Alderson Checked In On Liriano, Young And Pavano, Exploring Trade With Dodgers

46 Comments + Add Comment

• Mikieboy's Blue December 20, 2012 at 8:39 pm

  More garbage ,,,the Mets love to waste money..Go get Ross for the outfield now…and Let Mejia fill in till Wheeler gets called up in May..
  • AndyB December 20, 2012 at 8:49 pm

    Agree with that — where do they find these guys?
  • LongTimeFan December 20, 2012 at 11:37 pm

    Mejia needs more time in the minors. He doesn’t know how to effectively pitch at the major league level making it not good for either him or the team to keep sending him at there to get his bell rung.
• MetsHype December 20, 2012 at 8:50 pm

  If these are the two pitchers we are looking to sign I would rather give Mejia, Familia or Hefner a shot. Use the money to sign Ross or another OF and JP Howell.
• Chicago Days December 20, 2012 at 8:56 pm

  Liriano will play the season at 29 yrs old. He walks too many, but he still throws heat. Best F/A pitcher still available. Get him.
• Hank December 20, 2012 at 9:09 pm

  When scrap-heaping, you have to buy in bulk. Sign both, close eyes, hope for the best.
• neekerbreeker December 20, 2012 at 9:18 pm

  Liriano was one of the reasons the Twins were so willing to depart with Santana once upon a time. He was that good in 2006, 2.16 era.
• Metfan Lou December 20, 2012 at 9:29 pm

  Here is my plan: Get Mike and Frank of American Pickers to go out in their van and pick for some ballplayers. Throw them in the back of their van and drive them to Citi Field. Problem solved. Frank could even use his “bundling” skills to get two for one. I like it.
• Just-Da-Damaja December 20, 2012 at 9:47 pm

  Sandy Alderson’s 2012 off-season summed up in 1 song

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLZMNRGJ-Uk
  • Just-Da-Damaja December 20, 2012 at 9:48 pm

    Or this song

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_ueyefaFDI
    • this is stupid December 21, 2012 at 12:04 am

      This one fits even if you like sandy
      http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1orMXD_Ijbs
• Joey D. December 20, 2012 at 11:03 pm

  What was it that Sandy said about inexpensive players who could only produce a fifty percent return? Something about the Mets cannot expect to win if they continue to sign those types of players. Well, who are Pavano and Liriano? Who is Hicks? What about John Buck and his lifetime .235 batting average and .192 for last year? I thought he said the Mets were no longer going to pursue these types of players. These are not the veteran players one wants to combine with young players to re-build a team.

  It could be said these are just temporary stop gaps before more money comes off the books in 2014 and a better array of experienced players can be acquired to compliment those we already have, however, that was not the case in 2011, does not seem to be the case going into 2013 and probably will not be for many seasons to come for whatever money comes off the books will need to be applied to paying off operating expenses and debt, not the roster. Again, if it was only a case of too much being spent and unwisely on players, there would be no drastic need for the entire organization to be downsized in such dramatic fashion and for re-financing.

  It’s reported the Jets are looking to get rid of Marc Sanchez. Since he can throw a football (not well of late, of course) why not give his arm a chance with a baseball? That, of course, is too risky a chance for the Mets to take but it’s not because throwing a football is different than throwing a baseball, it’s because of that guaranteed eight million dollar contract.

  Sandy insists he is not punting 2013 like he did 2011 and 2012 but it appears more like he’s trying to lead the team down the field but fumbling in the end-zone for many seasons to come.
  • LongTimeFan December 20, 2012 at 11:34 pm

    He has money but refuses to spend. I have my doubts he’ll spend no matter how high the payroll in the coming years. He has proven nothing.
    • CB December 21, 2012 at 3:33 am

      Some of the highest payrolls in baseball with Oakland in the early 90′s not enough for you?

      It’s not time to spend big yet. He knows it, I know it, some here know it. The reason why most disagree is the reason why I am so grateful no one here is the GM of the Mets.
      • Metsie December 21, 2012 at 3:35 am

        Nop because he obviously didn’t learn the lesson of Oakland….
        the ONLY time he won anything was when he SPENT!
        • taskmaster4450 December 21, 2012 at 9:20 am

          Yes well when the owners kids take away money that would equal losing.

          I know you mourn the loss of Omar and the sensational signings that he made. Alderson had to dump Bay, one of Omar’s prized catches.
• Peter December 20, 2012 at 11:12 pm

  Liriano has upside , your begging for an average player in Cody Ross but fo not want a player who throws like Liriano, I don’t even line Liriano but can not deny his stuff, Ross will hit 12 homers maybe for mets. Come on now
  • gorgeguy December 20, 2012 at 11:52 pm

    ….”who THREW like Liriano.” He is not the same pitcher.. and he’ll probably want 2 years.

    I agree that Ross is average, but the OF was and still is the Mets most glaring need.
• LongTimeFan December 20, 2012 at 11:27 pm

  Um, Davidoff is no longer at Newsday. Correction needed.
  • Satish Ram December 21, 2012 at 12:09 am

    Fixed it.

    Liriano has electric stuff. We’re not going anywhere this year, and he fills a spot. And if he’s successful, you can ship him somewhere at the deadline and call up one of the younger kids in the system. If he’s unsuccessful, demote him and…call up one of the younger kids in the system.
    • Joey D. December 21, 2012 at 12:26 am

      Hi Satish,

      But this is the third year in a row we’d be pursuing players just to fill in spots. And with all the holes and financial problems we have, how can we expect things to be any different next year if the only steps taken this season are stop-gap ones? It is hard to expect two to three outfielders (depending upon Duda) to come up through the farm system and fill that need in 2014. Same with the bullpen.

      If we wanted stop gap measures for a while, Pagan and Beltran would have done just fine for that intended purpose. Would have helped the entire lineup with their bats still there and we’d be a much stronger club for it. The reason we didn’t is because of the money. And my hunch is that Sandy did not expect increased attendance at the level of ticket prices the Mets needed (dynamic pricing went into effect in 2012) and thus we would not capture enough revenue to even attempt keeping a potentially good club solidified in that manner.
      • Satish Ram December 21, 2012 at 12:29 am

        Joey,

        Yeah, I get you. But this is the plan they’re going with… I can only hope it works. They’re banking purely on prospects right now, which is a dangerous road.
        • this is stupid December 21, 2012 at 12:31 am

          Mejia is liriano for much less money, unless you think he can turn into an ace again
        • Joey D. December 21, 2012 at 12:47 am

          Hi Satish,

          You’re so right. It is a dangerous road for as we know, depending upon the amount of prospects the Mets are is less a plan than it is a hope. A plan considers all options available – free agents, re-signing players already on the roster and trading some prospects along with the farm system.

          When Sandy came in, so many hailed him as a man of vision. Hope is not a vision. But we are forgetting that this is more about keeping the Wilpons financially afloat than it is building a winning team. Building a winning team depends upon a strategy and not a big reliance on raw talent being the savior. If by chance the kids do come through and turn into a contending club, then it would not be the result of any plan of action taken by Sandy — it would be the result of lucking out on a gamble of raw talent coming through, a raw talent depending upon too many players he had no idea even existed back in the winter of 2010.

          And instead of
          • MetsWatchman December 21, 2012 at 9:38 am

            Joey….

            “If by chance the kids do come through and turn into a contending club, then it would not be the result of any plan of action taken by Sandy — it would be the result of lucking out on a gamble of raw talent coming through”

            Wow….not even willing to give them credit if it does work out. Just proves my point all along….there is NOTHING this FO can do that the naysayers will not criticize and redicule them for. Pure prejudice when the criticism is based soley on WHO’S making the moves, rather than doing a true assessment of each and every move and then drawing a conclusion based on whether you feel it wuyold help the club.

            It has now been taken to another level……even in the face of success, it would just be luck and not the “plan”. That speaks volumes.

            Thats pretty deep…..just SMH
            • Joey D. December 21, 2012 at 12:58 pm

              Hi Watchman,

              A “plan” is based on using the resources one already has available. If that meant Sandy already counting on the players he saw in the farm system and the young ones already up then yes – that, along with formulating a strategy on how to improve that stock through future free agent signings, trades and draft pick selections – is indeed a plan with many complicated moves and decisions going into it.

              If Sandy was counting on most of the resources he had at the time then those he was told to have promise would have been acquired under Omar, not his administration. In addition, all would have had at least one year of minor league experience under their belt when he came on board. They would now have at least three – enough time for many to be ready for a shot at the big leagues and thus no longer a need for so many stopgap measures as in the two prior years.

              And if Sandy didn’t like what his baseball people told him were down on the farm, that would mean re-building the farm system from nearly scratch. Yes, it would be an indictment of what was left over by Omar but is indeed a natural process taken on by many teams without the financial resources of the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, etc. But that would not be a plan as it is deciding to start from scratch and hoping they can do something.

              A plan is a well thought out projection of steps to be taken and that does include what Sandy did – getting rid of what one feels (right or wrong) is waste for young talent with potential. But the young talent has to be accommodated by veteran talent as well in order for the entire plan to be a whole and that is a road Sandy has not pursued. Sandy is still not pursuing getting that valuable veteran talent to accommodate the likes of Davis, Gee, Neise, Harvey, Parnell, etc. – or the ones he just got from Toronto – and that is why his plan is full of holes.

              Some would say he plan was full of sh*t instead.
              • MetsWatchman December 21, 2012 at 4:59 pm

                I agree with everything you now said except I don’t perceive the absence of acquiring veterans as “holes” in the plan YET. Rather, I see it as that phase of the plan has not kicked in yet. Remember me Joey….glass half full When the time is right, it will be done.

                Also another thing, whenever a new administration takes over, their only resources at the time is what was left over from the previous administration. In this case most of the talented prospects inherited from Omar, with the exception of Flores and Harvey, were just about major league ready, if not already on the club. It was mostly the lower minors that was devoid of talent. And this explains why some of the veterans worth anything were sacrificed in trades, to build the pool of talented prospects who are major league ready or almost there. So just remember, if these players do succeed, they will be a blend of Omar’s and the new FO.
                • Joey D. December 21, 2012 at 8:55 pm

                  Hi Watchman,

                  I too try to see the glass half full as well, remember?

                  And because of that, this is why I find the holes in Sandy’s plan because I believe the team he inherited from Omar was a good one – we must not forget the part played by the injuries that befell us in 2009 and 2010. No, we were not a complete club going into 2011, but we could have attempted to fill those holes then instead of going after mediocre ones that came cheap.

                  There was not only no money to spend but a need to cut down expenses as well so that is why I speak of Sandy’s moves being a plan of a banker and not a baseball team. Given the financial circumstances there was no way we could compete over the course of 162 games and no way we could do anything else but to retain those like Davis, Gee, Parnell, etc. who were ready for the big leagues and didn’t cost much, get rid of the others and start all over. But that is a financial plan – again, the breakup did not have anything to do with the team as it stood.

                  No general manager says he will give a team two weeks to show him something (regarding Beltran) when playing at a .575 clip for almost half a season. He also said if the team wasn’t able to get good players in return, he would then be open to monetary considerations. I don’t see how that can be considered anything other than an indication that his plan was less to build for the future of the team as it was build for the financial future of the ownership (Beltran’s remaining $2.6 million salary in itself wasn’t much but it was just one of so many that when added up together, did result in a lot of savings). His goal was to get rid of the high salaries – and eventually that included ten percent of the organization’s work force which wasn’t getting high salaries.

                  As said, Carlos and Pagan could have been those stopgap measures until the kids were ready a few years later. If Sandy wants to explain why the Mets stopped scoring runs in the second half, he need not point out to PPPA and blame the hitters for going against his edict based on statistics but rather he should have pointed to to himself and taken the blame for us no longer having Beltran, Pagan and Reyes.

                  That’s why I say his plan is full of holes and from the beginning was full of sh*t. And I do not have faith in a general manager who not only tried to explain things in PPPA, but also said he could not comment on what was wrong with Ike Davis because he was only an observer (isn’t a baseball man supposed to be one who is able to see things?) and said in 2010 there was nothing wrong with Citi Field regarding the lack of home runs but that the Met hitters had to learn how to hit home runs there.

                  He’s a banker, a lawyer, a business person and not here because he knows how to handle baseball matters.

                  But that doesn’t mean the glass is not half full. After all, I do think what he has doing will lead to Fred and Jeff remaining owners. It’s just a matter of whose glass we’re talking about.
• gorgeguy December 20, 2012 at 11:46 pm

  There is not a decent SP worth going after at this point.

  A starting outfielder should still be the priority and they should ink Cody Ross ASAP. If they can’t get him via FA …. ????
• DrDooby December 21, 2012 at 1:12 am

  A lot depends on Mejia.
  If the Mets sign someone like Liriano, then Mejia probably has no shot at the opening day roster and gets to pitch in Las Vegas for quite a bit of time.
  If the Mets sign someone like Pavano, then Mejia will be given a fair chance in ST to win a job – with Pavano possibly going to the bullpen in Hefner´s role.
  If the Mets re-sign Chris Young, it´ll be somewhere in between…

  Again, the Mets still need a couple of veteran arms – one to compete with the kids for a rotation berth and one or two others for the bullpen, so there´s a little more depth and you don´t have to rush Cory Mazzoni into action by May.
• Brian December 21, 2012 at 1:19 am

  Geeezz, who needs these slouches? Would rather go with Mejia or Hefner till Wheeler comes up.
• Metsie December 21, 2012 at 2:43 am

  I guess Cris Young told them where to go already?
• Metstheory22 December 21, 2012 at 7:18 am

  Pavano had a 6.00 ERA and Lliriano had a 5.60 ERA. You mean to tell me that Mejia, McCullogh or anyone of our young kids can’t do better and learn as we are going along this year. Pavano already has shown he can’t handle NY.
  • Metstheory22 December 21, 2012 at 7:23 am

    Should be McHugh.
• Peter December 21, 2012 at 8:44 am

  They are called stop gaps, you have to sign players like this when you rebuild. Whoever they sign is the 5th starter more or less unless they trade for caps. Do not tell me you would rather Lannan than Liriano, they both are stop gaps, at least Liriano has power stuff, and a move to the NL plus Nohan Santana maybe being a mentor might help the Mets to get the best of the deal. If that happens mets rotation is very solid even without the dickster. If they can shore up the bullpen they will be fine.
  • Joey D. December 21, 2012 at 1:14 pm

    Hi Peter,

    As Satish and I were discussing, how many years of “stop gap” measures does one have to take waiting for the farm system to produce what many believe is an impossible task with too many holes to fill? When does one just stop going out and obtaining “inexpensive” players but good ones to blend in with that youth? Even Kansas City is doing that now. Washington pursued that trail the past few seasons. Toronto looks like a team ready to make a move. And all three of those teams look like they have a bright future, not just a bright “now”.
• Peter December 21, 2012 at 8:47 am

  Also mejia, mccugh, and Hefner provide depth in triple A, there will be injuries, and wheeler will come up sometime mid season
• taskmaster4450 December 21, 2012 at 9:33 am

  Amazing people still do not understand the plan or doubt it. This is one that has a proven track record. The Mets problem is that they do not have 5 or 6 high prospects at AAA to make them more effective. At this moment they have 2 (three if Flores starts there). The gap between Flores and anyone else is astounding. I guess, at this moment, presuming Syndergaard starts at AA, he is the next closest. The bottom line is the Mets drafting and development of players was terrible. And that is the biggest problem which Alderson needed to address. Since the emergence if Reyes and Wright in the early 2000s, the Mets have produced ZERO all stars.

  This is the only way to develop an organization for long term success. Look at the record over the last 30 years. Those who believe in spending money without any foundation find the crash is not too far behind. Sadly, few seem to learn from history.
  • Just-Da-Damaja December 21, 2012 at 1:14 pm

    Hard to rebuild your farm when you are also in WIN-NOW mode mainly because you have 2 critical revenue generating seasons coming up ( 2008/2009 ), coming off of 3 straight abysmal seasons ( 2002-2004 )

    And even with that, Omar was able to produce Joe Smith who was an all-star, Daniel Murphy, Ike Davis, along with several other good contributers.

    The proper way would’ve been to punt on 2005, trade Floyd and Cameron and Glavine for a ton of prospects, then cross your fingers and pray that in 2008/2009 those prospects pan out.

    But that means 7 straight abysmal seasons. The Wilpons are now working on their 4th straight abysmal season. This amount of financial loss is uncharted territory for them and the fact that they havent reacted with signing a free-agent player to appease the masses says that they are probably in bigger trouble than we realize.

    David Wright saved them 8 mil

    Jason Bay saved them 12 mil

    and they STILL are not signing anyone

    Something is up

    ( crossing fingers )
    • TRS86 December 21, 2012 at 1:25 pm

      First of all what year was Smith an all-star and what does that say about the selection process if he was?
      • Donal December 21, 2012 at 1:36 pm

        He wasn’t. Also, look at what we got in exchange for him.
        • TRS86 December 21, 2012 at 2:29 pm

          That’s what I thought but I should have expected that.
    • Metsie December 21, 2012 at 1:32 pm

      JDD your wating your time on this guy….
      Anyone who tries and claim a guy who has in two years lost 5 games in the win column has improved the team or is making it a Winner isn’t really interested in the truth…

      You can say it all you want but until they win more than they did when he got here he is not building a winner at all…

      They have prayers and hopes he is but the reality on the ground (standings and Win column) says otherwise….
      • CB December 21, 2012 at 3:44 pm

        Metsie, in the two years Alderson has been the GM the Mets have more wins than in the two preceding years when your boy was here.

        just FYI.
        • Metsie December 21, 2012 at 3:50 pm

          You cherry picked two years where the cream of the Roster was injured did you, to come up with that nugget of turd?

          How resouceful you are….
    • XtreemIcon December 21, 2012 at 1:42 pm

      “and the fact that they havent reacted with signing a free-agent player to appease the masses”

      Oh, that’s why you sign free agents. Here I thought it was because they’d help the team win. Silly me. At least you have your priorities straight.