16
2011
Blame Sandy for K-Rod’s New Deal?
An article by 
The most frustrating part about being a Mets fan lately is that every single decision seems to draw a line in the sand. You’re either with Sandy, or against him.
Moves that would have seemed meaningless or worth the gamble such as signing Chris Young to a small contract are seen as reasons to complain about Alderson’s tactics.
The Mets have to cut a high priced 2B, and because of that they have no real starting 2B. So they draft Brad Emaus in the Rule 5 draft. A pick many people liked because Emaus seemed to be ready to play in the big leagues. He wasn’t, they let him go. That’s how the Rule 5 draft is supposed to work you know. Alderson gets crushed for that Rule 5 pick, but somehow the other Rule 5 pick, Pedro Beato goes unnoticed by the same people?
I don’t know Sandy Alderson. He’s never come over for a holiday brunch, he’s never held my baby and he’s never leant me money. I don’t have a bias towards him, I have a bias towards digging out of a giant hole that a GM I liked created. I have a bias towards making smart baseball decisions, rather than trying to please everybody and throw money around like it doesn’t matter.
Yesterday, Ken Rosenthal reported that the Milwaukee Brewers and Francisco Rodriguez agreed to turn his vesting option which would guarantee him $17.5million into a mutual option with a $4million buyout.
The second this came out, I knew the sharks would come out.
And they did.
You can try to blame Sandy Alderson for this move. It’s your right. However, that doesn’t mean you’re correct. First of all, remember who signed Rodriguez. Remember who guaranteed a closer more money than any other closer in the game.
Second, try and take off your “I hate Sandy,” glasses and look at this logically.
#1 If Francisco Rodriguez were not traded by the Mets, he would have earned that vested option. The Mets could not avoid him in save situations because it would have been obvious it was an attempt to void the contract. The last thing the Mets need is a grievance from the players union. Don’t forget, they had a lengthy negotiation with the union about Rodriguez just this past off-season.
#2 If his option was going to be guaranteed, why in the world would K-Rod and Boras go to Sandy Alderson and say “we will waive the $17.5million if you pay us $4million.” Why would they? In all of this, “Sandy failed,” insanity, nobody has said why Rodriguez would do that?
He did this with Milwaukee because he was traded to a place that has a guy closing games effectively. The Brewers could have easily kept Rodriguez out of those save situations, had no grievance from the union, and watched K-Rod’s leave after hopefully helping them to the playoffs.
#3 Francisco Rodriguez’s best chance for a contract past 1 year is if he goes into the market proving he can close all year, proving he can close in a playoff race and proving he’s healthy. He’s more valuable as a closer at 29 than 30. Boras knew this, and Boras wanted him to hit the market. If K-Rod hit the market having served as an 8th inning guy for the final 3 months, his value drops. 8th inning guys don’t make as much as 9th inning guys.
#4 Lastly, on Thursday we saw numerous reports that *IF* the Mets were to have received a 10-team list from Rodriguez or Boras, that Milwaukee would have been on it. Think about that for a second. The Mets spoke to several teams as we’ve heard, and they went with a team they expected Rodriguez to block a deal had they waited any longer. You understand this likely means that A) the Brewers offered the best deal and B) Alderson did what was best for the organization, don’t you?
When it comes to Francisco Rodriguez, everybody won in the deal. Why is that so bad? Nobody who supports the move is trying to convince anybody that the Brewers messed up. They got a legitimate closer for a legitimate playoff run.
The Mets got rid of that closer whom they would have had to pay $17.5million for which is more than their entire current starting staff, plus their catcher, plus their center fielder and plus Ike Davis. Sure, we don’t know what the Mets plan to do with that savings and you can speculate, but you can’t tell me it doesn’t help the future of this organization to not spend it on 1 player. Even if they invest it all in the minor leagues or scouting, the team is better off.
Lastly, Francisco Rodriguez and Scott Boras get what they want. Rodriguez gets to remain a closer, gets to not worry about a vesting option which would have likely stopped him from closing games down the stretch. Boras gets his client on the open market after this year, and in his case, hopefully after closing games for a playoff team thus making him more valuable.
Plus the Mets got 2 players, and sure we have no idea who they are, but they still got them. The only loser in this entire deal is former agent Paul Kinzer and maybe John Axford.
At the end of the day, this day worked for everybody and to try and verbally assault the Mets for this move is downright ludicrous (ludicrous speed! Go!).
About the Author: Michael J. Branda
My time with MMO began in July of 2009 when I wrote a Fan Post defending Omar Minaya (before it was cool to do that.) I grew up a Mets fan with the mid 1980's teams. My favorite Met of all-time is (and was) Wally Backman. When it comes to sabermetrics versus old school thinking, I like to think I meet in the middle. I believe thinking of new ways to get answers is helpful, especially when the same way has not produced results. However, I think over-thinking certain situations can get you into trouble. I'm excited for the new regime, because I believe they have pieces in place to focus on several aspects of the Mets organization. I've waited this long for a World Series, waiting a few more years for another chance isn't going to kill me.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 27 | 18 | .600 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 23 | .500 | 4.5 |
| Phillies | 22 | 24 | .478 | 5.5 |
| Mets | 17 | 26 | .395 | 9.0 |
| Marlins | 13 | 33 | .283 | 14.5 |
Last updated: 05/22/2013
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I came here not to blame Sandy.
I came here to praise Sandy.
Good move Sandy.
Thanks Des. I don’t know that I praise him. I am just thankful we have a guy who is actually in charge and not submitting to fan pressure or foolish practices. It had to be done. It worked out for everybody involved. Not much more to say.
I’ve got nothing to add to this. Everything stated is correct.
Those that want to see Sandy fail, won’t see the facts.
Of course, if Sandy fails so do the Mets. Makes me wonder about some Met fans.
Thanks srt.
Yesterday I was pretty upset. Today I see things differently. What the Breweers and Boras did with K-Rod´s contract is totally contingent to that situation; it had nothing to do with the Mets or what they could or couldn´t do. But, hey, you can´t blame us fans for overreacting with all that´s happen over the years. At any rate, thanks for clarifying. Personally, I´ll try not to jump the gun next time.
Thanks luisdiego. Appreciate the comments!
When the deal went down, we praised the teams for making a win-win deal, not thinking for a second (or not caring) that K-Rod and Boras were the losers. How silly of us to think Boras would let that go unnoticed or unchanged. This is why it’s so hard for me to hate Boras. He’s just an amazing agent. I mean, he makes it terribly difficult for our favorite teams (he’s not prejudiced, he’s a league-wide thorn), but his obligation is to the player and he really is a tremendous agent. He turned a win-win deal into a win-win-win deal. No one saw this coming, and he really put one over on everyone.
But that’s his job, isn’t it?
Sandy set it up by trading KRod to a team he could not possibly make his option with. He did Boras a favor, since Boras gets no money from the appearance option. KRod here would have made it to 55, or the union would have wanted to know why. I persobally wanted KRod gone. Cannot stand him and could not stand that potentiol payout.
I was a big fan of the signing but watching KRod earned him the name Francisco Benitez to me. I don’t think its cute when a closer makes things interesting. He seems to think this was a good thing. Thanks for your comments!
I completely agree, I feel it’s a win win for all involved. I really don’t understand the people upset over this deal, I guess any move made will be viewed a bad one if you don’t like Sandy for some reason. I’ve been a Mets fan for nearly 40 years and I like the way this guy runs the team and I feel confident he is building a better future and while he’s at it he’s made this years team exciting and competitive
thanks Denver!
No problem bro, in would love for the Mets to be in the lead every season but that not gonna happen. I just like seeing them play meaningful games into September. Just give me something to root for is all I ask. People who expect a team to spend spend spend just for the sake of having that big name on yout team need to go across town and become Yankee fans.
A win win makes your team better. The Mets got worse. If someday the incpmpetant owner and son ever allow the 2012 savings to be used to be reinvested in talent it may become a win win. Today the Mets are worse and are losers. To think otherwise is to just say hip hip hooray we are rebuilding for years, we are the new Oirates or Indians or O’s. How many years does it take to return to glory? Win win. You are of course joking. Only Milwaujkee won.
Say Hey; if you choose to only consider the MYOPIC single dimensioned view of the Franchise by it’s “on field MLB projection” they did not improve; however if u ezpand it ththe “grownup” view; MLP PERFORMANCE+MLB PAYROLL+ FRANCHISE PROJECTION = FRANCHISE HEALTH
continued from above,
they most definitely improved since no team with a payroll projection between 100M-120M can afford to allocate 42.5M to a quesruionable ‘ACE’ of indeterminant ability/stamina & an incedciary closer. THAT by any definition is a “TERMINAL condition therefore consider this K-Rod deal the equivilent of chemo therapy(crappy immediate side effects leading to overall improved prognosis)
A good trade – a perfect trade – is not having a winner and a loser. This is one of those times where the trade was mutually beneficial for both teams. That is the goal for every trade though most fall short. This one didn’t.
i just hope they actually reinvest the money, not just pocket it.i just don’t trust the wilpons when it comes to the teams finances.
It’s not real money; it’s a future obligation which has been closed out. There is no money to spend.
Truth is we’ll never know where the $ goes. I don’t get caught up in that. The bottom line is, its not being wasted on a declining player. For all we know the $ goes into the farm system or an international budget. Who knows. Thanks for the comments!
If u insist upon judging this from a WINNER/LOSER perspective I’d judge the biggest Winners to be The Mets & The Brewers because NY saved 12M+ by avoiding paying him for August & Srptember + his performance bonus for only $5M while Milwalkee receives a quality closer they can be free to use ad nauseum foe the total cost of 2 ‘suspects’ they likey won’t miss too much in the future as well as netting $1M to the good as they’ll pay the 4M out of the 5M they received from us.
Axford appears to be the lone loser.
Boras breaks even since if the option doesn’t vest, he takes Frankie to market in either case; thus earning a new commission on his newest client.
I’m also left with the feeling that Frankie somehow has a smidgeon of responsibility in thar “missing list” since had his trade to a team on that list actually caused him to miss out on 17.5M, the responsible party, if Kinzer, could be held liable for the consequences of his incompetance(accident) or malpheasance(deliberate) failure to file it properly with MYM & MLBPA. In which case Frankie would receive his moneylikely due; but with no liability towards Boras who wasn’t involved in the contract negotiation.
I’d be curious to know if Kinzer was aware of Frankie’s being wooed by Boras when the socalled follow up letter from NYM was receive stating thelist had not been submitted as required. That my friends is a definition of malpheasance incurring cilpability for subsequent losses.
Good points ’62. I would agree that K-Rod could possibly bear some of the responsibility for that list not being submitted, unless he did give the list to Kinzer and for whatever reason it wasn’t forwarded. Who knows. At least we’re off the hook and regardless of what we got it would be a hell of a lot more than we would be able to get after that thing vested.
Brewers are definite winners here. We got 2.5 years of mostly good outings out of K-Rod, a couple of prospects in return for 36 Million and a #1 draft choice. Milwaukee will pay 6 M or so, get 2 high draft choices and have K-Rod close for the last half of the season but what was the alternative? Keep him, get nothing and pay him 17 M next year?
It doesn’t kill me that Milwaukee got a good deal. It just goes to show that there are other ways to acquire players than type A free agency.
All told during the Minaya era we gave away 5 prospects, 2 first round draft choices and Aaron Heilman for 3 closers. Wagner, Putz, K-Rod and traded away two that became closers elsewhere Lindstrom and Bell. Boston wound up with our two picks from Wagner and Milwaukee will wind up with the two from K-Rod (unless they have agreed not to offer arb, a distinct possibility)
These types of moves rarely result in winning anything of consequence and yet they wind up keeping you poor in terms of future talent.
Keep borrowing against the future and you’ll just continue to delay any possibility of consistently competing within our own Division, let alone League.
Get with it. Other teams draft, sign, develop or trade for their entire bullpens. We have to go outside the organization for six out of 7 spots. That’s atrocious.
We have a new bullpen, new catcher(s), couple of new starting pitchers, new bench, and an expensive import every year and where does it ever get us……
One Division title in 23 years and even that only when the Washington, Florida and Atlanta were under .500 and Philly didn’t break .500 for good until 6 weeks before the end of the season.
Now even perennial doormats like Texas, Pittsburgh, Cleveland have stepped up. KC and Washington’s future appears brighter than ours, Cinn and Milwaukee are competing for Division titles and Atlanta has recycled back into a perennial contender.
Yes, the Met owners were winners. Are you an owner? Unless the answer is yes, your team is worse today and therefore you are a loser in the deal.
I’m still on Sandy’s side – he’s the grown up in the office around here, just as Terry is the grownup in the dugout. There’s been a sea change in the running of this organization since the two of them came aboard.
I won’t tolerate any back stabbing – these guys are keeping the Met afloat.
….And the score is now, Sandy Alderson 1, Omar Minaya, 0. Alright sandy!!!!!
That’s actually not that far off from what’s going on. There’s more people that care more about how Alderson does, than what the team on the field is doing. I don’t think there has been one person today that has talked about last night’s game, or today’s game. They don’t care if the Mets win or lose, they only care if SANDY wins or loses.
This post doesn’t say how this move afffects the team on the field for the rest of the season, and next year. Who replaces K-Rod? What does this trade mean for this year and next year? Nope, this post is just about what it means for Alderson.
People are now rooting for GM’s instead of the team on the field. Sad.
People have taken sides between the old regime and the new one since Alderson arrived or haven’t you noticed?
Maniac actually did a very good draft analysis of DePodesta/Riccardi/Minaya that showed reason for us all to be concerned. People who wanted change as well as people who didn’t, or didn’t like who was hired but even that was flawed by slanted opinion when it really didn’t have to be. The results were eye opening enough and could have been intelligently commented on without trying to spin opinion.
Minaya gets credit for having drafted Lenny DiNardo but Depodesta doesn’t get credit for Either because “he only had a cup of coffee” with Oakland.
The Emaus move gets 10 times the hate (per day he was employed by the Mets) than the Castillo deal does despite the fact that Emaus cost nothing to acquire, had his prime in front of him, didn’t clog payroll or the roster and was quickly and easily dispatched. No fuss no muss. None of which can be said about Castillo.
There is no objectivity on this website. Either Omar was great or Sandy’s gonna be great. No in between. Anything that could possibly be bashed about the new regieme is immediately done so. The absolute glee that was on display after our first round selection in this years draft pretty much said it all.
The fact is that Minaya, Duquette, Phillips, Harazin and the Wilpon’s have a track record to run on here. Alderson doesn’t yet and while people have every right to their own opinion he should be at least afforded the opportunity to make a few moves of his own after cleaning up the roster and payroll before being condemned.
Remember when Omar arrived he had already had the expensive deadwood pruned away and was handed carte blanche to go out and buy, buy, buy. Hardly the same situation Alderson inherited. Minaya also had a NL East in serious free fall to compete against including one team who gave us two of our starting players. Sandy steps into a Division with Philly recognized as the best NL team and probably for another couple of years and a recycled Brave team looking to be a perennial playoff team for years to come and an all of a sudden National’s Team looking like they might be players for years to come so it’s not even the same situation at all by a long shot, except to those who want to see Alderson fail. Which begs the question, are they Brave, Phillie, National or Marlins fans?
Nobody should be taking sides….It’s ridiculous that people are now making this an imaginary battle between Alderson and Minaya. When the Mets are now having a real battle for the wild card!
There’s no foucus on the team on the field, there’s only foucus on how Alderson is doing compared to Omar. It’s unbeliavble.
I’ve noticed this imaginary battle too. It’s been rampant since the season started and quite frankly I don’t get it. No matter how poorly any GM did, they acted in the best interests of the club. None of them came here as part of an evil plot to destroy the farm system and set the organization back 10 years. I’m just glad we’re not the Cubs.
Its not an imaginary battle when you have people out and out rooting against the new GM.
When the supporters of the Minaya regime point to every inherited players as one of “Omar’s guys” as if Alderson had 6 years here to produce his own guys.
When the new guy had to park 21 M on the wasted list while being condemned for having to swoop over the landfill to fix 10 glaring needs.
You don’t wind up with 10 glaring needs and a barren AAA and AA when your taking over a well conceived team.
I feel that Minaya was mostly just doing things in the preferred Wilpon fashion until he could fill out the 25 with talent and foresight but between giving up 3 #1 picks, 2 2nd rounders a third rounder, failing to take back 2 first rounders and two supplementary round picks, drafting for slot, trading numerous prospects and not making up for all that effectively in the IFA market, combined with some bad luck with Sanchez, Schneider, Church, Fern and a huge amount of injuries and some really inexplicably bad moves had no chance.
Under the Wilpon method of investing big in only past their prime players no one has a good chance.
Minaya didn’t have the luxury of claiming the Wilpon’s budget wasn’t there and would have been crucified for trying to actually build a competent and cohesive team by the fans, media and everyone else but there is no doubt in my mind that he could have done it and we could be looking at a decade of contending for the Division and only occasionally settling for a Wild Card in the coming decade.
Alderson gets a break from most Met Fans because they know the monies just not there. Some hate him for reasons that have nothing to do with his performance to date and that’s not something Minaya had to deal with.
Ultimately they all get judged by what the talent they bring in here and what they do in their prime because that’s the biggest determinent of who wins the Division.
That’s why we’ve been on the outside looking in 20 out of the last 23 years.
Vinny: I will worry about the current team on the field when the problems of the past are gone. Dealing a guy who gets paid more than the 5 guys we have starting games, and his job is to get 3 outs does this team no good. The focus is on fixing the problems and moving forward. Not making the same mistakes twice
The score will be sandy 1 Omar less than 1 when Sandy’s club makes an NLCS. Right now its Sandy: undecided, Omar: took team to greatest heights it’s seen in a decade. This year looks to be lost, and I don’t tolerate losing. Major improvement better come next year or I’m ready to call for Mr. Alderson’s head, as should every fan who shouldn’t tolerate extended losing in the largest market in baseball.
1999 and 2000, or did you forget?
And stop worrying about geography. That’s what got us into this mess to start.
What I mean to say is its 2011 now, so in this decade (2001-2011) current 2006′s team is the best by far. No I’d never forget 2000. And also I refuse to stop acknowledging geography. This is an uncapped sport and big market teams should bully and win the majority of the time. The fact that a team based about 5 miles from us has the blueprint for modern baseball (I don’t care one lil bit about their history from before 1980) should bother every Met fan. In my opinion we’ve been way to accepting for general mediocrity in relation to our market size. I stated it in another thread and I’ll repeat it here- The other NY baseball team paid a guy 10 million to MAYBE close for them NEXT year. I don’t care what the source of the problem is. Saber Sandy, Broke Freddie… Met fans should rise up and demand the type of baseball dominance this market has shown it can yield.
“What I mean to say is its 2011 now, so in this decade (2001-2011) current 2006′s team is the best by far.”
So that is the arbitrary point you picked.
“And also I refuse to stop acknowledging geography. ”
Then you will be stuck in an downward spiral. In case you haven’t noticed, geography plays no roll in a team’s ability to win baseball games. Neither does the amount of people watching TV within an arbitrarily drawn political boundary.
“This is an uncapped sport and big market teams should bully and win the majority of the time.”
Oh that’s lovely. Screw the game, let’s just buy trophies.
“The fact that a team based about 5 miles from us has the blueprint for modern baseball (I don’t care one lil bit about their history from before 1980) should bother every Met fan. ”
Then go root for them. You’re demonstrating the right attitude.
Also, you don’t seem to understand their recent history either. Or do you not know who Gene Michaels is?
“stated it in another thread and I’ll repeat it here- The other NY baseball team paid a guy 10 million to MAYBE close for them NEXT year.”
So, because the Junior Georges spent money stupidly (against the advice of the guy who is actually paid to make their baseball decisions by the way) we should do the same. Nifty plan there.
“I don’t care what the source of the problem is. ”
Or the solution, apparently.
“Met fans should rise up and demand the type of baseball dominance this market has shown it can yield.”
Or, we can stop with the silly empty rhetoric and get knowledgeable. It’s 2011 now. Catch up.
DaMadd: Your preference
Spend $200mil on anything that we can or spend $120mil wisely?
Which would you be happy with as a fan?
Isn’t the greatest knock on NYY that they try to buy titles? It’s bought them 1 title in 10 years. What about the other teams? Geography and payrolls didn’t matter for them did it?
You know Texas is the 5th highest media market in the entire country? Their team payroll is $92mil. That’s smaller than Min, Det, Stl. St. Louis isn’t even a top 20 media market. Minneapolis and Detroit aren’t even Top 10.
You realize of the Top 10 team payrolls right now, Nyy, Phi, Bos, Sf make up half the teams in the playoffs if it ended today?
It’s not about what you spend its how you spend it. In order for the Mets to spend wisely, they need to revamp the farm system and get rid of mistake contracts that have held this franchise back
Da Madd: Remind me again. The Yankees started their dominance how?
Did Jeter/Mariano/Posada/Pettitte/Bernie begin a foundation for the Yankees and win at a young age or did the Yankees go out and spend their way to a title in 1996.
They went through some bad times before they got to this level of being able to spend spend spend.
It has nothing to do with geography. You don’t have to stick your chest in the air to prove you belong because you play in NY. If the Mets win with a $40mil payroll it will feel the same if they do with $140 (well it probably will feel better actually)
Nobody has ever said the Mets wont spend. In order to spend WISELY you need to use free agency for what its meant to do. Fill in spots, not build your entire team.
Also, lets not pretend the Yankees are the model for spending wisely. What the Yankees do well is they get the best free agent talent and usually overpay for it. That’s not exactly a wise thing. I mean don’t forget this is a team that has spent more money than anybody and prior to 2009 they got nothing out of it after 2000.
What they also do well is they are usually willing to cut ties with financial mistakes.
The Yankees don’t spend wisely. They spend. The Mets tried that. The Mets tried competing with NYY in spending just to spend.
Time to compete by spending wisely.
Here’s the thing. Yes the “core” of the Yanks came up through their farm the old fashioned way. And it did lead to a win in 96. But don’t kid anybody, they went on a 3 peat and made 5 world series in 7 years after that because they threw $ at everything. And you’re exactly right, the Yanks usually identify their problems quickly and cut ties with mistakes, and it usually costs money to do that as well. To say the Yanks got nothing out of their spending would be to say that making the playoffs every year except 08 is nothing. A Mets team that’s made the playoffs 2 years out of the same period can’t say that. And recall that spending after that 08 season got them a 09 trophy. I know spending is not the only answer, but it just disgusts me to see the Mets middling about like a damn pirates or royals club with everyone on pins and needle about whether our closer finishes 55 games. Our closer was 23 out of 26 and having a good year at age 29, that’s a guy I’d like to keep around, not have a parade and call a trade of him a “win win.”
Da Madd: Would you say before they can wisely spend their $ they need to figure out a few things first though?
For example, their owners need to figure out the Madoff Case. They need to get rid of some bad contracts. They need Alderson to start making this his own team.
It’s not like the master plan is to be the Pirates for 12 years. You think Alderson doesn’t want to get the franchise back to 2006 form within the end of his contract? Of course he does. Why wouldn’t he?
Please stop pretending like KRod did anything for this team. Did he save games? Yes. But don’t forget this is the same player who absolutely threw his season away last year for selfish reasons. Don’t forget this is the guy who started a fight with Brian Bruney in the outfield for no reason. A guy scouts say has lost velocity and we all can see that.
They were going to pay a guy who maybe was worth lets say $5mil, $17.5 mil. You can’t do that.
You could replace KRod with probably 12-15 other closers and be fine and chances are they all make less $ than him. We don’t know where that $ will go… but its going somewhere. Even if it goes back to the Wilpon’s… its better than giving it to a player who didn’t earn it.
This roster plan failed. Yes injuries took place, but some of those injuries happened to guys who were past their prime and the Mets had no real suitable replacements. The LCS was tragic, the collapses killed this franchises spirit.
I’m not gonna say K-Rod did “nothing for this team, because the team blew a playoff shot the year before he got here with horrid bullpen play. Yes he was overpaid, lost velocity, and had off the field issues. But he earned the money. Better than league average he finished games for us, which is the luxury you don’t know you have until it’s gone. And I don’t think Alderson wants the team to fail, I’m not a sandy basher. But I also don’t worship at his alter. Fact is this Mets team isn’t as good as last years. Imagine for a second if we didn’t dump Omar, but did fire jerry and added TC as manager. Do you think we’d be better? Just a question, I don’t know what the answer is, but I’m leaning toward personally I’d feel they would be. Omar knew this about New York. We shouldn’t tolerate losing, and we absolutely shouldn’t tolerate being stuck in the mediocre zone. If the Mets wanted K-rod gone (and they had every off field and financial reason to) they should have went all the way with their grievance and had his ‘tract terminated. Then I would have felt like they were making a good business decision. This trade just feels like a team running scared of paying people and embracing a mediocre season. Neither thing should be acceptable in the biggest market in an uncapped sport. The Wilpons have $ troubles? Either sell the team or swing for the fences. The worst owner in the city is Dolan, and he’s rolling in dough right now because he made big moves and told his fan base that so-so isn’t good enough anymore. That’s what I want to see. Alderson talks out both sides of his mouth. We’re not punting on this year; this isn’t a fire sale, not giving up after the All Star break. You gave up on the year when you brought in the Wal-Mart bargain bin in spring training like we were the Athletics. I’m just frustrated by the mediocrity and the fan base’s seeming cheery outlook on our current situation. I understand fans like to be optimistic, and I appreciate you having reasoned debate with me on the topic. I just needed to vent and this seemed like a good space. Just know this, any GM no matter how “adult” he is, should have a short leash in this town if he hasn’t won anything to back it up. My feeling is Sandy has used up about 2/5ths of his.
Genius,
I look at it more this way. Frequently what an organization does today doesn’t show up and start paying dividends anywhere from 4 – 10 years down the road. We have no idea if the whole Wilpon being on the skids issue is true or just a diversion. I think it must be true or they wouldn’t have sold a portion of the team.
Regardless, no one can fix the poor drafts and lack of talent in the high minors and without the money to bring in expensive high end talent it’s going to take a few years but when it does happen we’ll have guys who’s shelf life is considerably longer than the free agents we’ve been importing to no avail over the last quarter of a century.
By drafting, signing and developing the highest ceiling young talent both domestically and internationally we’ll have the foundation in which to spring for a missing piece like a Cliff Lee and the payroll to afford him rather than counting on 6 expensive free agents, 6 retreads and 12 rushed mediocre prospects to carry the load.
Beginning an assembly line of high ceiling talented high school kids and properly preparing them beforehand will result in a more resilient and cohesive team with players playing FOR their big contract rather than coming here after getting it.
Paying guys for what they’ve done in our uniform rather than someone else’s is an important first step. If we have to tread water for a couple of years our results aren’t going to be much worse than they have been going for it every year and we’ll avoid the frequent crashes that accompany all the boom bust cycles we’ve expierenced over the last couple of decades.
Rushing the process just ensures that we’ll be right back where we find ourselves now once again.
Let’s face it. With the largest payroll in the entire League over the last two decades we’ve had eleven losing seasons, lost 90+ games six times, won one NL East Division and one World Series game.
Those results stink and in order to get better results we have to do things in a more practical manner than just signing someone to an expensive long term contract because “well who else were we going to get to play (insert position of latest expensive bust)”
If this organization adopted as it’s goal to have the best 60 players in the entire organization top to bottom of all 30 MLB teams we would win the NL East 6 years out of 10 and win two Wild Cards when we didn’t every decade without any crashes, let alone having a 90+ losing season 25% of the time.
Terry Collins has done a tremendous job this year but he would have faced another mutiny if he had been around here last year with all the divergent self interest on the 25 man roster.
Cleaning all that up allowed guys to be receptive to his culture change and because of it we’re doing more with less and the team is already showing a backbone but infusing enough talent to add to Minaya’s prospects will take time. Give it to him or the Mets will be forever continue to be Promeutheus.
Just one little thing:If he’d really wanted to, Alderson couldve sat down with Krod and Boras and worked out the same deal Milwaukee did. But he didnt want to, because Wilpon told him he wanted to put the saved money in his pocket It doesnt bode well. Pops
Why would Rodriguez agree to that? He’s all but guaranteed to hit the option with the Met. Milwaukee has an established closer already has an established closer, so they could avoid the option without pissing off the union.
Kudos all around! Great article! You nailed it. Sandy deserves praise. He’s a smart man and not a yahoo like Minaya was. Sandy is responsibly running a ballclub. Quite frankly we are fortunate to have him. I very much appreciate the article you wrote.
thank you GSS
I view this entire sequence of events as positve for the Mets and an accomplishment by Alderson. What Milwaukee did contractually with KRod/Boras has no import to the Mets. I continue to view this as a trade of KRod for Jose’ Reyes. We are now free of the albatross that Minaya hung around the neck of the Mets and are closer to being able to re-sign Jose’. To me, that’s a win for the Mets.
onlymask, thanks for the comment!
Agree 100%.
Yes, it would have been nice if the Mets were able to get the same “out” of KRod’s contract that the Brewers got, but that was impossible, for the reasons you detailed.
So adding two minor leaguers and subtracting a ridiculous contract for a player that we don’t want back in 2012 was a nice and necessary move.
thanks for your comment Mex