Sandy Alderson Soldiers On

Under the most difficult and extreme of circumstances, Mets GM Sandy Alderson is making the time to fulfill his obligations to his job even while dealing with the sudden and tragic loss of his father.

Anybody would have understood if Alderson had canceled his interview with Jose Oquendo tonight in Orlando for the Mets manager position, but Alderson was on hand and spoke to reporters before meeting with Oquendo.

Adam Rubin writes,

Before heading into a first-round manager interview with Jose Oquendo on Monday night at the GM meetings in Orlando, Sandy Alderson expressed his intention to continue working despite the death of his father early Sunday morning.

“As long as I talk about baseball I’m okay. By the end of the week I’ll accomplish everything we wanted to accomplished,” he said.

Alderson revealed that there still could be one or two more first-round manager interviews, although not necessarily. The second round, which will consist of three or four callbacks, still could take place this week at the meetings.

For the duration of the GM Meetings, Alderson plans to work half-days in Orlando and commute to St. Petersburg, where services for his father will be held.

Assistants J.P. Ricciardi, Paul DePodesta and John Ricco are also on hand to help conduct business and fill in for Sandy.

It’s very impressive to see Alderson continue to go about the business of running the Mets.

As far as adding more managers to the first round of interviews, I think that’s that’s great news. It’s important to leave no stone unturned in the search to find the right person to lead this team on the field.