Sandy AldersonThe Mets were supposed to spend in 2014 and that hasn’t happened.  Sure, they signed Curtis Granderson, Bartolo Colon, Chris Young and an assortment of filler pieces with the money saved from shedding Johan Santana and Jason Bay, but they have not spent.  Spending would indicate that the Mets would be increasing their payroll.  Perhaps Sandy Alderson has an excuse.

In previous years there wasn’t much that could be said.  The Mets couldn’t really afford the big ticket players and the lesser stars were never the right fit.  With the exception of Michael Bourn, the Mets never really seemed to be a good fit for the remaining free agents.  That was then… today, there are a pair of free agent players who would likely accept diminished value to be signed.

Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales represent prizes that would easily placate the aggravated Met fans.  Ruben Tejada has not shown dividends of an improved work ethic and Ike Davis and Lucas Duda haven’t laid claim to the starting job at first base.  For Met fans observing this points to one glaring truth; the Wilpons, who own the Mets, have no money to invest in winning.  Would Drew and/or Morales be the difference makers?

ESPN 2014 Season Projections: (BA/R/HR/RBI/SB)

  • Stephen Drew – .252/65/15/69/5
  • Ruben Tejada – .259/48/1/30/4
  • Kendrys Morales – .280/67/24/82/0
  • Ike Davis -.234/64/20/71/2
  • Lucas Duda -.249/45/13/44/1

Drew and Morales are clearly improvements over Tejada, Davis and Duda.  What kind of difference would they make?

Morales, a switch hitter, steps in as the starting first baseman, relegating Josh Satin to backing up at first, second and third.  He hits fifth in the lineup and provides considerably more protection to David Wright and Granderson.  That gives the Mets a solid heart to their lineup.

Drew gives the Mets options.  Drew is not an ideal leadoff hitter, so one of the Youngs might keep that role, but he presents an option to leadoff that is more palette-able to fans than Tejada.  He could also hit 6th or 7th in the order providing another real bat later in the lineup.

The issue?  The Mets don’t want to lose draft picks… and they have no money.  The first pick is protected, I don’t buy the pick excuse on this one, particularly as Drew and Morales would be looking at diminished contracts this late in the game.  Seems more likely that the Wilpons cannot afford even lesser contracts.  If the team stays as it is, the offseason was a failure.  Alderson needs to sign one or both of these players or trade for Chris Owings or Nick Franklin or he will no longer have the faith of the fans.

14 comments on “Is Sandy Alderson’s offseason a failure? Can he save things?

  • Rev.Al

    My hope for a good line-up and good season is falling away fast.We still have the same questions about S/S and 1st base ?

  • Jim OMalley

    I don’t see any major event happening with these situations until after the draft is done. By that point, there will be intense pressure for the Mets to make changes to the manager and we might see some player changes as well.

  • Name

    You can argue that the Mets didn’t spend, but what matters is what you put on the field. The projected roster on the field is going to have a much higher payroll, nearly triple, than last year.
    So while their total payroll doesn’t seem to have changed, their “playing paroll” has increased dramatically.

    • Chris F

      Its still all shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.

      I like some of the moves, cant stand others. None of what we saw says: ’14 = 90 wins.

      Overall, its a mixed bag. Off season was relatively easy to deal with for SA given the money coming off the payroll, which left him lots of choices. I think ownership has very little money to play baseball with.

  • Wilponzi

    First of all some fans are in panic its only spring training. Spring training is nothing, totally meaningless. It’s nice to win, but than isn’t important. Its very frustrating by losing all those games to the Marlins but they are meaningless. Drew and Morales are no answers. Play Satin at First, until one of the “two bozo’s” actually shows something. I admit short is a big problem. I don’t think to trade for an unproven player because the other team thinks your desperate for a shortstop and is asking way to much for that “unproven player” because your desperate. It’s like taking a bad load from a predator bank.
    Alderson doesn’t give a dam about what the fans think. He works for Freddie and Jeff. Sandy doesn’t have great credibility with the Met fan base. So he has nothing to lose. He hired back an unpopular Manager, and coaches, because they were loyal to him. But than again he’s not a fool.

  • Jerry Grote

    I have a much harder time accepting Morales as a bona fide improvement – especially with the dollars involved, not to mention draft pick – than Lucas Duda.

    Yes, I see the numbers and the projections. I just think they are overly optimistic for KM and pessimistic for LD.

    But putting another 30 HR potential bat in the lineup … that would have been nice.

  • Paul

    Given the dollar cost involved and the loss of a draft pick, I’m not convinced that Kendry Morales is a significant upgrade from a Lucas Duda/Josh Satin platoon.

    I’ve been saying that the Mets should sign Stephen Drew for quite a while, but it’s misguided to think Scott Boras is going to take a discount contract for any of his clients. Drew & Morales will sit out until after the draft or until some team decides to pay what Boras believes is market value.

  • footballhead

    To answer the question that is the title of this piece; yes, Alderson’s offseason dealings have been an abysmal failure. It’s only an excuse when financial restraints by the Wilpon’s are given as excusing Sandy. This organization is neither creative enough or savvy enough to plug holes in Mets roster. And really, $10 million for Colon? Even the beat writers fell for the excuse that a “veteran presence” was needed for this young pitching staff. My question would be “Why”? Pitching is the one area we don’t need help in. It’s obvious since last season that a shortstop and first basemen is needed. And why the needless drama over who’s to play centerfield? Another 7.5 million wasted for E. Young! For an organization with $$ problems, they do a lousy job in properly allocatting their resources.

  • pete

    Even if you gave Morales 20 million for 2 years that would still be a bargain. Trade Davis and Duda along with their 5 million dollar contracts and the team payroll would still be under 80 million.

  • Jerry Grote

    Well, we don’t have to worry about Stephen Drew anymore.

    He’ll sign with the Tigers now that Iglesias is injured, probably by the end of the week. I wonder if the Mets could sign and trade him.

    Thanks Sandy. Thanks for a whole lotta nuthin – now we’re faced with giving up talent for Franklin, playing Flores (not bloody likely) or starting with Tejada.

    We will regret not having SS decided for the next three years.

  • TexasGusCC

    There are several reasons Alderson’s off season was a failure:
    1. The signings of Colon and C. Young we’re reaches that we’re made early in the off season. By making a reach in secondary players, the Mets concluded that the primary players were out of the budget. Failure without trying to succeed.
    2. Colon and Granderson both signed with the Mets because the Mets were the only team to offer an additional guaranteed year. The only team. While I do not have as big a problem with those signings as I do the Chris Young signing, it shows that the Mets seemed to be desperate. But, desperate about what? Making the playoffs?
    3. For me, the off season began on September 30th, when Alderson resigned his stupid puppet. Talk about a bad omen.
    4. Most importantly, Alderson went on the record as saying certain things on live radio that his ego or bosses were not prepared to do. He spoke openly about SS and 1B, but for all his talk, he couldn’t get a deal done.

    And to answer Wilponzi, Alderson cares and cares plenty. But, again his hubris told us that he will not sign players if the fans don’t buy tickets first. This seems to be Wilpon/Alderson against the fans. OK guys, good luck with that.

  • Metsense

    Yes the Alderson off season was a failure because he did not address some important issues: depth at shortstop, veteran established relief presence, a high OBP lead off hitter, upgrading three offensive holes in the lineup and the first base situation. During the offseason there seemed to be enough players available to accomplish this without spending on the mega long term contracts of the Ellsbury/Choo type. As Footballhead said “For an organization with $$ problems, they do a lousy job in properly allocating their resources.” The best analysis is Chris F “Its still all shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic”.

  • Patrick Albanesius

    More than most teams this year, I think the first few weeks will be extremely telling about whether this team can seriously compete or not. If it starts off rough, this fan base is not going to be very pleasant or patient. I just hope that doesn’t exacerbate things.

  • Wilponzi

    Patrick I really agree with what your saying. I think Granderson will make so improvement, or at least be as good as Byrd. But I think Chris Young, the two Bozo’s at first base who haven’t played this spring, TDA not hitting with improvement this spring, and the teams inaction to make a move at short stop (Tejada is no answer),concern me.

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