The New york Mets are in a bit of a bind. They have financial problems that threaten the entire organization, all stemming from the Wilpon's decision to invest in Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme. Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel were fired two seasons ago and now the Mets are run by Sandy Alderson, who some believe fostered sabermetrics in the baseball world and gave birth to Billy Beane, the star of Moneyball. Well, here in reality, I see Sandy Alderson, not as the father of sabermatricians everywhere but rather a shrewd evaluator of baseball talent. Here is a look at some of the players Alderson drafted during his tenure as general manager of the Oakland Athletics:
1984: Drafted Mark McGwire in the first round with the 10th overall pick. McGwire, with, or without the help of performance enhancers, would go on to become one of the greatest sluggers in the game. Oh, and he won the Rookie of the Year Award.
1985: Drafted Walt Weiss with the 11th overall pick in the first round. Weiss would win the Rookie of the Year award as well and would go on to become a serviceable player for years and helped lead the A's to a World Series title.
1986: Alderson drafted two players who would go on to have very productive careers, albeit for other teams. He drafted Kevin Tapani in the second round and Rod Beck in the 13th. Tapani would be a very good middle of the rotation starter for the Twins and Rod Beck would be a dominant closer for the Giants in the mid-1990's.
1987: This draft was a little lackluster. Scott Brosius, who went on to be traded for Kenny Rogers, would go on to help the Yankees win a World Series or two, or three.
1988: Nobody big drafted here. Just a few serviceable players like Darren Lewis and Joe Grahe.
1989: Another kind of blah year with Matt Mieske, Kurt Abbott, Craig Paquette, and Dana Allison types. Good enough to make the majors, maybe even have a very good year or two but not good enough to keep it up.
1990: Everyone who grew up collecting baseball cards in the 1990's remembers the name Todd Van Poppel. He was the top pitching prospect in all of baseball at one point but never came close to living up to expectations, mostly due to injury. Other serviceable Major Leaguers drafted that year include Tanyon Sturtze, Kirk Dressendorfer, Ernie Young, and Izzy Molina.
1991: Not a very good draft.
1992: Jason Giambi was picked in the 2nd round. He would only go on to win an MVP in an A's uniform before bolting for more money in the Bronx.
1993: Scott Spiezio was taken in the 6th round. He helped the Angels win the World Series in 2002.
1994: Ben Grieve, who would go on to win yet another Rookie of the Year Award for the A's was drafted here. He had a nice career but flamed out early on. I wouldn't mind having had Grieve's career in the Majors. Not for one second. Tim Hudson was also drafted but did not sign.
1995: Mark Bellhorn was drafted in the 2nd round. Bellhorn was a decent enough middle infielder. Other notables include Jeff DaVanon and David Newhan.
1996: Eric Chavez highlights this class. Chavez was one of the best third basemen in the entire Major Leagues. Too bad injuries sapped him of all of his Hall of Fame potential.
1997: Drafted Tim Hudson again in the 6th round and inked him to a contract this time. He only won 20 games and helped take the "Moneyball" A's to the playoffs. He was an ace and is still pitching very well for Atlanta.
1998: Mark Mulder, one of the three aces that had nothing to do with the success of the Oakland Athletics "Moneyball" years was taken with the 2nd overall pick. Mulder won 20 games but his career was shortened due to injury. Gerald Laird, and Eric Byrnes are the other notables from this draft class.
Then, the torch was passed to Billy Beane who profited more than any other general manager from his predecessors draft classes. Yes, Beane did draft Barry Zito to round out the big three but it was Alderson that laid the groundwork. It was Alderson who signed Miguel Tejada, drafted Eric Chavez, and Jason Giambi. Yes, none of those guys stayed but it was also their departures that paved the way for new draft picks like Nick Swisher, for example, who was taken with the compensation pick after the A's lost Giambi. Sandy Alderson made the A's into what Billy Beane got credit for. There is no doubt in my mind.
Since taking the reigns from Omar Minaya and the clueless Mets ownership that allowed Minaya to ink the likes of Jason Bay, Luis Castillo, and Oliver Perez to name a few, Alderson has set about rebuilding the Mets team. Granted, he doesn't have the resources that Minaya enjoyed but he has a plan and a keen eye for baseball talent that Minaya never had. Let's not forget that this is the same Omar Minaya that traded Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, and Brandon Phillips to the Indians for Bartolo Colon and Tim Drew when he was GM of the Expos. Gee, I wonder if the Expos, who turned into the Nationals, would have liked to have a middle of the field that included Brandon Phillips at second, Grady in center, and Cliff Lee on the mound? Colon did go 10-4 with a 3.31 ERA for the Expos but he was traded to the White Sox for...get this...Rocky Biddle, Orlando Hernandez, and Jeff Liefer! Great job Minaya. You turned 3 players who made the All-Star team later on for basically a washed up El Duque, a middling middle reliever in Biddle, and a guy who barely made the Majors in Liefer. Congrats! Oh, and those playoff hopes that Minaya saw and dealt the future for? Well, the Expos finished 12 games out of the playoffs. So, ummm, yeah. It's hard taking over for stupidity. Well, I'll give him a bit of a pass because he did give up bopkus for a couple of good seasons of Johan Santana.
The Mets farm system hasn't produced a star since David Wright debuted in 2004. Before that it was Jose Reyes. The Mets haven't been known for their farm system in years. It has been neglected and abused over the years. Look at the "Top Prospects" that have come forth: Paul Wilson, Bill Pulsipher, Jason Isringhausen, Carlos Gomez, Fernando Martinez, Alex Escobar...the list goes on. These were top prospects that were either rushed to the majors, suffered major injuries, or saw success on other teams, or all three. The Mets and farm system do NOT go together. Don't mention Ike Davis to me just yet, he has a lot to prove, including staying healthy. I have written about the Mets farm abuse before, you can look in the archives for those stories. This is nothing new. Enter Sandy Alderson.
Alderson has been the Mets GM for two seasons now. Really, he has one full season under his belt as Mets GM, having taken over in October of 2010. He has had one draft with the Mets. One. Yet, Mets fans are already ready to fire him. He let Jose Reyes walk. He spent $10 million on middle relievers and bench players. He drafted Brandon Nimmo who never played high school baseball. The list of complaints, all of them unwarranted, goes on. Alderson has not even gotten his office set up yet at Citi Field and already Mets fans want him gone, afraid that he is trying to turn the Mets into Oakland East. Let's not forget that Alderson did build a World Series winner using a fairly big payroll in 1989. His teams also went to two other World Series'. The man knows baseball, period. He turned Carlos Beltran, who was not coming back to Queens, into a top pitching prospect in Zack Wheeler. The Giants got half of a season out of Beltran who went to St. Louis. Score one for Alderson.
Alderson fleeced San Francisco again when he sent Angel Pagan to the Giants in exchange for Andres Torres and Ramon Ramirez. Torres and Pagan are kind of interchangeable. Pagan had a bit of a stigma as a clubhouse distraction and getting a similar player and a middle reliever in exchange for him was a solid move. Within hours of that trade, Alderson inked Jon Rauch and Frank Francisco to contracts. Both are middle relievers. Both should be decent enough in Citi Field, even with the fences moved in, to get some decent prospects in return come July when every MLB team in the race is looking for bullpen upgrades. None of these moves made this offseason are for this year. They are stopgaps and plugs to bide time until Alderson's draft classes, and Matt Harvey, and some others are ready to help take the reigns of the future. Most of the veterans are pieces to be used in trades for prospects which will allow Mets ownership to breathe a little and regroup. The goal of the Mets is NOT to become the A's of the East. There is no way fans would pay to watch that and the Wilpon's are businessmen who are probably tired of losing money at this point. Having an empty new stadium is probably not on their list of things they want.
Mets fans need to calm down and stop demanding Sandy Alderson's job already. He hasn't had a chance to execute his plan. Firing him now would only add years onto the Mets rebuilding plan and possibly destroy it. I'd have faith in a guy who found McGwire, Giambi, Tejada, Hudson, Mulder, and Chavez. Why wouldn't you?
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