sandy-alderson-story-apThere seems to be a significant divide among devotees of the New York Mets as to whether GM Sandy Alderson is doing a good or bad job in that position. There are many whose patience is wearing dangerously thin. They will point to Alderson’s failure to build a quality bullpen in his four seasons at the helm – though that argument is tempered somewhat by recent success. They will point to precious Wilponian funds wasted on the likes of D.J. Carrasco, Frank Francisco and most recently Chris Younglast night’s heroics notwithstanding. They will point to his failure to even bother with an offer to Jose Reyes and argue that the three prizes of his two major trades have largely been spottily productive (Zack Wheeler – last night’s heroics notwithstanding), injured (Noah Syndergaard) or both (Travis d’Arnaud). These are the easy responses that accompany disappointment on the field. This is a result-oriented business after all and Met fans haven’t seen any.

Over here, the disappointment isn’t as deep or devastating. First of all, when you’ve been watching the Mets for 40 years or more, you tend to get a “seen-it-all” attitude, though this team will always be Amazin’ – it will show you ineptitude you never thought existed. Second of all, for your intrepid columnist, Alderson’s resume is too impressive to ignore: after all his intelligent moves in Oakland and San Diego, it is highly unlikely that he turned into a moron as soon as he left the Commissioner’s office.

No, the main disappointment for me was how this past week has been handled. When Alderson was hired, his reputation as the adult in the room preceded him. As I wrote in another venue at the time:

“Call me an ‘Alderson Guy.’

He’s got a track record. He’s got respect. He’s got brains. He says the right things about how he wants to go about rebuilding a ballclub. He’ll emphasize the farm system and the scouting department, while — if he’s not exactly the father of sabermetrics in MLB front offices, he’s at least an uncle — bringing a statistical bent to the hallways. He’s a Dartmouth Law graduate and an ex-Marine who saw time in Viet Nam: in other words, he knows what he’s talking about and won’t hesitate to tell Jeffy [Wilpon] where to go if he has to.”

That last line is where the disappointment lies. It’s been rumored that the firing of hitting coach Dave Hudgens came at the behest of the younger Wilpon and that Alderson was reluctant to pull that particular trigger. He later made the radio talk rounds, refuting those rumors and further spreading the miscommunication that fans will need to come out in droves to see a horrid team if they are to be rewarded with a winner on the field. This circular quadruple-speak could come from nowhere else than the head of Jeff Wilpon.

The disappointment is that Sandy Alderson feels the need to parrot it.

Follow me on Twitter @CharlieHangley.

12 comments on “Are Savvy Mets Fans Disappointed In Sandy Alderson?

  • Barry

    You’re kidding, right?

    Have you ever told your boss “where to go, if you have to” ?

    No GM overrides his owner’s wishes. Ever.
    How can you even think such a thing?

    • Charlie Hangley

      My point at the time was this: he didn’t need the job!

      He had made his reputation, he had made his fortune, he was quite content in the Commissioner’s office, by all accounts and only took on the Mets as a favor to Bud Selig.

      So at the time, I thought that he could “tell Jeffy where to go” and walk away with his head held high.

      I was wrong.

  • Reality Chuck

    It must be nice to be able to use rumor and baseless inuendo (that complete misrepresents the situation) as a basis for commentary. Why base your opinions on facts? That’s so 20th century!9

  • since68

    I’ve been a Met fan for over 40 years
    I prefer home grown talent over free agents
    I prefer one or two WS over 10 years and some bad years over just playoff appearances.

    I agree with your assessment. I like the way Sandy has done things, until recently. Problem is, it’s hard to tell if recent events are all Sandys doing, or overrides from ownership. Moves in question are:

    The Hudgens firing
    The Collins extension
    The Young Contract
    The Grandy Contract
    The Ike situation

    Whichmof these are Alderson, and which are Wilpon???

  • Name

    I don’t think i’ve been disappointed, as that implies i had expectations for him. I was never high on him, never thought he was any more special than the hundreds of other GM’s out there.

    He’s turned out to be very nonchalant, meticulous and stubborn (In a bad way). He’s not a risk-taker, and plays it very very safe. He struggles to adapt and hasn’t proven to be an effective leader.

    He’s not to blame for everything, a lot of it has to be put on the poor lucky (and judgement I guess) of the Wilpons, and most fans and media for acting like whiny, spoiled kids more often than not. But let’s win sooner than later so we can put all this bickering and finger-pointing to rest.

  • Chris F

    The issue with the split of opinion as I see it it is pretty simple: he inherited a house on fire. Then he started to throw water on it…essentially, any move at all was destined to be a good idea. The owners have no money = shed big $ contracts. check. Any GM would make that move. The questions whether the returns were good value. I suppose the final word is still out. However, Wheeler needs to mature like mad (and not against a limp Phillies offense) before we call the unloading of Beltran a winner. d’Arnaud is at best on thin ice and possibly headed out of the big league by seasons end. I think hes closer to a bust than inheriting the legacy of the #15 on his back. Noah is the likely highest upside of all the deals, but only time will tell there as well. Andres Torres anyone? Drafts are a hard call and the high placings in the minors are just that…until this translates to Ws in Flushing we dont know. We have seen Kirk MdD Satin etc all pump up numbers in the minors only to fail in Queens. is our top 50% farm system up to the task of MLB wins?

    As smart as Alderson is, I dont consider him a baseball guy, like a Torre or La Russa. Ok, he has some history running things, and yet I hear the word Oakland and all I think is Billy Beane, not Sandy. And how much better a GM Beane is. I think its a mistake to think his backward double speak at every occasion is messaging from the Wilpons. He does it habitually. He says nothing every time he speaks. Its maddening.

    He has brought to the Mets a coaching staff that is not up to the task.
    He has failed to build a bull pen in 4 tries
    He has made the 1st base position an utter catastrophe
    He has failed to build a complete line up, preferring a philosophy over needs
    He has failed to build a team that capitalizes on Citi Field dimensions
    He has failed to bring Ws to the ledger.
    He has continued to build a giant rift between the team and the fans that love it.
    I have never envisioned him as a Mets fan.

    In my call he has done “ok,” but not good. He has not built a resume with the Mets to shop around for future employment. I would not keep him or his FO and field staff on.

    Perhaps he was the medication the patient needed to get better. And when the patient gets better the medicine is no longer needed. Im hoping that time has arrived.

  • Jerry Grote

    You have three first baseman; they have an OPS+ of 126, 137, and 156 *in the major leagues*. At least one of them can play 3B.

    In AAA you have two other guys with an OPS north of 800 (mind you, this isn’t LV numbers) capable of playing 1B. Fernando Martinez is only one season removed from being a top 100 ball player and is still only 22.

    You conclude the season with the most dynamic SS in baseball and the best young 3B.

    You have a CFer that has contributed almost 11 WAR in the last three years with an OPS+ of 107, and a slightly hobbled star in RF.

    What happens is that we keep all three firstbaseman, trade the two OFers for magic beans and crap, never promote either of the first baseman from AAA, let Martinez basically walk having turned that asset into shit, get zero for the *best shortstop in baseball*, and keep Captain America. Presumably, because he is white.

    Now, that’s not enough, because you need to juxtapose how this franchise has failed to turn around even while Miami, Atlanta, and Washington continually improve themselves.

    Yeah, I’m disappointed. Sandy didn’t come here with an empty cupboard. He had talent, he made poor decisions based on what was here, and we give him credit for getting magic beans for WAR producing, ML talent.

    Whatever.

  • Metsense

    This year this Met fan hopes the Mets achieve a .500 record. Sandy took over a 79 win team and produced three seasons of 77, 74 and 74 with this promise that us fans have to be patient because he is building a solid franchise.
    Chris F ,JG, and Name present a valid argument and one that I agree with.
    This is major league baseball and is supposed to be entertaining. I do believe that the organization is more solid but I think that the major league team should have been more competitive over the years. Sandy’s high water mark was June 3, 2012 , first place and 8 games over .500 and he did nothing to improve the team because in his plan it would have been a short term fix. Jump ahead two years and on June 3, 2014 will the Mets be 8 games over .500 and in first place? Sandy cut the payroll for the Wilpon’s and saved the team for them. When his contract expires, I hope it is not renewed.

  • Larry Love

    Sandy is a curse like hurricane sandy. Not blessed like Sandy Kofax. Worst general manager ever. Signs players with high strike out ratios instead of contact hitters doesn’t resign Aron Harang when u know Harvey is out. Doesn’t resign marlin Byrd and Hawkins.

    • pablo

      I totally agree he should have signed Hawkins and Byrd. These signings would have provided greater stability to the pen and some additional very much needed- rbi’s. That money should have been spent wisely.

  • SL

    Since Dartmouth doesn’t have a Law School (it’s a college not a university) he didn’t graduate there. He went to Harvard Law and Dartmouth College.
    More importantly, exactly what great moves did he make in San Diego?

    Here’s the deal, Sandy is not a “baseball man”. He is an attorney, who has been working in baseball.
    I have no problem with that EXCEPT that the reason he was brought in was to clean up Omar’s Contract problems – i.e. big, cumbersome deals on non productive players like Ollie Perez.

    And that is exactly where Sandy has failed.

    His drafts have produced exactly NOTHING so far. The young kids we are seeing now are Omar picks. Montero is a Sandy guy and the jury is out on him as he has taken a clear step back this year.

    Brandon Nimmo is 2 levels below where he should be so his recent minor league success means nothing.

    After 4 years you should have something to show for your draft.

    Here’s the deal, the reliance on stats, particularly the absurd ones like Dwar, only tell you what someone has DONE. i.e their past.

    Being a GM is about the future.

    That was Hudgens problem as well. He could cite chapter and verse on hard hit ball %, call first strikes, etc, what he could NOT do was break down a swing and figure out where someone was going wrong.

    So, the Lamar Johnson promotion is a good thing, and should show some dividends in a few weeks.

    In addition, of the 2 big trades that Sandy has made, the key components were Wheeler and d’Arnaud (people forget that Thor was viewed as an afterthought).

    Thor clearly has the highest upside of all of them, Wheeler has been a bit of a disappointment but it’s too early to tell. However, he certainly cannot be put in the “plus” category.

    And d’Arnaud, for me, is a major disappointment. His receiving skills are good, but his positioning, and footwork are abysmal, which is what leads to his injuries and I’m stunned that the coaching staff has not repositioned him in the catcher’s box to prevent the constant backswing hits he takes, as well as the misses on breaking balls out of the zone that he lets get by him.

    And his bat? Well, clearly there is a lack of contact even when he DOES shorten his swing. I’m hoping desperately it’s just an approach issue, and not simply a lack of talent.

    Luckily, I was impressed with Plawecki this spring, although Sandy and his coterie do not seem to think much of him.

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