Reese Kaplan -- Sandy Alderson Era -- 2016 in Review

As the 2015/2016 off-season began, Sandy Alderson was back to his scrap heap picking ways, inking oft-injured Jim Henderson to become part of his bullpen.  Henderson had put together two solid season in Milwaukee in 2012 and 2013 before the injuries took their toll.  He was a late bloomer, not hitting the majors until age 29.  Like Scott Rice before him, age and injuries would spell a prompt demise.

Several notable players from the 2015 World Series losing team filed for free agency, including Yoenis Cespedes, Daniel Murphy, Jerry Blevins, Tyler Clippard, Bartolo Colon, Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe. 

A net positive for Alderson was his trade of equivalent contracts when he sent Jon Niese to Pittsburgh for 2^nd baseman Neil Walker.  Walker, when healthy, contributed positively to the Mets record while Niese never amounted to much after leaving Queens. 

Some raised eyebrows when the Mets signed Asdrubal Cabrera to play shortstop.  He had had one stellar season in Cleveland but never came close and his defensive reputation was fairly mediocre.  However this one also was a net positive with Cabrera turning in a .280/23/80 season which made Alderson finally look like the smartest guy in the room. 

The newest rendition of Chris Young/John Mayberry, Jr. emerged when the Mets signed Alejandro de Aza to a $5.75 million contract to deliver .205/6/25 before he was mercifully cut loose.  He caught on for 62 ABs with the Washington Nationals but is also out of baseball.  How is it that Alderson choices so often find themselves at the end of their careers when they bottom out with the Mets?

They again allowed a decent player to walk away when Carlos Torres was allowed to depart despite making very modest money and pitching quite credibly. 

He was in effect replaced with the free agent Antonio Bastardo who cost quite a bit more -- $12 million over two years, but he lasted about half of one, turning in a 4.74 ERA before he was swapped for reunions on both sides with Jon Niese returning to the Mets and Bastardo returning to the Pirates.  That was another lose-lose. 

One long overdue transaction took place during 2016 when the Mets finally released Terry Collins’ favorite player, Ruben Tejada who, understandably, has not been able to stick anywhere.  He had a total of about 200 ABs between three new teams and couldn’t even crack the majors at all in 2018.

Sandy Alderson once again showed an affinity for familiarity, signing would-be former Mets Yoenis Cespedes and Jerry Blevins to new deals.  Rather than re-signing Kelly Johnson, he again traded for him, sending Akeel Morris to the Braves.  He did allow Tyler Clippard to go (which hurt) but Addison Reed proved to be a surprisingly strong replacement. 

In May the garbage picking began with the Mets signing James Loney from the Padres for the sum of literally $1.  That was followed by the minimum wage pickup of Jose Reyes and then the signing of soon-injured Justin Ruggiano. 

For the late season post-season push they sent Dilson Herrera and minor leaguer Max Wotell to the Cincinnati Reds for slugger Jay Bruce who started off ice cold and didn’t crank it up until the last few weeks of September. 

On the last day for post season eligibility the Mets added another relief arm in Fernando Salas, but he was not the boost that Tyler Clippard was the year prior. 

The Mets made it to the one game wildcard playoff game against the San Francisco Giants and were eliminated from the post-season.  Considering they only had an 87-85 record for the year, having gotten as far as they did was a pleasant surprise.