N.Y. METS ~ Chief Sandy Alderson's Trinket and Bead

From the desk of:  HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET


NEW YORK METS: After a Miotic Month, MAY Might Be Even Harder To Watch.

If you watched over the last month and your pupils didn't contract and/or you didn't squint your eyes over the sight of the Mets' Month-Long Malaise, it means you've pulled the plug on this season and all your hopes are already dead.  The last true test will be a slap on the snout and waiting for a response in Philadelphia tonight as they face Cliff Lee.  Keep a mirror by the nose just in case.

Another loss to Philadelphia mimicking those of the most recent variety, and the first month of evaluation will truly come to an end for the Mets.  Welcome to the part of the calendar when GM's around the League have a better sense of what they need and what they have to do going forward.  Sometime by the end of this month, there will be multiple trigger-happy GM's looking to draw conclusions about their seasons and act upon them.

Do you want to know why Sandy Alderson, so far, has never been short for answers in the face of such Mets' organizational adversity?  Answer ~ Because he's usually beating the Media to the punch.  He's answering questions after he does something.  Omar used to fumble for answers while still formulating an ever-tardy plan after situations went awry and the Media baked him on it.

In a month in which the Mets had a six game winning streak against the lowly Astros, D-Backs, and Nationals, they still finished the month with an 11-16 record.  And it's my guess Sandy Alderson will make many-a-writer hit delete on stories they've been preparing two or so weeks in advance because the Mets used to be that predictable.  So, instead of snooping around and looking for dirt in the club house, which has been many a writer's want over the last few years, if for lack of a better story waiting to be written, scribes are now filling their time writing about Sandy doing this, Sandy cutting that, and what his next move will be.

Recognize the condition and know the cause.  Sandy has been faced with the toughest questions I've listened a GM have to answer.  And yet he gives the Media nothing until after he writes the story first.  April was all about research and fact checking.  Now, listen for his cracking knuckles, because Sandy is about to starting penning a new story in METropolis.  And he has the Media right where he wants them, which is not running wild.  He has them sitting obediently waiting for their next bone.  They know they have a new Pack Leader now.

Minus Johan Santana, Sandy Alderson has seen everything he's needed to see out of his 1A team.  If you didn't think he came aboard the S.S. Wilpon to steer his own ship, you are mistaken.  His first month of being an in-season GM reaffirmed what he probably already felt coming in.  And now it's just a matter of time before he starts issuing floatation vests.  You thought the waters off Flushing Bay got choppy before?  Sandy Alderson is going to pilot this thing right into a storm that will make us all puke!  He's just sitting back and waiting for the phone to start ringing before he sets sail.  And it will ring; like the phone at Chicken Ridiculous on a Friday night after work.

Reyes and Wright WILL get tossed-out in the regurgitation or be put in the frying pan; your choice.  And Sandy won't have to do a thing.  So for everyone who thinks we are going to get ripped off, think of it this way; teams will raise their offering price as more teams want them.  Sandy is not desperate.  Omar was.  Sandy is in a position to NOT make a deal.  Other GM's may not have the luxury of patience and newly invested job security as Sandy Alderson now enjoys.

Embrace the idea of trading Jose Reyes and David Wright.  With them, the Mets continue to be a Baseball metaphor for bumper cars in a dark-lit China Shop.  It's something I think Sandy Alderson recognizes and will eradicate. 

Sandy Alderson went to Harvard.  And one of the first things they teach you at the Harvard School of Business, is - There's A Sucker Born Every Day.  As part of a class lecture on Trade, folklore has it, a popular teacher's aid is a depiction of the scene when then Canadian Representative Omar Minaya signed a treaty with Cleveland Indians, sending Lee Stevens; Brandon Phillips; Grady Sizemore; and tonight's starting pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies against the New York Mets, CLIFF LEE..., away in return for Bartolo Colon; which effectively, along with the 1994 Strike, ended National League Baseball in Montreal.

See?

They also teach you to Sell High; and Buy Low.



Mike.BTB