SANDY: DON’T EXPECT TEBOW AT CITI
GEAR up for Groundhog Day, Mets fans.
That was the word Friday from Sandy Alderson during a candid press conference at Citi Field before the Mets dismantled the Rockies, 14-2, on a night a hustling Yoenis Cespedes (four hits) broke out of his slump.
Other than Jacob deGrom, who improved to 10-3 and should not be traded, the Mets general manager admitted the team’s pitching has been “lousy.” Same goes for defense that never was good to begin with — Alderson values offense far more than defense. This is the way the Mets will continue to build.
Alderson said this is not a tear-down but a rebuild now that the “For Sale” sign has been placed on walk-away players like Addison Reed, Jay Bruce, Lucas Duda and others unless the Mets play “exceedingly well” over the next few weeks.
I applaud Alderson’s honesty, but I’ve also got two simple words for him: Fix it.
Fix the pitching, since he is not giving a darn about defense.
“Overall, the defense that we’ve demonstrated has not been good,” Alderson said. “We haven’t been as surehanded as we have been in the past, and we certainly have not had the range one would like to have.
“As a partial indictment of myself, what you have to do is you have to make choices about defense, athleticism, offense, etc. You have to set priorities. I wouldn’t say defense has always been our highest priority, and that goes all the way back to the World Series year of 2015. “On the other hand there’s sort of a de minimis level that one needs to hit.” That was a way to say defensivewizard Amed Rosario would not have fixed the problem in Alderson’s eyes.
When the shortstop arrives from Triple-A, Rosario will help that defense, but Alderson said: “It’s a little simplistic to just say, we’ll if we insert one player we are going to solve the defensive issues that we face at seven or eight positions. I understand everybody wants to see Rosario in a Mets uniform, so do I.’’
Rosario tweeted Friday he is ready and wanted to “propose to Queens.’’ That tweet was soon deleted. Alderson said he wants him to stay in Las Vegas for now. Jose Reyes is hot.
“As I sit here I say, ‘Gee, defense can’t possibly be as important as offense, it’s only a percentage of what comes to play in run prevention,’ ’’ Alderson said. “Not to say it’s not important, but ultimately in terms of priorities, it’s a lit- tle less important. What really is important on that side of the ball is pitching and our pitching has been lousy, and it’s partly because of injuries and it’s partly because of performance. … In terms of having a bias towards offense I think that will probably always exist with me.’’
Here’s where we differ. The Mets need better “D.’’
When you are built on pitching, you need defense.
He said deGrom will not be traded, a no-brainer.
“What do we do without Jake deGrom next year?” Alderson said. “This is not a tear-down situation, this is a what I believe is a sort of a pause button. We’re going to have a lot of free agents at the end of the year. A lot of payroll that will become avail- able. So we’re not looking to rebuild, we’re looking to make sure that we have the nucleus of a competitive team going into next year. … We don’t have that much [pitching] left.
“We’re at the point in the season where things would have to go exceedingly well for us to, realistically, change direction. Not surprisingly we’ll be open to talk to clubs about various possibilities.’’
Rosario and Dominic Smith will be up at some point. So the Mets will have cost savings at shortstop and first base next season.
As for everybody’s hero, Tim Tebow, he will not make a September appearance.
“I don’t foresee that kind of scenario, no,” the GM said. “By the way, his exit velocities continue to be very good.” Alderson smiled. Better defense, better pitching, not just on deGrom Night, would make Mets fans smile.