After this afternoon’s loss to the Minnesota Twins, Mets GM Sandy Alderson talked to reporters about the state of the team and addressed some of the rumors that have been floating around the web in the last few days.

I am going to briefly summarize his comments, but if you want all the detail I suggest going to Adam Rubin’s blog on ESPN New York.

Carlos Beltran

Basically, Alderson is not ruling him out for Opening Day, but then said something ominous which led Rubin to believe it was a warning of sorts.

“It is fair to say it was unrealistic now for anyone to expect him to be able to play center field on a routine basis all season,” Alderson said. “At this point, we just have to see where he is at the beginning of the season.”

This leads to the question, If Beltran can’t play center on a routine basis, how could he play right regularly?

Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo

Alderson is very aware of how badly Mets fans may want Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo gone. Alderson said that although he does consider what the fanbase thinks, it won’t be the basis for his final decisions on either player. The GM believes that Perez has a very legitimate chance to stick as a left-handed reliever. He also took a shot at reporters, wishing they would find something else to write about.

“It’s a little odd,” Alderson said. “I think it does distract one from taking a look at the team as a whole and having a more balanced view of the team as a whole. It’s easy to focus in on a couple of negatives and kind of ride that into the ground.”

I agree.

Second Base

Alderson echoed what Terry Collins has said about second base being an “offensive position”. He also added that in the next few days the field will be narrowed once again. This could mean Justin Turner being cut from the spring roster, and after that who knows. He did make it clear that the second baseman with the best offensive numbers will not necessarily win the everyday job. That seemed like a knock on Castillo and Murphy who are the only ones hitting, and a vote for Brad Emaus who is having a terrible spring at the plate thus far. His final decision will be based on his offseason evaluation rather than the spring numbers, which again sounds like he’s paving the way for Emaus.

“This decision will not be made on what happens this spring, but also what we projected over a whole body of work over a whole period of time. Don’t assume that if somebody goes 3-for-4 they just won the job.”

I guess we will all find out soon enough in the next 5-7 days, but this is totally looking like a victory for Emaus from what I can tell. We’ll see.

Who Makes Final Decisions

This morning Terry Collins said he believed it was going to be his call on who will be the second baseman, and Mike Puma of the NY Post, wrote this quote:

“Sandy has never put restrictions on anything we’re doing here. We discuss things every day and know exactly where we stand. I know where he is on every player and he knows where I am.”

But Alderson erased any doubts that the final decision would be his when he said,

“Obviously, you’d love to have a consensus. But at some point, who’s on the team or not on the team, is probably my decision, with strong input from Terry and the coaches.”

There you have it. That’ll show Terry who’s boss. Just kidding. 🙂

I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments.