Wow, what a roller-coaster ride it was for Sandy Alderson and the Mets last night as they completely overhauled the bullpen faster than it will take me to write this post.
In what seemed like an instant, the Mets went from having one of the worst bullpens in the league to a vastly improved bullpen with a new closer, a setup man, and more depth than they’ve know in years.
With additions of Frank Francisco, Ramon Ramirez and Jon Rauch, the bullpen may possibly be a strength ofr the team in 2012 rather than the disaster we’ve all come to know in the last few years. And Alderson performed this trick for less than a third of the money they would have had to shell out for Francisco Rodriguez if they had kept him and that option would have klicked in. Do you finally see the difference between a smooth operator like the proactive Sandy Alderson compared to the wild and erratic Omar Minaya who was always reactive?
The bullpen got a tremendous overhaul and that observation was not lost on manager Terry Collins who was glowing last night in Dallas.
“No disrespect to the guys; they worked hard last year,” Manager Terry Collins said referring to his 2011 bullpen. “But we couldn’t stop some teams, and I think we can now. We knew we had to get some bullpen help here. I was all on board with Sandy’s approach: let’s not just spend it all on one guy, let’s spread it around and get some depth. I was shocked we made it all fit.”
When asked to comment on his patient and measured approach to this offseason, Alderson said, “I think there’s virtue in being patient, but I think you’ve got to know when to move.”
And that’s exactly what he did – move. I’m confident in saying that the Mets are significantly better today than they were yesterday.
