I'm Sandy Alderson

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I wear performance fleece vests.

I took over a shitty Met team with a $140 million payroll and turned it into a World Series team at the same time I slashed expenses by 40% in an inflationary market.

Suck my dick.

[HahnSolo]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I wear performance fleece vests. I took over a shitty Met team with a $140 million payroll and turned it into a World Series team at the same time I slashed expenses by 40% in an inflationary market. Suck my dick.

I endorse this post.

[soupcan]

Whip it out pal, you deserve it.

[Centerfield]

"Sure. As soon as Cal is done."

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

You know Sandy: he's only pulling out JUST enough to get the transaction done

[Edgy MD]

[bmfc1]

I've bashed Sandy for years but he deserves credit for not just making the right moves but for seeing the opportunity and acting. WSH didn't pull away and Sandy acted. While Rizzo messed up by getting Paplebon and LAD didn't improve their rotation, Sandy acted and everything he did worked (he gets a mulligan on O'Flaherty). I look forward to the revised version of "Baseball Maverick."

[Frayed Knot]

Sandy's Greatest Hits involving this year's roster:

1) d'Arnaud/Syndergaard -- a MONSTER deal that started paying off in the short run and looks like it will continue to pay off in spades for at least several more to come. Think about what the price would be to acquire a mid-20s power pitcher plus a power-hitting catcher, and then realize that he got them ahead of time before the costs got outrageous. Oh yeah, and there's a 21 y/o OF in Savannah this year who might add to all this later on.

2) Cespedes -- maybe wasn't his first choice (hell, we KNOW it wasn't) but, if nothing else, Sandy has shown a willingness to walk away from deals he thinks aren't right (for whatever reason) and ultimately he wound up with the right player at the right time for a price that didn't touch us this year and was from a position of strength even if it does a few years down the road

3) Duda -- GMs get judged on making the right call and, when he had to choose several years back between him and Ike, that's exactly what he did

4) Granderson -- His longest-term FA signing to date hasn't always looked good but it does right now

5) Colon -- too old, too fat, not good enough, won't perform without juice. Except that he turned out to be none of those and instead was, even if just a middle of the rotation guy, an indispensable part of the staff who never missed a start for two seasons.

6) Conforto -- His draft pick, and his choice to call him up when he did despite the short apprenticeship.

7) Clippard/Reed -- when what had earlier looked like a strength got thin due to Mejia/Parnell/Black/etc. not coming through, he acted to shore it up and there's no way August is as good as it was w/o Clippard

8) Uribe/Johnson -- neither had the volume of hits as compared to Cespedes but, even if we dismiss all the 'clubhouse leadership' stuff as hooey, each had a bunch of big ones and patched enough holes to contribute to the run in August (and everything after)

9) SS -- not that this position is a particular strength right now, but he resisted the urge (and the cries) to panic and opted instead to make do with what we do had based on the idea that failing to make a deal is still better than making a bad one. Meanwhile many, if not most, of the 'must-gets' he could have paid some price for have shown that they would have been neutral moves at best.

Edited October 23, 2015 by Guest

[Centerfield]

More:

1. Holding onto the Pitching: Sure. No way you give up Harvey and Wheeler. But having the sense to hold on to lesser names like deGrom and Matz when others may now have known how good they were going to be. JCL made the point that if a lesser GM were running things, they might have been traded. I agree with this. Imagine if we unloaded deGrom a few years ago for Fernando Fucking Rodney.

2. Holding out Harvey until 2015: And resisting the lure of selling more tickets by having the return of Harvey in September of 2014.

3. Niese/Gee: Not unloading them for junk just for the sake of making a trade. Gee didn't do much for the team this year, but he was still at least available. Niese, though not my favorite, was certainly a worthwhile contributor.

[Guest El Segundo Escupidor]

Gee's most valuable contribution was sucking. Otherwise there's no way Matz gets called up in July.

The decision to call Matz up in July and start his ML clock was one of the key organisational decisions of 2015 which goes against everything they did in the past.

[MFS62]

(Told to me by a Retired US Army General)
"You can always tell a Marine. You just can't tell him too much".
We can be thankful that Sandy didn't listen to all the fans who were telling him things he should do.

Later

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

BA's Executive of the Year:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/major-league-executive-year-sandy-alderson/

[Vic Sage]

well deserved, particularly with the financial constraints he works under.

[MFS62]

HOO-rah!

Later

[Zvon]

Very well deserved. Collins shoulda got manager too.

[Centerfield]

I think I got it all figured out.

Last winter Sandy had a great plan in place. Jeffy wanted Michael Cuddyer. Sandy breathed a sign of relief when Cuddyer received the QO. Made him an offer that was less money per year, thinking Cuddyer would reject it. Cuddyer accepted. Fucked up Sandy's whole plan. Sandy vowed to never make the same mistake again.

In July, Jeff similarly handcuffed him. "No rentals" he told Sandy. Sandy made the deal for Gomez, but smart man that he is, saw a problem in his medicals. Set up the deal. Watched it die. Waited for the fallout and panic to set in. May or may not have convinced Familia to groove that pitch to Upton. Despair overtakes Flushing. Jeffy finally caves. Sandy gets Cespedes. The guy he wanted all along.

This winter, Jeffy comes in and say "Hey how about Ben Zobrist?" Sandy says, "the guy who is 35 and not a difference maker?" "I like him", says Jeff. Sandy tells Ricco to adore him in public. Kill our leverage. Sandy knows Zobrist will want to reunite with Maddon in Chicago. He tells Ricco to mention names like Asdrubal Cabrera as our plan B, then watches as the deal falls apart and panic sets in. Gets the public outcry he needs to move the Wilpons off their budget constraints.

Signs Upton AND Heyward. Drops mic. Wins World Series.

[MFS62]

I was thinking of posting something similar, but made sure to take my meds first.
I'm with CF on this one. Sandy has never ceased to surprise us by doing what everyone thought he couldn't do. While he might not produce two mic droppers, I'm sure he has (clich� alert) planned the work, and he will now work the plan. And the Mets will start the new season with a true platoon centerfielder (maybe a regular with right handed power who can play the corners, too), infield insurance at second and third (Murphy?) and help for the bullpen.
And I don't have the foggiest idea who those players will be. But given his track record, in Sandy I trust.

I wasn't that thrilled with the prospect of paying Zobrist that much for that many years and I don't think Haywood is the player they really need. Yes he can play centerfield. So can I. But you wouldn't want to see me do it, much less pay me to do it. If they take a run at Upton, I'd be all over that.

Later

[Guest d'Kong76]

Centerfield wrote: This winter, Jeffy comes in and say "Hey how about Ben Zobrist?" Sandy says, "the guy who is 35 and not a difference maker?" "I like him, he's been on my roto team for years.", says Jeff.

Fixed that for ya.