Sandy Alderson Visits Broadcast Booth
Sandy Alderson paid a visit to the broadcast booth during Tuesday’s game to discuss the state of the Mets. As usual, he used a lot of words to say very little, and looked and sounded extremely uncomfortable sitting between Ron Darling and Gary Cohen.
The first question was about Ike Davis. Sandy Alderson said it is “concerning” that he is struggling to the start of the season yet again, but Alderson is hoping Davis can turn it around, like he did last year. On whether Davis might be sent to the minors, Alderson said, “Maybe he is better off going to Las Vegas for a period of time but at this point we are going to live with Ike for a little longer.”
Alderson admitted this was always going to be a transition year, but he said it’s been disappointing that “some of players we brought in for the transition are not performing well at this point.” He said the most troubling aspect of the season is that players who were supposed to be the core of the team have taken steps back.
When Cohen asked who were those core players aside from Davis, Sandy Alderson would only say it was a “number of other guys who we hoped would be better.” He refused to name names, but said, “Fans can identify them as well as I can.” An awkward silence followed.
On Zack Wheeler and when we can expect to see him in Flushing, Alderson said, “I’m very hopeful that he can pitch well two or three times and then he can be strongly considered for a promotion.”
Alderson also suggested that we might not see Travis d’Arnaud anytime soon. He pointed out that with d’Arnaud’s current injury and the one that ended his season prematurely last year, “He’s only played 10 or 15 games in the past year… hopefully he’ll be playing (in the minors) by July 1. If he’s healthy he’ll be here sometime this year, but we’ve got to give him some playing time.” Which means they won’t be starting his free agency/arbitration clock, which is all the Mets really care about.
When Cohen thanked him, Sandy Alderson said, “I enjoyed it.” It sure didn’t seem like it.