begin the long climb back up the hill of respectability.
Alderson did what he’s done so far this off-season, and not before, because he’s finally gotten the organization to the point where it made any sense to do it. He’s smart, focused, disciplined and tough. When he walks out the door for the last time in the not too distant future, he’ll leave the team in much better shape than it was when he came in. I don’t think the Mets will make the playoffs in ’14, but it won’t be shocking if they do. And in 2015 there’s good reason to think they will be legitimate contenders, and if they are, a big chunk of the credit should go to Sandy Alderson, even if he’s sitting in the MLB Commissioner’s chair at the time.
Well said AJ and spot on with how I feel as well.
At this juncture- just finding a team to take Ike and his $4mil off the books would be productive and would provide additional funds to pick up a useful player.
The Mets are now at about $87 million. Yes, we should trade Ike, but why doesn’t a NYC team have at least $120 million to spend (albeit wisely)?