Sandy was on WFAN yesterday for about 40 minutes discussing the status of his team with Mike Francesa. He insinuated many things without really name dropping or tipping the Mets hand in any way shape or form. He was adamant about the lack of ability in his outfield at the moment and that he is currently looking for upgrades anywhere possible. But he also hinted that it was possible that the outfield could remain status quo, anything is possible. Scott Hairston is the obvious easy upgrade the Mets can make in the outfield, albeit not a significant upgrade. The issue here is that Hairston may be more concerned with the amount of playing time he will be guaranteed than his salary. But Sandy Alderson has has stated, and did again yesterday, that the Mets are still entertaining the possibilities of making a bigger splash than Hairston in the outfield. While this may be slightly exciting to the fans who’s last two ‘big’ free agent signings have been Jason Bay and Francisco Rodriguez, this tactic may also screw the team out of improving at all. By attempting to swoop in a snag a star outfielder, we may wait too long to promise X amount of at-bats to Hairston and he may decide to go elsewhere like Chicago (Cubs). I hope this doesn’t happen because i do not foresee the Mets making a splash with the likes of Justin Upton, Michael Bourn of even Jason Kubel. But Scott Hairston at least makes the outfield not so bad that i want to vomit. At least Hairston has the ability to have a decent slugging percentage.
Alderson also commented on the status of the bullpen. Something he said was that he was excited about the amount of young and lefty depth that are at the Mets disposal. This made me chuckle when he said that. Of course you want lefty depth, but we honestly do not have much; Josh Edgin is a young kid who pitched well last year but as of now he is technically our number one lefty out of the ‘pen. This should not be the case. One reason is because Tim Byrdak injured his shoulder last year and he resigned with the Mets to a minor league contract. The Mets have been leaning on Byrdak’s left arm for two seasons and I thought he would be injured eventually ala Pedro Feliciano after he signed his big contract with the Yankees. I hope he can return this year, because i do not feel comfortable with Josh Edgin (who i do like) and Jon Carson, who i believe Sandy and Terry has way too much confidence in for nothing that he showed last year. He also said that Frank Francisco is the current closer of the team but he is always looking to upgrade, hence going to Brian Wilson’s private workout this week where he threw about 20 pitches. Sandy said he had a lot of rehab to go but for where he was he thought he looked good. The bullpen segment was really the only time he mentioned names, besides for the R.A. Dickey trade. One extremely interesting tidbit about the Dickey trade was that the Mets were interested in two prospects from an unnamed team, but they were unwilling to part with them for the knuckleballer. But once the Mets officially had Travis D’Arnaud in their possession that team called Alderson and said we will give you the two prospects for D’Arnaud straight up. That tells you how highly regarded D’Arnaud is; and i am very interested to know who these players were (and if one was a ML ready OUTFIELDER!!). Alderson obviously rejected the offer as he was very pleased with the package we received from Toronto.
Sandy also said that it is not impossible for Zack Wheeler to make the club out of Spring Training, although i think it is virtually impossible. That is of course assuming we will have signed at least one veteran pitcher before the season starts.
The rotation at this point should be 1. Johan (out of respect) 2. Harvey (to make lefty righty lefty) 3. Neise 4. Gee 5. FA signee/Hefner
LGM.
Mets Obsession 