Tag Archives: Sandy Alderson

Sep 13

Sandy Still Wary Of Big Contracts, But May Add A Big-Ticket Player This Offseason

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Jon Heyman of CBS Sports writes that soon to be free agent outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, currently with the Cincinnati Reds, “fits the bill” for what the Mets need this winter.

Heyman spoke with Sandy Alderson who revealed some of the things he’s considering as the Mets conclude their third losing season under his watch.

“There’s no question long-term contracts carry risk, and right about the time you’re clearing payroll you can wind up right back where you started if it doesn’t work out. On the other hand, you have some times where you have to roll the dice. I certainly haven’t ruled out a big-ticket item.”

Alderson has already made it well known that adding a veteran starting pitcher was already part of his plan this offseason even before Matt Harvey got hurt, but now it may end up being a top of the rotation starter if Harvey were to have surgery and miss the 2014 season – the season he said would be the year the franchise would begin a run of sustainable championship caliber baseball.

Heyman sounds skeptical about Alderson pursuing a big-ticket item and cited several instances when Alderson chided other teams for handing out large contracts both while general manager of the Mets and also when he was a top executive with Major League Baseball a decade ago.

Based on the needs of the Mets and the strengths of the player, Heyman concludes that Choo looks like the biggest potential target for the Mets this winter. He cites that he’s an excellent corner outfielder with a big on-base percentage, making him a perfect fit.

He says that Mets people have discussed him internally at length and predicts Choo will be the biggest player on the Mets’ radar.

Sep 10

Mets’ Matt Harvey Wants To Avoid Surgery

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Matt Harvey, the New York Mets’ best story of the season before an elbow injury sidelined him until, well, who really knows when?

Not Harvey, anyway. Harvey, speaking at an appearance at a Manhattan firehouse this afternoon along with David Wright, Zack Wheeler and CEO Jeff Wilpon, is insistent of eschewing surgery.

HARVEY: Doesn't want surgery.

HARVEY: Doesn’t want surgery.

“Everything feels fine. My arm feels great,’’ Harvey said. “I’m still very optimistic about everything. But I’m not a doctor, so we’ll see what happens.’’

Harvey is scheduled for a second opinion with Dr. James Andrews next week. Harvey said his arm feels “great,’’ but then again, he hasn’t pitched since Aug. 24 against Detroit, so it should feel good.

However, that time off hasn’t healed a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow. Harvey is hoping the tear will heal itself with rest, but there exists the risk of him going into next season and tearing it worse and possibly missing all of 2015.

As it is, if Harvey opts for surgery, there is a chance he could pitch at the end of next season.

“If we do go the surgery route, having it sooner so maybe I can get back in September next year if that’s an 11-month process, that’s a possibility,’’ Harvey said. “But, like I said, we haven’t gotten that far. I’m not an M.D., so I don’t really know those answers.’’

Andrews should be able to provide those answers next week. In the interim, Harvey said he’ll talk with as many people as he can, but ultimately the decision is his.

There are no guarantees with or without surgery, but the odds might be in his favor if he takes the knife.

General manager Sandy Alderson has long projected 2014 as the year the Mets could reach competitive status because the contract of Johan Santana will be off the books and the team should have the latitude to spend this winter.

Alderson said the plan, as it should be, is to plan for 2014 without Harvey, and that includes shopping for a veteran free agent in the off-season.

The Mets might consider the Yankees’ Phil Hughes, whose style might be better acclimated to the larger Citi Field than bandbox Yankee Stadium.

Hughes, battered this season, has been demoted to the bullpen.

However, he’s healthy, and at 28, is young enough to turn it around, and the Mets could provide that opportunity.

Your comments are greatly appreciated and I will attempt to respond. Follow me on Twitter @jdelcos

Aug 16

Mets Bullpen Has Surprised This Season

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gonzalez germanAfter 3-4 consecutive seasons of bullpen failures and a couple of unsuccessful revamps and overhauls by Sandy Alderson in 2011 and 2012, it looks like the Mets have finally turned a corner and figured things out this season. In doing so they’ve also uncovered a few potential keepers for 2014 and beyond, some of them developed through our system and others who were key acquisitions straight from the scrap heap.

One such find has been Gonzalez Germen, who recorded the final six outs in last night’s 4-1 win against the San Diego Padres to notch his first major league save. It was a big moment for Germen who plans to give the game ball to his mother. Germen stepped in for LaTroy Hawkins who was unavailable due to a sore groin. Hawkins too, has been a key cog in this now very effective bullpen.

Since July 1, the Mets pen has a 2.10 ERA (30 earned runs/128.2 innings), ranking third in the majors. New York’s pen has a 1.83 ERA (seven earned runs/34.1 innings) this month, the sixth-best mark in the majors. The pen’s 3.64 overall ERA, ranks 15th in the majors after two straight seasons of ranking 29th in 2011 and 2012.

Even more telling is that Met relievers have stranded 141 of 189 inherited runners, the fifth-best percentage (74.6) in the majors. The Mets’ bullpen has been coming into games in critical spots and have done a great job of limiting the damage and stranding runners. It’s time to give Sandy Alderson his due for a job well done this season.

The Mets bullpen has endured losses to their close Bobby Parnell who was in the midst of the best season of his career, and also losing second-year reliever Josh Edgin was a significant blow as well. Since his return from the minors, Edgin led the bullpen in BAA and WHIP.

Some player performances of note are that of Scott Rice, who leads the team with 61 appearances and has surprised everyone while limiting opposing batters to a .224 average and posting a 3.34 ERA in his rookie season. The 32-year old late bloomer, has held lefthanded batters to a .162 average and has allowed just one home run all season in 45.1 innings pitched. Boom…

Scott Atchison was another scrapheap signing and all he’s managed to do is post a 3.34 ERA and 1.23 WHIP in 31 appearances since joining the Mets.

As a reliever, perhaps the best performance of this season belongs to Carlos Torres whose 0.65 ERA is the best mark among all relievers in the game. His 0.87 WHIP ranks fifth in the NL and he has 5:1 strikeout to walk ratio.

So while not everything has gone perfectly for the Mets this season, there have been some very notable bright spots and certainly the bullpen has been one of them.

Jun 12

Mets Remain Stuck After Ike Davis Demotion; Doing Daniel Murphy Wrong

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At least the Mets had one issue resolved Tuesday night, and that is who to demote from the rotation when Zack Wheeler is brought up. That will be Jeremy Hefner, who gave up five unearned runs.

The Mets are determined to bring up Wheeler despite questions of him not being ready because they desperately want a diversion to this already lost season. Hefner and Dillon Gee have pitched too well recently to lose their spot in the rotation, but that is irrelevant.

MURPHY: Doing him wrong.

MURPHY: Doing him wrong.

Last night’s enduring image was Daniel Murphy’s error. After two years of Murphy trying to learn second base, the Mets moved him back to first base when Ike Davis was sent down. Sandy Alderson’s sterling reasoning: To see what Jordany Valdespin can give them at second base and leadoff.

For the Mets’ myriad of questions, Valdespin isn’t much an answer to any of them. But, it makes sense using Metsian logic to make things difficult for a decent, hard working, productive guy in Murphy to placate a headache such as Valdespin. Am I being unfair to Valdespin? Perhaps, but has he really earned the benefit of doubt?

Why fool around with one of their more productive players in Murphy at first when they just brought up first baseman Josh Satin to replace Davis? What’s Satin doing here if he’s not going to play?

As far as trying to learn about Valdespin, that’s what spring training was about. And, what is the correlation between batting leadoff and playing second? If the Mets want to learn about Valdespin hitting leadoff they’ve had plenty of opportunities.

As far as Davis is concerned, he was 0-for-3 last night at Las Vegas, after which he declined to talk to reporters who traveled 2,500 miles to see him. He’s lucky people still care about what he does.

Davis said he’s in Las Vegas to work on his swing, which is only partially correct. He’s also there to work on his plate presence and approach that is abundantly flawed. If Davis believes going to Las Vegas is only to work on mechanics he will never get out of this funk.

Hitting is first mental, then physical, something Davis does not recognize or chooses to ignore. The Mets waited far too long to demote Davis and are not waiting long enough to promote Wheeler.

That does make me curious about one thing. Will Davis still be in Las Vegas by the time they send back Wheeler?

As always, your comments are greatly appreciated and I will attempt to answer them. Please follow me on Twitter @jdelcos

May 15

Terry Collins Spins Into Damage Control

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Terry Collins is a smart guy who made some pretty out-of-bounds comments Monday night. Some might even call them stupid.

COLLINS: Spins into damage control.

COLLINS: Spins into damage control.

I leaned in that direction when I came down on Collins for ripping the fans in his response to a question on if the Mets were leaving Jordany Valdespin out to dry after his actions last weekend.

“I don’t answer to fans,’’ Collins said reporters in St. Louis. “They don’t play this game. They have no idea what goes on. They have no idea what goes on in there. They have absolutely no idea what it means to be a professional teammate at this level.’’

Collins also went on to say he didn’t care about the perception of the Valdespin incident, ranging from the player celebrating his meaningless home run in a blowout loss, to the manager anticipating the payback plunking, to the player’s dugout tantrum.

There’s no mistaking what Collins meant, but it should be noted this could have been alleviated had he danced around the question and later vented his true feelings in an off-the-record session with the New York traveling media. Had he done so, Collins’ comments wouldn’t have left his Busch Stadium office.

Speaking on WFAN this afternoon, Collins was in full damage control, saying: “The New York fans are maybe the most knowledgeable fans that I’ve ever been around.

“When the question was asked, it pretty much was … Look, as much as I respect everybody’s opinions, it’s my opinion that counts and what’s best for this club. I can’t be influenced by outside people who aren’t here, and that’s pretty much all I meant. Certainly I misused the words. I shouldn’t have said ‘fans.’ I should have just said ‘people.’ ’’

However, what are fans, if not people?

Collins might have meant fans and media lumped together when he said “people,’’ but either way, why take on a foe when you don’t have to?

If you want to give Collins benefit of doubt, which I don’t have a problem with, you have to recognize his frustration and the pressure he’s under. His is not an easy job, made harder by the cards Sandy Alderson dealt him. We can go on item-by-item of all Collins doesn’t have to work with, and then add the headache that is Valdespin.

To understand fully what Collins is dealing with, you have to hear what Valdespin said last night. Valdespin was sent up to pinch-hit in another blowout loss. After taking a couple of pitches, he stepped out of the batter’s box and took a deep breath.

When asked after the game what he was thinking about, Valdespin said what he would do if he hit a homer.

Yeah, after hearing that, I’m willing to give Collins a pass on Monday’s comments. He deserves it for having to deal with Valdespin.