Sandy Alderson to Blame for Sorry State of Mets Farm System
At last week’s Winter Meetings, Sandy Alderson made one his patented anti-Mets quips that no Mets fans laugh at anymore (did they ever?) — “Our farm system right now is not brimming with prospects.” And whose fault is that, Mr. GM?
Alderson did clean out a good portion of the minors with mid-season trades that helped get the Mets to the postseason in 2015 and 2016. So he deserves credit there. However, only Michael Fulmer has distinguished himself at the big league level. Which means the Mets farm system was not too hot to start with.
And that falls squarely on the shoulders of Alderson and his alleged brain trust. Now, no one disputes the amateur draft is a crapshoot. Here is a good illustration — Ken Griffey, Jr. is the only overall number one pick to be inducted in the Hall of Fame. Of the tens of thousands of players drafted since the draft started in 1965, just 34 are in Cooperstown, including only 11 first rounders. So yeah, the draft is tough.
However, American players have to come from somewhere. And many teams are adept at drafting, especially in the middle rounds where many diamonds-in-the-rough are found. But it appears Sandy Alderson is unable to find those players. He can’t even draft in the first round, with the exception of Michael Conforto.
And what about this mid-season, when the Mets had a sell-off and could reload their system? Alderson traded several somewhat desirable veterans for a bunch of minor league middle relievers. Yet Alderson is still scrambling for relievers and apparently none of those new guys is “brimming” with talent.
I’ve said it before and it bears repeating — Sandy Alderson is not a good evaluator of talent. He has proven this time and time again. If you want to keep Alderson in the front office as team president or something, fine. But go out and get a real baseball man (or woman) as general manager. One who does not make lame jokes about his (her) own team.
Agreed. Alderson is horrible at talent evaluation. He does better picking pitching prospects but sucks at selecting position players. Recall he picked Gavin Cecchini over Cody Bellinger? Cecchini has melted butter In his glove, runs like he has lead in his cleats, and has a really weak arm but he was taken over some really good draft candidates that Alderson ineptly overlooked. He made another really dumb move by not protecting Mickey Jannis. I am sure Mickey Callaway would have protected Jannis if he was told about this good knuckleballer but I believe he was left unawares. Alderson is also brick thick (thanks Jethro Tull) when it comes to his catchers. d’Arnaud cannot throw the ball although he calls a decent game, and frames well. Plawecki is also very much lacking in the throwing department but does throw much better than d’Arnaud. The Mets need a guy that can throw the ball. Remember how well the pitching staff did when Rene Rivera was catching? That’s because they knew Rivera could throw some runners out. Forget the 2B man the Mets think they need as Wilmer Flores can play second. We all know Wilmer can hit. They need to trade for JT Realmutto who is an excellent defensive catcher, and can also hit. Realmutto would be the primary catcher maybe playing 60% of the games with Plawecki playing 40 %. They really need to trade d’Arnaud to an American League team cause they run much less in that league.
I agree with that 100 percent.
Can you believe we just signed this guy to an extension? And now he wants to trade Ramos for a bat? What about only letting starters going 2 times through the lineup and having a strong bullpen? Did we scrap that already? Talk about a flip flopper. He hasn’t a clue and Wilpons lack of cash and enthusiasm isn’t helping. Callaway must be wondering what he got himself into.