Reese Kaplan -- Win Some & Lose Some

Since I’ve given Sandy Alderson flack for sitting on his hands and doing nothing to improve the club, I thought I would take some time to think back to some of the shrewd deals and clinkers made during this era in charge of the Mets.  Working in reverse chronological order, green signifies a win and red a loss.  For the sake of civility, I've left the Terry Collins contracts out of the mix:

2016

Yoenis Cespedes (twice – initial contract and 2^nd contract) – He surprised everyone with getting Yoenis Cespedes to return at the 11^th hour before the 2016 season began and surprised people even more by getting him to agree to a four year deal to stay in New York after the 2016 season ended.

Neil Walker – He played chicken and lost figuring he would get a compensatory draft pick if someone else wanted to sign Neil Walker.  Instead, Walker took the QO and now Alderson is on the hook for his 3^rd highest paid player at $17.2 million, bad back and all, with the same soap opera set to repeat at year’s end.

Antonio Bastardo – On paper this looked to be a solid signing to fortify the pen but some guys just don’t perform well in New York.

Carlos Torres on waivers was another bad move as he appeared in 72 games for the Brewers with a 2.73 ERA for the season
Dilson Herrera for Jay Bruce -- The logic made sense as Bruce was leading the league in RBIs at the time he was acquired, Michael Conforto was a non-entity and his paycheck is below that of guys like Curtis Granderson and Neil Walker.  Herrera, for all he did in the minors, never even made it to the majors with the last place Reds.  I think to be fair this one is an incomplete since neither side benefited yet (on the field or as a trade chip).  

2015

Yoenis Cespedes for Michael Fulmer – you have to give to get and while in retrospect it hurt to give up a guy who has flourished in the AL, the fact remains you don’t get to the World Series in 2015 or the post season in 2016 without Yoenis Cespedes’ bat.

Jon Neise for Neil Walker – It’s surprising that the Pirates would even talk to Sandy Alderson after getting fleeced on this one.
Addison Reed for Matt Koch and Miller Diaz-- Reed was simply brilliant down the stretch when the bullpen needed it most and he was even better in 2016.

Asdrubal Cabrera – Fortifying the shortstop position where Wilmer Flores was hitting enough to stay in the lineup but his range was somewhat statue-like

Alejandro De Aza – It’s hard to get too down on this signing because at the time it looked as if he would be the starter when Yoenis Cespedes was a free agent.  However, de Aza was pretty disastrous!

Daniel Murphy – With a guy not only leaving but helping the division winners with a near MVP season at what is a relatively bargain price, Sandy has an omelet, two over easy, some poached and some scrambled on his face.

Bartolo Colon – Bringing Big Sexy back for another year was a lifesaver when just about everyone in the rotation went down at one time or another with injury.  Letting him walk to Atlanta is not awful considering you have theoretically Robert Gsellman, Seth Lugo and Zack Wheeler available to take over his slot.

Juan Lagares contract extension – While the Gold Glove and the .281 campaign seemed like the start of something great, his injuries and stagnant development have made this one a stinker.  The way the deal is structured he gets dramatically more expensive each year, so it might be prudent to trade him if you can find another person capable of playing CF.

Jerry Blevins for Matt den Dekker – Arguably one of the best trades Alderson ever made, den Dekker has struggled to maintain a spot in the big leagues while Blevins has been rock solid.  Too bad that hasn’t netted him a new contract.

Extending Ruben Tejada – After turning in a .202 season, they kept him around and he “rewarded” them with a .237 season.  So they extended him again to the tune of $1.88 million (which, for perspective, is 1/3 more than they paid superior player Ronny Cedeño in a similar role).  Finally they saw the error of their ways and cut him loose after another year of ignominy and he’s struggled to get a major league job ever since.

2014

Bobby Abreu – Enough said

Michael Cuddyer – Not only did they rush into signing him against seemingly no competition, but they also gave up a compensatory pick to do so.  Cuddyer was not awful for the Mets, but he was not what they had hoped, delivering just 10 HRs and 41 RBIs with a .259 average.  That was a very steep drop off from how he performed in Colorado.

2013

Bartolo Colon – A lot of people scratched their heads when Alderson signed the portly PED abuser at nearly 40 years of age but he looked like a genius when Bartolo Colon was healthy and effective for the two years of his initial contract.

Curtis Granderson – I’ll get flack for this one, but on the whole I grade it a negative.  He’s a high strikeout, low batting average power hitter who no longer runs or throws (though still fields his position competently).  For $64 million they were expecting more out of him.  His first season was a throwaway and his last season was amazing in that he got so many home runs but so little run production out of them.  He’s a nice guy, but Leo Durocher was right.

Chris Young – He was the first of many platoon type outfielders that did not work for the Mets at all.  Of course, he left here and flourished elsewhere.  It makes you wonder about the hitting coach and manager that couldn’t motivate him. 

Marlon Byrd and John Buck to Pittsburgh for Dilson Herrera and Vic Black  -- Parlaying a minor league invitee and a fading catcher into a prime prospect who eventually netted NL RBI leader Jay Bruce was pretty brilliant.  The somewhat disappointing part was how Vic Black fizzled due to injury and control problems, but I remember writing that when I saw him in person he was on a whole other level than the other AAA pitchers when he was on his game.

Releasing Justin Turner – This one may rank as more boneheaded than the Daniel Murphy decision.  Turner was earning a mere $800K when they decided to part ways and he’s just become a $64 million man for the Dodgers.  In his Mets career he didn’t show the power he’s shown now but he did hit a very respectable .267.  There have been many others paid a lot more to produce a lot less. 

LaTroy Hawkins – Another minor league invitation who turned into solid gold for the club, I couldn’t understand why they did not make an effort to keep him another year or so.  He continued to pitch productively for two more years for about $2.5 million per season. 

2012

David Wright contract – If one deal will tarnish the overall Sandy Alderson legacy, it will be the bizarre and foolish decision in the height of the Madoff-forced period of extreme austerity to extend for 8 years a guy who seemed not to be hitting to his full potential since moving to Citifield.  At the time trading David Wright in his then-healthy prime could have netted a boatload of players in return and saved $138 million when there was no money to spend.  At the time I was aghast they would offer Wright this deal and then his health fell apart which made it even worse.  The contract hamstrung the franchise for the next few years and continues to place restraints on the team’s overall spending.

R.A. Dickey, Josh Thole and Mike Nickeas to Toronto for Noah Syndergaard, Travis d’Arnaud, Wuilmer Becerra and John Buck – While Travis d’Arnaud has not been able to stay healthy enough to produce a full season and Wuilmer Becerra has not yet made it to the majors, at this point Noah Syndergaard alone would make it seem like a steal. 

Las Vegas 2-year deal – One of the dumbest moves in the team’s history.  I was especially amused when they openly voiced concerns when they played in New Orleans that the town might be too much of a distraction for the players.  Yeah, Las Vegas is WAY less distracting…not to mention hell on pitchers and Coors Field on steroids for hitters.

2011

Angel Pagan trade – From reports this one was made more on the basis of personality than money or performance and Sandy got skunked.  To me the return was Ramon Ramirez with Andres Torres being a throw-in who I thought for sure they would cut rather than pay given his horrific performance record, but pay they did and he made the Mets pay by hitting just .230.  Maybe I’m being too harsh as he was coming off a .221 season, so that’s actually an improvement.  The surprise was Ramirez who’d been rock solid for several years as a setup guy in the Giants’ pen, but just couldn’t deliver in New York.  In the meantime Pagan hit .288 with 29 SBs in his first year for San Francisco.  Ouch.
Scott Hairston – One of the few spare outfielders Alderson picked up who actually was productive for a stretch…

Are there any solid wins or major losses I missed?