Palladino: Mets GM Alderson Deserves Praise, At Least For Now
By Ernie Palladino
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It's time to ease up on Sandy Alderson.
Not forever, mind you. With the Mets, there will always be a reason to rip ownership and its servants. Unfortunately, as general manager, the affable Alderson stands front and center by definition.
But for the next 15 minutes or so of this offseason, Alderson gets a respite from criticism. Maybe even praise. With one of his farm products in Jacob deGrom winning NL Rookie of the Year, and Alderson signing Rockies free-agent outfielder Michael Cuddyer to a back-loaded, two-year, $21 million contract ($8.5 million next year, $12.5 in 2016), he's had quite a week already.
Of course, if he doesn't find an upgrade from Ruben Tejada at short, the head shaking will begin again. And there's no telling the barrage he'll get if the 35-year-old Cuddyer turns into another Chris Young fiasco.
But for now, Alderson's review for the past couple of days looks solid.
DeGrom's hardware served not only to reward the pitcher for the 9-6 season he put together, but also to affirm Alderson's faith that the previously unknown prospect could at least fill in while the injured Dillon Gee recovered from a strained side-muscle in May. As it happened, he did much more than that. He pitched well almost from the start, even as he lost his first four decisions. By the time Gee came back from the DL July 9, deGrom had established himself as a regular part of the rotation. He finished his season with an 9-2 stretch, and wound up with a 2.69 ERA.
Of course, the gravitas of that move was generally overlooked as the fallout from another lost season accumulated. The Young signing was disastrous, and Alderson eventually released him. Young's later production with the Yanks only intensified the sting of the $7.25 million Alderson laid out for the struggling outfielder.
All that may be forgotten, however, if Cuddyer works out.
The right fielder and sometime first baseman represents a risk, no doubt. He'll be 36 come Opening Day, and he comes off a 2014 season in Colorado where shoulder and hamstring injuries limited the former All-Star to 49 games.
The suspicion that Cuddyer owes the 46 homers he hit with the Rockies from 2012-14 to the thin air at Coors Field could also follow Alderson. It's easy to be blinded by stadium-inflated stats. But Cuddyer's numbers away from Coors were plenty solid. Of the 10 homers he hit last year, four came on the road. In his three years with the Rockies, the NL's batting leader of 2013 (.331) hit .329 at Coors and .286 away from it.
Cuddyer doesn't just pull the ball, either. Alderson signed a right-handed bat who has hit for average and for power, and one who can occasionally exploit Citi Field's new, shorter dimensions in right field.
Throw him smack in the middle of the lineup among Daniel Murphy, David Wright, Travis d'Arnaud, Curtis Granderson and Lucas Duda, and at least on paper the lineup looks much different than the one that recorded a 25th-ranked .226 BA with runners in scoring position.
As always, these are the Mets. There is always a chance that Cuddyer's injury history could rise up again, or that Father Time will knock him and his power and his .347 lifetime on-base percentage right off the table. Alderson will take much heat for that.
But for now, he looks awfully good. He's had a nice week so far. The work of the offseason isn't done yet, of course. The GM still needs to find a shortstop, and that will probably cost him one or two of his pitchers on the trade market.
That will be a whole other discussion.
Let's just let Alderson enjoy the peace and quiet and, perhaps, the subtle applause of his otherwise frustrated constituency.
At least for the next 15 minutes.
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