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New York Mets: Sandy Alderson Defends Lack of Spending

By Nick Ziegler

Mar 12, 2015; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; New Jersey governor Chris Christie (left) with New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson (middle) and owner Fred Wilpon chat during the game against the Washington Nationals at Tradition Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Barr-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 12, 2015; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; New Jersey governor Chris Christie (left) with New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson (middle) and owner Fred Wilpon chat during the game against the Washington Nationals at Tradition Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Barr-USA TODAY Sports /
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It has been a difficult offseason for Sandy Alderson of the New York Mets, who had undergone a cancer surgery in addition to the high expectations of New York after a trip to the World Series.

The great news is that Alderson is doing very well since the surgery and recently spoke to reporters for the first time. Much of the talk this offseason about the Mets has been the lack of spending to try and improve the teams in areas of need. Alderson wasted little time to defend the organization’s plan of spending.

Alderson made it known right away that the Mets’ payroll was $85 million at the end of the 2014 season, and he projects it to be around $120 million at the end of the 2016 season.

“That is a $35 million increase in just two years,” Alderson said at the New York Athletic Club to Mike Puma of the New York Post. “The idea we’re not investing in the team, I think, is really misplaced and sort of tied up in the populism involving Cespedes.”

The Mets’ key addition during the regular season was to acquire Yoenis Cespedes from the Detroit Tigers, and with him still being a free agent, fans have been wanting the team to spend the money to keep him.

“If you go back to the trade deadline, we were in many ways trying to fit a square peg into a round hole,” Alderson said to Puma, referring to the Cespedes trade. “We talked to a number of clubs about players who were going to play right field, left field, how do we improve, and even if it’s the perfect fit, does it makes sense?

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“For two months or three months, it may make sense. For five years, six years, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to try to do that. If we had the right healthy player in the right position, it might be a different story for us. This isn’t about inching up on team improvement. This is trying to be more thoughtful about it, but also realistic.”

Alderson’s comments really make it seem that the Mets had no interest of ever re-signing Cespedes, as they don’t want him to be playing in center field, and as shown in the World Series, that is a good idea.

A source did tell the New York Post that the Mets would be interested in bringing back Cespedes on a one or two-year deal, but that they have no interest in signing him to the long-term deal that he desires.

“It’s not as if we’re not looking to improve the team, and if possible in significant ways,” Alderson said to Puma. “But it has to make some sense in terms of how these pieces all fit.”

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Cespedes clearly doesn’t fit into the Mets’ plans for the future, as the emergence of Michael Conforto, last season has secured him a spot as the starting left fielder next season.

It may not be a great fit defensively, but the Mets’ lineup is going to be significantly worse next season without Cespedes in the middle of the order.

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