New York Mets

After 15 struggling years, the New York Mets are returning to the World Series, thanks in large part to their general manager Sandy Alderson.

By David Hong

What a great day for all New York Mets fans.

The New York Mets defeated the Chicago Cubs 8-3 in Game 4 to sweep the NLCS, win the National League Pennant, and advanced to the World Series for the first time since 2000.

However, as this season began, people weren’t picking this team to even go to the playoffs. Now, the Mets find themselves in the “big dance” with a chance to bring back the World Series championship. But, the journey getting there is a huge accomplishmen, in itself.

Much of the credit goes to the players, who performed admirably in the playoffs, especially NLCS MVP Daniel Murphy who set a playoff record by homering in six straight playoff games.

But the front office also deserves credit too especially the general manager Sandy Alderson.

In his Mets tenure, Alderson has been more criticized than praised especially because the Mets were unsuccessful before the 2015 season. He came under scrutiny largely for not being aggressive in terms of acquiring free agents, not spending a lot like other big market teams do, and making the Mets more of a small market team with a payroll under $100 million.

But, Alderson has done well in building the team around their farm system, and hiring good scouts to develop minor league players.

He has done a phenomenal job keeping his key minor leaguers, instead of trading them away for expensive players past their primes. It might’ve looked bad in the present, but presently it has payed off. You don’t have to look far for an example of this successful managing, as this year will attest.

Other than Bartolo Colon, the Mets starters are all home grown, starting with Jon Niese, Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, and Steven Matz; and dominant closer Jeurys Familia.

And, then the hitting too with Wilmer Flores, Juan Lagares, Lucas Duda, Travis d’Arnaud.

All of them are under 30, and they’re not even in their primes yet.

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Alderson also deserves credit for the great trades he made in acquiring Zack Wheeler from the San Francisco Giants for Carlos Beltran. Even though Wheeler wasn’t available at all this season due to Tommy John surgery, he will be back next year and form an even more dominant rotation.

Then, maybe Alderson’s best trade at present: R.A. Dickey to the Toronto Blue Jays for Travis d’Arnaud and Noah Syndergaard.

Even though Dickey was a 20-game winner and a Cy Young Award winner, Alderson knew Dickey’s value couldn’t have been higher. He was able to get two great minor leaguers in return. And look how they panned out. Syndergaard has developed into already one of the up and coming aces, and is becoming one of this postseason’s dominant pitchers. And d’Arnaud has developed into a solid hitter with some power.

And finally when Alderson had to make deals in midseason, he came through not only acquiring pieces but the right ones.

Starting with Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson from the Atlanta Braves, both players provided depth for the Mets. The acquisition of Tyler Clippard has provided help in the bullpen.

And last but not least, the biggest splash of all: trading for Yoenis Cespedes from the Detroit Tigers.

Cespedes jump started the Mets offense in the second half of this season, which had been porous before his arrival.

Alderson definitely deserves his fair share of the credit. His approach in developing through the farm system, not only sets the Mets up for present success, but also in years to come.

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Other than God, sports are my biggest love. My teams are the Mets, Knicks, NY Giants, NY Rangers and St Johns basketball (St. John's alumni). I especially love the Mets like crazy, more than any other team and seeing them win the World Series would be a dream come true and definitely the best sports moment. The Knicks are a close second. I also like to write, so combine that with my passion for sports equals a perfect scenario, I would love to do sports writing long term. If not that, then probably sports broadcasting, cause I love to talk sports as well. In addition to writing for ESNY, I'm also currently writing for Metsmerizedonline.