In his latest article for ESPN Insider, Jim Bowden includes Sandy Alderson among seven general managers he believes are the top candidates for MLB’s Executive of the Year award.
“The Mets had a quiet offseason; the signing of outfielder Michael Cuddyer was their only significant move. In this case, Alderson’s best moves were the ones he didn’t make, including trading one of the team’s good young starting pitchers to get a hitter.”
“That said, once it was evident that the team could win the division in 2015, Alderson went to work, making multiple deals to transform one of the league’s worst offenses into one of its best.”
September 11
In his latest article for the NY Post, Kevin Kernan says that Sandy Alderson is deserving of this season’s Executive of the Year honor.
Kernan believes that it’s time to give Alderson his due as he has the team sitting in first place with a commanding 7.5 game lead. He says Alderson has done a tremendous job turning the season around with his deadline trades for Yoenis Cespedes, Juan Uribe, Kelly Johnson and Tyler Clippard.
“Cespedes is a modern-day Donn Clendenon, hero of the 1969 Mets who came over in a trade deadline deal. That was in June.”
In 157 at bats with the Mets, Cespedes is batting .312 with an outstanding 1.032 OPS. He is clearly one of Alderson’s best moves to date as he has provided the team with MVP caliber production in the second half.
Terry Collins also spoke highly of Alderson and believes he is deserving of the award as well.
“When Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe walked into our clubhouse, the attitude changed. He knew we needed a big bat and added Cespedes. I think there is no question he is the Executive of the Year.’’
“He is the guy who was the architect of this rotation,’’ Collins told The Post. “He timed all these guys coming up here at the right time, he didn’t rush any of them.”
Kernan concedes that Alderson has benefited from some good fortune, mainly from the Carlos Gomez trade falling through, and he’s also benefited tremendously from the power arms and valuable trade chips that were left behind by former General Manager Omar Minaya.
Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Jeurys Familia are several of the team’s key players that were drafted or signed while Minaya was the General Manager.
However, Alderson should certainly be one of the favorites. He will likely face tough competition with Dayton Moore from Kansas City and John Mozeliak from St.Louis whose teams have the best records in baseball. Another possibility is Theo Epstein or Jed Hoyer from the Cubs, who are likely to make the playoffs for the first time since 2008.
