Pages

11/2/18

Reese Kaplan -- Sandy Alderson Era -- 2015 in Review



Much to everyone’s surprise Terry Collins was brought back yet again despite having posted four consecutive losing seasons.  Many historical revisionists will try to weave a narrative that it was all growth that led to this NL championship season and thus justifying the long patience shown with the troubled Skipper.  Some say to-MAY-to, some day to-MAH-to...

Regardless of the managerial situation, Sandy Alderson’s off-season got off to inevitably a rocky start when he bid against himself and gave up the compensatory pick to snag the services of Michael Cuddyer who had become a free agent after several years playing the last three seasons for the Rockies following the earlier stages of his career in Minnesota.  The then 36 year old was a solid if unspectacular player whose numbers got the expected Coors Field boost, but to Alderson’s credit he paid a fair price of $8.5 million for him.  Age caught up to him, unfortunately, and once again showed Alderson’s black eye for talent. 

However, as bad as Cuddyer was, he paled in comparison to this year’s answer to Chris Young, John Mayberry, Jr.  The younger Mayberry never quite inherited Daddy’s hitting genes, never topping 14 HRs in a single season.  After the Phillies let him walk away, Sandy Alderson once again thought he could find an undervalued asset.  Once again he was wrong, and Mayberry was sent packing halfway through the year with a sub-Mendoza batting average.  He never returned to the majors, done at age 31 after Alderson thought he’d found lightning in a bottle.  Fortunately this mistake only cost $1.45 million.

In an almost unprecedented move in the Alderson regime (post Brad Emaus) the Mets actually selected a player in the Rule V draft, lefty reliever Sean Gilmartin, who rewarded their faith with 50 games of 3-2 pitching and a 2.67 ERA.  (For that he was not even brought north the following season, but that's another rant for another day).  

For the bullpen the Mets went their usual route, inviting independent league refugee Scott Rice into the fold and he was quickly burned out by Terry Collins, earning the nickname “Everyday Rice”.  He was joined by FAs Duane Below, Josh Rodriguez and Buddy Carlyle.  Late in spring training the Mets obtained Alex Torres (and his hat) for Brad Wieck and also got a quality player in Jerry Blevins from the Washington Nationals for Matt den Dekker.   Unfortunately for Blevins, his 2015 season ended almost as soon as it began when he went down with season-ending injury in April.  (Well, he was healing when he slipped off a curb and broke it again). 

During the 2015 season the offense was so bad that a 1-0 lead by the opposition seemed wholly insurmountable.  Midway through the season while hovering within striking distance of the division lead Sandy Alderson actually made trades to attempt to improve the club instead of merely selling off expiring contracts. 

In July the first of a flurry of deals occurred in which the Mets sent pitcher John Gant and Robert Whalen to the Atlanta Braves for bench pieces Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe.  Although they quickly took on starting roles with the Mets due to injuries and incompetence, what they brought to the team was professionalism, something missing from the many AAAA types they’d been trotting out on a nightly basis.

Three days later the Mets sent minor league pitcher Casey Meisner to the Oakland A’s to obtain star reliever Tyler Clippard to help buttress the porous pen. 

The biggest one was yet to come, four days later, after the ill-fated Carlos Gomez for Wilmer Flores deal.  The Mets sent minor leaguers Luis Cessa and Michael Fulmer to the Detroit Tigers for controversial slugger Yoenis Cespedes who quickly put the team on his back as they surged towards the post season for the first time in many years.  He finished with a combined line of .291/35/105 between Detroit and New York.

There was one clunker of a deal after that when they obtained Eric O’Flaherty to Oakland for a PTBNL who turned out to be minor leaguer Darwin Frias.  That’s another lose-lose deal. 

On the second to the last day of August Alderson made another winner in which he sent minor leaguers Miller Diaz and Matt Koch to the Diamondbacks to obtain reliever Addison Reed.  All of the sudden the perennial weak link since Alderson arrived was transformed into a shutdown pen which, along with Cespedes’ exploits, propelled the team into the World Series for the first time in 15 years. 

Unfortunately the less than erudite manager of the Kansas City Royals, Ned Yost, danced circles around Terry Collins and the Mets.  It was clear almost immediately that the team was not going to win.  Still, it is a memorable season, five years in the making.  Too bad they chose to rest on their laurels and thus not build upon that solid foundation moving forward. 

19 comments:

  1. Reese -

    Morning.

    For me, 2015 was the beginning of the Cespedes era for the Mets. Everything else that happened this year was fodder.

    Yes, we lost a great future chip in Fulmer, and I have been almost as critical about him as our 'old friend Peter', but it was a great trade for a team that needed, and still needs, an all star bat on this team.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great deals by Alderson. KC played very well, tremendous contact at the plate, then Duda threw it all away.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Funny, Game 1 still bothers me more than the Duda throw. Legares in CF & Conforto is DH and that 1st inning, tone-setting ITP HR goes away. Lagares subs for Kelly later & gets 2H anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You dont know how i lost it when we lost a draft pick to sign Cuddyer... Actually I believe part of this was done to appease D wright since they were friends...

    I value draft picks (probably more than most and more than i should sometimes) but they should only be sacrificed if the player acquired is premier...

    No one we have signed in past 7-10 comes to mind and a 36 year old OF was definitely not worth whoever we would have selected (even if they failed)

    And I dont credit sandy for this year, I dont care that he eventually made the right trade, he didnt want Cespedes and we would have never been to the WS if the trade he made went through... Not to mention the trade was nixed because of the brewers not wanting wheeler...
    Boy can you imagine them with a season that wheels had this year...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dodgers pulled the string on Yasmani Grandal today.

    No it would take the loss of a #2 draft pick + 500K of Inter pool $$$ to sign him.

    Pass... right???

    ReplyDelete
  6. Side note: Mack, I think Mathew Cerrone from the other Met blog must be reader of your site here.

    His article today focuses on the need for the Mets to add Realmuto and Machado if they seriously want to contend as Van Wagenens states

    ReplyDelete
  7. Matt is a long time reader here.

    Way back, we tried to work together on a new Mets blog but it never worked out.

    I never had a problem with Matt and I applaud his success.

    ReplyDelete
  8. All -

    Talked to source last night.

    Look for some really exciting things to come from Van Halen in the next two weeks.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Bob -

    Sure...

    Look for two of the top analytic experts from his out agency to join him with the Mets.

    Bought are highly sort after by multiple major league teams

    ReplyDelete
  10. If Grandal comes with the loss of a pick and bonus money, then I would pass (if we are going free agent catcher here, I like Wilson Ramos who knows our division and the Nats pretty well).

    2015 was fun.....too bad we ran out of "gas" in the final series. If they had continued to hit like they did agains the Cubs in the NLCS, they likely win (or if they played better defense, but that's another story).

    ReplyDelete
  11. On the topic fo Matt Cerrone, he also called for Adam Jones' addition to our team (a TRUE CF!), which is what
    I would like to see, as well (and I referenced that in my last article).

    ReplyDelete
  12. Jones used to be a good centerfielder, but at this stage, like Andrew McCutchen, his best defensive days are behind him.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Reese,

    I haven't watched Jones this year.

    Even though his best days may be behind him, is he still avg or better defensively?

    If he is, Nimmo, Jones, and Conforto in the outfield should have plenty of range to cover the whole outfield.

    For 1 to 2 years he could be a very good bridge until a better and younger centerfielder could be found (if Machado and Realmuto are added of course).

    ReplyDelete
  14. Nice comments. Agree with everything Eddie said above. I feel the Cespedes trade was his third choice as after Gomez he wanted Bruce, but that fell through.

    Daniel Murphy is what Wheeler is now: a breakout right before our eyes, but we couldn't see the forest from the trees.

    Will always remember that Game 5, and Harvey's determination. I wanted him out there too, but was only going to give him one base runner. It was probably the only time I ever agreed with Bozo the Manager, but Collins also made sense when he said "If I was going to take him out after one base runner, why send him out there in the first place?" Reasonable thinking...

    Lastly, I was happy for Granny... a gentleman that I want back on this team. He was amazing in September when Collins finally took him out of the leadoff spot.

    ReplyDelete
  15. One thing about Cuddyer, he was given a QO of $15.3MM by the Rockies and would take it if the Mets didn't want him. Yes, Alderson bid against himself, but Cuddyer was a class act all year that took Conforto under his wing to teach him how to play hard all the time and when he retired after taking just $8.5MM in 2015, he certainly had to be leaving money on the table as a make-up to the Mets for not delivering as he would have wanted to.

    It is that thinking that motivates me to have just seven relievers and have a fifth outfielder like Granderson because he's the type of mentor I want these kids to have. It will serve the team better in the long run rather than the matchup rediculousness that happens in the bullpen and players like him seem to be good for the culture. Winning doesn't follow players by accident.

    ReplyDelete