Mandatory Credit: Mary Holt-USA TODAY Sports
Team president Sandy Alderson spoke to reporters via zoom on Monday morning before the Mets first game of the 2021 spring docket.
The Mets play their first exhibition game on Monday, against the Marlins in Jupiter. Unfortunately, there’s no TV for the game and only Marlins’ radio.
Here’s three things we learned from Alderson:
Mets Are Happy With Their Offseason
The Mets added Francisco Lindor, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor May, James McCann, Taijuan Walker, Joey Lucchesi, and many others this offseason–one of the most active and arguably improved teams.
“We are very happy with the team we have right now. We added players on the top end as well on the depth.”
Alderson also said the Mets were “aggressive” in their pursuit of pitcher Trevor Bauer and that it came down to “five years vs six years for center fielder George Springer.
Signing Springer could’ve precluded the Mets from being able to keep Conforto long-term according to Sandy.
“At some point, even Steven Cohen runs out of money.”
Extensions, Extensions, Extensions
Michael Conforto, Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman, and Lindor are among the Mets players that will be free agents after the 2021 season, and Alderson name dropped three of them during extension questions.
Alderson said that the Mets will try to meet Francisco Lindor’s timetable of working out an extension before spring training ends.
“We would like to talk to Lindor and Conforto relatively soon.”
Alderson also said it would be “natural for us” to have conversations with Syndergaard about an extension prior to him hitting free agency later this year.
Broader Hiring Process Needed
The Mets fired GM Jared Porter in January following a report that he sent lewd photos to women working in baseball. They had just hired him in December.
Then it was reported in early February that former Mets manager Mickey Callaway was accused of inappropriate behavior toward women beat writers during his time with the Mets organization. He is currently under suspension by the Angels, where he is their pitching coach.
“We have to be broader in our understanding of who these people are.”
Alderson said the Mets changes in the hiring process has them now making sure they reach out to women that might have been in contact with the applicant. This applied to their pursuit of Bauer as well.
“We had internal discussions about his social media presence and how that might defer from others…We actually have discussions internally with groups in our organization to talk about that, including women.”
