13
2013
Sandy Alderson Admits Outfield Isn’t Ideal, No More External Options, Explains Hairston/Upton
An article by 
Updated by HoJo at 4:45 PM
Sandy Alderson was a guest of Mike Francesa where he said a few things regarding his outfield strategy this offseason.
First, regarding Scott Hairston he felt there were other possibilities (trade and free agent) he was considering and that he was blindsided when Hairston signed with the Cubs and then one day later Justin Upton was traded to the Braves. He tried to hint he was working with the D’Backs for Upton without having to give up Harvey or Wheeler, and that if the Upton trade had happened first he would have signed Hairston.
“Unfortunately, Hairston signed the night before Upton was traded. Had it happened the other way around, we might have been back in on Scott. But if we had made a trade like that, we couldn’t guarantee him the playing time that he was looking for.”
As for the outfield moving forward, Alderson said:
- All external outfield options have been exhausted. Other possibilities may open up as spring training develops, but right now he’s moving ahead with what he has.
- The Mets have an outfield of unproven players. Maybe one or more of them will step up and take advantage of that opportunity. Wishes he had a little more experience or even one real major league talent on paper.
- There’s nothing that can be done now, so we might as well just move ahead. Duda is the left fielder, Nieuwenhuis and Cowgill will be in center, and likely Baxter in right. We’ll probably see Matt Den Dekker at some point.
“I’m a little frustrated that we didn’t get that piece that would bridge us from where we are to where we think we’re gonna be. Somebody who would have helped is in 2013 as well as ’14 and ’15. As I’ve said, I don’t think we’re that far away. And with a couple of pieces in the outfield and what else we have coming up, I don’t think we’re that far away. When you miss out on one (Bourn/Upton) like that, or come close on one, it’s a little bit frustrating.”
Very, very low key interview compared to the passionate and positive message from a few months ago. At least where the outfield was concerned.
Original Post 9:45 AM
Here are some quotes from Lucas Duda, Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Mike Baxter who now know they have their work cut out for them this season.
But before that, here’s what the architect of the New York Mets outfield, Sandy Alderson, had to say. ”I’m excited to see what we have. I’m excited to see what those outfielders can provide us.”
Left Field – Lucas Duda
2012: .239/.329/.389, -1.4 WAR
“You want me to go yell at Sandy? That’s how it is. He’s right. There is no outfield.”
“It’s time to help the team anyway I can. That’s what I’m here for. I’ve been in the big leagues for a little bit now so I know what to expect and I think experience is a big factor. I think I’ll build on that. People can say what they want about our outfield. We’re just going to continue to work hard.“
Center Field – Kirk Nieuwenhuis
2012: .252/.315/.376, 0.0 WAR
“I’ve spent this offseason dwelling mentally on what I can do better as a player and how, as an outfielder, we can become better. The way last season ended was frustrating.”
“We know what we’re capable of doing and we’re excited for the season. All that stuff that people talk about, all that stuff is just completely out of our control. For us to dwell on that and think about that would be completely detrimental to our play on the field.”
Right Field – Mike Baxter
2012: .263/.365/.413, 0.3 WAR
“I’d like to do a lot more with my career than just make a catch. We’ve just got a good, scrappy, hungry group of guys. Baseball’s a game you really can’t count anybody out. Knowing the group we have here, it’s just a really resilient and hungry group that is going to go out and not be too fazed by what’s going on publicly.”
“We might not have the biggest names in the outfield, but we have hungry guys out there who are excited and prepared for this opportunity.”
Duda, Nieuwenhuis and Baxter will get the lion’s share of playing time for the Mets in 2013. Righthanded bench options include Collin Cowgill (.269/.336/.317, 0.3 WAR) and Andrew Brown (.232/.302/.429, -.01 WAR) who both will play mostly when a southpaw is on the mound and to spell Nieuwenhuis and Baxter.
If one of them should someone pull up lame or prove ineffective, the Mets could turn to Jordany Valdespin or possibly promote Matt Den Dekker. But let’s be honest here, this situation is obviously less than ideal. Not one of these players has ever had a full major league season in their career. If this was the plan all along, it wasn’t a very good one.
I’m not buying the excuse that the appeal to protect the pick would have taken as long as three weeks. If they were genuinely interested in signing a Type-A free agent, why didn’t they file the appeal three months ago, or two months ago, or one month ago? Why didn’t they raise a fuss the second they knew their pick would be unprotected?
Let’s call this what it is, a big-time fail.
It’s too bad, because I actually have great expectations for the starting pitching, the bullpen and the catching this year as readers of this site know. It sucks that we couldn’t bring in one capable everyday outfielder to compliment that. It would have been nice.
It also sucks for the rest of the team. This will put more pressure on everyone to ramp up their performances to compensate for the deficiency in the outfield and that’s totally unfair to all of them.
I know these guys will bust their behinds out there this season and give the team their best efforts. They are a terrific bunch of likable guys with great character and a burning desire to succeed. But the thing of it is, they had those same qualities last year too.
I’ll get over this by the end of the day, and you should too. We still have a lot of bright spots on the team and despite the losses of R.A. Dickey and Scott Hairston, there’s still a lot to be excited about, and it should be a fun season to watch.
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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What are you talking about, Turner is practicing out there right now and will be given an opportunity. Let’s see what these kids can do, right?
Sadly, There Will Be No Upgrade To The Outfield”
You sound surprised.. With the lying ass GM we have you’d expect otherwise? and of course, the usual suspect are piling up the excuses as to why he didn’t get bourn. SMH
While I am semi disappointed that Bourn signed elsewhere the fact is he is not worth the money. How are you not going to offer that kind of money to Reyes or Dickey but give it to Bourn? That sends a shitty message.
I disagree – there were two major offseason upgrades to the outfield. 1. We released Jason Bay, and 2. We released Andres Torres. Anything else beyond that is gravy. I expect we’ll still pick up someone off another roster before the season starts (via trade or 25 man roster limits).
What you say is true. ” Yes the outfield is atrocious on paper. As Metsie said three years for Victoriano is looking good.
However, if we did sign Bourn, then comments such as: “I thought we were a rebuilding team.” and Bourn is not a difference maker for a wild card.
I admit I wanted Bourn but maybe we lucked out.
Even if Duda were to hit 35 hr instead of 15 and make up for Hairston’s 20. It’s still just keeping pace with the worst productive outfield in the majors LY. This is really bad.
I also agree with you about the pitching, it’s gonna be good. Lets go Mets!
And with the #1 pick in the 2014 MLB draft, the New York Mets select ………….
A future HOF, “Hey you never know”.
Haha, true…. however, we won’t see if he even pans out up until 2018?? 2017 at the earliest no?
After DW retires.
Duda, Den Dekker, and Valdespin is the best thing to have as a starting OF unit going into the season. I’ve never been fond of Duda as an OF, but you know the Mets won’t have him off the bench. As far as Bax & Nieuwenhuis goes, those guys better fight for those other 2 spots as backups with Brown & Cowgill because as it is, it doesn’t look good for either of them.
Duda sucks. But my hope is he has a decent enough year that they can trade him for a real player next offseason.
Lets be honest…Mets wont really compete til 2015 at the earliest, which is when Bourn would be 32….& 32 for a speedster is a tough age….why waste at bats with Bourn when the Mets can see what they have with the young guys & give them experience….I think Sandy def made the right choice not signing Bourn….give youth a chance
They could definitely contend in 2014. But still I agree, had Bourn been a few years younger it would be worth getting upset over but he’s 30 and last year was his best season and it wasn’t even that great.
If the Mets are going to be good enough to contend in 2014 with Bourn (spending 12mill/year on him), then they should be able to also compete without him and the 12mill spent elsewhere (possibly invested into a RH power bat for a corner OF spot).
More importantly with Bourn’s speed he likely would have been in the leadoff spot-a place in the lineup where you are expected to get on base minimally one to two times per game. However his 155 K’s last year (and over 100 previous yr.) probably would have been a bad move for this lineup. Remember you have Doo-dah w/ tons of strikeouts, along with Niewenhaus who Ks at an alarming pace. Some OF, right!
But postscript deleting A. Torres and Jason Bay is definitely an upgrade by subtraction.
Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that Bourn would have been an upgrade for more than a couple of years. I think it’s just as likely that in years 3, 4, and 5 of that contract, the Indians will be paying $12 million for a player whose defense and baserunning skills have declined significantly, to the point where that contract is considered an albatross. Once his defense and baserunning decline, what’s left of Bourn? Not much.
well said
As far as addressing the outfield this offseason the Mets GM did good in working out having Bay leave as a free agent. After that though he failed in adding what should of been adding an experienced major league outfielder that hits right-handed and has some pop. Even Bourn would not filled that.
Understanding the possibilities while probably slim still exist of adding one via trade I have to go on the idea that the Mets outfield will consist of the players that are currently here now. I believe Capt Kirk will meet the challenge but Duda is not playing OF for his glove and will have to outhit the mistakes he makes out there to keep his position in LF. Valdespin in RF has more tools due to his good arm and speed but he too will have to outhit his mistakes in RF if he wants to see regular playing time there as well and that is if he is given the opportunity.
Cowgill supposedly can go get it with the glove but that remains to be seen and I have reservations as to how much to expect from him with the bat. Brown might be a good surprise but it’s just too early to really know.
Agreed, the team needs a RH OF with pop. Period.
So, what do you think of say, Drew Stubbs as a trade target?
The RH OF with pop is in the organization and his name is Andrew Brown. The dude has Mark Reynolds-esque power. Serious pop. It’s just a question of if he can do it often enough. It’s not impossible. He’s got 148 big league plate appearances. Tremendous upside and I hope it pans out. And he’s a good defensive player to boot.
LOL Andrew Brown turns 30 next year and is playing against kids…
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=brown-004and
but yeah…Sandy signed him so u know he has to be good..
Like Brad Eamus !
You are technically right. He will turn 30 in September of 2014 but he played this year as a 27 year old. No idea if he will be good or not but just clearing up the age issue.
it would be one thing if Brown was a 18 yr old hitting 20HR…but he was 27 facing kids that were 21-22…in a hitters paradise….
Right but while his minors numbers do show some good upside, I’m really looking more at what he did last year in the bigs, where he is playing with men younger and older than him. He slugged .429, which is good. There’s no one on the roster other than Duda that realistically has the potential to slug that. Granted he did most of that in Denver and against left-handers, but he can hit it out of any park, and he’s only gonna be facing lefties anyway.
My point is that there is legit upside. I don’t think that is debatable.
Dont forget we signed Marlon Byrd, we signed him for a reason Terry Collins just said. lol
LOL, well I hope they signed him for a reason. Hey hopefully he can pull a Valentin or Tatis and give us a good year. Keep in mind that Hairston hit .210 .295 .346 .640 the year before coming to the Mets.
Well that’s true but Hairston was 29 at the time and Byrd was 35.
True but Tatis and Valentin were 33 and 36 so there’s at least hope.
Plus which OF does Byrd push off the 40? Kirk? Spin? Cowgill? No way.
Well I think V-Spin has options so he could be sent down and then you DFA someone else. Again that’s a big assumption that Byrd has anything left.
they already said the reason he was signed. In case all the other options get hurt or totally bomb. In case of emergency, break glass!
of the other options, Kirk and Spin at least have options left. Not sure what they can do with any of the other guys (though I think brown is a MiL signing of course, I put Brown as the biggest lock out there, if he does anything at all in ST.
I like the rest of Kirk’s quote:
““You’re in the wrong business if you get insulted by stuff like that,” Nieuwenhuis said. “You can’t be affected by that. If you do, you’re in the wrong sport — and you’re in the wrong town.””
Ha! Nice.
Here’s the rest of the story. I didn’t see it linked anywhere so if I missed it sorry.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/sports/baseball/mets-lucas-duda-mike-baxter-and-kirk-nieuwenhuis-form-unproven-outfield.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=1&
Good if they take it as a challenge. I usally scoff at the people that worry that these guys are fragile flowers, that if they don’t sense their GM rushing to give them help (which is frankly insulting, implying they are not good enough!) that they will roll into a fetal position and give up.
BS to that. Pro athletes overwhelmingly think they are good, whether the #s support it or not! And should take a threat to PT (or a gauntlet by the manager/GM) as incentive to push even harder.
Zack Wheeler is not on this rotation. If he wants to be in this rotation let him go to Vegas and be the best pitcher in Triple-A. Let him force us to put him in our rotation. Otherwise I have solid starters. – Terry Cloth Collins
LOL, the gauntlet has been thrown.
The 1979 outfield of Hendu, Mazzilli, and Joel Youngblood was better than this one….
That team won 63 games- here’s hoping that this team can beat that..
That team’s best player heading into the season had a .283 average and a .834 OPS with 17 homers…this years hit .306 with a .883 OPS. But if you look at that roster against this, there is a slight edge for this team with starting pitching…
Stearns- Buck; edge Stearns
Montanez-Davis; edge Davis
Flynn-Murphy; Depends on your priorities- even
Hebner–Wright- edge Wright
Taveras-Tejada- edge Tejada
Henderson- Duda; edge Henderson
Mazzilli- Niuwenhuis/Cowgill- edge Maz
Youngblood-Baxter; edge Youngblood
Swan-Santana- Santana
Falcone-Niese- Niese
Kobel- Harvey- Hoping Harvey
Ellis- Marcum- Marcum
Hausman/Hassler/Scott/Zachry- Gee/Wheeler/McHugh/Mejia- edge 2013
Bullpen-
Glynn/Allen/Lockwood- Parnell/Francisco/Lyon
2013 will be better than 1979, but I don’t know how much….
The last Met team to play in WS was the 2000 Mets. Take a look at their OF.
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=2000&t=NYN
the mets made up for it with above-avg production at 2B and C…
The outfield of Agbayani, Payton, and Timo Perez — as bad as it was — was far superior to what we have now. Payton was a bonifide major league hitter. Perez played well when he first came up as did Agbayani.
Other than maybe Baxter (and the jury is out on him), the Mets don’t have one major league quality outfielder.
Somehow I don’t trust Duda and Neuwenheis in the OF at the moment. This is gonna be our weakness rather than a strength this year.
Holy crap! Watching 1966 Mets Yearbook on SNY and they showed Banner Day.
HUGE RED BANNER READ – BAYONNE LOVES THE METS!
LOL
Dickey was at a new conference and he was asked about his feelings on the Mets and the current state of the outfield.
http://imgur.com/a/iC7T2
You know stuff like this will get you banned from Kingy’s parade float.
That link actually made me laugh out loud. Well done sir.
Going to have to ask to please don’t encourage the SaltyGary.
You trying to incite a riot or something?
Hi Salty,
LMAO – that was a good one you did.
But in all honesty, though it is true that we have no outfield, even though they imply it doesn’t hurt them, the words being said about Duda, Baxter and Kirk have to hurt.
I’m rooting for them to cash in on this golden opportunity but they have shown signs of talent limited to a fourth outfielder. They are being put into this position by not winning jobs during spring training or being groomed as heir apparents but rather out of default. So if the job is indeed over their heads, the boo-birds should lay off of them and put the blame into the lap of the front office. It is not that he didn’t get Bourn – which was probably a good idea – but that over the course of two seasons he disposed of three outfielders in Hairston (a platoon with Duda), Pagan and Beltran.
In Sandy’s defense, like most of us I gather he felt at least two thirds of the outfield would work for us in 2012 – left field with a comeback by Bay revived by the nightmare of the old Citi Field dimensions behind him, and a good sophomore season by Duda in right. Center field, however, he does not get a pass. Torres was an aging journeyman outfielder with just one good season in his long professional career – mostly in the minors.
Same with the bullpen where only Rauch proved for at least half the season that his critics were wrong. Francisco was not suited as a closer and though obtaining Rameriz seemed like a good move, it wasn’t when taking into account the price we had to pay was too much in the form of an everyday center fielder for a middle inning relief specialist.
The real shame of this past season is that the team was all was playing so well the first half despite getting no help from 1) players we counted on in Bay, Duda and Davis (which was not Sandy’s fault) and 2) the poor selection of players obtained during the off-season (which was).. It was then compounded by getting no help in the form of players after that (also his fault).
While some of this was not of his doing, our general manager did not take any of the responsibility for the second half by blaming the players based on a miniscule reduction on something so insignificant as team PPPA.
What Sandy has to onus up to is that there are other ways a team can get burned other than signing long-term contracts to overpriced and under-performing players. Remember, he admitted he signed only “inexpensive” players that one could not expect to win with, citing that one needs to invest more in better players but can’t be expected to do so when the money isn’t there.
‘I’ll get over this by the end of the day, and you should too.’
Well said. I was pretty much over the Indian’s Bourn signing about a half hour after it was announced.
We’re rolling with what we’ve got. Be interesting to see who steps up to the plate. Since we’re not predicted to be playing Oct. baseball this season, just as good a time as any to see what these kids can/cannot do.
I worked hard to generate some enthousiasm for him, but it got lukewarm at best. So it did not bother me at all when he went elsewhere.
I’m already over it. The most I though which I said on here a couple of times was 3 for 36. Had they given him 4 for 48 i would not have been very upset. Losing the pick I was not cool with. However, like I continue to say if were not going to take the best player available in the first round than is it really a first round pick? We have alot of young guys in the outfield right now so i dont think it’s the best time for us to be grabbing an OFer.
To be this is the best coarse of action. Lets see if any of these guys work out. Before last season I was high on Capt Kirk. The only thing that was troubling was that it seemed to take him a full year to get comfortable. When Torres came back they should have gave Kirk mor time to battle through it and make adjustments. There have been times in AA and AAA where I thought he was done only for him to bounce back and put up beastly numbers. Will this happen in the Majors I don’t know but we also have DenDecker behild him.
Then we have Brown, Cowgill, Duda, Baxter,Vaaldespin & Lutz. It would be nice if at least one of those guys can become a solid regular and 2 can become solid 4 or 5 types. Valdespin was playing CF in the minors and did not do a bad job. That’s 3 potential guys right now that could end up being our CF. Den Decker everyone says cant hit I don’t know how that can be said. Last year in AAA he had a down year before that he played out of his mind in AA he hit 340 had some homers and stole alot of bases while playing great CF. To me this is a year to see if any of these guys ar keepers identify there position and go from there. Next year there will be much better OFer’s available & we will have alot more trade chips.
Sorry for the name change don’t know how that happened. We need to wait for a solid middle of the order guy. I think if Murphy has a good year he gets traded. If he caan turn some of those doubles into HR’s he will be in high demand and maybe we can trade to Oakland who are always lookin for a 3b. Flores I would love to see playing 2b. Then with Travis catching we have advantages on alot of teams at premier positions. Don’t get me wrong I want OF help just dont wana give up to much of give to many years and block players.
While they are still some time away, these Met OF prospects I cant wait to see: Vincent Lupo,Brandon Nommo & William Buccerra.
Kirk will have a nice year in my opinion as long as he cuts down on the strikeouts.
There is actually a positive side to the current crew. They pretty much have to trend up.
every one of these guys has now gotten some ML time (Duda having the most, and still barely a full season all together), so they are not fresh off the farm. Plus, they are all in that 25-28 range where hitters usually have their best seasons. And all of them had some good spots/stretches, and have had very good to excellent MiL seasons in the past.
so, every one of them really should be in line for a step up this year (no, not a guarantee they will, just that history supports them all improving to some degree). Unlike guys like Bay and Torres, that were older and trending down. Even Hairston had a “career” year at age 32, so odds were against him trending up.
anyway, it will be interesting to see what all these guys end up doing, since none of them are rookies with no ML time, nor are they older journeymen that have been bouncign around for years with a considerable track record.
personally, my guess at the guys that will step it up are Duda (hitting more like the 2nd half of 2011), and Brown, who is going to break out as a RH platoon guy.
What? You missed the signings of Corey Paterson and Mike Wilson th
Oops, hit the wrong button…..What I meant to say is, how could you miss the additions of Corey Paterson & Mike Wilson?! Paterson has lots of big league experience, can run & play all 3 OF spots. LOL
Yeah. Campana was DFA by the Cubs a couple of days ago. Will have to wait for 10 days for the Cubs to either trade or put him on waivers.
I guess the best we can hope for in terms of a OF upgrade for next season is Jacoby Ellsbury staying healthy all season and playing up to his vast potential and Sandy bringing him in next offseason as a FA. Although, a longer term contract with Ellsbury is even more of a riskier proposition than Bourn and once again Scott Boras looms.
I’d pick up Tony Campana. . .good speed and defense in center and he hit well in the minors, albeit, no power. Should be available for almost nothing.
I was hoping they would’ve picked up Lars Anderson
All we can hope is that one of the members of our Band of Outfield brothers has breakout season. As far as Bourne goes, he is simply not worth the money and it would have been a bad contract to carry. Especially when you look at the upcoming free agent classes. The Mets will have a solid infield and if we are lucky someone will rise up from the minors and claim one of the outfield spots, then we sign a star outfield and run producer.
Gentlemen and Ladies, Pitching wins world titles, solid defense wins world titles and some offense. Good Pitching always beats good hitting. I am hoping this time next year our outfield is not made up of a DH (Dude) whose time from home to first is probably measured in mins instead of seconds, a solid center fielder and a power bat with solid defense in right. If we’re lucky Greg Vaughns Kid learns to hit 265 with 30 HRs and 20SB..
See if the Indians eat half of Santana’s contract ( since they have the $$$ ) and get Stubbs or Brantley. Bring up the KIDS and let the good times roll!
Joe D.,
I agree with your post 100%. With all the negativity surrounding the franchise, this team is not all that bad. The starting rotation can be very good, if healthy, but every team need’s its starters to be healthy. While some are returning from injuries in 2012, it is not unreasonable to expect decent health and thus good performance from this group. Even losing a Cy Young winner, collectively they are better than the staff that pitched the 2nd half of 2012. Alderson has failed to properly address 3 big holes – a leadoff hitter, a real closer, and RH power to bat th. To a lesser extent, he has failed to address team D. I will give him a pass on the RH power, since they should expect more from the C position, but no leadoff hitter and no reliable closer, when both were available on the market, with “money still in his pocket”, that’s not acceptable. That said, I will be rooting for this OF group to produce some positive surprises, but there is still no excuse for the remaining holes. Go get one of the real closers still on the market, and find a way to bring in a CF that can lead off and go get the ball in CF. I’ll wait on the RH power bat for Stanton to become available
I’m down for Campaña being handed the CF job full time or in platoon with Cowgill. Remember, Cowgill was a MAJOR prospect who hit something like .354 a couple of years ago in the minors and has hit as many as 16 HRs (which is impressive given his Smurf-like physique). Nieuwenhuis’ greatest attribute is that he’s a “gamer” in the Benny Agbayani mold, but he doesn’t field like den Dekker or run like Valdespin. He also doesn’t have Duda’s power nor Baxter’s eye. Yes, he’s fun to watch (as was Wally Backman as a player), but you can’t get enamored with someone who simply doesn’t produce. He has options. Use them.
Baxter showed incredible patience at the plate and was teeing off as a pinch hitter, but then started playing more regularly and, as often happens with the guys who have big lefty/righty splits, he got exposed. He is best suited to the bench.
Brown is your Hairston replacement. He mashes lefties but doesn’t do bupkis against righties. There is a role for him on the team. Think of him as the righty counterpart to Baxter.
The rest of the suspects — Patterson, Byrd, Wilson, etc. — are warm bodies. One or two may catch on with Las Vegas to take over the Fred Lewis role as emergency veteran backup player in the event of an injury.
Lutz and Satin have nothing left to prove in AAA but their paths are blocked to the majors. See ya!
The wildcard in all of this speculation is Jordany Valdespin. He has a rare combination of power and speed, plus in his impressive winter league campaign he showed patience and a good eye at the plate. WHERE you play him is the challenge. He plays shortstop like Roger Cedeño played outfield. Unless you flip Murphy in a trade the infield is set. He hasn’t had enough reps in the OF to start there (particularly being buried in Collins’ personal doghouse), so with an option left I foresee him in AAA, too. There he should be playing the OF every day assuming they want to see if Havens can handle 2B and Flores 3B. You could play him at SS but that would serve best only to increase his trade value. The outfield may have den Dekker in CF, Nieuwenhuis in one of the corners. That might leave the other corner open for Valdespin.
Ok. After giving it much thought I am predicting my Mets wins for ’13. Last year I picked 75 and was one off. Drum roll pleeez. 2013 Mets: 72 wins. I am dropping them down three wins because of the strength of the Braves. I am picking an East Coast/West Coast Series. Angels vs Nationals and 2013 World Champions: Anaheim Angels.
I’m not one for predictions but even less this eraly into Spring Training which is why I found it funny to see Jose Canseco tweet today his 2013 MLB Division Winners. He had Toronto, Cleveland, Oakland. Ny Mets, Milwaukee and LA. as his Division Champs.
Did he tweet that from his jail cell while on the juice?
Ha! Here is the tweet url you can ask him yourself.
https://twitter.com/JoseCanseco/statuses/301760565804675072
Did another baseball hit him on the noggin when he tweeted that?
Funny side note, MLB Network just ranked the Mets acquisition from the Toronto blue jays as the #5 best transactions of this off season !!
What I am curious about is, exactly how does the team address the outfield for 2014? Jacoby Ellsbury will be a free agent, but he cannot be trusted to stay healthy and, as a Boras client, he will be overpaid. Trade options will be there, but you can scratch Stanton off the list because he would cost the entire farm as well as Jon Niese and Ike Davis.
Carlos Gomez will likely be a free agent. He’s interesting, but hardly a difference maker. Its difficult to envision the difference-makers, the power hitting outfielders, that will be available on the trade market.
To start, why will the Mets need it to be a difference maker. There is a long time between now and 2014. The Mets have a lot of irons in the fire which could pan out. If Flores has a good year in Vegas and shows he can handle 2nd defensively, he might be the RH power bat in the lineup to complement Wright. At the same time, TDA is expected to be playing and, hopefully, providing some RH power. I wouldnt be surprised to see Duda post some good power numbers this year, which coupled with Ike, makes for a formidable tandem. If that works out, then the Mets really only need a couple of decent OFs who fill roles (i.e. speedy CF).
If that’s the case, then all the Mets would need from Kirk is solid defense, which he already provides and a modest bat, which I think he can provide.
It really sucks that we didn’t get an outfielder, but if there’s one positive that can be taken from it, it’s that we didn’t sign some ridiculous contract like the Angels did with Josh Hamilton. It’s still rebuilding mode in my opinion so at least we can see what we’ve got before spending big money. There will always bee free agent outfielders…
It’s not ideal. I would’ve rather had Bourn and others, and the Mets made a huge blunder with the whole process of signing him (including the draft compensation appeal, which I have made my opinion very clear) but it’s better than having two more restrictive, risky contracts on the payroll, right?
The story of Alderson…blind GMs get blindsided…very good ones do not ….please go back to Oakland…and take the Wilpons with you
considering the most likely scenario is in another year when Sandy moves on, JP becomes the “name” GM with the actual decision maker being Jeffy (hiding behind his front man/puppet) you might be sorry that he is gone.
Just saying JoeD, remember that if you add all the WAR from all the projected OF players and possible late comers the fors OF, put together by SA, is just at 0.0 WAR so at least they aren’t a negative to the team B-)
We all know that SA had no intention of signing any FA’s cause his talk with Francesca plus Wilpons words show that he wants to win but if you don’t make any “investments” as the State of The Union speech last night encouraged all Americans you need to do to get better, that it is essential, then how can you get better?
I believes as many have speculated and have opined that SA was brought in to get Wilpons house in order after their poor choice of “investments”, there’s that favorite word hear at camp connected to FA signings, MLB “made” Fred/Jeff bring in SA to stop the bleeding and have him apply some of that Oakland A’s mgmt style ointment to Mets.
Reading other blogs, though some think the 2014 season being the target, it seems that most believe that building up a team with the same approach that Frank Cashen used to is the right way, and I think that is right because that team was good for many years and if not for injuries to pitching and Docs off field issues Mets could of and IMO should of won another WS.
Anyway if SA is doing this then he needed to talk this talk from day one and not talk in “possibilities”, “if still contending”, “we are not giving up on this season”, then maybe fans wouldn’t be p****d off when you can’t get a straight answer from him.
Sheesh it is frustrating to hear the FO line change, bend but still go back to, no money is going to be spent, period!
I am with you on the frustration of no RH OF bats, Hairston provided RH power off the bench and when he started plus he was a good team mate on Mets so signing him to two year deal was a problem because…….Chicago is a team re-building under Epstein but having a veteran RH power bat on bench and OF is desirable and a major need for Mets so SA got involved in the Bourn distraction, and let a possible RH power bat that could have been a bridge to up and coming RH bats in minors.
You give a inconsistent relief pitcher a 2 year in the money range possibly for signing Hairston, I know it was last year, but won’t give a 2 year deal a proven, in NY, bat that would of helped take some pressure off of young OF’ers for Mets but then again, Hairston was probably considered “spending” not “investment” in the vernacular of Wilpon’s speaking through Sandy Alderson.
Wow what a downer.
At the risk of repetition, I will type one more time – as Metsie as stated repeatedly as well – there is no valid reason why a team can build a core and surround that core with a good supporting cast, without sacrificing the future. To date, Alderson has failed to do that by leaving significant holes on the team in 2012 and it looks like the same in 2013. These holes are nothing that a relatively small amount of money couldn’t or can’t address.
Hi TJ,
I’m very hurt by that statement. What about me and all the others who have been saying the same thing! Did Metsie pay you off something just to give him the credit we all deserve?
Metsie, you know I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have a little fun at your expense along with TJ.
Joey D.,
My apologizes to you and all the others that have been calling for investment in the team for 2013 and beyond. I have tried to be objective with Alderson and this regime, and the difficult ownership situation that has existed recently. He did okay on the Dickey deal, and time will tell, but he still needs to come up with a legit closer and leadoff hitter, or I see no reason personally to spend on tickets in 2013…we can watch the kids develop from afar. If I were a season ticket holder, I’d be really pissed right now.
Hi TJ,
… feel much better now!