Alderson: Payroll is not an Amazin' problem
PORT ST. LUCIE — Sandy Alderson doesn’t consider the Mets’ payroll as relevant to the team’s chances of improving.
The Mets general manager on Thursday downplayed excerpts of a new biography about him that were released in which Alderson seemed frustrated by financial restraints he faced from team owner- ship, post Bernie Madoff.
According to capitaln e wyork. co m, which obtained excerpts of the book “Baseball Maverick” by Steve Kettmann the GM never asked questions about the effects of Madoff ’s Ponzi scheme on owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz before taking the job.
“Madoff wasn’t even a topic of conversation in my interview for the Mets job,” Alderson reportedly said in the book. “I didn’t raise it. Maybe I should have. The bottom line is, I would have taken the job anyway. It just added to the challenge.”
On Thursday, Alderson attempted to clarify the comment.
“I have never talked about the payroll as an unfortunate l i mitation to us,” he said. “I haven’t talked about it recently. I haven’t talked about it in the past and I don’t intend to. It’s not relevant to me. The last four years is a story about putting the franchise back into a competitive situation on the f ield with good players, and I think we’re on the cusp of doing that.”
The Mets finished 2014 with an $83 million payroll and may open this season at $100 million, by Alderson’s math.
“It’s not always about spending money, and I think that is the approach we have taken the last several years, not just last year or even this year,” Alderson said. “Our payroll is at $100 million right now, which is up 20 percent from what it was last year. I don’t think anybody has any complaints at all from our end.”
In his second start of the Grapefruit League season, Jacob deGrom pitched three innings and allowed two earned runs on three hits with five strikeouts and one walk against the Nationals.
DeGrom said his curveball and slider were the emphasis after focusing on his fastball and changeup in his previous start.