If I Were Sandy....

"Oh, If I were Sandy....." I understand I probably will never be in the position that Sandy Alderson finds himself in, and no I am not talking about the mess left by Omar Minaya and Co. But the position I am talking about is the General Manager. As you all know, a GM can make trades and sign free agents. Sandy Alderson has really done neither, but apparently has a "master plan" Who knows what that master plan is and if it is really a master plan or not. It is looking more and more like the Mets will just let Jose Reyes walk away and let him join the Marlins for the next 5-7 years. If the Mets lose Jose, look for them to be rebuilding for the next couple years until Brandon Nimmo comes aboard to the 7 train in 2014.

As I have said before, my ideas are very radical and much different from a lot of Mets fans and bloggers. I believe the Mets can still field a competitive team in 2012 even without resigning Jose Reyes. In 2013, I really expect the Mets to have a very formidable rotation with the likes of Johan Santana, Zack Wheeler, Jenrry Mejia, Matt Harvey, and your choice of Jon Niese or Jeurys Familia. But the fans don`t want to hear about 2013! They care about 2012 and its that simple. Hitting will need to improve if Reyes departs but the 2012 Free Agent Class doesn`t have that many "affordable" hitters, never mind shortstop. There will be a huge hole if Jose Reyes leaves, but with these moves, the team will surely be better than ones from 2009, 2010, and 2011. These are the moves the Mets will make from the 2012 Offseason-the end of the 2012 Regular Season under GM Prince Rahman


REMINDER: THIS IS ASSUMING JOSE REYES TAKES HIS TALENTS TO SOUTH BEACH

2012 Offseason:

Sign SS Alex Gonzalez to platoon with Ruben Tejada: 1 year 3.5 million dollars with a club option for 2013 for 4 million dollars (which is not going to be picked up)

Sign CL Joe Nathan to a 1 year 3 million dollar contract with up to 2 million dollars extra in incentives.

Sign RP David Aardmsa to a minor league contract with an invite to spring trainging

Sign RP Joel Zumaya to a 1 year 2 million contract with up to 1.5 million dollars in incentives

Sign SP Jason Marquis to a 1 year 2 million dollar contract

Sign C Ivan Rodriguez to a 1 year contract worth less than 1 million dollars


As you can see, NONE of these contracts are for more than 1 year. Basically, a lot of wild cards in the bullpen and if it all works out, it could be one of the best bullpens in the NL.

Ivan Rodriguez is basically a mentor for Josh Thole and would be a good backup catcher at a relatively low price.

Jason Marquis would be 2012`s Chris Capuano. No harm here.
Alex Gonzalez is just a solid platoon player who provides good "pop". He would play against lefties (.270) and Tejada would play against righties (.290)


All these are inexpensive moves that could provide very good results for the Mets in 2012.
Will the additions of Gonzalez and Ivan Rodriguez sum up for the loss of Jose Reyes? Absolutely not, but if the Mets get a healthy Ike Davis and a vintage David Wright, the offense will be just fine.
Now for the pitching, the bullpen would be VERY solid with these additions. Nathan is a top tier closer and Zumaya could serve as a viable setup man. Aardsma is a very intriuging cheap option if healthy (look 2009 season).

The rotation will look a lot better with the addition of lost ace Johan Santana and Jason Marquis.

This team if constructed, would have a boatload of potential and no one will ever expect it.


All this will come with a payroll under 100 million dollars which was the biggest goal for the Wilpons coming into the offseason.

2012 Opening Day Lineup

Pagan CF
Tejada/Gonzalez SS
Murphy 2B
Davis 1B
Wright 3B

Duda RF
Bay LF
Thole/ Pudge C

Rotation
Santana
Dickey
Niese
Pelfrey
Marquis

BP

Nathan CL
Zumaya ST
Aardsma
Parnell
Byrdak

YOUR 2012 METS!!