Sandy Alderson, hired in 2010 to overhaul a club that Omar Minaya previously helmed, was brought with the duty of rebuilding a team from mainly within and no longer able to give out the bountiful contracts of years past.
In 2015, all the hard work, the analyzing, the staving off of a frenzied fan base, came to fruition as the Mets reached the World Series. Anderson spoke to Anthony DiComo of Mets.com to recount that time as well as where he goes from here.
“You don’t have that many moments like that,” Alderson said. “Some people like to go crazy and drink champagne and smoke cigars. That’s not how I react to that kind of accomplishment. I’m not big on ‘rah rah’ celebrations. I don’t like to draw attention. I get the satisfaction out of accomplishing the mission.”
Getting to the World Series was half the battle and Alderson knows the mission is far from complete. A World Series title still stands in the way of accomplishing the ultimate goal that he seeks. The team he has helmed for the past six years now is no longer an underdog, but a rising monster, who many expect a lot from.
“I like to think that I approach each season trying to maximize whatever potential we have,” Alderson continued. “And I think that’s true this season as well. We want to maximize our potential, and our potential is greater now than it probably ever has been. But that potential has to translate into performance.”
When Alderson, 68, arrived in New York it couldn’t have been too much more of a dire situation. The biggest market in all of baseball was home to a floundering team filled with bad contracts, poor play and no light at the end of the tunnel. He started his career in the all too familiar moneybag era as general manager of the Oakland A’s and later moved to to be CEO of the San Diego Padres from 2005-2009. However, he began to miss the daily competition of putting a team together and watching them produce on the field.
“You don’t see that very often, a guy going to be president and then come back to the GM role,” Mets assistant GM John Ricco said. “He got back into it to see if he could recapture, do what he had done. I think that is probably the feeling above everything else — the satisfaction that, ‘Hey, you know what? I was able to put a pretty good team together once again.’ I think there’s a lot of pride there for him. “I think he showed himself, showed the game that he hasn’t lost his touch.”
After last year’s playoff run it was announced that Alderson had been diagnosed with cancer. He was dealing with this during a time when the team he helped to create was making their biggest run since 2000. It was said to hold a distraction for a general manager when he needed it most. Anderson continued his work into the offseason while treating the illness and came up with a variety of successful acquisitions. The re-signing of Yoenis Cespedes and Bartolo Colon. The trade that brought in Neil Walker, as well as the signings of Asdrubal Cabrera and Antonio Bastardo. All necessary pieces to the puzzle.
Alderson, who has two years remaining on his three-year contract, has his goal in reach. He fields a championship caliber team every night. Health and age being a factor in how much time he may have to accomplish the ultimate goal, he is more driven than ever.
“I’m not getting younger, but I don’t feel older,” Alderson said. “When your contemporaries are retiring, playing golf, it causes you to think about that. But at the same time, I enjoy what I’m doing, as does my family. One of the things I’ve never done is try to figure out what my next job is. I’ve always said the most important job I’ll ever have is the one I have right now.”
Sandy has done a wonderful job in overhauling this franchise. The image of the Mets logo is no longer one to be mocked but one to be proud of. The goal is within reach, and it is now up to the players to do their part and play up to their capabilities to get to the promised land.
