Word keeps dribbling out that it’s all but official that the Mets will be extending Sandy Alderson’s contract. According to a source, owner and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon will confirm this worst-kept-secret quite soon. There are some among Mets’ fans who despair at this news. They’ll deride the Mets’ GM as “SMS: Small Market Sandy,” as if it were his fault that Bernie Madoff made off with the team’s fortunes and good name. No, you’d have to look to the higher floors and pay-grades for the proper place to lay that blame. They see him as little more than the Wilpons’ mouthpiece, spouting platitudes about Ruben Tejada and ridiculous aspirations of 90 wins. While it’s true that Alderson ain’t perfect, it’s also true that his brand of expertise is paying off.
Look at the Mets’ farm system now, as compared to five or six ago. Back then, could anyone have imagined four of the Mets’ top five farm teams making the playoffs in their respective Leagues and the fifth missing by a hair? Could you have thought Wally Backman would be voted Manager of the Year in anything but a rotisserie league? You might have dreamt about the succession of fireballing right arms, the likes of which hasn’t been seen around here since the mid-‘60s. As the year wore on, even some of the young position players began to get some notice. As youngsters climb the ladder, so does the entire system in the eyes of people who pay attention. All that is Sandy Alderson’s doing. The trick will be hanging on to the guys you want to hang onto, until the Wilpons – or someone else – brings the team out of the financial weeds. As a very good friend of mine, a Yankee fan put it, “They have to come up, do well and get paid, or they’ll move on and Sandy will have to do it all over again.”
People are beginning to wax poetic about the future of the major league product – assuming the moves so desperately needed are actually made in the off-season. No less a personage than Big Mike Francesa – the self-styled Grand Poobah of sports opinion in New York and vicinity – dropped a little blurb on his show yesterday afternoon. “As for the Mets…they’ve got 76 wins. Let’s say they get to 80 this year. Next year, you’re gonna have a whole year of [Jacob] deGrom, a whole year of [Matt] Harvey, ya got [Zack] Wheeler and ya probably keep two of [Dillon] Gee, [Jon] Niese, [Noah] Syndergaard and [Bartolo] Colon. You get a healthy year outta [David] Wright, a consistent year outta [Curtis] Granderson…If they bring in two big bats, presumably at short and in left…It’s not that big a stretch to go from 80 wins to 90. The dark times for the Mets are over.” Well, how do you like that? And from the World’s Leading Authority, yet? And he’s a Yankee fan…
In any case, Sandy Alderson will be here for awhile. He’s worked wonders at the lower levels. As far as his MLB moves, he’s been – shall we say? – spotty. The glaring errors speak for themselves: Chris Young, D.J. Carrasco, Frank Francisco, Granderson to an extent, and not making an effort to retain Jose Reyes. His successes have not yet outweighed his failures. This winter will tell the tale if he’s provided the resources to reverse that trend.
If he can do with the majors what he’s done with the minors, we might all be smiling by this time next year.
Follow me on Twitter @CharlieHangley.
0/3 in free agent acquisitions.
0 offseason trades.
Obsessed with stinky old geezers.
3 f–king more years.
what geezers? Dice K? The 55 innings swallowed by Eveland & Carlyle?
Who would you have rather seen in their places?
Alderson has accomplished his number 1 priority of keeping the Wilpon’s in control. He then built the farm system and it produced three players that are in the top 5 for rookie of the year honors: deGrom, TdA and Familia. He is excellent at trading established players for minor leaguers. The next phase is trading major league talent for major league talent and signing free agents which he has been poor at. I am not confident that he is the right GM for this phase of the job. He is good at accomplishing his #1 priority though and considering that the team is in financial stress there may never be a next phase because there may never be enough money to compete. Therefore he will again be forced to trade established major leaguers for minor leaguers and at least we know he is good at that.
I don’t accept that David Wright will be back, as the player he was. I hope he does, but there are no guarantees. As far as Granderson being consistent, are you talking about a 220 hitter, below average fielder, and 140 strikeouts. Who is getting older. I expect a big improvement among several of the younger player and rookies. As long as Terry Collins remains with this team I see major problems. His not trusting young players, terrible line ups, poor communications with veterans.
Look no farther then Atlanta to see how the Mets future will look. Great starting pitching and no offense. Does that remind you of a team in Queens? Well they fired their GM and I’ll bet the manager is next. The Mets on the other hand just give extensions and hope the fans have their heads buried in the sand along side of the owners and the front office. Until the Mets add a bat that can hit .300 and hit 30 home runs and drive in 90-100 R.B.I.’s they’ll continue to sputter along.