There are very minds at the top tier of the executive chain quite like New York Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson. Just when you think a team he’s affiliated with is going nowhere, that’s when he surprises you. He did it with the Oakland Athletics in the late 1980s and early 1990s and again with the San Diego Padres in the mid-2000s. The Mets; however, have only tasted sweet success a handful of times with four trips to the World Series in 1969, 1973, 1989 and 2000, two of which they stood victorious (1969 and 1986).
Since 2002, when Fred Wilpon and his family took over the majority ownership of the team, the Mets have gone down a very peculiar road which saw a stage of rebuilding to the point of the lowest of lows under then manager Art Howe and talent such as Jeromy Burnitz, Mo Vaughn and Tom Glavine, outsiders of the organization who were wooed with top dollar contracts with minimal success compared to the old days when the team relied heavily upon farm fresh talent like Darryl Strawberry, Dwight “Doc” Gooden and Lenny Dykstra.
What’s interesting about the Wilpon takeover is that several pieces of the homegrown formula (Jose Reyes and David Wright) were on the rise and proved themselves under then-manager Willie Randolph.
The Mets got to within one game of the 2006 World Series as they lost the National League Championship Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.
After that, the contracts remained high, the team changed managers again and then again and the Mets went back to their losing ways.
Alderson took over as GM on October 29, 2010 and, up until this last week, had only made a few free agent signings, all of whom are no longer with the Mets.
Alderson had been focusing primarily upon draft picks and working the team’s farm leagues for talent such as Matt Harvey and Matt den Dekker while still keeping faith in the likes of Ike Davis, Lucas Duda and Dillon Gee.
It’s all of these little bits and pieces that make the four-year $$60 million deal to Curtis Granderson and the one-year $7.25 million deal to Chris Young so interesting. It’s important to keep in mind that the Mets have never been strangers to spending money. After all, it’s almost a must when playing in the same market as the New York Yankees. Under Alderson the biggest deal that the Mets had made came in November of 2012 when the team gave Wright a seven-year extension worth $138 million. Before that, a two-year $12 million contract to Frank Francisco in 2011.
Granderson had a rough year in 2013 as he made two trips to the DL: the first coming in the first Spring Training game when his right forearm was fractured via pitch by Toronto Blue Jay J.A. Happ.
The second coming in May when the knuckle of his left pinkie finger was broken during a game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
In 61 games he hit a career-worst .229 with seven home runs and 15 RBI, but still managed to strikeout 69 times.
For the sake of morale, the deal makes a lot of sense. It’s very rare that the Mets get the upper hand in a free agent deal and take a player from the Yankees.
On paper, the deal should work out rather well for the team. In 10 years Granderson has split his time between the Yankees and the Detroit Tigers and has played in 127 Inter-league games, batting .262/.337/.464 with 20 home runs and 59 RBI. Based on his career numbers (.261/.340/.488 with 217 home runs and 606 RBI in 1187 games), they’re practically on par.
The only disadvantage for Granderson is the lack of a short porch to either end at Citi Field, so his home run production may become more of a deep doubles game.
The Mets have certainly needed a leader in the outfield, but is Granderson really the guy who should be taking charge? The Mets could have easily gone after the likes of Jacoby Ellsbury or even attempted a trade with the Colorado Rockies for Dexter Fowler before the Houston Astros moved in.
It does appear that the Mets are trying to make some kind of an effort at making a playoff run in 2014; however, there are still a few pieces missing.
Signing Young to a one-year contract was a smart move based on the numbers he posted with the Athletics and Arizona Diamondbacks over the last few seasons, but they still overpaid by at least $1 million. Obviously if his numbers rebound the Mets will bring him back, but have to pay him a bit more.
Harvey will be back in 2015 and hopefully for their sake he’ll be just as deadly on the mound which would make the tandem between him and Dillon Gee pretty remarkable. Potentially a few more moves may be in the works, but it doesn’t look likely that the Mets will pull the trigger on anyone else this offseason except perhaps some arms in the bullpen. Manager Terry Collins isn’t going anywhere after he received his two-year extension, so it really appears to be a wait and see kind of year in 2014.