With Spring Training only six weeks away, Sandy Alderson spoke with Anthony DiComo of MLB.com and addressed the still ongoing shortstop situation. “We have obviously not added anyone,” Alderson told DiComo.
“To this point, we just haven’t found anything attractive. That’s true with respect to free agents. It’s true with respect to trade possibilities. Given all that, I think we do know a little more now than we did a few weeks ago about what’s available. And I still believe when we start Spring Training, we will have what we currently have.”
Alderson has maintained all along that Wilmer Flores will likely be the Opening Day shortstop and that he has absolutely no problem with that.
The Troy Tulowitzki talk just won’t go away even though there’s no chance the Mets can take on his $118 million dollar commitment.
“We’ve continued to have conversations, but nothing is likely to occur,” Alderson told the New York Post. “There is currently nothing imminent. I still believe at this point that we will go into spring training with what we have at shortstop.”
As I’ve been saying all along, if Tulowitzki does get traded it won’t happen until the trade deadline and not unless he can prove his hip is healthy and that his MVP style play is unaffected.
Nobody doubts that Flores can hit, but the question that lingers is what’s the backup plan if he can’t stick at shortstop? Are we in store for another 3-4 months of Ruben Tejada handling everyday duties?
Is it possible that maybe the Mets were aiming too high and instead of looking for an upgrade to Flores, they should have been looking for insurance in case he failed? A contingency plan of sorts that would have provided an alternative to Tejada?
Meanwhile, the Mets continue to have a logjam with six starting pitchers with major league contracts to fill five spots, and also the real possibility that one of them could start the season in the bullpen unless a deal gets done.
“It’s a possibility,” Alderson said about adding a starter to the pen. “But that would not be the optimum solution for the Mets or the pitcher.”
Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Zack Wheeler are the mainstays, while Bartolo Colon, Jon Niese and Dillon Gee are on the bubble with Gee the likeliest to be dealt.
As I’ve said numerous times, I believe that the Mets are well positioned to contend all year long for the division. I base that on watching the rest of the NL East looking worse than last season after their offseason moves, while the Mets actually did improve the team even though it wasn’t as extensive as many wanted or expected.
But as things wind down, how do you feel about the Mets’ offseason, did it meet your expectations? Have we done enough to contend for a playoff spot?
