"Trust him already !!!"
Well yesterday Sandy Alderson conducted a conference call with the New York sports media, and by all accounts Mets fans everywhere should take deep breath, hold it – and then let it out , because contrary to the reports from disgruntled Mets fans, Sandy is a man with a plan – it is just not the plan most of us Mets fans were expecting and many will not be open minded enough to process his plan.
We have already been conditioned by both the media and Alderson himself not to expect any big named free agents to be imported this coming off season, but he has guaranteed that the Mets will come back from the Winter Meetings “with some new players,” this report was filed by New York Post Mets beat writer,Mike Puma (via Twitter).
According to M.L.B.com’s Anthony DiComo, Alderson also dispelled the rumors that they have offered contracts to free-agent pitchers Chris Young and Jeff Frances (via Twitter). Young and Francis are coming back from arm surgeries and have not pitched that many innings in the last couple of years. So if the Mets did sign them they would definitely be low risk/ high reward pitcher. They could be good fits at Citi Field which plays to the strengths of pitchers.
Alderson said that he expects to go down to see Oliver Perez pitch in the Mexican Winter League and added that Perez will more than likely be reporting to o Spring Training.
Alderson said that the Mets will not get bogged down with players and their agents on talks of contract extensions before Spring Training, Which means players such as Jose reyes and R.A Dickey might have to wait until the middle of the season or after the season ends to get contract negotiations underway.
For all the Mets fans out there that are depressed and muttering to themselves that this is a “cheap ” organization, I say it’s time to get a dose of reality. The Mets really only have themselves to blame. Yes they have a limited budget to spend this off season, but this is payback for the past few seasons where they went after one big name free agent and then tried to patch up their other holes with third rate players. IIt is mostly Omar Minaya and Jeff Wilpon’s faults that this team is financially hamstrung. When you dole out money to players that do not play up to their contracts and then refuse to take a minor league assignment to straighten yourself out ( Perez). Or sulk that you aren’t playing as much as you want to – but when you are penciled into the lineup you play like there is a steaming hot turd in your pants (Castillo) well don’t expect sympathy from me or anyone else in the Mets fans base.
Face the facts, the Mets want to keep their payroll at or close to 140 million dollars. We have know for years that they are adverse to going anywhere near the gravitational pull of the luxury tax threshold. And the fact that there weren’t many warm bodies in the seats at Citi Field from mid August on hasn’t helped their financial bottom line either. So Sandy has been brought in to try to fix this organization, and it looks like he is making the tough choices and he is standing by them – where Omar would have buckled to the pressure of the fan base to make a move just to appease us fans. I feel that by the end of Spring Training that Alderson and newly hired Mets manager, Terry Collins will be fielding a Mets team that will perform better than the teams of the last two season have . Hey they might just be in the thick of the pennant race and Wilpons vaults may be opened so that we can afford to get a player that could help us down the home stretch. But we have to face the facts, there will be more than 60 million dollars coming off the Mets payroll next season- which in essence mean that the Mets are almost certain to be major players when the next off season comes. Just be patientt – for Sandy is the man with the plan !
And with that said…. HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!
Mets Alumni celebrating birthdays today are:
Utility man from the ’83 season, Tucker Ashford is 56 (1954) .
One time Mets prized outfield prospect, Stan Jefferson is 48 (1962) . He recently retired from the N.Y.P.D.
One time outfield prospect who was a key piece in the Johan Santana deal, Carlos Gomez is 25 (1985) .
New York Mets traded pitcher, Jack DiLauro to the Detroit Tigers for minor leaguer, Hector Valle on December 4, 1968.
Kansas City Royals signed reliever, Dan Schatzeder of the New York Mets as a free agent on December 4, 1990.
Boston Red Sox drafted pitcher, Joe Crawford from the Mets on December 4, 1995.
New York Mets traded power hitting outfielder, Butch Huskey to the Seattle Mariners for minor leaguer, Lesli Brea on December 4, 1998. Huskey will always be a fan favorite, but his lack of consistancywith the bat punched his ticket out of town.
New York Mets traded reliever, Willie Blair to the Detroit Tigers for infielder/outfielder, Joe Randa on December 4, 1998.
New York Mets signed free agent back up catcher ,Gustavo Molina ( from the catching Molina family ) of the Baltimore Orioles on December 4, 2007.
New York Mets signed free agent back up catcher, Raul Casanova on December 4, 2007.
New York Mets signed free agent back up catcher, Henry Blanco of the San Diego Padres on December 4, 2009. It still remains to be seen if we bring him back for next season.
And while you are spending the day raking leaves or watching college football just remember , there are just 118 days until the Mets open the 2011 season against the Florida Marlins in Miami and 125 days until the Mets 2011 home opener against the Washington Nationals at Citi Field.
Mo Vaughn has been sighted going into the dressing room of the local Joyce Leslie be himself with a teal cocktail dress !! I say draw your own conclusions , I SURE AS HELL WON’T !!!
30 comments
njstuckintx
12/4/2010-8:28am at 8:28 am (UTC -4)
Sox are getting A. Gonzi. I’m guessing they won’t have a need for Beltran’s bat…
Ceetar
12/4/2010-9:02am at 9:02 am (UTC -4)
Good. the Mets need Beltran’s bat.
Everyone has a plan, doesn’t mean it’s easy to execute.
The Mets did not need to sign a big contract this season, in actuality. We’ll see what he does, and how much he spends on pitchers, but plan or no plan, crap is not going to sell in 2011.
So far to me it looks like the Mets may have budgeted for a bad season. This goes again “It takes money to make money” Not suggesting they need to waste it, but they do need to spend it. What Sandy is suggesting is basically a payroll cut so they can make the one big acquisition to fix a hole. You know, the way Omar did with Santana.
rustyjr
12/4/2010-9:18am at 9:18 am (UTC -4)
I agree with you 100% but it’s hard to break away from the mindset that we are a big market team – so we need to spend like it – like I said it’s not going to go over well with much of the fan base but I’m sure it will pay dividends in ’12
njstuckintx
12/4/2010-9:20am at 9:20 am (UTC -4)
Going on the “takes money to make money”, this is where I hope they spend enough on the “1 year pitchers” they pick up this year and don’t just do a mil here a mil there to get place holders. grabbing a Francis and even a Correa (sp?) rather than putting Gee in there as the anointed number 5 would be smart, in my mind. None of this “you have won the position” without trying out for it first!
Ceetar
12/4/2010-9:28am at 9:28 am (UTC -4)
Right. I’m not saying spend $50 million and splurge, just don’t be against spending an extra 2-3 here to get a B pitcher over a C+ pitcher or something. The investment will pay dividends, or should, because the difference in excitement and attendence between an 81ish win team and a 85ish win team is huge.
njstuckintx
12/4/2010-9:30am at 9:30 am (UTC -4)
Amen and can i get a hallelujah?
Ceetar
12/4/2010-9:37am at 9:37 am (UTC -4)
Not in a rusty post.
rustyjr
12/4/2010-9:43am at 9:43 am (UTC -4)
I’m very pro first amendment lol
kingman 26
12/4/2010-10:05am at 10:05 am (UTC -4)
That was very funny Ceetar!
njstuckintx
12/4/2010-10:21am at 10:21 am (UTC -4)
How about just a “huzzah”?
njstuckintx
12/4/2010-8:44am at 8:44 am (UTC -4)
And, to agree with your above statement, yes, Sandy was brought in to right the proverbial ship. I just hope he massages it to being right vs. just ripping off the bandaid. A little over the budget this year with so much flexibility next year will go a long way to have a somewhat competitive team this year as well as on the right track for next and then next and the next and the next, lather, rinse, repeat.
rustyjr
12/4/2010-8:59am at 8:59 am (UTC -4)
Fingers crossed
kingman 26
12/4/2010-10:16am at 10:16 am (UTC -4)
I also seriously love the idea of giving all the kids a chance and seeing if the walking wounded can rebound. This team was such a disaster area the last two years that a year of experimentation and patience might be required.
We need to see if Thole can hit .300 w/a .365 OBP, if Ike is more than a slightly better Mike Jacobs, if Tejada can hit AAA pitching, if Mejia is going to be a serious starter, if Niese is for real, if Parnell is ever going to realize his potential, if Pagan is really the 1st half of 2010 Pagan or the second half of 2010 Pagan, if Bay and Reyes can recover their old forms, etc.
2011 is the year to do it, and I will be patient.
But if many of the above things turn out on the positive side of the ledger, then yes, we will be a .500+ team in 2011 and maybe even better.
But no more big-money quick fixes a la Cliff Lee. We must remember that all of Omar’s big-game hunts (Beltran, Pedro, Delgado, Wagner, KRod, Bay, Johan) resulted in one playoff series win.
Build/secure the foundation and THEN go and start getting your Keith/Carter/Ojedas.
oleosmirf
12/4/2010-10:45am at 10:45 am (UTC -4)
I absolutely agree 100%. we need to see what we have right now which is why I am vehemently against signing players just to be “competitive”. I want to see what Davis, Thole, Pagan, Dickey, Niese, Murphy can do over another season so that when all this money comes off the books we have a much better idea of what our needs are.
guys like Castillo and some of the names brought up like Russell Martin, Orlando Hudson completely go against that…
kingman 26
12/4/2010-10:54am at 10:54 am (UTC -4)
Well Oleo, if you and I are in 100% agreement, we seriously must be on to something!
oleosmirf
12/4/2010-10:25am at 10:25 am (UTC -4)
considering multi-year deals are out of the question, i look at the FA list and I dont really see anyone worth spending more than 4 mil on
rustyjr
12/4/2010-10:32am at 10:32 am (UTC -4)
I’m sure Sandy shares your view
kingman 26
12/4/2010-10:09am at 10:09 am (UTC -4)
Rusty my friend, this is one of my all-time favorites of your commentaries, which I always enjoy and almost always agree with.
I really agree with absolutely everything above—Sandy clearly has a plan which he is wisely executing; it is NOT his fault that the past regime ran the team into the ground the last two years—meaning not just Omar and Jeff, but Bernazard and Jerry and the coaches too; and the Wilpons are NOT cheap, and people who say they are are idiots—our comment community is so great that I am not sure anyone here EVER says that—but go to just about any other Met site and there it is.
Just great Rusty.
And Mr. N’s list of all the miserable crap that Sandy has let go thus far shows that, as Reggie Hammond once so memorably said in 48 Hours, “there’s a new sheriff in town.”
Amen and hallelujah!
rustyjr
12/4/2010-10:35am at 10:35 am (UTC -4)
Humbug !! Lol
rustyjr
12/4/2010-10:39am at 10:39 am (UTC -4)
Thanks kong you truly are too kind I was surprised how quickly this column came to me
kingman 26
12/4/2010-10:55am at 10:55 am (UTC -4)
Thank YOU!!
Funny what you say, because sometimes the opinion pieces I feel best about just come to me quickly without seriously stressing them too….I have one for Monday morning with opinions on Collins and Sandy. Definitely will be citing your above wisdom as an example of what the true and sane Met fan should be thinking!
stickguy
12/4/2010-10:56am at 10:56 am (UTC -4)
I posted this late last night at the end of a thread that has gone dormant, but it seems to fit nicely here.
As Rusty notes, there a lot of complaining about not getting tons of major moves this off season.
I think everyone forgets that last off season, they pretty much made all the big moves for BOTH years. well, Bay being the move. But in any case, they pretty much maxed out on what is reasonably the “budget” (or maybe ~10mill of a hard cap?).
and, this was recognizing that the rest of the big contracts were locked in for 2011. So basically they tooled up a core for a 2 year run, and the only thing likely to change anyway was the spare/filler/cheap parts.
Now who knows if it was a conscious decision, or omar knowing he only had 1 year left. But while Sandy certainly is trying to clean up as much as possible, we would have gotten the same basic team if Omar had stayed. hopefully though the new FO will get better spare parts!
still, last years club without losing so many games from key guys (and Bay blowing chunks) easily could have kept up the pace they were at at the ASB. same for 2011, if they can overcome the loss of Santana.
so, IMHO, if you want to see “big” changes this year, the only way to do it (without the Wilpons suddenly finding an extra $20mill laying around) is to trade away some other expensive parts 1st. Obviouly Slappy and Ollie qualify, but the issue of course is no one will take much salary.
so, you are basically left with a handful of expensive guys. Bay I trade in a heartbeat, but he is probably one of the biggest albatross contracts on the team. K Rod, he would save some money. Beltran of course, but what can you save there?
That leaves the obvious choice of Reyes, if you want to actually get some talent back in addition to saving money!
so, trade Beltran, K rod and Reyes, and save $20 million? 25mill? And get some decent prospects back.
ANd then what? bank the $20-25? Blowit on Crawford or Lee? And even if you do, the team for sure will be worse in 2011, so is the potential gain for 2012 (basically doing a big chunk of next off seasons action now) worth it, instead of waiting?
.
rustyjr
12/4/2010-11:10am at 11:10 am (UTC -4)
Btw is Hebner stil M.I.A ?
hazmet
12/4/2010-12:14pm at 12:14 pm (UTC -4)
The Sandy plan continues to move forward and I really like the path he’s taking stripping the AAAA guys out, not being held hostage to our own arbitration candidates, and not considering overpaying for long term FA’s out there. Not enamored with Young or Francis given the recent injury history and low inning count per year recently but if that’s the best option out there than what the heck. But there’s not a whole lot out there. I would love to know what role the expiring CBA plays in his thinking. As in, this year’s an in house talent assessment, next years a lock out possibility, and 2013 our crop of last years draftee’s will be starting their big league careers. I often think this is the bigger plan.
saltygary
12/4/2010-1:24pm at 1:24 pm (UTC -4)
Looks like there are 4 of us on the same page with Kong and Oleo stating the same above. There is plenty of beer to drink so chill and let everything play out. The pain of this season will be less than priors sense there isn’t that advertisement of this is the year. Plus the pain is bearable when you know it’s for the greater good.
metsfan4decades
12/4/2010-2:00pm at 2:00 pm (UTC -4)
Count me in agreement as well.
The only move Sandy has made so far that I’m not 100% in agreement with is an extension for Reyes.
I understand the reasons of wanting to see him play first. I’m just not sure that it won’t turn out to be too big a gamble.
If Reyes would have taken like a 3 year extension now, I think we should have went that root. Of course, he could have had it in his mind something like Tulo just got. No way to know though b/c I believe there weren’t any talks at all on this.
Time will tell on this one.
oleosmirf
12/4/2010-2:09pm at 2:09 pm (UTC -4)
why would Jose’s agent agree to an extension coming off 2 bad seasons??
stickguy
12/4/2010-3:14pm at 3:14 pm (UTC -4)
in case you have a 3rd bad and/or injury filled one, and you can’t even get that much after next season?
also the possibility for any player of a career ending or debilitating injury, so it is nice to have a boatload of money guaranteed no matter what!
saltygary
12/4/2010-1:24pm at 1:24 pm (UTC -4)
Ever feel like this Mets season is locked into what the state of the country is?
Mr North Jersey
12/4/2010-2:39pm at 2:39 pm (UTC -4)
“The Red Sox still have one of the deepest farm systems in the game, in large part because they’re as aggressive as any club in the draft. They spent a club-record $10.7 million on bonuses in 2010, the fourth-highest total in baseball history, including seven-figure deals for righthander Anthony Ranaudo, third basemen Kolbrin Vitek and Garin Cecchini, and second baseman Sean Coyle.”
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/organization-top-10-prospects/2011/2610882.html
This is where I expect Alderson to shine in the coming years where the Mets will be considered an aggressive team also in the draft.