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.