Sandy Alderson Addresses State Of Team, Ballpark

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• jessep December 14, 2011 at 4:20 pm

  You know, I can’t remember a time when a homegrown free agent left a team for more money and fans gave him NO blame for it.

  http://www.metsblog.com/2011/12/14/sandy-talks-about-reyes-and-the-definition-of-an-offer/

  “He said he never wanted to make the first offer to Reyes, knowing Jose’s agents would simply turn around and shop that offer to other teams (forcing the Mets to eventually offer more anyway). As an example, he doesn’t think it is a coincidence that Jose’s price went up from Friday (when he talked with Jose’s agents about a potential deal) to Saturday night (when Miami offered six years).

  “What we thought might happen may have happened, in terms of making an offer and – in our case – having it used to increase another offer, which is the nature of the game,” he said, referring to why Miami upped their offer over that final weekend

  ““Well, from a legal stand point, an offer is something that – if accepted – becomes a legal contract. … I think in the context of baseball it is about information. It’s not about being able to sign and accept something immediately. So, from that stand point, do I think we provided information that would have given them an exact idea of what was going on with us? Yes.”

  It’s as simple as that. Reyes’ agent spoke with Alderson, and limits were clearly discussed and then coincidentally Miami’s offer went up.

  If people want to claim Alderson and the Mets were stingy, that’s fine. But those same people need to start recognizing that Jose and his agent were equally greedy. They got the info they needed from Alderson that would allow them to squeeze more $ out of Miami, why? Because that is where he wanted to be.

  It has nothing to do with who the GM in NY is, and everything to do with $. This team only has so much $ it can spend, and how long they can be committed to a player and if another player uses that negotiation to get more money out of another team then there’s nothing the Mets can do about that.

  He left because Miami was giving him more $ and more of a yearly commitment. It has nothing to do with love, chocolates, wine, or anything else.

  It was about Money. Just like it was about Money with Pujols and just like it’s gonna be about Money with Prince.
  • Met Maniac December 14, 2011 at 4:26 pm

    So you provide a Mets owned blog as proof of what exactly????

    As a lawyer, nobody plays the semantics game better than Alderson.

    First he said he didn’t make him an offer, than after all hell breaks lose he says he discussed the concept of an offer, than he says it wasn’t a concrete offer, now he says based on legal definitions his non offer could be considered an offer?

    WOW, talk about bobbing and weaving.

    It figures you’d go to a Mets owned site and cut and past a response in defense of a Mets owned GM. Very classy.
    • jessep December 14, 2011 at 4:30 pm

      “So you provide a Mets owned blog as proof of what exactly????”

      To provide proof of what Alderson said. I didn’t go on and on about Cerrone’s poll or anything after that did I? No. I showed you quotes from Alderson. He said it to everybody, it doesn’t matter that Metsblog posts it… does that make his words less true?

      I went to a “mets owned site” because quotes that are relevant to several discussions here were removed from Sandy Alderson’s mouth and Metsblog typed them out. I’m not sure what that has to do with being classy?
      • jessep December 14, 2011 at 4:37 pm

        By the way maniac, don’t think I don’t remember the time metsblog picked up one of your blogs and the traffic on mmo increased and you practically wet yourself in shoutbox that metsblog picked up your blog. So let’s not play the game of poo-poo’ing cerrone’s blog now that you got your use out of it
        • Met Maniac December 14, 2011 at 5:00 pm

          Back then it was Cerrone’s blog, his name was on the header and at the bottom it said he was the sole owner. Guess what, it’s the Mets property now and it has been for like six months so get a frip.

          Plus at the time my blog had more passion than he can muster up in 5 years worth of his lukewarm wishy washy opinions that change with the wind.
          • Met Maniac December 14, 2011 at 5:00 pm

            * Get a grip!
          • jessep December 14, 2011 at 7:02 pm

            Interesting. Your blog was on May 9th, conveniently right before you claim Metsblog should be discredited, weird.

            I’m not even sure why you reacted so poorly to Metsblog quoting Alderson. It’s a quote… who reports it isn’t the story. You’re just focusing on the metsblog portion because you don’t want to admit it makes sense
  • Metsie December 15, 2011 at 9:47 am

    And you conveniently forget that if Alderson had that discussion you claim when we had exclusive rights, and said these limits expire the second you test FA then Reyes wopuldn’t have gotten the extra money the Marlins bumped up at the end!

    But you had some warped concept that making a bid is bidding against yourself despite the fact that “AGAINST” requires two competing bids to be OPPOSED to each other!
  • Alan December 15, 2011 at 11:26 am

    Nice to see that someone “gets it”…..

    Professional athletes have gained the upper hand by having agents represent them whereas until the latter part of the 1970′s, ownership held the cards. Agents use the players to manipulate the market value so as to extract the best deal from the teams looking to buy.

    Perfect example is Prince Fielder’s agent realizing that Albert Pujols was the bigger “fish” out there and that once his value was set that Prince could then demand a bit less than Albert got still look like a bargain.

    Looking back at our own team’s history…..By 1977 our “Franchise” had become the best pitcher in the game, bar none.based on a 10 year performance. Seaver saw that some decent pitchers with one good season like an Andy Messersmith had hit the jackpot and Seaver saw no sign of M.D. Grant looking to offer a contract extension at a reasonable raise to elevate Tom’s salary to what he deserved and thus we ended up with the Midnight Massacre. Fans angry about losing Jose Reyes? New York City was furious and for the first time the Mets broke my heart. I still curse that bastard Grant and his newspaper cronies like Dick Young who were on his payroll and ran Seaver out of town. When Sterling /Doubleday brought him back in 1983, I was overjoyed despite knowing that he wasn’t a 20 game winner or a 250 strikeout pitcher any more. I went out to Shea on opening day of 1983 and watched him walk in from the bullpen to a standing ovation from the crowd that had tears in their eyes and was proud to be one of them.

    That I managed to stay loyal to this team is amazing……but I do despite having moved to Arizona years ago. I figure that the team will rebound within a few years and maybe have another run of excellence like we had in the mid 1980′s…..
• William H. December 14, 2011 at 3:42 pm

  “I think more scoring makes more sense because it’s more entertaining,” he said. “A little more offense will not only be a plus for the players but also the fans.”

  Yes, if you can’t afford to sign a slugger, bring in the fences, cross your fingers, and hope the fans come anyway.
• Met Maniac December 14, 2011 at 4:16 pm

  His comment on Reyes proves what I’d been saying all along going back to last year that he had no intention of re-signing Reyes. Had he been honest all along, the fans would have been prepared for him to be traded so we may have something to show for him other than a couple of Marlins draft picks and not even a first round one at that. FAIL.
• Ghost of omar December 14, 2011 at 4:19 pm

  When the big news of your team’s off-season is the fence, you truly suck big time. nothing else to say ….
• Des December 14, 2011 at 4:29 pm

  Sandy’s responses were cogent and to the point if fans accept the view that he is now constrained by finances beyond his control.

  Sandy’s view of the Reyes’ bargaining tactic was right on the money. Jose issued a dollar demand and then tried to use the press to do his bidding. Both tactics were foolish. A dollar demand before market conditions are known is simply raw ego running wild. And negotiating in the press only works when you can embarrass the other side. Both ploys were doomed to failure. I’m happy Jose got a sucker offer from the Marlins that bid against themselves and wound up giving Jose what he wanted. But he’s on the other team and we have to try to beat him on the field.

  The bullpen now has veteran insurance against injury and overuse, but it cost us to get it. Hopefully we won’t be using depleted arms in August and September. If our starting pitchers don’t average six innings we just might need that extra bullpen arm.

  The Thole situation bears close watching and this is an area I’m concerned about. Nickeas might do the backup job O,K. He also needs to catch Pelfrey so that opposing teams don’t run wild on Pelf. Last year Thole showed he wasn’t able to stop those thieves on the basepaths. Here’s hoping!
• Bayonne Mets Fan December 14, 2011 at 4:30 pm

  So he just wants to entertain the fans with more runs huh? Is that all we want? Or do the fans want these guys to do a better job of filling out the roster with whatever limited resources they have?

  So after reading those comments maybe it’s true he wants to hold onto Wright more because of aesthetic reasons than to actually help the team win because the entire way they are going about handling this team to me could not be anymore off base. Trading a proven choke artist, average fielder with below average arm third baseman who folds more often than not when it comes to playing under pressure and keeping Jose Reyes who offers more would have been the better move to help keep this team a contender in 2012.

  Wright is a good athlete but a terrible competitor and more should’ve been done to acquire major league ready arms and prospects for him. Pairing Jose Reyes with Tejada up the middle would have given the Mets one of the better defensive middle infields and definitely able to compete at a higher level.

  Now look at their middle infield situation. Bad job overall.
• Bayonne Mets Fan December 14, 2011 at 4:33 pm

  finances aside,

  The amount of slack Sandy gets for the job he’s doing so far is unbelievable. It’s not about what’s best for the team anymore it’s about defending their boy Sandy.
• Metfan Lou December 14, 2011 at 4:48 pm

  He talks like a man with a 500 team. We’ll be lucky. My prediction being the pessimist or realist I say we have a 400 winning percentage in 2012. When he talks about entertaining the fans with more scoring I guess he means the Mets opponents too. I personally thought the most entertaining game I saw in years as a Met fan on MLB.TV was Chris Capuano’s gem last year. Fans who really know the game don’t fall for the long ball hysterics with fans waving towels and going ballistic. Good pitching, defense, base running, and SMART hitting is where the real excitement is. Home run hitters may fill some seats but the real Hall of Famers have all the skills.
• francis December 14, 2011 at 4:59 pm

  Regarding this part:

  Despite losing out on Reyes, Alderson said he was very pleased with being able to bolster the bullpen with Jon Rauch, Ramon Ramirez and Frank Francisco. He also still likes some of the bullpen pieces the team currently has, and it should all make for a good combination.

  “We weren’t looking to bring in three,” said Alderson. “We were looking to bring in two. We’re happy we got the three, so what was a weakness is a modest strength for us right now.”

  Sorry, but Jon Rauch, Ramon Ramirez and Frank Francisco does not amount to a modest strength.
  • Met Maniac December 14, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    I love making predictions, so here is one of my first for 2012. Jon Rauch will be a complete $3.5 million dollar bust!
    • Russell Zanca December 14, 2011 at 11:37 pm

      As bad as J.J. the Putz?
  • Jim Mancari December 14, 2011 at 5:05 pm

    Though these relievers may not be the cream of the crop, calling the bullpen a modest strength came directly out of Alderson’s mouth.
    • francis December 14, 2011 at 5:08 pm

      I was calling out Sandy here. I get it that he has to pretend like the Mets are solvent, but trying to pass this trio off as part of an above average bullpen is not cutting it for me.
      • Met Maniac December 14, 2011 at 5:11 pm

        francis, he need only say the words we have an above average bullpen, and then his minions do the rest. Many of his minions do his bidding right here on MMO and of course Un-Amazin Avenue..
• theonlymaskman December 14, 2011 at 11:52 pm

  “I think more scoring makes more sense because it’s more entertaining,” he said. “A little more offense will not only be a plus for the players but also the fans.”

  How about this, more scoring makes sense because it increases the likelihood of winning games? My words, not his. Too bad he didn’t say that. Once again, makes we wonder if winning is even on the pecking list of objectives for our grandiose GM?

  MORE scoring, MORE sense, MORE entertaining, but not MORE winning! What are we here for? If you don’t know why we play the game, how could you possibly staff the team to be competitive?
  • Bayonne Mets Fan December 15, 2011 at 12:16 am

    glad you brought that up maskedman because I did too,

    That’s a stunning statement and very insulting to the fan base. What the hell does he take us for? We just want to see high scoring games for the sake of it? Is this also why he wants to put Daniel Murphy at 2B? We’re getting more insight into the brain of this man and i don’t like it one bit. It’s confirming a lot of things i suspected about this guy.

    He’s not into winning and i’m getting convinced more and more that this guy could have had a better offseason last year than he did. He had the offseason he did last year because he chose to.
    • Bayonne Mets Fan December 15, 2011 at 12:48 am

      “At least for the time being, our catching situation is going to be a year-to-year proposition,”
      What does that even mean?

      “I don’t think we ever had a shot at signing Jose if we made the first offer,”
      So does that mean since maybe in his opinion the team had no shot last year he’ll just give us a minimal effort in signing needed players to help?

      I think we’re getting more of insight into this guy’s brain and to me it’s getting worse. People are happy this guy is running the team? Wow

      “I think more scoring makes more sense because it’s more entertaining,” he said. “A little more offense will not only be a plus for the players but also the fans.”

      Imagine Omar Minaya saying that?
      Imagine Steve Phlllips saying that back the late 90s?
      Imagine Frank Cashen saying that?!!!
      Imagine Joe Mac saying that?

      This GM may be a worse loon than I thought. It’s just unbelievable.
      • theonlymaskman December 15, 2011 at 8:50 am

        Year to year approach to catching. That means he’s not going to make an effort to bring in a catcher worthy of a permanent slot on the team. In other words, he’s simply going to bring in whatever he can turn up on a yearly basis and make do. So it’s the “make-do” philosophy of catching. So much for strong defense up the middle, or offenisve contribution from the catching position or, having strength behind the plate to nurture a yound pitching staff. Since winning is not our objective, you don’t need a capable catcher to do those things. You simply need someone to catch the ball and throw it back to the pitcher. Why have “eyewash” at the catcher’s position. That’s the one position where there is no doubt we do NOT have skills too good for this team. He likes it that way.

        Yes, Bayonne, you’re right. He’s a loon and the fans and him are not on the same page regarding the objectives of the team. He is also as bad a communicator as Omar. His apologists may not see it, but he is continuously putting his foot in his mouth with asinine, cynical and downright nasty statements. He has a hard-headed Marine mentality and has no people skills at managing players. Some of us seem to see that, others not at all because they wear SA issued rose colored glasses. You can be sure players around the league see that and, although quiet because of common sense, will be sure to stay clear of NY until this phase ends as the tragedy plays itself out.
      • Russell Zanca December 15, 2011 at 10:22 am

        Really!

        I much prefer Omar’s answers to why we endured back-to-back collapses in ’07 and ’08:

        “um, well, er, ahhh,”

        God forbid this guy is honest and says what most fans feel–that they want runs scored and want to see more HRs. Frankly, it isn’t my kind of preferred BB; I agree with MetsfanLou, but…
• Kay December 15, 2011 at 7:39 am

  OT – Did anyone see Tom Seaver on Studio 42 with Bob Costas?

  It was one of the best interviews I’ve seen of him in a long time. Very emotional and poignant.
  • Metstheory22 December 15, 2011 at 8:54 am

    Yes I did. Says a lot on how he felt about Grant.