As I was wearing my new Mets hat last night (thanks for the great present, Megan!), my dad reminded me that it was less than a month before pitchers and catchers report to spring training. Normally just that thought would get me ultra-excited. I mean, in Spring Training, all 30 teams believe that they can win the World Series. Regardless of what happened the year before, hope springs eternal. This year seems a little different though. While I am always excited to have the Mets back, the truth is that the 2011 season seems over before it has even started. It's a weird position to be in because even after the terrible collapses of 2007 and 2008, the front office went out and spent money. Even in the worst of times, we still believed.
This offseason has been one like none other. We finally fired Minaya and brought in a GM who I described as a "man with vision" and a "man with a plan." We are starting to see what his plan is and it consists of remaining fiscally responsible and not taking on bad, long-term contracts. He is clearly trying to build towards 2012 when a lot of the contracts (Castillo, K-Rod, Beltran) come off the books. In the meantime, the team clearly does have a budget and with so much money already invested in current players, he has maybe $5-$8 million to spend this offseason.
For a franchise that has come accustomed to spending money, working on a budget is a weird thing for me to get used to. Don't get me wrong- I have been asking the team to stop with the big contracts and to rebuild. In theory that seemed like the right thing to do, but in reality it is really, really strange when Ronny Paulino, DJ Carrasco, Taylor Buchholz and Chris Capuano are your only offseason signings.
Again, I'm not flip-flopping on this one - I believe that Alderson is doing the right thing. I'm just saying that it is a new feeling that I have to get used to. And you know what? I am starting to talk myself into his signings. They may not be Carl Crawford or Cliff Lee, but they fill some holes on this team. Carrasco, Buchholz and Capuano all can be quality arms that we can use in a variety of ways (ie - short relief, long relief, starting rotation, spot starts). The latter two are coming off of elbow-injuries but that worries me less than had they been coming off of shoulder injuries (hello, Kelvin Escobar!). I think they all have tremendous upside with only a little risk. Paulino is nothing more than a back-up catcher, but a good one at that. And not mentioned above was their trade for middle infielder Chin-lung Hu, who has been described as a fabulous fielder with little pop. He may not be the next Jose Reyes, but at the very least if we lose Reyes for awhile, he should be able to step in and help this team.
Alderson has somehow gotten 4 signings out of the limited budget and appears to have one last move to make. Whether it's Chris Young, Jeff Francis, Brad Penny, Freddy Garcia or Jeremy Bonderman, it is apparent that he wants another arm for the rotation - preferably a guy who is, for whatever reason, coming off a down year and will be willing to sign an incentive laden deal. All of the above fit the bill, yet the one I would be most excited about is Francis, who I see as a perfect 5th starter. He may not be a household name, but he is only 3 years removed from a 17 win season. While he may have a high career WHIP (1.43) moving from Colorado to CitiField alone should help bring down his ERA (not to mention home runs against).
For now, this is what Mets fan have to be excited about: a new organizational philosophy, a new man on the bench and a few bargain basement free agents (and of course for the healthy return of Beltran, Reyes, K-Rod, Santana and Maine). It won't be until we are clearly out of the NL East race in June, however, that Alderson will make his big time moves. At that time, when the team is completely blown up, we will really buy into the new 2011 motto: Wait til 2012!
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