Sometimes I feel like us Mets fans deserve to suffer !! Like the Jews that wandered in the desert for forty years before they finally reached the promise land ( Yeah I know I am a atheist just follow me here) we have been doomed to roam the wastelands of seasons past, with only a handful of playoff appearances to show for it.
Let me explain. Yesterday while driving my clients home from my day job I heard the Sandy Alderson introductory press conference . I was happy with about ninety percent of what he said, but I understood that in some aspects of this coming season his hands will be tied. We know due to a decline in attendance last season, the Mets will not delve too deep into the free agent pool ( it’s not ike Cliff Lee was going to come here next season anyway), instead payroll flexabilty and the importing of talent will be done mostly via trade and the jettisoning of bad contracts that can’t be moved ( buh bye Ollie ?) Our scouting department will be overhauled , with a new scouting system and resources that will make sure we draft the best available prospects. And we can rest assured that he will insulate himself with the best available staff ( Paul DePodesta has already been rumored to have signed on).
So what have I heard from the Mets fans that have called in Since Mike Francesa’s show? ” HE HAS NO PLAN !!’” bemoaned one caller ” HE’S A PUPPET FOR THE WILPONS AND WON’T SPEND MONEY !!!” cried another. The best was the once brain surgeon who though just because Alderson said umm a few times that he wasn’t articulate ! Yeah I think that Harvard Law degree says otherwise bub. I know that most of the Mets fans that call into WFAN are from the lunatic fringe segment of the known Mets universe but can the man start his job before we herald him a abject failure ?!!?? The man has a plan and he will execute it with precision. Will we in the post season next season< more than likely not but that’s not to say that the Mets will be a team that finishes on the north side of .500.
I see Alderson as Frank Cashen reincarnated. He will build this team through smart drafting and even smarter trades. When there is flexibility with the payroll I expect him to sign the best player that fits the make up of the team and not to sign a expensive one just to appease us fans. We are entering in my opinion is the brave new era of Mets baseball where accountability is key and a devotion to winning and winning in a dominating fashion will be the norm. So Sandy Alderson I shall be patient and if and when you bring us out third World Series Pennant I will salute you !
And with that said … HERE COMES THE INFAMY
“ Would you rather he ran this team again???!!??”
Happy birthday wishes go out to the best pitching coach that we had since Mel Stottlemyre ( Sorry Dave Wallace !) , Rick Peterson. He turns 56 (1954).
Utility infielder from ’02-’03 , Marco Scutaro is 35 (1975). Oh how I wish he wasn’t put through waivers !!
All bat ( barely) and even less glove, first baseman, Mike Jacobs is 30 (1980)
Mo bat and barely a decent fielder, back up infielder , Anderson Hernandez is 28 (1982) .
Future Mets manager and second baseman, Willie Randolph , was granted free agency on October 30, 1992.
Back up catcher, Sandy Alomar Jr. was granted free agency on October 30, 2007.
spot starter/ middle reliever ,Aaron Sele was granted free agency on October 30, 2007.
Damion Easleywas granted free agency on October 30, 2008.I wish the Mets would have brought Easley back for another season, he would have been the best infielder on the bench in ’09
Matt Wise – the forgotten middle reliever from the ’08 team was granted free agency on October 30, 2008.
Mo Vaughn is waiting for Sandy Alderson to name him a fitness coach !!
43 comments
Mr North Jersey
10/30/2010-6:19pm at 6:19 pm (UTC -4)
Rusty can I just say I am loving the feature Images.
rustyjr
10/30/2010-6:23pm at 6:23 pm (UTC -4)
Sarcasm ?
Mr North Jersey
10/30/2010-8:03pm at 8:03 pm (UTC -4)
No really no sarcasm I like them your last 3 or so have been dead on. Your definitely doing something different and it shows.
rustyjr
10/30/2010-8:13pm at 8:13 pm (UTC -4)
Lol I’m getting it directly from the newspaper web site
stickguy
10/30/2010-7:00pm at 7:00 pm (UTC -4)
and then, there is this guy from over at FWICG. problem is, I am not quite sure if he is serious or not.
jackstraw73 Oct 30, 2010, 5:15 pm at 5:15 pm #
Alderson hasn’t even signed Cliff Lee yet and traded for Agon and hasn’t gotten us to the world series that is going on right now, so no, it hasn’t caused me to buy tickets. Poor performance thus far.
rustyjr
10/30/2010-7:07pm at 7:07 pm (UTC -4)
Ugh I hope it’s sarcasm
kingman 26
10/30/2010-7:34pm at 7:34 pm (UTC -4)
Rusty, great work and as usual I totally agree.
Some people just love to whine and moan, and you and I are just not that type of person.
While neither Alderson nor the other candidates were perfect, Alderson is probably the LEAST likely of any candidate for GM to be a Wilpon lapdog who came here to take orders from Jeff, shed payroll, and be an apologist for continuing to lose.
Alderson did well with a big budget, which he will have here, and he came up with creative new ideas when his budget was slashed.
I eagerly will give him the benefit of the doubt for at least a couple of years. It took Cashen four years to even post a winning record.
I also see smart trades and wise moves, and thriftiness within the context of a pretty darn large payroll.
It is not Alderson’s fault that he inherits Ollie and Slappy and the dramatically diminished Beltran with an 18 million walk year, as well as Johan’s contract and Bay’s contract, and the diminished Reyes. Let’s give him at least a year to see what he can do after at least some money is freed up. And let’s give the team a year to play kids and support them while we see how good Ike/Thole/Niese/etc can be while awaiting the horrible contracts to evaporate.
I feel that after 2011, when we see more of how good the kids are, and when we have tens of million to realistically spend after seeing where the team is, that Alderson will then have the chance to really remake the team.
For now, all we can do is hope that he makes the right hires for manager and coaches, reevaluates the entire medical/training staff, and begins the long process of fixing a team in clear distress.
This will take a couple of years, and I would say we are one full year away from even beginning to be able to reasonably evaluate the beginning of the Alderson era.
Time to circle the wagons and support Alderson until he actually makes bad moves; he certainly hasn’t yet.
metsfan4decades
10/30/2010-8:23pm at 8:23 pm (UTC -4)
‘lunatic fringe segment’ – LOL.
Alderson has been the GM for about a half a week. I didn’t expect him to publish his blueprint plan for Met fans, nor do I think he should. I’m going into this cautiously optimistic, especially as I was in the camp of ‘Omar must go’.
rustyjr
10/30/2010-8:32pm at 8:32 pm (UTC -4)
Hope you liked my diatribe lol
hazmet
10/30/2010-8:35pm at 8:35 pm (UTC -4)
The reactions I’ve been reading and hearing have been, well, interesting. The way I look at it is some people just like to be miserable and complain, some will wait to see how things develop which is rationale. What I don’t get is why not be excited about yesterday? We’ve been waiting in some minds up to 2 years for this change to take place so why not be excited when it finally happens. It’s the start of a new approach. Yes time will tell and to expect instant gratification isn’t realistic but at least we can finally hang up the “Under New Management” sign. Another reason to be excited imo is that they picked the right guy and a guy who has more experience by far then any of the other candidates. At a minimum, they didn’ screw this up, thereby I’m excited that maybe they’ll start to get this ship righted. I heard some things I wasn’t crazy about and other things I’m not buying till I see it (ie – going over slot) but day 2 of the new regime I would, well, say is a little premature to be casting judgement on the result before a process even starts. Wild stuff the mind of Mets fans. Maybe JackStraw was just projecting the Grateful Dead lyric.
hazmet
10/30/2010-8:43pm at 8:43 pm (UTC -4)
For any wondering:
Jack Straw from Wichita cut his buddy down
And dug for him a shallow grave and laid his body down
…sounds like ’73 wishes to bury Sandy before he starts.
kingman 26
10/30/2010-9:02pm at 9:02 pm (UTC -4)
We can share the women we can share the WHINE…..of the perpetually complaining Met fan…
Always one of my favorite Dead songs to play, listen to, and see live.
Haz I saw your comment about the crew from the old days last night and I was sincerely honored to be in your honor roll….my life is such that I just cannot be here like I used to
-I use my decreased Met time to try and come up with a couple of pieces a week….but thanks again buddy–you have always been a favorite of mine since those old days at that other place.
hazmet
10/30/2010-9:19pm at 9:19 pm (UTC -4)
Right back at ya.
Been really enjoying your reads the past few weeks, as usual. I’ve been pretty much in read only mode till the last few days for the same reasons. I’ve got an absolute SOB of a customer from S. America causing me major headaches. But hey, pays the bills.
Be well.
kingman 26
10/30/2010-9:22pm at 9:22 pm (UTC -4)
You too sir, and I truly appreciate your reading my pieces–I really work hard on them for a small circle of those whose opinions here I really cherish and you are definitely among that group.
Ceetar
10/30/2010-8:57pm at 8:57 pm (UTC -4)
Because talk is cheap. We’ve gotten plenty of it all over the place. If anything Mets fans are too eager to accept anyone that hasn’t failed them yet, against all logic. (This applies to players too, as it often seems Mets fans were rather a sucky player on another team than a presumed ‘unclutch’ player that’s more likely to have a good year) Not saying Sandy is bad or anything, but the team is exactly the same as it was, and the exaggeration about how bad things were and how good things are/will be is silly.
stickguy
10/30/2010-9:10pm at 9:10 pm (UTC -4)
Part of my optimism now is that I really do feel that the team is actually better than they have shown recently (and yes, I know that “you are what your record says you are”). Or at least, they have (IMO) the talent available to do better.
So, unlike some teams (that are totally devoid of talent), a new leadership team (FO and on the field) really could lead to more wins.
combine that with some faith that the new brains will make some better moves than what the old crew would have done (and hopefully rectify some lingering mistakes), and that is enough to justify a seemingly irrational increase in optimism.
kingman 26
10/30/2010-9:11pm at 9:11 pm (UTC -4)
No the team is dramatically different than it was with a new leader with tremendous intelligence and confidence, amazing education, the experience of building a title team which won three straight pennants, huge success in the private sector, universal respect throughout the game and on and on.
You are a truly amazing specimin.
stickguy
10/30/2010-10:02pm at 10:02 pm (UTC -4)
Knog, those are all fine things to have, especially in the longer term. But the actual team that will be playing the games is still the same so far, so if that was the key point, he was right.
kingman 26
10/30/2010-10:22pm at 10:22 pm (UTC -4)
Good point as opening day is tomorrow, right?
Wait, it’s not for five months and Alderson’s been in the job one day?
Hmmmmmm…..he ain’t right.
stickguy
10/30/2010-10:59pm at 10:59 pm (UTC -4)
and we shall see how much different the team will be in ST. Although I guess we never will know what Omar would have come up with.
hazmet
10/30/2010-9:14pm at 9:14 pm (UTC -4)
Very true. Lots of work to do. I even ask myself about the pieces we have in place what those pieces are exactly. Some young, some with track records, some track records being spotty, some with the injury issues. I’m just glad the first step forwards been taken and it’s not in the name of Baird or alike. Like the rolodex Sandy has vs. the other candidates.
metsfan4decades
10/30/2010-9:18pm at 9:18 pm (UTC -4)
I just think it boils down to would you have more optimism if Omar was still running the show going forward or do you have more optimism going forward with Sandy?
hazmet
10/30/2010-8:51pm at 8:51 pm (UTC -4)
Listening to Lennon w/ Somers on WFAN right now
hazmet
10/30/2010-9:07pm at 9:07 pm (UTC -4)
Stuff from Lennon on the radio:
Lennon: Mets need a strong voice to lead them out of the swamp right now.
Alderson was honest on free agency yesterday and other area’s, etc.
First day could not have gone better in his mind
Steve: couldn’t agree with you more, I was blown away, I was so impressed.
First impression had to be so so positive if credibility means anything, … a track record in baseball means anything, smarts & toughness you couldn’t as for more for instand credibility.
Steve question: do you think he’d of taken the job if he wasn’t sure he would be able to hire the new Manager?
Lennon: No I don’t – then discusses how Front office and Manager need to have a similar vision. Sandy has a couple of guys in mind
Then discuss Clint Hurdle and that he is certainly a real candidate.
Lennon: Clint has more of a track record than Wally. More of a proviciency to guide a team to the playoffs.
The discuss Perez & Castillo. Lennon laughing about how they didn’t want to name names when everyone knew who they were talking about.
Lennon: Mets have alot of problems to fix and he needs a wide berth to do that.
Steve: Where can they tweak the team?
FA unlikely discussion again. Payroll maxed out 130M discussion. He will
need to add another starting pitcher with Santana out and from there think it’s wide open and will see them involved in every discussion that goes on between GM and winter meetings since that was what Sandy stated at the meeting. So Mets fans will have alot to stay tuned too between now and December.
Lennon: He’ll find out more about the mets by reading the media guide but was aware of Taka situation and was going to work on it. Fact that he changed agents is troublesome, thinks its 50/50 he stays since he changed Managers so odds are against him staying. If he stayed with Greenberg who has a good relationship with the Mets he thought it was 100% he’d be a Met. He’s a Class B free agent discussion.
Discussion of Paul DiPotesta. Lennon: The Sabemetrician crowds all excited about that. This is going to be a front offfice, I don’t want to disparage the one before, but this is going to be a forward thinking cutting edge group that the Mets will be the better for.
metsfan4decades
10/30/2010-9:23pm at 9:23 pm (UTC -4)
Thanks for the mini synopsis. I’m watching the WS game so didn’t tune into WFAN.
hazmet
10/30/2010-9:26pm at 9:26 pm (UTC -4)
Hopefully this posts as I’m having trouble replying.
But… thanks my pleasure. I think I caught most of the gist of it.
metsfan4decades
10/30/2010-9:31pm at 9:31 pm (UTC -4)
It posted.
I’m not too happy reading Lennon thinks we’ve got less than a 50% chance of signing Taka. I wanted him to resign, if it’s a reasonable deal – especially if Pedro walks.
hazmet
10/30/2010-9:34pm at 9:34 pm (UTC -4)
Yeah, I’d definitely want Taka back. And, I hate the idea of Felciano going to the Skanks as I read in Newsday today they may be targetting him.
stickguy
10/30/2010-10:07pm at 10:07 pm (UTC -4)
I can live without Pedro, especially if they can invest the close to 4mill in a better asset. And of course, use the sandwich pick wisely. I could care less about him going to the yankees.
and it will be nice to have taka back, but again, won’t be earth shattering if he leaves.
I am still fuzzy as to whether he is arb eligible and the mets get a pick if he leaves.
stickguy
10/30/2010-9:15pm at 9:15 pm (UTC -4)
reading all the fawning over over Sandy makes me feel almost bad for Omar (well, not bad, maybe sorry). Since basically everything positive being said about Sandy is a direct slam at Omar being an incompetent loser (essentially).
rustyjr
10/30/2010-9:21pm at 9:21 pm (UTC -4)
I dont think Omar was incompetent I think his strengths was in scouting – not running the day to day operations of a franchise
kingman 26
10/30/2010-9:26pm at 9:26 pm (UTC -4)
His real strength was in bagel selection. He always picked the best at that store in Queens.
See I ALWAYS read your pieces…..and agree with them….
hazmet
10/30/2010-9:27pm at 9:27 pm (UTC -4)
LOL, Bagel selection… I’ll have a sctickle of Cream Cheez with that please.
metsfan4decades
10/30/2010-9:27pm at 9:27 pm (UTC -4)
I had nothing against Omar personally.
If you look at Mr. North Jersey’s post a little while back on where Omar went wrong, it was very telling. I think he had a plan and I think he deviated from that along the way. He gambled…and lost. Maybe in part, b/c he deviated from what his original plan was. We’ll probably never know.
I just thought between the failure on field to get back to post season and the off field problems, it was time for a change. Omar had his shot and it just seemed like the ball was rolling down hill with no hopes to stop the momentum.
In short, I was tired of rooting for a team that daily was starting to be perceived as the laughingstock of MLB.
metsfan4decades
10/30/2010-10:02pm at 10:02 pm (UTC -4)
Rangers are not giving up.
I just laugh listening to Ozzie with his post game analysis.
stickguy
10/30/2010-10:18pm at 10:18 pm (UTC -4)
I guess their BP held today, or did they just make the SP go all the way?
njstuckintx
10/31/2010-12:37am at 12:37 am (UTC -4)
Alderson is under quite the microscope, eh? I do love how people are expecting multiple moves right away. Time, folks, this stuff takes a little time. Let’s give the man 2 weeks before we start freaking out on the man, aight?
oleosmirf
10/31/2010-8:12am at 8:12 am (UTC -4)
im still hoping that somehow Beltran goes to the Red Sox and we get Ellsbury and Lowrie in return
stickguy
10/31/2010-8:46am at 8:46 am (UTC -4)
maybe elisbury alone, if the mets eat salary. And in that case, no thanks. Not that exciting to me.
roll the dice that Beltran can put together one mostly full, healthy season and approach his old production (like he did in September), and hope the output is enough to help the team make a run. THen say goodbye, and thanks!
oleosmirf
10/31/2010-9:09am at 9:09 am (UTC -4)
i have nothing bad to say really about Beltran but I do think it is in the best interest of both parties to trade him especially due to the small chances of us making the playoffs this season.
however, if the trade value isn’t there moving him at mid season, assuming of course the playoffs aren’t really realistic, might be the best approach.
in regards to the FA list, we can already cross off the big name guys and probably most if not all the type A FAs. guys like Kuroda, Westbrook or more likely lesser guys like Penny, Padilla, Harang are probably the best we can get.
njstuckintx
10/31/2010-11:11am at 11:11 am (UTC -4)
I’d do that, or even for Ellsbury and a BP arm, just for the fact we aren’t going to get anything back once Beltran leaves. I know that there is the possibility of retaining Beltran, even after this season, but with his injury history and such, I think you have to cut him loose. And I’d rather get something in return than get production this year and then nothing for the next year.
oleosmirf
10/31/2010-8:05am at 8:05 am (UTC -4)
if we can get a sandwich pick for Feliciano then you have to let him go. no lefty specialist is worth the caliber of a prospect you can pick up in that range.
stickguy
10/31/2010-8:44am at 8:44 am (UTC -4)
the prospect, + 3-4 million (well, less the cost of a minimum wage replacement and signing th eprospect) that is.
I will take the prospect + 2+ million to play with for Pedro.