Reese Kaplan -- Sandy Alderson Era -- 2011 in Review

As I will be out of town on vacation I put together a retrospective look at the career and decisions of Sandy Alderson on a year-by-year basis.  Part one looks at his introduction as the Mets new GM.

Back in the off-season months of 2010/2011 the Mets were last in the same situation in which they find themselves now, needing to find a new General Manager after Omar Minaya was fired following a disappointing 2010 season in which the club went 79-83 to finish 18 games behind the first place Philadelphia Phillies.  It wasn’t the results in the won-loss column that led to Minaya’s demise so much as his approved contracts to a few lackluster performers and the whole Tony Bernazard incident that led the team to feel they needed a new adult voice in the room.

Of course, at that same time the Mets were in the midst of the whole Bernie Madoff scandal which hamstrung their ability to pay their bills and whose after effects are still being felt to this day.  Major League Baseball stepped in and insisted the Mets take Sandy Alderson from their front office to be the new GM in the hopes that the former Oakland A’s and San Diego Padres executive could help right the Wilpons’ listing ship.

At the time most of the reaction was positive in that fans had turned on Minaya and Alderson had a track record of success.  More important to the Mets and to the MLB front office is that he did so while keeping payrolls suppressed.  With the Madoff lawsuit hanging over their heads the Mets were not going to be in the running for any big ticket free agents. 

Alderson’s first order of business was finding a replacement for the fired Jerry Manuel to lead the team on the field.  After a myriad of external possibilities surfaced as contenders for this slot, they instead went internal and promoted their minor league coordinator, Terry Collins, to become the next manager.  The reaction at the time was some head scratching and a collective, “Meh!” from the fans and the media.  Collins was known for alienating teams in both Anaheim and Houston, both of whom flourished after he departed. 

While that move may not have given the warm and fuzzies to the fans, Alderson quickly made up for it by releasing Minaya mistakes Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo.  The former took several years to reinvent himself as a situational reliever and the latter never amounted again to much of anything.  The addition by subtraction had people smiling. 

Of course, a few of the expensive talent acquisitions that remained – Johan Santana and Jason Bay – both started the year on the DL (with Santana missing the entire season).  Terry Collins had the dubious honor of having the third worst start of any Mets club after 15 games with a 4-11 record. 

As the year progressed it became quite clear that the club was going nowhere under Collins’ leadership.  After the incident in which he punched out his girlfriend’s father in the clubhouse, Alderson gave away Frankie Rodriguez (and his expensive contract) in exchange for warm bodies Danny Herrera and Adrian Rosario. 

The next big move came in the Carlos Beltran sweepstakes and apparently the San Francisco Giants held the winning ticket on their way to the World Series, obtaining the hired gun for their post-season push.  You can’t fault them for what they did as they eventually emerged the 2011 World Champions, but they gave up a highly regarded pitching prospect (and great salary relief) when they sent Zack Wheeler to the Mets.  It took 7 more years for him to put it altogether and remain healthy, and despite Beltran’s career lasting far longer than many anticipated everyone would do that deal again in a heartbeat. 

The highlight of the season for the Mets was Jose Reyes winning the club’s first ever homegrown batting title, but the good feelings were rapidly dashed when the speedy Reyes hightailed it Miami to grab their $105 million offer.  Depending on whose version you choose to believe, the fact remains the Mets never made a firm offer to Reyes, citing concerns about his hamstring woes as the reason for not making a long term investment. 

The season ended worse than 2010 ended, with a 77-85 record, 25 games out of first place once again trailing the division winning Philadelphia Phillies.  All in all, it was a season to forget beyond Reyes quest for the batting title which, if you recall, he secured by taking himself out of the game at the end of the season to preserve his average.  It was a sour footnote to a weak season.