I find it difficult to take everything Sandy Alderson says at face value. That’s just a nice way of saying I can’t believe anything he says. I’m now referring to him as “Hans Christian Alderson” for his ability to weave the most amazing yarns and whimsical tales.
The observant ones among you all realize that it’s all just smoke and mirrors designed to silence the naysayers, give hope to those who are in awe of him, and hide the fact that he’s only here to help the Wilpons keep their grip on the team – winning be damned. Right? I SAID RIGHT????
When Alderson hinted at “wholesale changes” in an August interview and then re-emphasized that in another interview in October saying “significant changes” would be made this offseason – especially in the outfield – didn’t I tell you not to believe it? Didn’t I say that things would look pretty much the same in the outfield as they were in 2012, and that there is no way he will add anyone significant because 1) He doesn’t want to pay the price in market value and 2) He doesn’t want to part with any of his prospects?
Of course my concerns were all validated when at the Christmas Party at Citi Field he did a complete about face and said, “I would expect the roster will look similar to the way it did at the end of last year.”
I do believe Mr. Alderson just quoted me…
You may recall how Sandy Alderson famously joked about the Mets outfield a few months ago on the way to the Winter Meetings when he was asked about it and replied, “Outfield” What outfield?’
This man enjoys mocking us.
Yesterday, with the offseason almost at an end, he summarized his outfield as follows:
The outfield is not a strength at this point and I would say there’s a need for an upgrade at every one of those positions.
Wow, a hint of honesty, but also an acknowledgement of his epic failure to execute any kind of a plan to improve what was the worst ranked outfield in major league baseball last season. An outfield that for now will be without their most productive bat in Scott Hairston. Yes Mets fans, regardless of what you think about Hairston, he was the most productive outfielder the Mets had. Don’t blame Hairston for that, blame Alderson.
You could say that the decision by Fred Wilpon to get rid of Bay was a nice gift by Fred for Alderson. Addition by subtraction, right? Wrong. Not when you replace him with Collin Cowgill. In fact, Alderson had no statistical case to build for Cowgill yesterday so he referred to him as “an interesting player to watch who is hard nosed and dirty.”
Why Sandy… I do believe you just referred to a player’s intangibles… Unreal… My friends at Amazin Avenue must have done back-flips when Sandy said that.
He says there’s still a 50/50 chance that he’ll have a “bigger” move in the outfield. Who’s biting on that one?
It’s unbelievable that we’re going into next season with an outfield of Duda (.229/.329/.339), Nieuwenhuis (.252/.315/.376) and Cowgill (.269/.336/.317), with reserves Andrew Brown and Mike Baxter to round it out. All five combined to hit 29 home runs last season, or the total you’d expect from one average corner outfielder.
Of course you have those who will find a way to sugarcoat this, but the outfield is a joke and an insult to all of us. Did I mention that the Mets raised ticket prices across the board for the 2013 season?
I have a World Series ring, do you?
