Sandy Alderson took over for Omar Minaya as General Manager in October of 2010. Under Alderson the Mets have yet to go over .500, but he has done well to rebuild the Mets Farm system through the draft and through trades. His most notable trades were trading away RA Dickey and Carlos Beltran.
One of Alderson’s best trades so far was the Beltran for Zack Wheeler trade. San Francisco at the time was looking to make a playoff run, but ultimately fell eight games out back in the division by the end of the season. The Mets knew that they were not going to be able to resign Beltran after the 2011 season and traded him to the highest bidder, which netted them Wheeler. After Matt Harvey debuted in 2012 and started the year very strong in 2013, New York was buzzing with anticipation about another top pitching prospect coming up in 2013.He pitched roughly half of the season for the Mets in 2013 and lived up to a lot of the hype surrounding him. After 2013 and Harvey going down at the end of the year Wheeler needed to step up during 2014. Wheeler’s ERA was slightly higher in 2014, but he did managed to harness his control a little bit better and dropped his by walk rate by .3/ nine innings and raised his strikeout rate by 1.5/ nine innings.
The Dickey trade is already looking really good for the Mets. Dickey had a great year for the Mets in 2012 and Alderson sold high getting a top catching and top pitching prospect. Travis d’Arnaud has already shown signs that he is going to be a big part of the Mets for the next few years and displays good skills behind the plate even though he has let a lot of passed balls go through. Noah Syndergaard struggled through Triple-A, but his numbers were not that bad when you look closely at them, he struggled mainly with the hitters putting the ball in play with a BABIP of .382. The throw-in prospect for that trade Wuilmer Becerra over two seasons in the Mets Organization has not done anything spectacular, but he did play pretty well for Kingsport this past season batting .300. The last piece the Mets got as a part of the Dickey trade was John Buck.
Buck started the season really hot in the beginning of April in 2013, but then proceeded to drop off significantly offensively, but still played solid defense. He was the primary catcher for most of the 2013 season with d’Arnaud being sidelined with the foot injury. Alderson was able to flip Buck and the 700k signing of Marlon Byrd for major league ready pitcher Vic Black, who pitched very well in 2014 out of the bullpen, and top second base prospect Dilson Herrera who looks to be a big part of the Mets in the future up the middle. Over 2014 Black had a 2.60 ERA and
held the first batter he faced to a .194 batting average over 41 appearances. His season got cut short a little bit with injuries, but overall a solid season. Herrera was even more impressive than Black was, starting the year in
St. Lucie and hitting over .300, then getting promoted and hitting even in Binghamton despite being much younger than most of the players. Once Murphy went down with injury in late August the Mets decided to have Herrera skip over
Vegas and go straight to the bigs. Herrera did not have as a high of an average as he did in the minors, but he did show that he has some pop that the Mets very desperately need in their lineup.
Alderson was not done with the Pirates just yet. At the beginning of the 2014 after Lucas Duda had won the first base battle Ike Davis was flipped to the Pirates for Zack Thornton and a PTBNL (Blake Taylor) who was chosen in the 2013 draft. Thornton despite having a 4.22 ERA, in the PCL, has actually pitched pretty well boasting almost 10 strikeouts per nine innings. Blake Taylor, who the Pirates drafted 51st overall in 2013, did not pitch particularly well in 2014. He made seven starts for the Kingsport Mets and had an ERA of 5.34. Most scouting reports talk about his lack of fastball command and his plus curveball, which if he gains control of the former and adds a little
velocity, could become a nice arm out of the bullpen in the future. Taylor still has time to develop though. With that trade it finally gave the answer about what the Mets were doing with the situation at first base between Duda
and Davis.
Three of the trades look to be as if the Mets won so far in the end, but the jury is still out on the most recent Pirates trade, while we wait to see if Taylor or Thornton help the big league club. Dickey did not repeat his Cy Young season for the Blue Jays, but was still serviceable for them over the past two seasons. While Beltran, Buck, and Byrd no longer play for the teams that they were traded to, the two latter played their just for the last month of the season and signed elsewhere. Alderson has made a few smaller trades since he took over, but most of his big name trades have turned out well for the Mets. Alderson, usually, gets a nice return for any of the players he trades. One of the exceptions was Angel Pagan, but reports came out that he did not fit well in the Mets clubhouse and the Mets were considering not bringing him back anyway and they were able to trade him for another center fielder and reliever, neither of which compared to how well Pagan played for San Francisco for the next few years. Alderson, also did well with some veteran free agent signings, like LaTroy Hawkins, Byrd, and Daisuke Matsuzaka. He also had
some big flops like Chris Young, Kyle Farnsworth, and Jose Valverde. So far at least Alderson has done well rebuilding the Mets and are looking strong going forward with a lot of kids coming up through the system mixed with a few veterans giving looks like a team that could go far in the next few years.
First off, welcome to the site, we’re glad to have you.
That being said, the Pagan trade, while somewhat justifiable at the time, is hard to defend now looking back at it, unless there were financial reasons behind it, at which point it’s maddeningly frustrating. That trade has been a disaster for the Mets as Pagan has continued to be a stellar player, and the Mets lineup has continued to search for some extra punch that Pagan could’ve provided.
Hawkins, Byrd, Dice-K, Farnsworth and Valverde were all just “Let’s throw a bunch of different options at the wall and see who sticks” signings. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t, I’d hesitate to give him too much credit for these working out/not working out.
As for Chris Young the hitter, as friend of the site Howard Megdal likes to point out, that signing was more financially motivated than it might seem. With a budget that constantly changes (and always in the going down dept.) the signing had to be made because who knows if that money was going to be there by the time that Nelson Cruz dropped his asking price. He didn’t work out, but there is greater context to put it in rather than just they chose Young over Cruz. Granted, I understand that you didn’t do this here, so don’t take it the wrong way.
Overall I enjoyed this and look forward to reading you here for a while.
Im glad Pagan is gone. He did not have much team chemistry, and as a Met the on-again-off-again play was maddening. He couldnt throw worth a lick. We never would have offered the contract he got. Torres was a nightmare in the trade. You have to wonder if there is something in the water in Queens. Throw on the pinstripes, and about anyone near 40 plays like they are 28 again. Bring em across the bridge, and, well, we generally know what happens.
I think it takes less skill to get prospects for all stars. Look at Beltran, who since leaving the Mets has had a stellar career, while Wheeler is throwing nearly 20 pitches per inning. When you wipe of the cake frosting we call hype, all thats left is a mid-to-back end starter who will leverage the pen almost every outing. I hope he improves.
When I saw this headline, my first thought was, “Well, this is going to be a short article.” In the past 12 months,I believe that Alderson has made one trade
— one that he finally made almost a year too late, Ike Davis. So let’s not pretend that he’s been aggressively trying to improve the team via trade. It’s just a huge area of weakness for the Mets GM. He’s sat on his hands and done very little in terms of player acquisition, possibly out of fear. In regard to free agency, he’s been nearly disastrous. That said, Alderson has done a good job of dealing a few quality veterans for prospects. When it comes to acquiring ML players, it’s not anything he’s done well. You also did not mention the Colin McHugh for Eric Young trade, which I actually liked at the time. In retrospect, looks like McHugh was a lot better than I thought. He had a tremendous, deGrom-like season in 2014.
I know McHugh was up there for talks about Rookie of the Year, but the reason that I did not look at the McHugh trade for Eric Young was because McHugh is not with the team the Mets traded him to. He was designated for assignment by the Rockies last winter and the Astros picked him up.
He did make the Davis trade later than most think that he should have, but what I was getting at was that all of the bigger trades that Alderson has made, since taking over the Mets, he got a nice return for each of the players. He holds out until he gets what he wants.
this has been said by many here; he is stubborn and holds out until he gets what he wants.
There is a downside to this approach. If you’ve ever been married, you know that you can’t “win” every trade. Eventually the other side becomes unwilling to deal with you.
And in the broader context of baseball, you can become a pariah … someone with a reputation. There is value to insuring everyone at the table gets to wet their beak.
I agree JG, and wondered if Alderson was getting a reputation for being a little greedy. I thought for sure Colon was a goner for sure, but surprised that no one made a good offer? On the flip side, have to respect a man that holds his ground.
If he cannot pull a trade this winter with all the spare parts he has, there needs to be worry. I know Herrera is not ready for the majors, but Murphy’s value is right now, not in July and not after being given a QO. Additionally, between Gee, Niese, and Colon, there are enough pieces that can help someone in return for a decent hitter.
No doubt, this winter will be the defining season for Sandy. He bungled the Dudavis situation, and now he faces once again and overabundance of talent at two, possibly three in demand positions (starting pitching, 2B, C).
If we start the year with 7 starting pitchers, four or five 2B, and the entire quintet of catchers, well, then its on him.
Fair enough to say that every team in baseball pretty much passed on Colin McHugh (including the Rocks, who traded for him initially). Guy comes up with some sudden ability two years later, you can’t hold Sandy responsible. And Alderson definitely got value in return.
I’ve been a critic of SA for not acquiring any talent at the ML level myself. There’s been a reason for that to this point; it would have been like putting lipstick on a pig. What good would an expensive veteran (in terms of dollars and players) been on the 2011, 2012 or 2013 team?
Mr. Slate, we are aware that the Mets are under 500 you don’t have to remind us. Noah Syndergaard struggles in AAA are not that great. Maybe you and other fans are expecting too, much from him to soon. He is only 21 years old. He pitches in a hitter’s paradise. Alderson’s trades are a 50/50 success rate in my mind. He choice of free agents, manager has been a dismal failure.
Alderson is very good at trading major league talent with expiring contracts for good minor league prospects. He did trade RA and Pagan with one year left of control. The RA trade was solid and he was able to flip Buck also. The Pagan trade was forced (the Mets were financially unable to resign Pagan) and in hind sight he probably should have taken prospects instead for a rebuilding team. The Davis/Duda debate lasted way too long and he ended up with a stale product to trade. That was a mistake. The Mets are still financially restricted and probably can’t afford a multi year free agent salary so they will probably go the trade route. Alderson will be trading major league talent or prospects for major league players that will impact the 2015 team. I am not as confident that he will succeed at this phase but I’ll also concede that it is a most difficult job because there is now a sense of urgency. The clock is now ticking and the rebuild is over.
I enjoyed the article Tyler, welcome aboard.
Let’s see if Sandy learned anything at all from DuDavis.
We have an oversupply of 2B – one could say we have five 2B on this team (EYJ is a push, but you have four others with ML playing time on their resume).
What the overall article points to is more general successes than failures, and that’s how you win. Especially in a grinding game such as baseball. The Mets are within shouting distance of contention. That’s a Pass in my book for Mr. Alderson so far.