{"id":862,"date":"2010-12-06T09:01:26","date_gmt":"2010-12-06T13:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/?p=862"},"modified":"2010-12-06T00:29:58","modified_gmt":"2010-12-06T04:29:58","slug":"sandy-aldersons-first-mets-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/2010\/12\/06\/sandy-aldersons-first-mets-test\/","title":{"rendered":"Sandy Alderson’s First Mets Test"},"content":{"rendered":"
Sandy Alderson has arrived at the baseball winter meetings, and with it comes his first real test as Mets GM. So far the only thing he\u2019s done this year is talk and deal with some expiring contracts and options. \u00a0With most of that out of the way it\u2019s time to start building the team for 2011, and he\u2019s suggested he\u2019ll return from Orlando with some new players when the Winter Meetings are over. <\/span><\/div>\n

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Jeff Francis Climbing the Coors Field Steps<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Reports on what type of money and players Sandy will be looking for vary, but reading between the lines seems to suggest that he\u2019s looking for short contracts and isn\u2019t looking to overpay anyone, particularly if they\u2019re not a given to help out. So with the Mets needing at least two starting pitchers (Under the assumption that Santana won\u2019t be ready for Opening Day, Oliver Perez is not getting a spot, and the prospects will be seasoning in Buffalo) it looks like Sandy is looking for that pitcher shrouded in doubt, and possibly coming off an njury, to bring in. \u00a0They\u2019ve already been linked to Chris Young and Jeff Francis, so it does appear Sandy is on the right track. <\/span><\/p>\n

Based on what\u2019s leaked this coming week, who the Mets are linked to, who Sandy talks to and who he signs to be a New York Met next year will be the first thing we really get to judge our new general manager on. \u00a0First impressions are pretty important and Mets fans are likely to be peeved if the guy Alderson brings back is someone like Bruce Chen. \u00a0Scrolling through the free agent list does turn up some interesting names with various degrees of set-backs, and it\u2019ll be interesting to see who the Mets feel can contribute in the future. <\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the nature of the fans to overreact to a signing Alderson may or may not make during the Winter Meetings, what is important is that it contributes to winning. \u00a0Many of the same people that wanted Omar Minaya fired on the spot for giving a minor league deal to R.A. Dickey are now talking about giving Dickey an extension. Hopefully Sandy takes a good hard look at what\u2019s available, opens a dialogue with a half dozen different agents, and sets the stage for the Mets to have an excellent rotation, and team, in 2011. \u00a0I\u2019m looking forward to seeing what happens.<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sandy Alderson has arrived at the baseball winter meetings, and with it comes his first real test as Mets GM. So far the only thing he\u2019s done this year is talk and deal with some expiring contracts and options. \u00a0With most of that out of the way it\u2019s time to start building the team for … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Sandy Alderson’s First Mets Test”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1133,19,3,261],"tags":[2988,2968,1235,1233,1234,2964,1172,14,32,1231,1059,1232,1184,867],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":863,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862\/revisions\/863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}