Mack’s Mets – the premier site for information on the New York Mets talent pipeline and dialogue on Mets prospects, Mets news, and Mets opinions.
Mack’s Mets – the premier site for information on the New York Mets talent pipeline and dialogue on Mets prospects, Mets news, and Mets opinions.
Let me start this off.
ReplyDeleteI’m well known as a Sandy Alderson critic. I find it so hard to accept someone that recognizes that, in this economy, teams need to be built from within… while, at the same time, do such a dismal job of drafting over the past three years.
I think the Mets have pulled off a few good (to great) trades, especially the R.A. Dickey deal which really won’t begin to pay out until 2014, but, the current team remains in the lower half in the league come talent and results.
The fact remains that certain players were chosen to be mainstays at their positions… Ike Davis, Ruben Tejada, Lucas Duda… and their failure has resulted in the direction this team has gone.
Everyone says pitching is 75% of this game. If that’s true, why are we closer to a lottery pick than a playoff spot.
Take the Gee loss. He did his job. He gave us seven wonderful innings. The problem wasn’t that he walked the first batter in the eighth inning or the fact that the game was tied up after nine. No, the problem was the score, after seven innings, wasn’t 6-0 or 7-0, instead of 2-0
This year’s results would be a ot different if Duda and Davis both had 25030 home runs right now and Tejada was hitting .280… but, they’re not. And given that, I give Collins a pass on this year and would vote to give him one more year to try and make this team important.
Past that, I would probably fire both of them, and the entire staff (minus Tim Teufel) after the 2014 season.
I'm not sure resigning a manager for just a 1 year deal is the way to go either. What kind of message is that sending to the team? We believe in him, but only for 1 more season. If Collins is back next season, it'll be on a minimum of a 2 year deal, more likely 3 years. Personally, I'm not a TC hater or a fan, but I wouldn't be against replacing him after this season with another manager to give the Mets fans something different, especially of we do actually go out and spend some money, which I think many of us are skeptical.
ReplyDeleteI can hear the SA quotes now, "I have full autonomy to spend as much money as I need to to improve this team, but there wasnt anyone out there that I saw as an upgrade to this team. There were some players that wanted more years than we were willing to offer, some guys coming off injury that were too much of a risk and we were waiting until the market came back to us, but those players decided to take another offer from another team."
I can see Alderson calling Boras and making this type of offer for Ellsbury, "Ok Scott, we're willing to add that extra year at a price that we think is reasonable, especially given his injury history. Our final offer is a total of $13m for 2 years, which would be the largest contract offer I've made since taking over this team. I would suggest taking this offer, I'm not going to add any more years than this or increase the dollars per year and I don't see him getting any more on the free agent market. Scott, Scott.....hello?....damn cell phones. Dont worry Depo, he was definitely interested in accepting that offer, he'll be calling back right away, keep the lines clear!"
From mlbtraderumors.com
ReplyDelete"When asking General Managers which former GM they miss the most, J.P. Ricciardi got the most responses. Many believe Ricciardi will be a GM again, whether it’s taking over for Sandy Alderson when he wants to step down with the Mets, or with another club. Cafardo runs down Ricciardi's highlights in Toronto and notes that he was working with the club when their wasn't money to work with."
I'm not sure how to take that to be honest, but if that's the case, maybe they could let him make the calls to other teams.
I don't have any issues with keeping Collins. Thinking about it he is my favorite since Bobby V. Give him a shot next year when the talent will be there to compete for a wild card.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't give Collins a contract. I hate his style and believe the NY Mets should have a great leader. Not a guy who caters to his veterans.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Alderson and his drafts, it probably has more to do with DePo and his staff, but the buck stops with Sandy. I liked, somewhat, the 2013 draft. I like the four high ceiling picks in the beginning and not much else.
Listen, unless you pick the college guys in the first two or three picks, you're not going to find many high upside guys left. So if you pick high schoolers first, you might as well pick as many high upside high schoolers you can find and use your allotment on them all. After the tenth round, that's when you could hit the college ranks to find a Dillon Gee.
I hate picking these high schoolers in rounds 20-40, knowing none of them will sign. Pick them in rounds 1-10 and spend the money to sign them. With a 6.9 million pool, you should be able to sign 6-8 high upside guys. If 3 hit their ceiling, you've got a great draft with 3 players who would have ended up in the first round after college.
King, Mazzilli, Oberste, Biondi, Stewert....what's their ceiling? It isn't ML all star...'
Side note: as much as I would have hated it, it looks like Nimmo should have repeated Brooklyn and Cecchini should have redone Kingsport.
Nimmo, I hope, is struggling do to his hand injury from earlier this season. Before that injury, he was the best player on the team. After it....YIKES!!!
Cecchini....excuse me, I know he's 19, but how does hitting .210 in BK help his development? He's learning how to struggle, not succeed.
We’re all couch Field Managers & GM’s who can play the hindsight game very well and can be selective in reflecting on our foresight (hindsight-foresight I call that). I am proudest of my adamant opposition to signing Bay (wanted Chapman and Mark DeRosa that winter) but am pretty mum over voicing disappointment in drafting Harvey. I don’t like drafting HS position players, but taking a fling on high-ceiling prep P is OK with me (one who has no consequences to pay for misjudgment). Podesta BTW will become GM when SA becomes Commissioner.
ReplyDeleteAs for managers, I have always felt the opposite about BB Field Managers & NFL head coaches. In football there is that middle two-thirds pretty much even talent-wise which fall into the successful/unsuccessful camp based strictly on couching. In baseball the middle two-thirds of management talent rise or fall on the innate skill of the players available to them. Terry is in that middle, and unless you a sure fire top 5 manager in mind, I’d stick with Collins ona year-to-year basis. That worked with a guy who I think is quite similar—Walter Alston.
Closer:
ReplyDeleteI can't see any reason Collins deserves a 2-3 year new deal. I just don't.
I'd give him one and done
Charlie:
ReplyDeleteThe 2014 draft will be EXTREMELY deep in both High school and college starters. Most teams will be going after them in the first 3 rounds which will give the Mets another opportunity to go bats... my guess we'll see the same kind of high school high picks
Mack, it would be crazy to think the Mets would pick anything but a high school kid in the first round.
ReplyDeleteDePo has said that they always go best player available. I don't think that's true unless they completely grade players different then everyone else.
Me, I just hope they have a protected pick. At least a 7 or 8 pick. Since Wright is gone, I think that's a no doubter now. The last time the draft was deep in pitching, they took Nimmo and then started grabbing pitchers. They got Fulmer, Mazzoni, Verret, and Leathersich. Hopefully, they do the same thing, except do better on the first pick.
Charley:
ReplyDeleteI just don't have any faith in how the Mets draft anymore. I just don't.
Mack, I could retrieve dozens of comments you have made about draftees taking four or five years minimum to make the big leagues and even longer to reach their potential. To criticize Alderson for his drafting (of which he has less influence than you think) goes against everything you've written in those draft posts. I'll tell you this much--his regime is doing a hell of a lot better with the rule IV than the one he replaced. We've already seen strong returns on Leathersich, Plawecki, Fulmer, Boyd, Verrett, Taijeron. Robert Whalen and Chris Flexen have looked DAMN good. Meisner, Smith, and Knapp have looked solid.
ReplyDeleteEvery one of these players could never make it out of AAA. Half a dozen could be all stars. You can't judge these drafts yet--you know that.
Remember, the only--ONLY Mets draftee from the Minaya regime to make an all star appearance is Matt Harvey, 8 years after he took the reigns. Now THAT is poor drafting. Talk to me in 2019 and we'll compare.
Charley, if this past draft was one of the weakest of the past two decades, this upcoming one might be the strongest. At least on the pitching side. Expect impact players with the first three picks.
ReplyDeleteAgain, you can't close books on Nimmo, Cecchini, Fulmer seeing as these guys are still 20 years old or younger and have been hurt. You seem upset with the top end but you just cannot overlook the later rounds which have already more than solidified the system. In three years. That's just fine for a rebuilding team.
ReplyDeleteWow.
ReplyDeleteYou'd think they'll have a protected first rounder, but you'd also think they'll try to spend some money in free agency. Expect to not have a second and possibly third pick.
ReplyDeleteLosing that cap money, expect this front office to severely under slot their first rounder in order to stretch out their cash flow in the first ten rounds.
I really hope they don't....I want the absolute best player available which they usually don't do. At least not in the eyes of most critics.