N.Y. METS ~ The General Manager Is In

From the desk of:  HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET



NEW YORK METS:  Sandy Alderson Opens the Bullpen Doors to the Rest of Baseball.  Say's Mets Have Twelve Days to Make a Move.


It wasn't me this time.  Sandy Alderson did it.  He said it was Show Me time.


tick...TICK...tiCK.


There's roughly 25 days left till the trade deadline.  Sandy Alderson said he will judge this team in ten game increments (or something to that effect) from now till then.  What he did say was "the next 10-12 days will be huge" ...in determining whether the Mets will be buyers or sellers.   In the mean time, he called the Mets, "....Relevant."


TICK...tick....TiCk


But make no mistake, the General Manager is starting to plant the seeds of Change in our collective frontal lobes.  I find it laughable when the Media asked questions in April and May, which called for our GM in particular, to publicly reveal his hand.  Did they really expect something insightful or tangible; - like blueprints?  He would have been a fool to say he planned on gutting the team (just sayin') at anytime this season for numerous internal reasons that we've all come to grips with.  It's now, as the deadline looms closer, Sandy Alderson finally offers glimpses into the mind of our new GM.


So he said the Mets are more than open to dealing Francisco Rodriguez.  We knew that.  The Wilpons want no part of his 2012 contract option.  But Alderson did say other members of the bullpen are also available.  That was the illuminating part.  Teams in playoff contention will be looking to shore up their pens down the stretch and the chances of Alderson getting a good prospect in return I believe are fair.  The chances are fair because teams thinking they are a piece or two away always have a prospect to give.  I like the thinking here.  The GM said the Mets can deal relievers and still remain relevant and contend by supplementing the pen from within.  I'll tell you the truth; as long as he doesn't trade Bobby Parnell, I could care less who Alderson moves from the bullpen.


But this was just Sandy Alderson's way of sticking our toe in the water.  Soon he'll have us in the surf up to our knees; then waist.  Before you know it, fifteen to twenty days will have elapsed and Sandy will be swimming in potential deals.  The big question is which way will he swing?  Buy or Sell?  At two games above .500 entering tonight's game three against the Dodgers in L.A., as per their GM, the Mets better make the best out of the next two weeks.


The fact that things have remained this quiet surprises me to a small degree.  But when looking across the landscape of Baseball, all is quiet on the transaction front.  I thought there might be a team that would be looking to cash-in on an early bird special.  But there have been no market makers out there.  On closer inspection, parity owns a firm grip on MLB.  The Phillies enjoy the largest lead of any division leader in Baseball; four games.  Every other division is a one to two game spread.  This may have given a GM or two pause from being a seller himself.  But this will just add to the intrigue of the coming deadline.  In the mean time, Alderson took a proactive approach and announced the bullpen doors were figuratively open.


Carlos Beltran; depending how well he and his teammates move away from relevancy and towards true contention; may be playing his last bunch of games as a Met.  He's the most obvious to go should the Mets not make any headway in the standings.  He's almost impossible to keep because there are no compensation picks should he leave the Mets as a free agent.  Because the Mets would potentially be the motivated sellers, the return on a Beltran trade could be compromised.  To what degree remains to be seen.


After Beltran and the bullpen, the Mets trade picture gets blurry.  They have ten to twelve days to gain focus.



Mike.BTB