According to Kristie Ackert of the Daily News, the Mets placed less of a priority to acquire a veteran left-handed reliever “not because of money” but because as the team source put it, “we were confident with what we got.”
That of course is a complete reversal from the team’s early offseason posture, when they were “very concerned” with “what we got.”
We went from “adding a veteran lefty reliever is one of our higher priorities this Winter” to this:
“The question is whether we’re prepared to make a commitment to somebody on a major league deal. I’d say it’s unlikely we do that right now. I’d rather see the competition for that second lefty. And if it doesn’t work out, we’ll go with six righties in the pen.”
Yeah, right… Prepared or ill equipped?
We’ve seen this before time and time again, when the front office says one thing in October, November and December, and then – BOOM – reality sets in and they go into damage control mode. And with the Mets, reality is always synonymous with financial limitations.
It’s the same playbook they used in the 2013 offseason when Ruben Tejada went from the fat, lazy, out of shape, malcontent that needed to be replaced, to “We love Ruben and all the tools he brings to the position. We’re excited to have him as our Opening Day shortstop in 2014.”
So here we are today with Josh Edgin likely missing the first month of the season, if not the whole year, and Sandy facing some tough choices from a sparse and unproven group of internal options. “We’ll continue to work through those candidates,” Alderson said. “Josh would be a loss for us but we’ll have to pick it up.”
If you think Sandy Alderson is content with the prospect of having to choose a lefty reliever out of “what we got”, that is minor leaguers Jack Leathersich and Dario Alvarez, Rule 5 pick Sean Gilmartin, and Scott Rice who signed a minor league deal, surely you haven’t been paying attention.
About that same group, Sandy had the following to say to Newsday in December:
“Not to say that will have the biggest impact on the team. But just in terms of what options we have internally, that might be an area of greater need… There’s not experience, proven depth, there.”
If you think Sandy didn’t wish he had at least one of Dana Eveland, Phil Coke, Franklin Morales,Tom Gorzelanny or Zach Duke right now, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
Now, understand that not having a lefty reliever is not the end of the world mind you. But it’s the way the team portrays things from one day to the next with money always at the crux of what guides these decisions that is troublesome. Or a lack of money in the Mets’ case.
After reading some of the quotes from the new Sandy Alderson book, at least we now know what there is a vast fathom of distance between what Sandy “has to say publicly” and what he is “really thinking”.
I always kind of figured Sandy Alderson didn’t believe most of the stuff he’s been shoveling. Now I know it.
