As this is written, MLB executives throughout the land are packing their bags and preparing for their annual swap meet/trade show, the Winter Meetings. Fans of downtrodden teams – as the Mets had been, until this year – hope to see their squad make a splash. They hope their team will suddenly become “relevant” with one swipe of the pen and several zeroes on a contract. Look at the Boston Red Sox. Yes, yes, I know: they won a World Series only two years ago. But the years surrounding it? 2011: horrible choke job to lose a playoff spot. 2012: finished last. 2014: finished last. 2015: finished last. So they jumped out ahead of this year’s convention and signed pitcher David Price to an obscenely lucrative deal and landed themselves back on the MLB radar. And the splash doesn’t even have to be that big. It could just happen on a slow news day, like last year.
A year ago at this time, we Mets fans were in deep despair. After four years of strip-mining the franchise, we could on barely make out the glint of light down the long tunnel. We knew Sandy Alderson would never be able to make the big move needed to shore up the offense, offense needed to support the potentially great pitching on the horizon. There was talk about interest in Colorado outfielder Michael Cuddyer, but when he accepted the Rockies’ qualifying offer, that appeared to be that. But early in the Meetings, Alderson signed him to a two-year contract, loss of draft pick be damned. Nothing else of consequence happened there that day, so the media jumped on the Mets’ move. Far and wide, it was hailed as a good one. The pundits on the MLB Network thought it would be the piece to put the Mets over .500, if not over the top. John Smoltz even went as far as to say the move put the Mets in the playoffs, or at least “in the playoff mix.” A lot of us felt otherwise. We saw a slow, injury prone, poor fielding outfielder who was given a lot of money, basically because he hit well in the thin air of Denver, he’s David Wright’s buddy and the signing would get the fans off Alderson’s back. Those naysayers turned out to be right. Cuddyer did nothing and the Mets stumbled into July three games over .500 with a putrid offense. The only reason the record was that good was because of a season-starting 11-game winning streak. But Alderson recognized the relative weakness of the NL East and swung some deals that shored up the offense and gave the Mets at least a chance at the Division crown. As we all know, they took that chance and ran with it, all the way to game five of the World Series.
Despite the surprise pennant of 2015, we fans seem to be in a similar funk as a year ago. There appear to be no “big” moves on the horizon, no one to soften the defections of Daniel Murphy and Yoenis Cespedes, two extremely important offensive cogs in the Mets’ September surge. We also see Price as an object lesson. There are four superlative starting pitchers in the Mets’ rotation and it seems a foregone conclusion that they will not retain the services of all of them, once their arbitration clock strikes midnight. There is still a mistrust of the ownership. Let’s face it, most of the profits from bumped attendance and post-season play are going to go toward the debt service on the team/stadium/TV network, rather than back into the on-field product. But if last year taught us anything, it taught us that pennants and titles aren’t solely about money. They’re more about about talent and timing. Sandy Alderson has a good eye for talent and his timing in 2015 was impeccable.
Over here, Alderson has earned the respect and awards he garnered for his work. He can be trusted to do it again.
Follow me on Twitter @CharlieHangley.
If 2015 proved anything it’s that Sandy’s plan worked. Develop your own starters, have them tied up for several years and then add on via farm, trade and FA if necessary.
If the plan was to build a strong farm system, Alderson & Company have failed. It’s simply not very good — and it was the top priority.
He’s lucky he inherited Harvey, Matz, deGrom, Familia — and the veterans to trade for Syndergaard and Wheeler.
I don’t see the talent pipeline on the hill, at all. Beyond Molina, who just had TJ surgery, there’s nobody. Five years.
Mets still have a very strong farm system, except now the strength is in position prospects and not pitching.
James that is a pretty dumb post. Our farm system has been very good. A lot of players graduated this years especially our pitchers. Now we have a lot of good position players in the system
Moron, everyone of the players that you said Alderson “inherited” was requested in trade talks prior to this season. Alderson did not trade them. I guess you think it was luck that Wheeler and Sydergaard just happen to fall into Aldersons lap. Afterall he had nothing to do with the negotiations that got Wheeler for a 37 year old soon to be free agent and Thor for a 39 year old soon to be free agent. In both cases Alderson held out for two young cost controlled starting pitchers and a starting catcher who was on a pace to hit twenty homeruns. Sandy Alderson won three consecutive American League pennants and a World Series and now he has an National League pennant on his resume as well. If you took the time to check most of the more esteemed baseball publications they have a hell of a lot more respect for what Alderson accomplished than you could possibly understand. What the hell are you whining about? Other than frank Cashen no Met GM has done more for this team than Sandy Alderson. Stick your thumb back in your mouth, grow up and try and learn something about baseball, asshole.
Hey Pox, in another post Brian recommends an Ambien. You may need two. I think what James is referring to is that they haven’t drafted any “top ranked” prospects like Bryant on the Cubs or Saeger and Urias on the Dodgers. If you look at the MLB Top 100, the first Met after Matz is Nimmo at #71. That is way too low for a built-up farm system and Nimmo is shaky at best; they were trying to trade him!
I think fans trust management. They dont trust the owners. Remember it took 6 years to rebuild because they are broke. It is New York, 6 years in not a New York minute.
Given Alderson’s track record in signing free agents versus his track record in making trades, I’d prefer him to make trades, with the caveat he not trade for a lefty reliever.
Can we not forget to thank ownership for backtracking out of the Gomez deal? Otherwise that golden touch of Alderson would not have worked. Oops that’s right Cespedes wasn’t even his second choice! I guess you could say Alderson was shrewd and waiting for Cespedes to fall into his lap..
The concern always points back to ownership. It is inexcusable to offer millions of dollars to Mejia, a serial loser and cheater, while at the same time excoriate Tejada year after year for at least attempting to play the game at the best level he can,only to continue to offer him contracts. Why isnt Mejia being dragged though the mud as he rightly ought to be? Tejada would have started at SS through the entire post season had he not been assaulted.
All this continues to point to a FO completely hamstrung by owners that almost certainly are satisfied with having stumbled into the WS with barely spending a dime to do so. We are headed to March with a team that will solely rely on starting pitching and hopes there will be enough ways to eek out just enough runs to counterbalance all the crappy defense we will see. History tells us that will not happen. On the present track, we again are looking at an over/under for wins at about 83.5.
I agree with Chris F. Sigh…
It appears that ownership does not have the financial resources to compete for premier free agents like Cespedes and Heyward because contract length could become financially crippling to the franchise. It may not be the philosophy of the organization to enter into long term contracts because of the Wright and Santana signings in the past. This philosophy can be respected. There are needs to be addressed on the current roster while the initial three or four year window is open. There are players available through free agency and trade who can address these needs. Management must make the moves to position themselves to remain a playoff team. Managements actions (or lack of action) will dictate the trust that is put in them. A repeat of last winter would be unacceptable.
Been a quiet reader and love the posts and the dialogue- great to hear so much from so many passionate Mets fans. I don’t know if it is as much about trust in management/ownership as it understanding and accepting Alderson’s version of Moneyball. I sense from looking at the roster, the FA contracts we have, and the number of players under team control into 2020, it seems his plan is working- reduce the amount of large contracts, let players work through their arbitration period and then sign one or two players to a 2, 3 or 4 contract as needed. Cuddyer and Niese come off the payroll after 2016, thats $21 million off the books (with $500k buyout of Niese) so Wright, Grandy and Lagares are the only ones under FA contract, the rest are still in arbitration. when i follow the list of players and their FA eligibility, that makes it clearer what positions/players are then to be considered for trades or let them go for FA. Duda as an example is a FA in 2018, which gives the team time to develop Dominic Smith as a replacement. this way no big FA deal for Duda, then either trade him or let him walk, similar to what we just did with Murph (granted, we may resign him, but i would be surprised) There is a lot more to this, and i don’t necessarily agree with it, but i understand it and see how the FO has constructed the team. The Cespedes/Uribe/Johnson rentals proved successful, though lets be realistic- did anyone ever think Ces was going to get resigned? and of course we know if he did it wouldn’t cost us a draft pick, so whats the risk vs reward? in this case, 3 months of hot baseball that got us to the WS. i don’t think there is any intention of building a winning franchise as much as it is playing the payroll game. and if it results in post-season baseball, so much the better.
I agree with most everything you said. The point I differ is that I do think they intend to build a winning franchise. But they want to do it on their terms (read:cheap)
Welcome aboard Pete.
Its hard to argue against what you say. String it out as long as you can. All this works when you have the pitching we do. After 2018, when the pitchers begin to depart, and the cupboards are bare, the Moneyball approach will reap the lack of rewards we all know is coming.
i somehow don’t think that Aldersons version of money ball equates to signing Cuddyer to 2 years with the added bonus of giving up a top first round pick Seems to me to go against that philosophy. Better off trading Niese in a package for an upgrade at SS or CF. Wheeler returns in June and the Met’s have depth in SP’s Cuddyers salary for 2016 is an albatross around Sandy’s neck. Just think between Niese at 9 million and Cuddyer at 12.5 million you can have a Cespedes type player for an additional 3 million.
Pete, I agree as some elements of what SA does don’t exactly add up- i think signing Cuddyer was a poor move- but my point is i think the team is structured moving forward to be much more about working the system than it is about making a splash. looking at where we are with FA’s vs players under team control, it gives a clearer indication of where he is leading the team and what his options for the roster are. Thankfully Cuddyer is only one more year, and i would dump Niese as well but i am not sure any team will give up too much for him.
Charlie,
You wrote:” but when he (meaning Cuddyer) accepted the Rockies’ qualifying offer, that appeared to be that.” Cuddyer did not accept the Rockies’ qualifying offer. He was offered it, declined, and then not-so-lucky-for-us signed the two year deal to play on pal David’s team.
The theme of your piece is that most Mets do not trust the team’s ownership and that’s totally correct. They have never given the slightest signs of trustworthiness.
You’re right Larry and may I add to your writing that Cuddyer was signed so early in the off season because had the Mets not stepped up and offered a contract on the last day of making a QO decision, Cuddyer said he would have taken the QO. Not bad money I guess, $15.6MM.
James Preller may I direct you to Jeremiah 5:21
Editor’s Note – Please bend over backwards to avoid religious and political posts on a baseball blog. The only reason I let this go is because it made me laugh.
Fans won’t trust what the FO says about having the ability to freely spend on “the right player” until they do it. By extension, fans won’t trust ownership to provide the FO with the money to make such a signing. Also, what player would this team feel is “the right player” if someone like Heyward isn’t it?
I personally don’t know that I trust the FO to make a huge signing when we see them continually pick from the bargain bin, mid-tier (Granderson), and lower mid-tier (Cuddyer) free agents, even if they did actually have the money (which I don’t believe anyway).
Banking on elite SP and a sub-par offense clearly didn’t work for the first half of 2015. What is the sense in trying it again? To be fair, the offense was obviously worse without Wright and d’Arnaud. Assuming a healthy Wright and d’Arnaud (huge assumption), is the offense better with only the addition of someone like Span? Maybe, I guess?
Too many question marks Rob. Which Duda will we see in 2016? Too streaky a hitter for my choosing. Will Wright stay healthy and be able to play 150 games? Defense up the middle wins in the long run. Flores playing every day at SS isn’t the answer. d’Arnaud is not consistent enough throwing out base runners. The Royals showed us that in the WS. Is Lagares’ shoulder 100% come spring training? Will Hererra hit enough and play a quality second base? We know he should be a major improvement over Murphy defensively. Can the Met’s FO somehow manage a Christmas gift to their fans by getting rid of Cuddyer at a minimum cost? It seems that every year the Met’s have too much dead weight on their limited payroll.For such a smart GM Alderson has had his share of dead beat signings.
You don’t need that much for Niese. The Met’s have the depth in their rotation. Starters are getting ridiculous sums of money Niese would fill in nicely as a 3 or 4 in Toronto, Texas or California. You can apply those savings for a bat or in a trade
Interesting, over at ESPN, Jim Bowden ranks the Mets as the team with the most that has to be done in Nashville. That’s not a great place to be.