This is the Mets Outfield, Folks

Sandy Alderson said on Sunday something that we’ve suspected all along — the Mets will probably not be acquiring a new outfielder, giving them a grand total of zero major league-caliber outfielders.

Via Mets Blog, this is what Alderson told Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette on SiriusXM’s MLB Network Radio:

“There’s not a lot left on the shelf. At some point, we have to realize the outfield is not the strength of our team. But at least going into Spring Training, we maybe looking at what we have, and not being able to make an addition.”

Alderson makes it seem like he and the Mets are victims of a lack of supply of outfielders. But when there were plenty of players “on the shelf,” Alderson did nothing to try to get them. Instead, he danced all winter with Scott Hairston and now he’s making a half-hearted attempt to land Michael Bourn which is destined to fail.

Alderson is an embarrassment. It is unfathomable that he is allowing the Mets to go into the season with an outfield of Lucas Duda, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Mike Baxter, Collin Cowgill and Andrew Brown. Not a proven player among them. Oh, and possibly Justin Turner and Zach Lutz, who have never played the outfield in their lives.

Alderson also said something very curious that I don’t quite understand. Bowden tweeted:

Alderson told us had Scott Hairston signing with Cubs & Upton trade to Braves had happened in opposite order…there might hv been chance.

I believe “might have been a chance” refers to the Mets re-signing Hairston. This implies that the Mets were in on Upton because Alderson was saying all along that he was looking for someone better than Hairston, and if that were to happen, it would impact Hairston’s playing time, forcing him to sign elsewhere.

This is just more of Alderson’s deception. If he really wanted Hairston, he could have signed him months ago. And are we really to believe that the Mets had any real chance of trading for Upton?

I understand the Mets are in a difficult financial position and are building for the future, but you have to take care of the present as well. Alderson admitted on WFAN last week that rebuilding should not take long, and that the team is not where he thought it would be when he took the job two years ago. Whose fault is that?

Alderson is simply awful, and I don’t think the Mets will ever win anything while he is the GM. I would be very happy to be wrong about this, but I don’t think I will be.