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Mets Trade Talk and also, Is Alderson Planning his Exit?

batmagadanleadoff Jun 26 2013 07:11 PM

In this three week old article, Matthew Cerrone speculates that Mets GM Sandy Alderson will leave unless the Mets open up their pocketbook. Mets will be buyers, new names added to trade market June 4th, 2013 9:28 am Matthew Cerrone, Lead Writer Here is what I learned last week, after talking to national reporters, people in front offices and people close to the Mets… Sandy Alderson wants to significantly move this franchise forward in the next year or so. And, if it doesn’t happen, or if he isn’t allowed to spend a good portion of new money coming off the books because revenue is down again, he may very well choose to leave the team after his contract expires after 2014. He has a club option for 2015. Alderson was brought here to reboot the baseball operations side of the Mets during a time when he knew resources would be limited. The farm system is starting to take shape and roughly $50 million will come off the payroll at the end of this season. The way I understand it, he took this job knowing it would be difficult for a few years, but it would eventually be easier when money became more available. The plan was to use the first three years to save ownership money, strip things down and assess in-house talent. The next 12 months should be about putting together a legitimate contender, which will ultimately succeed either under his, or someone else’s, leadership. In other words, it has to start soon. These days, people with other teams have been telling me the Mets are very willing to trade a top pitching prospect, a big-league arm (think Bobby Parnell) and Wilmer Flores, for a young, under-contract hitter. They have talked with teams about Jon Niese over and over again during the last 18 months, and I think they’d consider moving Zack Wheeler in the right deal. No team can build an entire outfield in one winter, so I think Alderson knows he needs to make an acquisition this summer, regardless of the team’s record. The issue he has is that, as good as Noah Syndergaard and Rafael Montero have been, they’re still too unproven to build a deal around. The buzz on Syndergaard is growing, though, and I see no scenario where he and Wheeler get moved. The Mets have young pitching that interests other teams, especially if they’re willing to deal Parnell; and they have an opening in payroll after this season. Also, Alderson would prefer to trade for power now, then sign a light-weight leadoff hitter in the winter. So, no doubt, we’re going to hear and see trade rumors this summer connecting the Mets to Rockies OF Carlos Gonzalez, Marlins OF Giancarlo Stanton, Dodgers OF Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, and Blue Jays OF Jose Bautista and 1B/3B Edwin Encarnacion. It sounds to me like Gonzalez can be had for the right price. The Dodgers will move Ethier, who is having a rough season, though they’re likely to keep Kemp. The Jays will listen to offers for Bautista and Encarnacion, but are far more likely to move these guys in the off season… if they’re going to move them at all. Stanton will cost a fortune, i.e., three or four of your best prospects, since he’s earning little money and pretty much every team (including the Mets) has asked about him. In reading the tea leaves, Ethier seems like the most likely of the group to end up in Queens, because Los Angeles will eat some of Ethier’s salary to get a better prospect in trade. The Mets really like Gonzalez, but lots of teams are interested and there is still no strong evidence Colorado is dead serious about dealing him. This past weekend was one of the more disappointing things I’ve seen from this team in quite some time. After sweeping the Yankees four games, with nine games against Nationals and Marlins and a Wheeler promotion on the horizon, I thought maybe they would give us at least a few weeks of fun. Instead, the Mets were swept and embarrassed by the last-place Marlins. Fans were not the only ones disappointed, though. I hear the front office was equally disturbed and frustrated. Hopefully it will motivate the front office to get started on what could end up being Alderson’s swan song. http://metsblog.com/metsblog/in-progres ... -deadline/

batmagadanleadoff Jun 26 2013 07:13 PM Re: Mets Trade Talk and also, Is Alderson Planning his Exit? Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jun 26 2013 07:20 PM

Grantland's Mets Trades Speculation, part of a larger piece on the NL East, including the link to the Cerrone piece above. NEW YORK METS Optimism abounds over Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler. David Wright is still very much a superstar, and the proverbial franchise player. Bobby Parnell has turned into one of the most effective and reliable closers in the league. After that … sadness. It's not just that the Mets have a wafer-thin collection of talent after their top few players. It's that as long as the Wilpons retain control of the team, questions will remain about their finances, and thus their ability and desire to spend real money on talent. SNY's Matthew Cerrone has speculated that GM Sandy Alderson could fly the coop when his contract expires after the 2014 season, unless his bosses start opening their wallets. In the meantime, the buzz is that the Mets could be aggressive buyers, not sellers at the deadline, despite their miserable record and slim-to-none playoff chances this year. Assuming the money men don't object (a big if), Alderson could go after established talent signed to big, long-term deals as a kind of poor man's version of last summer's Dodgers–Red Sox megadeal. It's an intriguing idea, especially when you consider the alternative: The Mets make every non-star on the roster available, and the end result is Marlon Byrd for a box of Gobstoppers. http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-trian ... st-edition

batmagadanleadoff Jun 26 2013 07:16 PM Re: Mets Trade Talk and also, Is Alderson Planning his Exit?

Marlon Byrd for a box of Gobstoppers. Oh, the tree-mendous lines that a pathetic team could inspire!

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Jun 26 2013 07:48 PM Re: Mets Trade Talk and also, Is Alderson Planning his Exit?

Hey, man-- Gobstoppers last a while.

vtmet Jun 26 2013 09:40 PM Re: Mets Trade Talk and also, Is Alderson Planning his Exit?

I still think that Sandy will be the next commissioner when Selig retires...

smg58 Jun 27 2013 06:24 AM Re: Mets Trade Talk and also, Is Alderson Planning his Exit?

The Rockies are three games out in a weak and wide open division. And Gonzalez is signed through 2017, so there's no urgency on the Rockies' part to get something for him right now. Maybe in the offseason if the Rockies think they can get more for him than his next four years are worth, but Cargo is not going anywhere right now. Stanton is going to get moved sooner or later, but 28 other teams will want him. The Mariners made an offer for Justin Upton (which Upton vetoed) that would have been very painful to top, and Upton is not Stanton. Since everybody else knew that they Mets' payroll was going to be limited for at least a few years, presumably Alderson did as well. Cerrone saying he'll bolt if the Wilpons don't open their wallets right now strikes me as projecting his own opinions onto Alderson, which is a good way to start rumors without actually saying anything meaningful. Where Alderson went wrong this offseason was not having a plan B when Upton and Bourn went elsewhere. I think the best approach, money or not, is to figure out who around the league is being undervalued. Even if his current performance is smoke and mirrors, grabbing Eric Young was the right idea -- his best stretches in Colorado had come when he was getting consistent ABs, which he'd have no difficulty getting here, and it's not like the Mets have any even mediocre leadoff options otherwise. But he'd also been on the table for a year and a half. If Byrd can keep his OPS around .800, he has value. Marcum also just boosted his value considerably, especially if last night is repeatable. They won't get us present day All-Stars, but they can get us guys worth having. As long as you don't equate anything less than Giancarlo Stanton with a box of Gobstoppers, that is.

Edgy MD Jun 27 2013 07:14 AM Re: Mets Trade Talk and also, Is Alderson Planning his Exit?

smg58 wrote: Cerrone saying he'll bolt if the Wilpons don't open their wallets right now strikes me as projecting his own opinions onto Alderson, which is a good way to start rumors without actually saying anything meaningful. I'd say that's it. Let's see if he gets slapped down for going off the ranch. This notion that Alderson is using his public statements not to represent the 'Pons, but to send coded messages to them is getting kinda goofy.

Ashie62 Jun 27 2013 07:23 AM Re: Mets Trade Talk and also, Is Alderson Planning his Exit?

Wouldn't Sandy know himself now how much of the money that has come off the books will be reinvested in players? The rest of us can only speculate... I kinda laughed when I saw someone upset that the Mets were having to eat Sean Atchison's 700K salary..

Edgy MD Jun 27 2013 07:35 AM Re: Mets Trade Talk and also, Is Alderson Planning his Exit?

Well, Sandy would certainly know more than most. The notion being pushed by Megdal, and now sort of by Cerrone, is that Sandy is strategically making promises to the fans as a way of manipulating the owners into backing him up.

Ceetar Jun 27 2013 07:54 AM Re: Mets Trade Talk and also, Is Alderson Planning his Exit?

I suspect Alderson was a little blindsided by just how bad the situation became. I don't think the lawsuit had even been filed when he took the job, and the revenue was still a little higher in that he probably though as long as he was smart with his moves, he could still leverage the team into a winner. And then they continued to lose, get hurt, and hemorrhage fans and revenue, as did the Wilpons, and he realized he wasn't going to be really do anything unless he fixed the revenue/payroll ratios of the team itself. And yes, we're now at that point where there is Mets-specific revenue that can be spent, with Johan, Bay, etc off the books and more licensing money and all that. I could certainly see Alderson walking away if he's not allowed to spend _that_ I mean, who wouldn't?

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 27 2013 08:02 AM Re: Mets Trade Talk and also, Is Alderson Planning his Exit?

Edgy MD wrote: Well, Sandy would certainly know more than most. The notion being pushed by Megdal, and now sort of by Cerrone, is that Sandy is strategically making promises to the fans as a way of manipulating the owners into backing him up. The one thing that gives legitimacy to such claims of coded messages are strict interpretations of previous remarks. In other words the Megdal storyline is Alderson was telling the god's-honest truth when he said "payroll would be XX" two years ago but has abruptly switched tacts and is purposefully lying about his intentions at this time. I do think the Wilpons and their financial uncertainties have moved the furniture on him a few times but he knows that too. The only reason he's here is because the owners are effed financially. As to speculation over his future, the guy was pretty much in a retirement mode when they got him, and turnaround specialists don't generally hang around for more than 3 or 5 years anyway. I wouldn't think of his moving on as a kind of "quit" -- it's just sort of important the Wilpons replace him well. THAT is what should worry people. I think (uh, hope) when we look back on Alderson we'll see he proved you could be legitimate without paying out the ass for huge stars and that he gathered in a few good young players. I think the Reyes thing and perhaps, a failure to act on the Duda/Davis thing sooner could be looked at as mistakes.

Ashie62 Jun 27 2013 09:48 AM Re: Mets Trade Talk and also, Is Alderson Planning his Exit?

Will the Wilpons let Sandy play the hand he has in mind. He will need the 100 million payroll to move along.. The players on the 40 man as it stand will not get the Mets to the promised land.. I am disappointed in Wheeler...He seems to be all ankles and elbows....

Frayed Knot Jun 27 2013 10:18 AM Re: Mets Trade Talk and also, Is Alderson Planning his Exit?

I could see you as someone being disappointed in that Mays kid after his 1-for-26 start.