While Sandy certainly does not want the team to lose, his focus and priority is more on the cost cutting measures to improve the finances than it is producing victories on the field.

Again, I don’t see how he can be let off the hook for admitting he signed “inexpensive” players he knew one could not win with. And if one wants to say that he had no choice but to sign these type players these past two seasons (and maybe even now), hence my point about where his focus and priority is. Can’t be both ways especially if one confesses to knowing he was not going to produce a winning club with those he got.

Defending our guys from those early years only, can it actually be said that those were as bad as we think ours might be this year?

“What about Thomas, Hicks, Hickman, Piersall in 1963?”

- Forgot to include an over the hill Duke Snider. But that outfield included:

Hickman: 17 homers
Thomas: 15 homers
Snider 14 homers

(Yes, I know Casey’s guys were aided by those 250 and 257 foot foul poles but also had to contend with a 475 foot center field)

But with Wright, Davis and Murphy, at this point, would you settle for the same home run production from the trio we have now?

“Altman, Christopher, Elliot, Hickman in 1964?”

Joe was an even .300 hitter with 16 homers and 76 RBIs, Hickman batted .257 with 11 home runs (one a grand slam) and for all his troubles at the plate Altman in just 109 games had 12 outfield assists. In half a season, Elliot still hit 8 home runs.

Again, with Wright, Davis and Murphy, would you settle for that from the outfield we’re going with?

“Cowan, Swoboda, Hickman, Christopher in 1965?”

The worst of the three but Swoboda did hit 19 home runs with Hickman and Lewis hitting 15 each and Johnny did gun out 14 runners (please don’t say “Johnny Got His Gun” LOL). Jim became the first Met to ever hit three homers in a game in St. Louis late in the season.

Not the greatest but would you take that from our outfield this year with the other bats mentioned above?

Of course, I’d rather have better than any of those three, but under the circumstances, I would settle for that type of production from any of them (of course, please don’t vet deeper to see the low batting averages and RBI figures plus some of their great fielding adventures, either, LOL) but hey, we’re talking about the REAL amazin’s when a two game winning streak was cause for celebration!

This is only a debate on how much they suck.

That’s the way they do it now Old School. Walking on eggshells, taking forever to make decisions while every other successful GM grabs the worm.

Must be a new thing to cease all operations because you’re “rebuilding”. And a rebuild that shouldn’t take so long either because the current GM inherited a nice roster and farm system. The mess was off the field not between the lines.

Lucas Duda is 27 years old and this is his 3d season in the majors. He plays horrible defense and the chances of him breaking out offensively are in the 5 to 10 percent range. He is who he is, an out of position first baseman.

Kirk played over his head for two months, the league caught up with him and he was demoted. He barely got to play at AAA before he injured his foot. Is there some reason we expect dramatic improvement from him this year? Cowgill is playing for his 3d team in 3 years and has all of 200 MLB at bats. As for his minor league stats, ask Orioles exec Gary Rajsich how useful minor league stats are in predicting major league success. I will always love Baxter for the crash into the wall, but again he is simply not a starting outfielder. Byrd is a wing and a prayer. While Bay/Torres are addition by subtraction, not resigning Hairston is simply subtraction by subs traction. We didn’t sign him to a 2 year $8 million contract on the 1% percent chance Michael Bourn would sign? God forbid we have too much talent in the outfield.

I understand rebuilding the farm and long term goals, but Alderson has almost a fetish about not spending money on outfielders. There was no reason not to resign Hairston and/or try and sign Cody Ross. Neither would impact long term planning or break the bank. Neither would clinch a pennant. But one would have been an upgrade over what the Mets have and made the team better in the short run without sacrificing the future.

Second…… “could be” is applicable to everything in the upcoming season.
*GNats could be the biggest flop
*Upton Bros Inc could be horrible together and could be an clubhouse distraction
*Los Angeles could be the cause of the next economic downturn
*Mets Of could be the best ever.

Lame article.

Cause the guy you mentioned is not on the team!

Here are your choices:
Baxter
Cowgill
Duda
Lagares
Kirk
Puello
Valdespin

Who is platooning with Duda, Kirk and Baxter?
Lagares and Puello?

Cowgill is the only RHB on the Roster other than those two!

So you tell me who is going to be platooning this year?
You guys keep saying we will platoon so who is it?

Brown isn’t on the team…So it’s not him right now….
We are talking about the TEAM we have on the roster…Not what might be on the roster in 1-6 months!

And chances are just as likely we will sign someone else to a one year to make up that platoon and take the roster spots of Lagares and Puello than we have of promoting Brown.

Just like Hairston….Only guys who will be here if they have a modicum of success are Duda and Kirk…The rest will all get paid more than Alderson will pay a guy like them…”

Again, who are the platoon guys you speak of that we didn’t lock up to anything longer than one year?

And you’re welcome for the flowers.

Jim Edmonds had a negative WAR in SD

Which means most of the guys you EXPECT to be playing at this point either won’t be or probably off the roster as soon as Kids need protection again.

Anyone who thinks this OF is here and going to remain here much past this year is fooling themselves….

I thought Baxter would be gone but apprently he is the favorite to be here next year….
Most of the players are nothing more than a Sampling plate to try and many of them might not even make it past first cuts when they have to get the rosters (MiL and MLB) down to normal season levels.

You keep talking about Brown but he has yet to make the team at all…
Most of the guys we have in the OF will not be here past this season….
Duda maybe, Kirk most probably, Baxter seems most likely and after that MAYBE Cowgill if he has a decent year….

You want to count Valdespin, Lutz and Turner in that group be my guest but the fact we are even considering putting them there tells me none of the guys that are currently considered our OF have a very long career with us. Most have no career at all until they make the 40 Man Roster….

You want to count those kids as Prospects that could come in and help the team thats another story….
But today the Roster says they are nothing more than Minor Leaguers who might make the team due to the OF we have listed on our Roster…

I was simply responding to a claim that Alderson might be content to just cash his checks and bide his time not commenting on the relative merits of every Mets GM throughout the years.

Its not me who has an obsession with Alderson, its you.

I sense that’s Sandy’s mindset – to re-stock our system with very young, talented ball players and establish a system where they can develop and mature as ball players without being rushed.

Anyone who knows me (NYT’s Forum “Binky”), knows that I’ve been calling for the Met organization to go easy on FA signings and to build up the Farm System. It’s my freaking religion. I prefer trades over FA signings because you are taking a known and expendable asset and parting with it to fulfill an existing need. When you sign FAs, you deplete your assets without noticeable impact until its too late – its a silent organizational killer, which is its greatest harm

Well, Omar didn’t get the memo and he did his absolute best to squander hundreds of millions of dollars en route to a quick fix/crash-and-burn. It was predictable. He’s a great talent scout, but a complete imbecile when it comes to organizational management.

Or is this just your way of gloating to keep asking me as if I was still arguing and claiming I was right?

You want an argument I’ll be happy to oblige you….

You want to decend to the hell I will be happy to take us there!

What you seem to misunderstand is that most of the guys we signed will not be here past this year….for one reason or another!

There is no roster room to protect ALL these guys we signed only ONE of which is actually on the roster today!