Alderson gambling on free-agent squeeze play
Sandy Alderson is gambling this offseason. It began when the Mets GM seemingly went outside the box and put his faith, and the team’s future, in an unproven, and unconventional hire for a first-time manager in Mickey Callaway. Now, Alderson is holding his cards, betting that waiting out the market will get him and the Mets back to being a playoff-contending team in a year.
Last week, as all of baseball gathered at Disney for the Winter Meetings, one National League East front office executive said that his team’s plan was the same: wait out the market and get better deals.
“Sometimes, you can get the better deals after the meetings, by waiting and going into January,” the executive said. “It’s a gamble, but for us, we’ll wait and see what happens.”
Admittedly, that’s a little harder for the Mets, who are always being compared to the free-spending Yankees. As frustrating as it was for Mets fans to watch the Yankees — just off a deep playoff run — land Giancarlo Stanton, the reigning National League MVP, last week while the Mets seemingly made little progress on 2018, all they can do is hope there are better deals to come.
Though the Mets won’t say it publicly or on the record, it is obvious they are not going to go out and spend big money on free agents this winter. They spent their big money last year bringing back Yoenis Cespedes, they are betting that with him being healthy next season, their offense isn’t as bad as it looked in 2017. They admittedly have a very thin farm system, too light on the type of prospects they would need to pull off a deal for a player that could change the trajectory of this team. So now, Alderson and the Mets can do now is wait and see if they find some better, maybe smarter deals later in the offseason. They have a track record there.
Before leaving the Winter Meetings on Thursday, Alderson was quick to point out that the Mets have made some deals late in the offseason in the past. They did not sign Jerry Blevins and Fernando Salas until February before last season, getting what they felt was a very good deal for Blevins.
It’s not out of the realm of possibility it could pay off this season as well.
The seemingly tepid market so far for outfielder Jay Bruce could bring his contract expectations back from the four to five year range into their comfort zone of three years.
They may even be able to land a second baseman at a team-friendly rate.
It’s a gamble, but Alderson has already proven he’s willing to take some risks this winter.
Aside from hiring the nontraditional pitching coach Callaway as a manager, Alderson bucked the norm and went with a rookie bench coach to compliment the first-time skipper.
While the Mets had what they thought was a solid deal worked out with the Tigers for Ian Kinsler scuttled when he refused to waive his partial notrade clause to go to the Mets, they did come home feeling they had laid down one important piece.
Alderson emphasized improving the back-end of the bullpen heading into the Winter Meetings and he rolled the dice again to come home with at least a veteran reliever.
Anthony Swarzak is coming off a breakout season after making some repertoire changes and the Mets are hoping that he will solidify the back-end of the bullpen. The 32-year-old posted a 2.33 ERA and averaged a career-high 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings last year combined with the White Sox and Brewers. He had a 1.03 WHIP while going 6-4 with two saves in 70 games. He spent 10 games with Cleveland in 2015, where he worked with Callaway, making this what seems like a calculated bet for Alderson. ut, it’s still a gamble, because Swarzak does not have a long track record of success. He is just 2330 with a career 4.22 ERA over 287 games.
Alderson has already proven he’s willing to roll the dice, now he’s willing to wait and see how the rest of the winter plays out.
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