17
2011
Doug’s Dugout: Mets Put The “Off” In Offseason
An article by Doug Branch
Now that the Mets have thrown (John) Debus under the bus, maybe it is time to start reshaping this sub-.500 team. It’s a revelation that the bullpen coach was at the forefront of the teams’ woes and that GM Sandy Alderson swiftly extracted him (and a few other scapegoats, such as fan favorite, Mookie Wilson) without rancor.
This is tantamount to re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Or shuffling the stack of papers on the over-worked underpaid office worker’s desk.
Here is a novel idea: how about giving the fans something to get excited about in 2012 besides re-configuring the obnoxious Citi Field dimensions or sprucing up old uniforms with a new 50th anniversary patch (that’s one World Championship every 25 years).
Furthermore, I am getting a tad tired of playing armchair bean counter. Let’s see, how can we slash more payroll? Yes, let’s keep Angel Pagan because he is a bargain (at a potential $5 million), and overlook the fact he dogged it most of the season. And, Chris Capuano has priced himself out of a Mets (new-old) uniform because he proved his arm is sound.
My feelings have nothing to do with Jose’ Reyes impending departure (technically he’s already gone). It’s about being pro-active. That does not mean shopping David Wright, who still has two more years in a Mets uniform.
(Alderson is trolling the waters to see if someone bites on Wright. Otherwise he would’ve squashed the scuttle from the get-go. His modus operandi is to save the Wilpon’s money, first and foremost).
Maybe Sandy needs a hearing aid because the off-season bell has rung and he didn’t hear it. Reuben Amaro did. The Philadelphia GM has already signed an insurance policy for the injured Ryan Howard at first base, Jim Thome and doled out $50 million for a new closer, the pursed-lipped Jonathon Papelbon.
Oh, I forgot, the Mets plight should never be compared to the team directly south. Amaro has made it his business to distance his club from the sagging franchise to the north. So today our expectations are very different from the Phillies.
Once upon a (long ago) time the Mets ate the Phillies’ lunch. But, that was when Wilson was avoiding getting hit by Bob Stanley instead of the ax, or trickling a ball through Bill Buckner’s creaky pins. The Mets have been living on the fortunes of the 1986 team for over a quarter of century now, and therein lies the problem.
It’s heresy in these quarters to mention the Mets and the Phillies (Yankees, etc.) in the same breath. Soon it might also include Miami, Atlanta, and Washington. Hey, we are so low the curb looks enticing.
If Alderson wants to revamp the bullpen then target the pieces and attack. For the fans’ sake, don’t wait to sift through the scraps in the bargain basement bin. For goodness sakes man, you are a general manager not a magician. Not everyone can be had for a one-year contract.
Want Joe Nathan or Octavio Dotel, go get him. Instead Alderson plays the waiting game and hopes the price drops and the Brad Lidge’s of the world lands in his lap. Or he thrusts the “IF” scenario out there, ‘IF Johan Santana is healthy or IF Ike Davis recovers from the most prolonged ankle injury in history, the team has a shot,’ babble.
Where have I heard that rationalization before? Oh, last season when speaking about Jason Bay, Johan Santana, Chris Young and a cast of castoffs.
Every year it seems the rebuilding process (management shuns the term) gets moved back a year. Now the projection is 2013 that the Mets will be back in the hunt. By the middle of the summer it will be 2014.
How do you fix an ailing club? Well, you don’t allow your primetime players to depart in their prime. Draft picks be damned. Projecting high school and college players to the ultimate level is harder than finding a stand-up administrator or coach at Penn State.
I would love to see the Mets beat another team to the punch for talent for a refreshing change (and to be realistic, I am not chanting for Albert Pujos or Prince Fieldler), instead of being punched in the gut all winter.
About the Author: Doug Branch
Doug has been sports writing since 1983. He first wrote about the Mets at spring training that year, and his first interviewee was surly catcher Ron Hodges. He currently writes for Mets Inside Pitch, among other magazines published by Scout Publishing-which is owned by Fox Sports. He began following the team during the Wes Westrum era, and redeemed many Borden milk coupons for free Saturday baseball. The night of Tom Seaver's imperfect game against the Cubs, he was in line to buy a ticket when the windows slammed shut and abject disappointment ensued.
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I disagree…
Look, if the fact of the matter is the Wilpon’s need to seriously cut payroll to help recover the team financially, then I think it would be better if they just ripped the metophorical band-aid off and just cut everyone now, sign cheap players and ride out the season, and look forward to next season. In my opinion it is better than riding out 3-4 mediocre years of low payroll till the Owners financially recover. We can choose to ignore the fact that our owners took a big financial hit by simply say it is not our problem or for them to sell the team; but the fact will still remain that they are strapped for cash.
Why drag this on for multiple seasons when we can maybe get passed it in one season. I am for trading Wright, Santana, Bay, whoever is eating up those big contracts for draft picks and prospects. Let’s start the rebuilding now, no more seasons of patching a leaky boat with bandaids.
The sooner and more extreme, the quicker we can move past the financial burdens and begin assembling a quality team at a adequate payroll.
Oh baloney with “financial burdens”
Just go get the best guys possible with whatever money you have.
USE YOUR BUDGET! That’s what it’s for. He’s doing a terrible job and like I said before – wasn’t Alderson and his boys supposed to be analytical statistical gurus?
Wasn’t that ideology supposed to help compensate for a smaller budget? I thought they mastery of all things sabermetrics and using all kinds of new stats was supposed to give them an edge and they would still get good players relative to help keeping this team in competition for the post season?
How come there’s no more talk of that? How come now it’s the WIlpon’s fault?
I think it’s not too soon to call into question the job Alderson is doing. He just may not know what he’s doing. Every other GM i hear being interviewed on MLBNetwork is clear and concise and pithy in explaining what their goals are without tipping their hand. Not Alderson.
Maybe he double talks and talks in code because he has no idea what the hell he’s doing.
Outstanding piece Doug,
I can’t believe that Alderson hasn’t been taken to task by the media yet for the way he’s operating. At this point now I wonder if this Alderson guy even knows what the hell he’s doing!
He may be just a LOUSY GM! I so disagree with just about EVERYTHING this guy is doing.
You have to be kidding me! You run a New York franchise and you’re just waiting around to see what winds up in the clearance bin? You think the other GMs aren’t out there grabbing all the good players?????
Does Alderson even know what he’s doing?????
I dont understand why you are hanging this on Alderson when it’s Wilpon who holds the purse strings. I mean give the guy a break for crying out loud.
The Purse strings are 110 Mil it is Sandy who is deciding how to spend it!
And he isn’t spending it on winners!
Well Done Doug!
Basically Crap or get off the pot already!
SO far the only PLAN I see is Lets wait for something to happen!
Yes it’s a long term!
Boston used to and the Cubs still have that same plan!
Wait for 100 years something good should happen by them!
JUST WAIT!
Good, no no.. GREAT ARTICLE!!!! F*** the moneyballers..
You lost me comparing the Mets off season thus far with the Phillies.
$50 MIL plus (yes, plus with that vesting option) for a reliever, a 41 year old ‘back up’ at 1st base, and Schneider as their back up catcher? Not good in my book.
I’m not happy about the fact that the Wilpons still own this team, can’t afford to still own this team, and we’re likely to be looking at the best SS this franchise ever grew, signing with some other team b/c the Wilpons still own this team. But I’m certainly glad we’re not taking the route the Phillies have this off season so far.
Well Srt comparing our Offseason truly is Apples and Oranges!
They are in the proccess of bringing in and improving players!
All we seem to be doing is getting rid of the few good and replacing them with cheap fillers!
They are actively IMPROVING their team while we are waiting for someone to offer enough to Reyes to look reasonable when they don’t match!
Sorry….but just don’t see how signing a 41 year old backup, a mendoza line backup catcher with poor defense and a 50 + MIL closer is improving the team.
But hey…I’m all for those Philly signings. I’m hoping they turn around and now overpay in years and $$ for Rollins next.
you may die tomorrow worrying about how the Phillies will be years from now. Forget about that.
I’d rather die tomorrow concerning myself with how the Mets will be next season. That’s what’s most relative – i really can’t give a nannosecond of a thought to how the Phillies will be in a few years.
What is relevant is what the Mets need to do to compete next season with whatever financial resources they have. And those resources are better than last season’s and right now a lot of teams we compete against are doing much better than the Mets in the early off season REGARDLESS of how they’re doing it.
The Phillies can be in the post season again next year with the development of new younger talent that they can use to help change their roster over sooner than you think so don’t worry about the older guys they’re signing now. Amaro wants to win he’ll do it his way.
I wish the Mets would try to win. They can you know. They have enough money to compete we just need smart guys running the show who want to win and right now WE DO NOT HAVE THAT.
Worrying? Hardly.
First of all, nothing Met fans can do about it.
Second, I’m actually enjoying reading about the money he’s spending and who he’s spending it on.
Did you just knock Jim Thome and J-Pap? That backup and future hall of famer had more homeruns than Wright or Bay and imagine him in CBP. He had more HR and RBI then all Mets backups and bench players combined last season.
You have to go all the way back to John Franco to find a Mets closer who had a better season than Papelbon’s 0.93 WHIP and 2.94 ERA in 2011.
Ruben Amaro is the winningest GM in MLB since he took over the Phillies by a landslide. He’s won 75 more games than Billy Beane in that span.
Is that what you got out of my comment? Sigh……
The so called ‘knock’ – as you put it – was:
- the amount of money and years for Papalbon. If that were their only hole, maybe. But it’s not. Would have been better off putting that 12 MIL plus a year towards a LF, SS, 3rd base….
- Thome as the answer to Howard while he recuperates. Although I think your statement of insurance for Howard is incorrect. According to the Philly beat writers, that’s now what he was signed for. He was signed for his bat on the bench. They all agree there is no way Thome is going to be playing 1st base for the injured Howard should he not start the season. In fact, I think Thome himself was quoted as saying that.
- Schneider? Enough said.
Everyone who only even occasionally reads this blog knows your feelings on this current FO as compared to just about all others. I’ll spare everyone having to read that again and skip the debate with you on that.
Papelbon is 30 and is one of the elite closers, in the NL he’ll only be better. He just posted the highest K Rate 12.5 of his career and is still peaking. It’s not like he’s in decline. How many holes can a 105 win team have? They upgraded closer, if they dont sign Rollins theu are on record as going after Reyes, and Cuddyer will be a better LF than Ibanez.
Instead of worrying about what Amaro is doing, we should be worrying about what Alderson is not doing.
No doubt about it that he’s one of the elite closers. I’m just commenting on spending that much for a reliever when they’ve got ?s at first right now, LF, 36 year old 3rd baseman, questions on Utley’s knees, etc. etc.
The more money Amaro spends right now, possibly the less they might have to resign Hamels, find a 3rd baseman next year, replace LF, catcher in a year or so.
From what I’m reading, if they do lock up Hamels to another contract, they’ll likely to have 4 players with an annual salary of averaging 20 MIL. 100 MIL tied up in 4 players is a big risk – unless you’re the Yankees.
If they had a wealth of prospects a year away, they might be all right. But they don’t.
Will be interesting to see what happens in this division in a year or two.
And whoever said it is right……don’t know why we’re debating the Phillies. We’ve got our own problems with the Mets which obviously we’re all much more interested in. The idea is not to hope the other division teams have their problems and/or fail. The idea is to make this team as strong and competitive as possible so it doesn’t much matter what the rest of the division teams are doing.
And all I can say on what Alderson is not doing is….thanks Fred and Jeff.
Well Srt what was the one thing the Phillies pitching staff was missing?
A REAL CLOSER! They have ping ponged between two guys for the last three years!
One would get hurt the other would win the job, then he would struggle the other guy would win it back…
By going and getting one solid closer they save themselves a roster spot because they don’t need to keep two guys to close out the 9th!
As for the 1B backup, remember that Rollins (their most veteran player) may not be back! Howard is coming off injury and may miss some time early. That signing solves both issues! They can afford to sign a bandaid. Because they have a living breathing winning roster!
We don’t so slapping a bandaid on a disembowled roster (like we are doing) is bad!
But the Phillies can do that and not suffer. Cause they ARE putting the money where it counted in the Closer role!
In Today’s Adam Rubin Chat:
Kevin (DC ):
Tell me why Mets fan should spend money and come to out to the ballpark in 2012 ..
Adam Rubin (1:02 PM)
Rubin:
Because supporting the team will ensure the Wilpons are long-term owners.
Me: Amen.
Since when did Reyes sign with another team, and who declared the offseason to be over?
Good article – good comments.
Apparently Doug Branch has nothing better to do than scrapping together a bunch of hodge podge, throwing it against the wall and seeing what sticks.
I put this article amongst the many useless others that have no purpose other than page views and for the author to feel empowered by attacking this or that person, team, employee, owner or issue, distorting facts and relevance just because they like to see themselves flex muscle in print.
At least he flexed his muscle with a real name, lol. Anonymity makes titans of us all. Why not put your opinions on the line before knocking another’s with insults instead of ideas?
and apparently you have nothing to do but to defend Sandy because you sure aren’t too busy going to baseball games so we would have the money to sign someone decent!
Dougs piece was SPOT ON!
The rest of the teams are being movers and shakers!
All we are doing is SLASHING!
And we aren’t slashing the crap just the guys who hit over .300!
Maybe Sandy needs a hearing aid because the off-season bell has rung and he didn’t hear it. Reuben Amaro did.
He already warned not to expect any moves until after the winter meetings.
Yeah -and maybe some Mets fans need a clue. Amaro signed a closer. WOW oh wait and a guy in his 40′s that is past his prime. Little to nothing else has been done throughout MLB, but lets slam Alderson because he hasn’t signed a big name. Is ST starting tomorrow?
Very little ever happens until the Winter Meetings, is their you first off season?
Joe how many rumors about the Mets being interested in someone have you heard about?
Lets see Marquis, Chavez…Anyone else? Oh Yeah Isringhausen! LOL
How many Rumors have you heard from everyone else?
A lot more than that!
Sandy is basically waiting around for all the good players to go off the board hoping that fewer bidders means cheaper contracts!
And usually what happens instead is someone gets a DUMB contract and raises the bar on all the middle crap he was going to go after instead!
Hey Longtime: I make a great Hodge Podge at Thanksgiving!
Appreciate the postive comments Metsie, Alex, Agee, and my favorite, Bayonne (and Brian for having my back). Last time I looked Phillies were in our division, although light years ahead. Guess I’m tired of hearing about the Mets payroll and money issues. Hey, who doesn’t have em, but I don’t own a baseball team, and they do.
So what is wrong with hoping the Wilpons and Alderson put forth an entertaining product for the fans to support? Why not create some buzz. The dungeon could use some new drapes and some fresh paint.