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1/17/15

Reese Kaplan - GM Envy: AJ Preller Visits El Paso

I don’t know if the Mets still do the annual “Welcome Home” dinners anymore since I’ve not lived in New York since the 2005 baseball season.  However, the San Diego Padres and their AAA affiliate in my adopted hometown, the El Paso Chihuahuas, just held their first ever Winter Banquet at the Fort Bliss military base featuring as keynote speaker 37 year old anti-Sandy Alderson, A.J. Preller.  The GM of the parent club has made quite a few splashy headlines this year and it was interesting to get his take on the state of all things Padres and Chihuahuas.

First of all, to recap the off-season for San Diego, they have been incredibly busy.  First were the bold outfield moves that resulted in adding Justin Upton, Wil Myers and Matt Kemp (with the Dodgers paying $18 million of his salary this year making him just a $3 million man).  Granted, Upton is a “rental” in that he can declare free agency at the end of the year, but Myers was a real coup and more than a few Mets fans were rather green eyed watching the west coast club aggressively seeking to improve its offense. 

In addition, the Cornell educated Preller also secured the services of third baseman Will Middlebrooks from the Boston Red Sox and catcher Derek Norris from the Oakland A’s.  What was most astonishing is that San Diego did not have to sacrifice anyone from its impressive core of young starting pitchers nor even give back any key prospects from the minor league system.  Are you watching how it’s done, Mr. Alderson?

Now at lot of you are sitting there thinking, “Yeah, but they have a real payroll and an ownership committed to spending what it takes to win.”  Well, not really…you see their payroll has actually dropped rather substantially and should hover in the $75 to $80 million range WITH all of these offensive additions. 

Now would it have been possible for Alderson to do the same?  Absolutely!  What he would have had to do was to find takers for Bartolo Colon, Daniel Murphy and Dillon Gee.  Rafael Montero could likely duplicate or better the production you got out of Gee and Colon last year, plus you only needed to fill one of the pitching vacancies as Matt Harvey was assuming the other.  Those three subtractions would have created $25 million in payroll that could have been used to address other needs.  Instead Alderson spent his $10 million on Michael Cuddyer and John Mayberry, Jr., then called it a day.  The end result is a payroll $20 million higher but an offense not nearly as improved. 

Joining Preller on the podium was the Chihuahua’s slugging first baseman, Cody Decker.  His effusive personality and sense of humor made him a fan favorite and a local media darling.  Now at age 28 and never having ascended to the majors, he’s their version of former Met farmhand Allan Dykstra.  He finished the year with a .261/27/77 slash line.  The chunky first baseman may never hit it big, but then again incumbent Yonder Alonso is coming off a .240/7/27 year, so anything’s possible.  He’s been working out behind the dish and in the outfield in order to improve his versatility and make himself more attractive to the Padres ball club. 

Preller was asked about the Padres holding an exhibition game here in El Paso and he thought it was a good idea for the near future but 2015’s schedule was already set in stone.  This taste of major league baseball here would be great for the city and it’s an event that would sell out very quickly (as the Chihuahuas already were among the hottest tickets in all of minor league baseball). 

It was a great event and proceeds didn’t help defray Justin Upton’s salary, but instead went to a very good cause, the Special Olympics of Texas. 



33 comments:

  1. Interesting. I was in El Paso briefly in 1975. Sounds like it was a fun event.

    When Sandy finally does his Gee, Colon, Niese dump this year, it had better bring valuable returns. Every time they pay those 3 a combined $3 million a month, hopefully it activates his trade phone. May Gee go quickly and favorably. He is no longer needed.

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  2. Some fact-clearing up to do here:

    - Matt Kemp is a "3 million dollar man" JUST for this year. After that, the Padres will be paying an arthritic outfielder 18.25 million dollars annually through 2019 all for a guy worth less than Marlon Byrd, statistically.

    - The Padres payroll is 87 after arbitration raises, not "70-80" and this is with the large subsidy to Kemp's contract. Next year, add 15 million to it, plus more arbitration raises and they're well over 100 next year with no additions to the team.

    - "What was most astonishing is that San Diego did not have to sacrifice anyone from its impressive core of young starting pitchers nor even give back any key prospects from the minor league system"

    LHP Max Fried- A first round pick and one of the best lefty prospects in all of baseball. Their former #3 prospect.

    2B Jace Peterson- #6 prospect

    IF Dustin Peterson- #14 prospect

    OF Mallex Smith- speedster outfielder. Think Champ Stuart.

    RHP Burch Smith- #7 prospect

    1B Jake Bauers- Crazy young 1B with good numbers.

    SS Trea Turner- You know about him. One of the top shortstop prospects in all of baseball.

    SP Joe Ross- A good looking mid-rotation starting prospect

    SP Zach Eflin- Former 1st rounder with a high ceiling and a couple good seasons under his belt. Top 10 prospect in most systems.

    SP Jesse Hahn- Coming off TJS but a great prospect with a big fastball.

    RP R.J. Alavarez- Relief prospect but a solid one.

    They also traded 24-year-old Joe Wieland, a young pitcher with a live arm and their young stud catcher Yasmani Grandal for Kemp.

    So you may like the moves the Padres made to improve their starting lineup but I'm going to give it to you in terms of Mets prospects. Then you tell me if you still think they're good moves. Mack can corroborate that these are prospect equivalents:

    Steven Matz, Amed Rosario, LJ Mazzilli, Champ Stuart, Rafael Montero, Dominic Smith, Dilson Herrera, Gabriel Ynoa, Marcos Molina, Michael Fulmer, and Akeel Morris in order from the prospect list I write above.

    Then Grandal = Travis d'Arnaud and Wieland = a Dario Alvarez type.

    Would you give up that much talent for Kemp, Upton, Myers, and others to fill in the roster you decimated for those three players? AND increase payroll AND back load payrolls for the next few years?

    I just do not get why people are so high on what Preller did. It's a "win now" mentality for a team that wasn't anywhere close to having the structure for a team to go "all in". The Padres went from having a top system in baseball to one of the worst.

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  3. Win now vs win sometime in the future that is always pushed back another year?
    Decisions. Decisions.

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  4. I am aware of Kemp's contract.

    What I envy is change. Is it ideal change? No. However, what I saw was a club that at least TRIED to improve itself.

    I don't consider Cuddyer and Mayberry as quantum leaps forward. And buying a 36 year old oft-injured outfielder on the heels of a 41 year old starting pitching is more of a win-now move than one in which you let younger players develop for the future.

    If they really wanted to win now then at least they'd have brought in a better manager, but, like the roster, that didn't change either.

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  5. I would rather stay status qup than improve backwards - which is what SD did.

    Besides, the Mets have had a couple of GMs who operated like that - their names were Omar and Steve

    I still say the 2015 Mets rigjt now are at least an 85 win team and a couple of good breaks and they push 90

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  6. I agree with Lew. Baseball fans are too often motivated by instant gratification and that is far from the best path to building a good team. There were some moves I despised (Frank Francisco, the second year to Colon, and I'm not a Cuddyer proponent at all--not for the draft pick and the second year), but Sandy Alderson has taken this from a 79 win team with a 127 million dollar payroll and a bottom-5 farm system in baseball to a 79 win team four years later with a top 5 system in baseball and a payroll that last year was 80 million. The amount of under-26 talent on this team is ridiculous and, combined with the farm system, might be the best and deepest collection of young players of any organization.

    THAT is how you rebuild. THAT is how you build sustained success. I don't love this off-season as I thought moves like trying to trade for Alex Gordon instead of getting Michael Cuddyer would have been better and I would have loved to explore the trade market for Profar or Andrus but there's no saying that these lines of communication were even openable.

    The team won 79 games last year, scored more runs than it gave up, have a top five farm system in all of baseball with impact talent very close to the majors, is adding Parnell, Harvey, Cuddyer, and Mayberry to a team that already has some great talent, and is competing in a division with arguably two of the worst teams in baseball in the Braves and the Phillies.

    One thing I have to ask Reese, and I seem to ask this after all of his posts, is why are Mets fans so gosh darn down on this team, its manager, and its front office? I know you understand the concept of a rebuild and I know you understand how good the young talent on this team is. Why. So. Negative.

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  7. And as much as you can say that yea, it's great to see a GM "do something", would you trade d'Arnaud, Alvarez, Matz, Rosario, Mazzilli, Stuart, Montero, Smith, Herrera, Ynoa, Molina, Fulmer, and Morris for to get Kemp, Upton, and Myers?

    I sure as heck won't. There are good moves and there are moves that appease fans. With all due respect to Preller, I think this was poorly timed and poorly executed.

    If you want to take a shot at Alderson and use a team that actually DID have a dominant winter, analyze what the team on the south side of Chicago did.

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  8. Omar & Steve produced how many winning seasons? Playoff games? & a world series?
    And Omar left how many of the players that are on today's Mets roster in the organizatipn?

    How many winning seasons has Alderson produced? Playoff games? World series?
    How many players has Alderson contributed to today's major league roster?

    You also can not say that San Diego has gone backwards as fact. Myers is young and has a ton of potential.
    A resigned Upton helps a team tremendously from year to year.
    And the jury is still out on Kemp. He has the same potential as D. Wright over the next few years. Old, broken down Kemp did perform pretty darn well last season proving many people & commenters here wrong.
    Grandal = D'Arnaud?
    I'm not too sure about that.
    From what I remember D'Arnaud has always been more highly thought of.....but I could be wrong here.

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  9. bob gregory

    This is the typical retort and I'm frankly getting tired of going in to it again with another fan. Fact is, you're attributing success for a lot of players who blossomed under Sandy Alderson and not GMs of prior years. You're also attributing winnings seasons to GMs after years of work that we have yet to see from Alderson. You're also completely ignoring payroll. It's a straw man argument and I'm losing my breath blowing it down time and time again.

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  10. Stephen
    Perhaps your huffing and puffing is only blowing things down in your own mind.
    Your comment regarding blossoming is inappropriate because those mentioned were too young to blossom earlier.
    You refuse to admit some facts but go on and on about others.

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  11. I'm sorry--which facts did you bring up? I must be missing it because I see no facts in either of your posts. So I can't tell what you're talking about "going on and on" about and "refusing to admit".

    Give me a fact. I'll go on and on about it or refute it.

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  12. Stephen
    Why don't you start with comparing today's roster. Omar/Phillips players vs Alderson players.
    Kemps performance last year.
    Myers anticipated potential and age.
    Upton age/performance year in and out.
    Were you complaining during omar/Phillips good years?
    Omar /Phillips real problem was not spending money but spending less wisely on second choice players

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  13. Maybe I'm really missing something here but I'm still not seeing any fact in there. You're asking me to compare GMs with wildly different resources to one another which is inherently going to be unfair.

    You're also telling me to look at Matt Kemp's performance last year and I'm not sure why...he was a 1.8 WAR player last year--the same as Ruben Tejada in 2012. Are you saying you want a Ruben Tejada-caliber player roaming the outfield for us?

    I apologize, but I really seem to be missing something here. I still do not see any fact for me to either refute, confirm, debate, or substantiate in any way.

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  14. Regarding the "huffing and puffing" remark...

    let's try and keep things mature and professional here and not fall into the trap so many other blog do with their comment makers.

    Thank you.

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  15. Stephen
    fact: true the WAR #s you mention

    Fact: Kemp played in 150 games with 541 plate appearances that included the beginning of the year in which he was recovering from ankle surgery.
    Tejada played in 119 games with 419 plate appearances pretty much healthy.

    Fact: Kemp hit to a .287 avg which would have ranked 2nd highest on the Mets last year
    Tejada hit to a .237 avg. which ranked 11th

    Fact: Kemp hit 25 HRs last year which would have ranked 2nd highest (LA's ballpark is big too)
    Tejada hit 5 HRS which ranked 9th

    Fact: Kemp collected 89 RBIs which would have ranked 2nd on the Mets
    Tejada collected 34 which ranked 7th

    Fact: Kemp produced 77 runs which would have ranked 3rd on the Mets last year.
    Tejada produced 30 runs that ranked 9th.

    Fact: Kemp compiled an .852 OPS which would have ranked 1st on the Mets last year
    Tejad compiled a .652 OPS which ranked 13th

    Fact: believe it or not old/feeble man Kemp swiped 8 stolen bases last year which would have been tied for 4th on the Mets last year
    Tejada swiped 1 which was tied for 11th place.

    Fact: Kemp hurt his team with 7 errors during 143 games played in the outfield (which would have ranked as the 5th most on the Mets) for a .971 fielding %(which would have ranked as the 13th best among Mets position players with atleast 37 games played)
    Tejada hurt his team with 8 errors in 114 games (which would have ranked as the 4th most on the Mets) for a .984 Fielding %(which would have ranked as the 8th best among Mets position players with atleast 37 games played).

    Fact: Kemp produced 15 game winning rbis last year which would have ranked 1st among Mets last year
    Tejada produced 4 game winning rbis which ranked 10th

    I believe this demonstrates the limitations of relying on WAR as the sole measuring tool.

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  16. No, it demonstrates the poor understanding of both WAR and where runs come from and are taken from. For example, you use errors and fielding percentage as your defensive tool but neither tell you much about a fielder. Juan Lagares made more errors and had a worse fielding percentage in 2014 than Adam Dunn. That should tell you how little they matter relative to range. This misunderstanding is why you have interpreted their value differently. Kemp hurt his team mightily in the field while Ruben helped his quite a bit.

    No one will argue that Kemp is a worse hitter. On the contrary, he is far better. However, at the shortstop position, Ruben's bat plays up more than it would if he were at any other position. Even someone with the poor power numbers you mention can get on base 34% of the time and play good defense and be worth something like 2 wins. Kemp's limitations on defense cost his team runs. Runs equal wins.

    Look, WAR isn't perfect, but it's the best all-encompassing tool we have. The fact that some people don't understand it doesn't mean it's worth rejecting.

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  17. Omar Minaya win loss record as general manager
    facts:
    2002 Expos 83-79
    2003 Expos 83-79
    2004 Expos 67-95 ouch
    2005 Mets 83-79
    2006 Mets 97-65
    2007 Mets 88-74
    2008 Mets 89-73
    2009 Mets 70-92
    2010 Mets 79-83

    Philips as general manager facts
    1997 Mets 88-74 (hired in July)
    1998 Mets 88-74
    1999 Mets 97-66
    2000 Mets 94-68
    2001 Mets 82-80
    2002 Mets 75-86
    2003 Mets 66-95 (fired in June)

    Alderson win loss record as general manager
    2014 Mets 79-83
    2013 Mets 74-88
    2012 Mets 74-88
    2011 Mets 77-85
    1997 Athletics 65-97
    1996 Athletics 78-84
    1995 Athletics 67-77
    1994 Athletics 51-63
    1993 Athletics 68-94
    1992 Athletics 96-66
    1991 Athletics 84-78
    1990 Athletics 103-59
    1989 Athletics 99-63
    1988 Athletics 104-58
    1987 Athletics 81-81
    1986 Athletics 76-86
    1985 Athletics 77-85
    1984 Athletics 77-85
    1983 Athletics 74-88

    Alderson: 5 winning seasons/19 yrs
    Philips: 5 winning seasons/7 yrs
    4 winning seasons/5 yrs
    (if you discard partial yrs)
    Minaya: 6 winning seasons/9 yrs

    Alderson 5/19 = 26%
    Philips 5/7 = 71% or 4/5 = 80%
    Minaya 6/9 = 66.7%

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  18. Yea, payroll has absolutely nothing to do with this at all. A's and post-Madoff Mets. Yea doesn't matter at all that Minaya had 140 million to work with and Alderson had to cut to below 80. That has no relevance in this conversation at all, otherwise I'm sure you would have noted that somewhere.

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  19. Never said WAR should be rejected.

    pointing out WAR's limitations.

    pointing out other statistics that are important to look at also.

    Fact: Kemp would have been ranked among the top 5 offensive players in multiple offensive categories on a Mets team that was in desperate need of offense.

    Fact: WAR does not differentiate between Kemps defense during the beginning of the year when he was freshly returning from ankle surgery and later in the year as he continued to heal.

    WAR also does not differentiate between Kemp's defense playing in Dodgers stadium as a centerfielder for 41 games vs his WAR as a Left fielder.

    His WAR does not compare his having to play with Ethier, VanSlyke, and Crawford next to him vs Lagares next to him.

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  20. Reasons for negativity:

    Failure to clear payroll
    Offering contracts to the likes of Granderson and Cuddyer
    Not dipping your toe into international FA for fear of them not being "proven" (Hint: Granderson was proven. Bay was proven)
    Sticking WAY too long with what's not working e.g. Ruben Tejada
    Terry Collins is a book the size of War & Peace on his own in terms of incompetency
    The club is totally tone deaf when it comes to the fans

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  21. Actually you can look up his UZR and DRS for his time in left vs. center.

    And actually there's a good chance that Kemp's defensive WAR would continue to go down playing next to someone with Lagares' range because Kemp will let some balls rest in Lagares' glove knowing he'll be there whereas he pursues more if the center fielder has known poor range.

    Bob, don't you see the folly here? You just listed a ton of stats in which Kemp was better than RUBEN TEJADA. He's arthritic, over-priced, and with no guarantee that he's going to have any degree of health over the next five years. And he cost a group of young players and prospects who will cost the Padres over the long term. And you wanted the Mets to go get this guy? I think that's crazy. You are entitled to your opinion, but quoting RBI numbers and meaningless error stats relative to Tejada, a player barely worthy of a backup infielder roster spot, is not going to do anything to convince me otherwise.

    And despite what you say, WAR is actually the best all-encompassing stat we have. RBI and runs are a factor of your lineup, not your ability. Even batting average is limited as it does not take into account power or walks, and its depended on volatile batted ball variances.

    And that's not even taking into account defense--something that we're still learning a lot about. Kemp is a really poor defender at this point. You can watch the games and arrive to that conclusion or look at his fan graphs page and arrive at that conclusion but you will arrive there. His bat isn't all that much to be proud of either.

    You're upset that Alderson got Cuddyer--who might be the better player next year--instead of Kemp? Even if you put Kemp 2nd or 3rd on the team in all of those offensive stats, don't you understand that it would have taken Thor and a couple more prospects to get him? Or d'Arnaud and Thor? Don't you see how crazy that is? How silly that is?

    I get that fans want these major win-now changes but those win-now overreactions are bad baseball decisions.

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  22. Stephen
    curse you for making me wade through all of this research...grrrr..(smile man its all good)

    unfortunately I can not find a site that will give me payroll rankings for Alderson's Athletics year.

    I can only go as far back as 1998
    so....here it goes

    Omar Minaya win loss record as general manager
    facts:
    2002 Expos 83-79 payroll 29/30
    2003 Expos 83-79 20/30
    2004 Expos 67-95 ouch 24/30
    2005 Mets 83-79 3/30
    2006 Mets 97-65 5/30
    2007 Mets 88-74 3/30
    2008 Mets 89-73 2/30
    2009 Mets 70-92 2/30
    2010 Mets 79-83 5/30

    Philips as general manager facts
    1997 Mets 88-74 (hired in July)

    1998 Mets 88-74 payroll 8/30
    1999 Mets 97-66 7/30
    2000 Mets 94-68 6/30
    2001 Mets 82-80 4/30
    2002 Mets 75-86 6/30
    2003 Mets 66-95 (fired in June)
    2/30
    Alderson win loss record as general manager
    2014 Mets 79-83 payroll 22/30
    2013 Mets 74-88 23/30
    2012 Mets 74-88 14/30
    2011 Mets 77-85 7/30
    IT is unfortunate that I can not find any records regarding payroll rankings during Alderson's Athletic teams from 1983-1998. I am curious just where those teams ranked in relation to the league considering some of the players they signed during those years, for example Ricky Henderson.

    Fact: The Wilpons have been on record multiple times during Alderson's reign as insisting that they are not stopping Alderson from spending. They have on multiple times almost every year insisted that they have not reduced payroll on Alderson and that any reduced payroll is a result of Alderson's choosing.
    Alderson has been on record multiple times over the past few years insisting that the Wilpons have never stopped him from pursuing a player on account of payroll cost and that payroll was going to increase. (each of those years payroll in fact decreased or stayed the same)

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  23. so... if I constructed my team with a line-up of:
    C D'Arnaud
    1st Duda
    2nd Murphy
    3rd Wright
    SS Desmond
    Flores rotating into 2nd,SS,& 3rd
    OF Lagares
    OF Kemp
    OF Granderson
    OF Heyward/Upton/Cespedes/or Tomas

    that would not be a good structure for the next 3yrs?
    I would imagine the fanbase would increase as well as profits for the organization as well.
    There would be time to restock the minors.

    If the Mets continue to wait until the minor leagues fills each spot new spots will continue to appear that need to be filled.
    for example each year that passes by that allows a prospect to reach the majors, some other prospect flames out and a current roster member becomes another year older causing them to decline and cycle out of the roster.

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  24. No, I don't like that arrangement at all and I will tell you why:

    Kemp would have cost us this:

    Travis d'Arnaud, Marcos Molina, and Dario Alvarez.

    That's the closest player package that meets what the Padres gave up. TdA is probably a tad better than Grandal but Eflin is a higher ranked prospect than Molina and same with Weiland over Alvarez so it turns out being fair.

    He's also just not a very good player at this point (0-2 WAR guy, I don't think you will argue that). So you're trading a lot of talent for a guy who isn't an upgrade for this team.

    Desmond costs you Thor and you have him for just one year.

    The best guy of the other outfielder you give me is Hayward who I love but he costs you Wheeler and you have him, too, for just one year. Cespedes and Tomas are terrible ideas, in my opinion, and while i love Upton as a player, his prospect package is ridiculous. But let's go with Hayward.

    You've given up:

    Noah Syndergaard, Travis d'Arnaud, Zack Wheeler, Marcos Molina and Dario Alvarez

    for

    Matt Kemp for five years and 75 million.
    Jason Hayward for one year.
    Ian Desmond for one year.

    Does anyone else want to jump in here? Is that anything except really silly to do?

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  25. Stephen
    We disagree.
    You only guess that D'Arnaud and Wheeler would have to go.
    And that Desmond and Heyward would not be resigned.
    Cespedes' performance has given no legitimate reason to doubt his future especially since he hit in a large Oakland ballpark.
    Colon, Niese, and Gee can be used to add trade bait in above transactions.
    Additionally I supported trading for Kemp earlier last season when his value was much lower completely canceling out any prospect cost you mention for him

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  26. You cannot assume any free agent will sign or re-sign with you. You just cannot.

    And now you want to go back a season and make a trade as a revisionist? Bob, this is a fruitless exercise in Monday morning QBing compounded by a poor understanding of how to rebuild a team. Trading two core players or top prospects for Kemp undoes a lot of the work of the past four years.

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  27. Stephen
    I simply do not know what else to say.
    I have been consistent for years.
    You have been consistent in your support of Alderson.
    Your Alderson support has a losing record year after year.
    You continue to support Alderson and poo poo any mention of improving the current roster ( no matter.the year) with established stars.
    It appears that you enjoy minor league success more than I do.
    It appears I enjoy major league success more than you do.

    fact: Met fans over the past few years have demonstrated their dissatisfaction with Alderson's Mets by dropping attendance by about 2 million in a year.

    please, one of these days you have to lay out your vision of how to build a winning major league roster that aims for the playoffs each year while accounting for players increasing ages and the percentage of prospects that fall flat/decline/disappoint

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  28. As I pointed out, no Monday morning quarterbacking here.
    Just pointing out I and others were poo pooed earlier last year for urging the Mets to target Kemp while his trade cost was at its lowest.

    Poor understanding on how to build a team? You say that like you are the authority.
    As far as I know the two of us have the same record for MLB teams we have built.
    My 0-0 record vs your 0-0 record.
    What makes you right but myself and others wrong?
    I can point to the Mets record under Alderson as factual evidence against your strategy.
    You have nothing to use as factual evidence to justify criticizing my strategy so vehemently

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  29. "I can point to the Mets record under Alderson as factual evidence against your strategy."

    No...you really can't. When you drop 65 million dollars in salary while simultaneously handed a farm system among the worst in baseball and told, "Make a winner!", do you know how hard that is? How long that takes? I really don't think you do.

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  30. - You say that Alderson has not made this team a winner but you ignore the state of the team and system he was handed.

    - You say that other GMs have done x and y and z but you ignore the financial restraints Alderson has had to work under.

    - You ignore WAR despite its efficacy and usefulness for player evaluation on a fan level.

    - You clamor for Matt Kemp even though Matt Kemp has not been good since 2012.

    - You praise a GM for trading a farm system for players like Matt Kemp but you still don't address the importance of player development.

    - You criticize a GM brought in to rebuild but fail to admit that he made a bottom five farm system into a top five farm system quickly.

    - You fail to admit the potential of the 2015 Mets, despite many who oppose your sentiment that they will not be good.

    - You go on the record saying that you would trade for all these players but then balk at the price or their unlikelihood to re-sign, despite lacking any grounds for those assumptions.

    - You fail to acknowledge that a GM and his team are also responsible for player development and player development under the current regime has been as good as it's been in the past 20 years.


    I am going to try to gracefully bow out of this conversation because frankly, I'm getting aggravated over the hypocrisy and I've gotten in trouble on this message board before and will leave it to others to chime in.

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  32. Stephen
    We can not disagree more in just about every comment you separated out in your last entry.

    You continue to insist on the financial limitations and ignore facts:
    1) both Alderson and the Wilpons have insisted on multiple occasions that Alderson was not.limited to reduce payroll

    2) other teams have improved major league team with out a.top 5 farm system

    3) the goal line set by Alderson and the Wilpons has been adjusted back each of the past 3 years enabling you and them to escape accountability.

    You also insist you know as fact the trade cost comparison in trades.

    You refuse to acknowledge when facts prove a person correct such as If Kemp was traded for earlier last season at a lower cost. Commenters here argued for it at that time. They would have been rewarded with a player that would earn less than Wright while ranking as one of, if not the top offensive player on the Mets.last year.

    You again inaccurately state I do not acknowledge the Mets potential next year. I do acknowledge they can do well if everything turns out well.
    You fail to acknowledge that everything has to turn out well.
    You fail to acknowledge just how much uncertainty there is in Granderson, Wright, Cuddyer, Duda, Harvey, and yes...DeGrom

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  33. Bob and Stephen -

    Let me step in here for a second.

    First of all, Stephen is a valued writer here on the site. Like all of us, he is full of opinions, which doesn't make him a bad person.

    Bob, you may not understand the difference between not agreeing on a point and creating a disagreement on the site. I could hear you almost drooling waiting for 8am to come around (joke)

    Look... Bob... you don't agree Stephen... fine... say your piece once and move on.

    Stephen - offer one defense and then also, on to the rest of the site.

    Frankly Bob, I'm not sure you're agree if Stephen said the sky was blue today.

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