Judging Sandy Alderson, So Far

Most Mets fans were frustrated this past off-season as new GM Sandy Alderson did virtually nothing to improve the club — perhaps his hands were tied by the Mets financial situation, perhaps he was waiting for next off-season when there will be more flexibility. Either way,  Alderson did acquire a dozen or so players to fill out the roster. With the season nearly halfway done, let’s take a look at how the players Alderson and his Dream Team of genius lieutenants signed are faring:

Brad Emaus — Gone
Chin-lung Hu — Gone (left-he had an introductory news conference?!)
Blaine Boyer — Gone
Chris Young — DL, done for year
D.J. Carrasco — Just reappeared from the minors
Scott Hairston — Useless
Willie Harris — Useless
Tim Byrdak — Medicore
Chris Capuano — Mediocre, but getting better lately
Ronny Paulino — Okay
Jason Isringhausen — Okay
Taylor Buchholz — Okay
Pedro Beato — Okay

Hmm, not so good. Some of Alderson’s decisions were suspect at the time, and remain questionable:

Was it really necessary to sign Carrasco to a two-year contract?

He is paying Hairston and Harris nearly a combined $2 million. How good (or useless) are these guys? When Jason Bay started the season on the disabled list and Angel Pagan went down for a month, did these backup outfielders slide right into the starting jobs? Nope. Minor leaguers were called up to take their place while Hairston and Harris rode the bench.

It is of course too early to judge these players — maybe they will all turn their seasons around (except of course for the four who are long gone). It is also way too early to judge Alderson’s performance — that will take years. Remember how much we all loved Omar Minaya his first couple of years? How did that work out?