He literally encapsulates every single point we've all talked about ad nauseam and has a bunch of interesting factoids I've never seen anywhere else (bolded those below). It's the walk off grand slam of articles dissecting the problems with this franchise, though sadly even he has no solutions.
Here are a few interesting excerpts.
On the draft:
Quote:
The teams recent drafts have produced numerous major leaguers but in most cases not major impact the combined Wins Above Replacement of the Mets draftees from Aldersons first season in 2011 through 2015 ranks 17th in the majors, according to data from Baseball-Reference.com (the list includes players no longer in the organization such as Detroit Tigers right-hander Michael Fulmer, whom the Mets traded for Cspedes).
According to additional data obtained by The Athletic, the Mets spent the second-lowest of any club in the draft from 2007 to 11, when bonuses remained unrestricted (they still landed deGrom, Matt Harvey and Matz, among others, during that period). From 2012 to 15, when new rules allowed teams to exceed their allotted bonus pools by five percent without losing a pick, the Mets ranked 26th in spending, in part because they lost two high picks and the accompanying bonus money for the free-agent signings of outfielders Michael Cuddyer and Curtis Granderson (they also gained a high pick for losing Reyes).
on the payroll
Quote:
Mets fans frequently blame ownerships lack of spending for the teams troubles. The club has not ranked higher than 15th in end-of-season, 40-man roster payroll since 2012, according to Cots Baseball Contracts, and its Opening Day payroll of $150.6 million a decrease coming off a 92-loss season ranked 12th. The Mets also have generally avoided financial penalties by staying within the prescribed limits for domestic and international amateurs (the rules in both markets have become more restrictive in recent years). The teams analytics department, consisting of three full-timers and six interns, is as big as most, according to one club official, but not among the biggest in the game.
a few quotes on Sandy's terrible last 2 offseasons
Quote:
Fred Wilpon, the teams chief executive officer, and his son Jeff, the teams chief operating officer, can rightly claim only the Chicago Cubs have spent more than the Mets in free agency the past two off-seasons. Mets fans can rightly counter that the team benefits from collecting insurance on injured third baseman David Wrights $20 million salary, which reduces to $15 million in 2019 and $12 million in 20. The discussion serves no useful purpose. Fans cannot stage a palace coup to overthrow ownership, and the commissioners office cannot and would not force the Wilpons to sell.
Quote:
But the Mets essentially tried such an approach this season, exercising the option of second baseman Asdrbal Cabrera and signing a number of modestly priced free agents, including third baseman Frazier, outfielder Jay Bruce, reliever Anthony Swarzak and left-hander Jason Vargas. To this point, the plan hasnt worked. And if the Mets continue to engage in such patchwork, a crash likely is inevitable.
on Callaway
Quote:
Callaway, in the first year of a three-year contract, at times looks overmatched, but part of that is due to the deficiencies on the Mets roster. If he fails, after emerging as one of the hottest managerial candidates last off-season, it will be as much a reflection on the organization as it is on him.
And the cherry on top, that truly articulates where the organization is right now in terms of having a direction.
Quote:
Both Alderson and Jeff Wilpon declined to comment for this story
I was willing to ride this out but we can not fucking win while Cespedes is playing golf, Familia is out again, Conforto is sucking ass, Bruce is sucking ass, and Thor is out. Give me a fucking break. I say if all the time but no team can win without their superstars performing and ours simply are not. Fucking Christ we can never never never catch a break.
Now maybe you guys are understanding my frustration with bringing back such a similar cast of characters and trying this same approach yet again and why I was complaining all offseason.
This should not come to a surprise to anyone.
The Mets needed to make some radical changes. Instead, they mostly stuck to the status quo, did nothing creative, and relied yet again on guys like Cespedes to carry their lineup when he's been good for several DL trips yearly since signing here.
This is a lesson that was not learned last offseason, and was exacerbated when Alderson basically just tried to plug a few holes and go at it once again with this similar cast of characters.
Well, the results are predictable and this is why I had this pegged as a 78 win team from jump street.
That would be fine if it were the same injuries but what are we supposed to do? Not rely on Thor? DFA him?? He has a finger issue? Not rely on Familia? Another completely brand new issue. We should have all known Conforto would suck ass after coming back? The dude is 25, same age as Thor. The only player Ill give you is Cespedes, and everybody on the planet would have burned Citifield to the ground if we didnt make him the highest paid AAV player in the game at the time. This isnt the same as players like Wheeler or Matz who you would expect this from.
I don't think the point is that they should have just cut them or got rid of them as much as they shouldn't have banked their entire season on a core of guys that all mostly had pretty major injuries a year ago.
Any of them had chronic injuries (Cespedes aside). If you cant huild around players like Thor and Conforto then what the hell are we doing? These guys are 25 and were dealing with their first injuries ever last year. Now Conforto is healthy and Thor has a separate issue.
Conforto had a pretty serious shoulder injury. I don't think it was reasonable to expect him to just resume being the player he was before.
I thought a major shakeup was needed and would have been looking to make some trades. Instead, they brought back Jay Bruce, and signed Jason fucking Vargas for TWO years. Frazier and Swarzak made some sense but that wasn't going to be nearly enough.
The problem with the Mets is that they need to be almost completely heathy to win games and they're relying on players who rarely are, or were just injured last year.
This isn't revisionist history for me. All offseason I bitched and moaned about the roster approach while people told me they'd win 90 games and I was just being a black cloud.
Like Conforto and Thor because they experienced their first injuries. No matter how much we wished were so. 30 out of 30 teams keep Conforto and give him another shot. It sucks but we were dealt a bad hand. The guys we did sign (Bruce/Frazier/Swarzak) had no recent injury history.
in the off-season unless they traded deGrom or Thor.
I don't think I'd have signed Bruce, it never made sense, and it shows they clearly either expected Conforto to be hurt/bad or didn't expect Nimmo to do what he's done.
I would not have signed A-gone.
And not going to rehash last year's deadline Merandy for Ramos, but that didn't make sense to me either.
and I'd have ridden the season out and planned for a major shakeup in 2019 with the big free agent class.
They're probably going to wind up trading one of deGrom/Thor now anyway - why couldn't they do it before?
I just don't see any creativity in this front office. They seem terribly risk-averse and painfully unimaginative.
Good execs sign better players and find ways to acquire talent. The combined fWAR of all the players we spent money on is embarrassing. Literally a net negative.
Sandy Alderson is a bad GM.
Well Thor got njured cuz Sandy let him pitch without mri
And kettle bells and heavy ropes lead to shoulder problems . Sandy childishly fired Ray Ramirez and kept the moron Barwis just to prove he was right. Yeah, Ramirez was obviously the problem
And then when you sign a bunch of guys over 30 because they are cheaper you should expect injuries
And finally when you have no depth in the organization because you drafted so poorly, the effect of injuries are multiplied because you have nobody to call up
Plus, Matz and Wheeler have been way healthier than anyone expected. So excuse makers have to look somewhere other than injuries
It's funny - whoever said they were a bigger deGrom fan than Mets fan at this point, I feel the same way.
I feel almost no connection to this baseball team outside of him. He deserves so much better than this. He has to pitch a perfect game to win every single start. That's such an unfair thing to ask a pitcher to do no matter how good he is.
to see him pitch to an elite level like this and get 1 fucking run of support. Which BTW was only because Nimmo hasn't been poisoned yet by the plague of this Mets organization yet.
Maybe I can take some solace that the Mets will get swept and the Wilpons will feel some serious fucking heat this week.
Unfortunately, no one can fire the Wilpons - and the Wilpons seem to be content giving Alderson carte blanche for as long as he'd like it.
The only chance the Mets had was at the time of the Madoff scandal - they should have been forced to sell like McCourt was, but since Selig was their buddy, he turned a blind eye to it and let it fly.
The future of this franchise is very dark. Things are not going to ever get better as long as Fred and/or Jeff own it. I really believe that.
They're probably going to wind up trading one of deGrom/Thor now anyway - why couldn't they do it before?
I just don't see any creativity in this front office. They seem terribly risk-averse and painfully unimaginative.
Good execs sign better players and find ways to acquire talent. The combined fWAR of all the players we spent money on is embarrassing. Literally a net negative.
Sandy Alderson is a bad GM.
Not sure, but when Cespedes was a free agent he had very little apparent interest and came back to the Mets on a lesser term deal, less TCV deal than he wanted.
After year 1 of the deal he was injured for the bulk of it, playing just 81 games, how much value would he have headed into year 2 of it - with that $29M per year price and almost $90M guaranteed?
think Cespedes wants no part of any of this. Whats his incentive? Be the high priced guy who gets crushed when he goes 0-4 with to SO's. Why risk that ...He's going to sit and wait till hes 100%
An if I hear them blame injury one more time I'm going to scream. You signed him dam well knowing he was hurt, thats why you got him at a cheap price. fuckers
They're probably going to wind up trading one of deGrom/Thor now anyway - why couldn't they do it before?
I just don't see any creativity in this front office. They seem terribly risk-averse and painfully unimaginative.
Good execs sign better players and find ways to acquire talent. The combined fWAR of all the players we spent money on is embarrassing. Literally a net negative.
Sandy Alderson is a bad GM.
Not sure, but when Cespedes was a free agent he had very little apparent interest and came back to the Mets on a lesser term deal, less TCV deal than he wanted.
After year 1 of the deal he was injured for the bulk of it, playing just 81 games, how much value would he have headed into year 2 of it - with that $29M per year price and almost $90M guaranteed?
Given the salary constraints, the win may have been to just clear the contract and take a "meh" return on him. I'd be surprised if he literally had zero trade value - it's not like he's a bad player by any stretch.
Cespedes aside, I just have a hard time with the logic that Alderson was somehow cornered into this roster and had no ability to shake things up or make moves that could benefit the team long-term.
If that's true, the Mets are in even worse shape than I thought.
I think he felt like rolling the dice on this roster with the additions of Bruce, Frazier and Swarzak was a good plan.
He joked in the off-season "The Mets don't need Stanton we have Nimmo" and he was being sarcastic, but the irony is Nimmo is probably the Mets best position player right now.
And having a better year than Stanton (granted it's June 8, but facts are facts)
I think he felt like rolling the dice on this roster with the additions of Bruce, Frazier and Swarzak was a good plan.
He joked in the off-season "The Mets don't need Stanton we have Nimmo" and he was being sarcastic, but the irony is Nimmo is probably the Mets best position player right now.
And having a better year than Stanton (granted it's June 8, but facts are facts)
Whatever move he does probably requires the approval of Jeff Wilpon.
Okie dokie. The Mets never do anything wrong. It's always just bad luck or injuries.. you got me.
Enjoy the game, bud.
THIS!
I get tired of the overly optimistic met fans who constantly find excuses.
We are current fans of a poorly run team who relies on players with major injury histories and compliments those types with subpar players to fill the roster. While being in the largest baseball market in the world.
Okie dokie. The Mets never do anything wrong. It's always just bad luck or injuries.. you got me.
Enjoy the game, bud.
THIS!
I get tired of the overly optimistic met fans who constantly find excuses.
We are current fans of a poorly run team who relies on players with major injury histories and compliments those types with subpar players to fill the roster. While being in the largest baseball market in the world.
Yeah, good call, this board is just overflowing with optimistic Mets fans.
There is 1 optimistic fan, 1 borderline and everyone else is pessimistic.
I do blame him for continually giving Jay Bruce $10m+ per year with 2 good COF'ers already on the roster, $16m on Vargas, $13m on Ramos, $17m tendering Neil Walker, keeping Jose Reyes on the roster still, generally underfunding the bullpen, ignoring defense and entrusting a team trying to go for it with a rookie manager who is appearing in over his head.
I blame the Wilpons for the lack of investment in the front office, lack of spending on FA, lack of spending on prospects, and a general lack of commitment to winning.
I do not know how I would fix this mess and I truly doubt it can be fixed with the Wilpons. If I were owner I would honestly consider firing Callaway and bringing TC back to see if that sparks anything before the deadline like the Marlins did with trader Jack. My decision would depend on whether or not I think he's just making some rookie mistakes or if he's really completely in over his head and the season's already done. I'd also only do that because if the season tanks I'd bring in a new GM with a new vision, so it would also be clearing the decks for a potential new regime. I'd have no issue trusting Sandy to sell off most of the veterans at the deadline, like Cabrera, Familia, etc. but unless someone backed up several brinks trucks I'm not trading JDG or Syndergaard until the new GM is hired.
think Cespedes wants no part of any of this. Whats his incentive? Be the high priced guy who gets crushed when he goes 0-4 with to SO's. Why risk that ...He's going to sit and wait till hes 100%
I think that is true of a lot of the injuries. If Mets were playing well, guys would have an incentive to play thru injuries. Now all the vets are looking out for themselves. Feel a twinge? Go on the DL
@mark4212
46s47 seconds ago
More
Replying to @MoShady @WexlerRules and 2 others
to update it:
Matt Harvey $5.6M - -.1 fWAR
AJ Ramos $9.25M - -.2 fWAR
Signed:
Jason Vargas 2/$16M - 0 fWAR
A Swarzak 2/$14M - -.1 fWAR
Jay Bruce 3/$39M - 0 fWAR
Todd Frazier 2/$17M - .8 fWAR
Jose Reyes 1/$2M - -.9fWAR
-0.5 fWAR TOTAL #Mets NEGATIVE
Here are a few interesting excerpts.
On the draft:
According to additional data obtained by The Athletic, the Mets spent the second-lowest of any club in the draft from 2007 to 11, when bonuses remained unrestricted (they still landed deGrom, Matt Harvey and Matz, among others, during that period). From 2012 to 15, when new rules allowed teams to exceed their allotted bonus pools by five percent without losing a pick, the Mets ranked 26th in spending, in part because they lost two high picks and the accompanying bonus money for the free-agent signings of outfielders Michael Cuddyer and Curtis Granderson (they also gained a high pick for losing Reyes).
on the payroll
a few quotes on Sandy's terrible last 2 offseasons
on Callaway
And the cherry on top, that truly articulates where the organization is right now in terms of having a direction.
They are nowhere.
Rosenthal: Reeling Mets face a big decision tear the team down or re-tool on the fly - ( New Window )
Yep.
Now maybe you guys are understanding my frustration with bringing back such a similar cast of characters and trying this same approach yet again and why I was complaining all offseason.
This should not come to a surprise to anyone.
The Mets needed to make some radical changes. Instead, they mostly stuck to the status quo, did nothing creative, and relied yet again on guys like Cespedes to carry their lineup when he's been good for several DL trips yearly since signing here.
This is a lesson that was not learned last offseason, and was exacerbated when Alderson basically just tried to plug a few holes and go at it once again with this similar cast of characters.
Well, the results are predictable and this is why I had this pegged as a 78 win team from jump street.
That would be fine if it were the same injuries but what are we supposed to do? Not rely on Thor? DFA him?? He has a finger issue? Not rely on Familia? Another completely brand new issue. We should have all known Conforto would suck ass after coming back? The dude is 25, same age as Thor. The only player Ill give you is Cespedes, and everybody on the planet would have burned Citifield to the ground if we didnt make him the highest paid AAV player in the game at the time. This isnt the same as players like Wheeler or Matz who you would expect this from.
Conforto, Famila, Syndergaard, Cespedes...
I don't think the point is that they should have just cut them or got rid of them as much as they shouldn't have banked their entire season on a core of guys that all mostly had pretty major injuries a year ago.
This wasn't difficult to see coming.
I thought a major shakeup was needed and would have been looking to make some trades. Instead, they brought back Jay Bruce, and signed Jason fucking Vargas for TWO years. Frazier and Swarzak made some sense but that wasn't going to be nearly enough.
The problem with the Mets is that they need to be almost completely heathy to win games and they're relying on players who rarely are, or were just injured last year.
This isn't revisionist history for me. All offseason I bitched and moaned about the roster approach while people told me they'd win 90 games and I was just being a black cloud.
Well, I hate to say I was right. But I was right.
Enjoy the game, bud.
I don't think I'd have signed Bruce, it never made sense, and it shows they clearly either expected Conforto to be hurt/bad or didn't expect Nimmo to do what he's done.
I would not have signed A-gone.
And not going to rehash last year's deadline Merandy for Ramos, but that didn't make sense to me either.
and I'd have ridden the season out and planned for a major shakeup in 2019 with the big free agent class.
They're probably going to wind up trading one of deGrom/Thor now anyway - why couldn't they do it before?
I just don't see any creativity in this front office. They seem terribly risk-averse and painfully unimaginative.
Good execs sign better players and find ways to acquire talent. The combined fWAR of all the players we spent money on is embarrassing. Literally a net negative.
Sandy Alderson is a bad GM.
And then when you sign a bunch of guys over 30 because they are cheaper you should expect injuries
And finally when you have no depth in the organization because you drafted so poorly, the effect of injuries are multiplied because you have nobody to call up
Plus, Matz and Wheeler have been way healthier than anyone expected. So excuse makers have to look somewhere other than injuries
So excuse makers s
I feel almost no connection to this baseball team outside of him. He deserves so much better than this. He has to pitch a perfect game to win every single start. That's such an unfair thing to ask a pitcher to do no matter how good he is.
It's been Degrom and no one else this season. His teammates have all let him down.
Jake deserves better. Please trade him to a contender/real organization.
Maybe I can take some solace that the Mets will get swept and the Wilpons will feel some serious fucking heat this week.
Get your Fire the Wilpons signs out again.
This sucks
The only chance the Mets had was at the time of the Madoff scandal - they should have been forced to sell like McCourt was, but since Selig was their buddy, he turned a blind eye to it and let it fly.
The future of this franchise is very dark. Things are not going to ever get better as long as Fred and/or Jeff own it. I really believe that.
They're probably going to wind up trading one of deGrom/Thor now anyway - why couldn't they do it before?
I just don't see any creativity in this front office. They seem terribly risk-averse and painfully unimaginative.
Good execs sign better players and find ways to acquire talent. The combined fWAR of all the players we spent money on is embarrassing. Literally a net negative.
Sandy Alderson is a bad GM.
Not sure, but when Cespedes was a free agent he had very little apparent interest and came back to the Mets on a lesser term deal, less TCV deal than he wanted.
After year 1 of the deal he was injured for the bulk of it, playing just 81 games, how much value would he have headed into year 2 of it - with that $29M per year price and almost $90M guaranteed?
An if I hear them blame injury one more time I'm going to scream. You signed him dam well knowing he was hurt, thats why you got him at a cheap price. fuckers
No point risking further injuries by playing through it and still losing.
What a garbage family.
Quote:
Cespedes had no trade value?
They're probably going to wind up trading one of deGrom/Thor now anyway - why couldn't they do it before?
I just don't see any creativity in this front office. They seem terribly risk-averse and painfully unimaginative.
Good execs sign better players and find ways to acquire talent. The combined fWAR of all the players we spent money on is embarrassing. Literally a net negative.
Sandy Alderson is a bad GM.
Not sure, but when Cespedes was a free agent he had very little apparent interest and came back to the Mets on a lesser term deal, less TCV deal than he wanted.
After year 1 of the deal he was injured for the bulk of it, playing just 81 games, how much value would he have headed into year 2 of it - with that $29M per year price and almost $90M guaranteed?
Given the salary constraints, the win may have been to just clear the contract and take a "meh" return on him. I'd be surprised if he literally had zero trade value - it's not like he's a bad player by any stretch.
Cespedes aside, I just have a hard time with the logic that Alderson was somehow cornered into this roster and had no ability to shake things up or make moves that could benefit the team long-term.
If that's true, the Mets are in even worse shape than I thought.
I think he felt like rolling the dice on this roster with the additions of Bruce, Frazier and Swarzak was a good plan.
He joked in the off-season "The Mets don't need Stanton we have Nimmo" and he was being sarcastic, but the irony is Nimmo is probably the Mets best position player right now.
And having a better year than Stanton (granted it's June 8, but facts are facts)
I think he felt like rolling the dice on this roster with the additions of Bruce, Frazier and Swarzak was a good plan.
He joked in the off-season "The Mets don't need Stanton we have Nimmo" and he was being sarcastic, but the irony is Nimmo is probably the Mets best position player right now.
And having a better year than Stanton (granted it's June 8, but facts are facts)
Whatever move he does probably requires the approval of Jeff Wilpon.
Eval and possibly fire Pat Roessler
Mets should first cut Reyes
Send down Conforto
DL Bruce / Activate Cesp
Bring up MDD & Phil Evans or Ty Kelly.
Order a pizza
Eval and possibly fire Pat Roessler
Mets should first cut Reyes
Send down Conforto
DL Bruce / Activate Cesp
Bring up MDD & Phil Evans or Ty Kelly.
Order a pizza
DFA Agon. Bring up Alonso and McNeil.
Feel like bringing up Smith would expose him as a non prospect and would lose value (trade). Cheech would be nice
Enjoy the game, bud.
THIS!
I get tired of the overly optimistic met fans who constantly find excuses.
We are current fans of a poorly run team who relies on players with major injury histories and compliments those types with subpar players to fill the roster. While being in the largest baseball market in the world.
Quote:
Okie dokie. The Mets never do anything wrong. It's always just bad luck or injuries.. you got me.
Enjoy the game, bud.
THIS!
I get tired of the overly optimistic met fans who constantly find excuses.
We are current fans of a poorly run team who relies on players with major injury histories and compliments those types with subpar players to fill the roster. While being in the largest baseball market in the world.
Yeah, good call, this board is just overflowing with optimistic Mets fans.
There is 1 optimistic fan, 1 borderline and everyone else is pessimistic.
I blame the Wilpons for the lack of investment in the front office, lack of spending on FA, lack of spending on prospects, and a general lack of commitment to winning.
I do not know how I would fix this mess and I truly doubt it can be fixed with the Wilpons. If I were owner I would honestly consider firing Callaway and bringing TC back to see if that sparks anything before the deadline like the Marlins did with trader Jack. My decision would depend on whether or not I think he's just making some rookie mistakes or if he's really completely in over his head and the season's already done. I'd also only do that because if the season tanks I'd bring in a new GM with a new vision, so it would also be clearing the decks for a potential new regime. I'd have no issue trusting Sandy to sell off most of the veterans at the deadline, like Cabrera, Familia, etc. but unless someone backed up several brinks trucks I'm not trading JDG or Syndergaard until the new GM is hired.
I think that is true of a lot of the injuries. If Mets were playing well, guys would have an incentive to play thru injuries. Now all the vets are looking out for themselves. Feel a twinge? Go on the DL
. x 100