A new book about Mets general manager Sandy Alderson is set to soon come out that extensively covers his years at the helm of the New York Mets.
According to Howard Megdal of Capital New York, the new book “Baseball Maverick” by veteran sports journalist Steve Kettmann, asks the question of why Sandy continues in his current role “given the significant amount of public dissembling he’s had to do on behalf of the team’s owners thanks to Fred Wilpon, Jeff Wilpon and Saul Katz’s massive investments with Bernie Madoff.”
Megdal learned that Alderson’s cooperation for the book was total.
“Neither Kettmann nor Alderson make any pretense about what stops the Mets every time: It’s the money.”
Kettmann quotes Alderson saying in 2011, “The nice thing about being involved in just the baseball end is that I can separate myself from the Madoff situation by just being direct and honest with people and saying, ‘OK, I knew about Madoff, I knew the Mets owners had lost money with Madoff. I can’t have any credibility with the public if they think I’m a shill for Fred, Saul and Jeff.”
According to Megdal, the book makes very clear that Alderson knew early on that ownwership’s financial and legal problems were going to pose a problem to baseball ops, though that turned into a bigger problem than he even could have imagined.
The book repeatedly illustrates Anderson’s frustration from operating in an environment from year to year that was always much worse than what he was led to believe.
Alderson told Kettmann on February 10, 2014, at the conclusion of the offseason:
“We got the payroll up over $85 million, which everyone was waiting for us to do or not do,” Alderson says on pages 244-45. “It sure would be nice if we could add to our bullpen. The perception of the team would be completely different. Right now people think we’re incomplete, and you know, they may be right.”
“And yet, even Kettmann, eager to end on a high note, quotes Jeff Wilpon in September 2014 saying the team is ready to “show more ‘payroll flexibility,'” never mind the repeated, discredited use of that exact phrase by both Wilpons and Alderson himself.”
Wow, read the full article on Capital New York, it’s a must read. As is the book Baseball Maverick that is set to be released in April. You can pre-order the book here at Amazon.com.
