Speaking with reporters at the Winter Meetings, Sandy Alderson shifted gears again and now says it’s more likely the Mets acquire a shortstop upgrade via free agency, rather than the original plan which was to execute a trade using the Mets’ pitching depth.
This certainly changes a lot for the team, who had several high end, team friendly options to build a trade around. But the issue was always the asking price for the Mets. The Cubs wanted more than one front end starter for Starlin Castro, who was an All-Star three out of his first four full seasons in the league, but lacked the complete set of tools worth the caliber of a pitcher like Zack Wheeler or Jacob deGrom.
In a different age and time, both of those pitchers would have been a reasonable asking price for a high end offensive minded shortstop like Castro. Today, the game is evolving quickly from power hitting to power pitching and Alderson wisely held on to his most valuable assets.
The Mets have drafted, traded for and groomed some incredible prospects, and so far many of them have panned out and met the hype surrounding them. Again, it’s the timing that makes it so special too. Just take a look at the Atlanta Braves as they scramble to restructure their organization. They’re assembling a team that resembles that of the Mets, Marlins and Nationals; power pitching complimented by offense, not the other way around.
The shortstop situation now likely includes names like Jed Lowrie, Asdrubal Cabrera and Stephen Drew although Lowrie and Drew would be strictly for defensive purposes with Cabrera being the complete opposite. Truthfully, a strong defensive minded shortstop to couple with Juan Lagares up the middle could give the Mets a combination of pitching and defense that could vault them into contention. A healthy and productive David Wright, Curtis Granderson and Michael Cuddyer would also do wonders to support this pitching and defense for an overall balanced attack.
Sandy Alderson also shot down statements made by Terry Collins suggesting that Ruben Tejada would be competing with Wilmer Flores for the starting shortstop job this Spring. “I guess conceptually it’s a possibility. They’ll both be there.”
Honestly, I get the impression from Sandy that he’s hard at work while those around him are hard at work making his work harder. In those moments, he’s had a sense of humor and if you sit back and think of how frustrating it must be for him to manage and change the perception of this team, you have to give the man some credit.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see how all of this ultimately plays out for the Amazins.
