Sandy Alderson shed some more light on the trade front before Friday night’s game in San Diego, telling beat writers that he has yet to have any significant talks with other GMs .
“It’s hard to say exactly what will happen on the trade market,” the Mets GM said. “Honestly, I haven’t had a lot of conversations. So it’s not clear to me what the opportunities will be. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
“My hope is things pick up a little bit as we get into the schedule after the All-Star break, and maybe even after this weekend. But right now we’re just kind of canvassing the possibilities.”
The more the Mets keep playing as they are, the more I believe the Mets will do nothing at the trade deadline.
While trading a veteran like Bartolo Colon isn’t necessarily a case of the Mets selling because it would be a logical move for the team, the perception that the Mets are waving the white towel and giving up will be a public relations nightmare.
I believe this is where the Wilpons step in and sort of handcuff Alderson from doing anything that can be viewed as a sell-off at a time that they’re trying to convey that the organization has turned a corner.
This bodes well for Daniel Murphy who likely isn’t going anywhere, at least not now. The offseason is a different story…
July 18
Mets GM Sandy Alderson spoke with Mike Puma of the New York Post and reiterated that he has no intention of trading for any rental players at the deadline, that is players who are in the final year of their contracts.
“I don’t think we would deal significant prospects or significant value for somebody who is going to help us for a couple of months,” Alderson told the newspaper.
“We spent too much time improving our minor-league system and setting ourselves up for the future to commit significant resources to somebody in a deal that is only going to help us for a short period of time. In that sense we would probably be looking for somebody who can help us longer term as well.”
As to what the plan is and if the 8-2 record over the last ten days has changed anything, not really.
“I think the last 10 games were important because they make the next 10 games relevant to what happens at the trade deadline,” Alderson said. “We’ll see what happens over the next 10 days or so. But certainly the last 10 games have to make us a little more optimistic.”
I expect no matter what happens the Mets will not be buyers regardless.
Even when the Mets were 11 games under .500, Sandy kept up the pretense the Mets could be buyers, but as soon as they climbed into third place, he quickly back-tracked and continues to do so.
That’s not to say I want them to be buyers, I don’t. I simply want you not to believe everything you hear. Sandy is very good at what he does and he has that whole GM-speak part of his job down pat.
As for Daniel Murphy, I still believe he’s a goner and that the Mets cannot afford to keep him with a significant raise coming after the season.
Don’t believe a word they say about the team’s financial problems being behind them. Instead, you should learn to adjust to the fact that the Mets will maintain a payroll of around $85 million for the next 4-6 years until a good portion of debt is paid down. That’s the unfortunate very likely reality of the situation.
The official word on Murphy from Sandy is this:
“We’re not actively looking to trade Daniel Murphy by any means,” Alderson said. “That situation will resolve itself over time.”
Yes, it will resolve itself. Someone will pick him up and like Angel Pagan before him, Murphy will likely get a World Series ring out of the deal. Good for him.
As for what we’ll get out of the deal? More prospects I assume that can help us in a couple of years or so.
