Mack Report: Over-slotting, Conference Calls, The Future

One of the comments by Sandy Alderson yesterday on his chat with bloggers:
 “We will be over-slot; we need a successful player development system & take advantage of our resources.”



Look, this is good stuff. This is how you build a winner, year after year.



Everyone always talks about the Boston Red Sox as a team that isn’t afraid to spend big free agent bucks, but let’s look at their first seven picks in the 2010 draft:



Anthony Ranaudo, RHP

Garin Cecchini, SS

Brandon Workman, RHP

Kolbrin Vitek, 2B

Sean Coyle, SS

Bryce Brentz, OF

Chris Hernandez, LHP



These are seven serious prospect players. I wrote about each one of them all year. The Red Sox aren’t afraid to draft the best player available, regardless of cost. Trust me, it’s a lot easier to over-slot someone like Ranaudo, than to sign a Carl Crawford.



This is how you build a team, year after year. Make a copy of this post and put it under your mattress. Pull it back out in four years. These guys will be playing in Fenway. The FA’s are the gravy.



You don’t pick one Matt Harvey and then try to find a hidden gem. That’s for the third day of the draft.

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Mr. Alderson also mentioned that he anticipates being able to add a top player “around the all-star break. This could be accomplished a number of ways and opens up some speculation:

-does Mr. Alderson expect the purse strings to be loosened by then (for some reason) and would it be tied to increased attendance, thus, more profitability?



-does this mean he expects to move people like Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes in deals that would secure a “top player”?



-Or, will it take that long for the Wilpons to get their financial act together and once again return to operating like a big-market team?

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I didn’t make the list for bloggers on the conference call with Mr. Alderson again yesterday. I was told by the Mets that I would on this one, but, it didn’t happen. I am hurt, but, as I explained to David Rubin was the fact that the only people I am truly reportable to be the minor league players and the readers of my site. Yes, it would be nice to be recognized by my peers, but I consider that a bonus, not a necessary step.


I would have liked to discuss the draft with him, but I’m glad someone did.

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Listen, you’re all getting your first salvos regarding how these New York Mets are going to operate for the next few years. I like everything I am hearing, but I’m not hearing everything I like.


Get used to this new conservative, smaller-market approach to operating this team. Times are tough for all of us, and trust me, the Wilpons have their own problems that are much bigger than my getting on a conference call. UPDATE:  Bernie Madoff's son hung himself last night on the 2nd anniversary of his father's arrest...)

And, for those of you that read me and also play in the Mets organization. This is really great fucking info for you. No longer are you being looked upon as trade bait. You actually now have a 1000% better chance of playing in Flushing...  howver, you still have to OPS higher than .800 or WHIP less than 1.20. Oh yeah... throw strikes or only swing at them too.


Keep your ears open and read behind the lines every time someone on the Mets tells you everything is going in the right direction. Teams on top of the mountain can’t climb higher, but they are on top of the mountain, aren’t they?