Sandy Alderson says folks "should spend a little less time" focusing on the Mets' payroll. pic.twitter.com/yPvDSeVXbM
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) December 12, 2017
The Winter Meetings haven’t gone well for the New York Mets or general manager Sandy Alderson. That trend continued Tuesday.
Don’t you dare ask Sandy Alderson about the New York Mets payroll for 2018. Don’t. You. Dare. Because Sandy isn’t feeling too dandy when it comes to talking about the amount of money the team is willing to spend on the on-field product, as MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo caught on film Tuesday.
“Yeah, I would spend a little less time thinking about our payroll,” Alderson barked to a reporter who dared ask the question that, apparently, we aren’t allowed to ask—ever. “Um, we’re trying to put the best team on the field that we possibly can, we want to fill a number of different roles … um, for example, what has as big an impact as anything is the fact … um …will [Michael] Conforto be ready for the beginning of the season or won’t he be ready for the beginning of the season? Do we have to accommodate for a potential delay? How does that impact our payroll as much as the roster and playing time? Playing time early, playing time late so, uh, there are a lot of things we’re looking at and juggling right now.”
His rambling response wasn’t over.
“We’re thinking about where our team will be on Opening Day and thereafter, so, um, I know a lot of attention is paid to payroll, but we, um, uh, we had a pretty good payroll last year and um, um, it went down because of some trades and so forth but um, I expect we’ll have a healthy payroll this year. But we also want to make sure the team fits right from a roster standpoint this year.”
When asked whether there was a direct correlation between the team’s decision whether to spend or not and it’s on-field success (as they did after their run to the World Series in 2015), Alderson did his best to dance around the question.
“Well, um, you know, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that hey, if you do well you invest more. It’s not an equation that, uh, I’ve been given or, uh, that we necessarily even recognize or consider. So, uh, we’re trying to improve the team right now. It’s not about what the guy down the hall generating the revenue is doing.”
So, what did we learn, Mets fans?
The Mets don’t have a clue whether Conforto will be healthy. That’s fair. Nobody can be sure how his surgically repaired shoulder is going to react to baseball activities and live action until he’s back on the field.
More disheartening than Alderson revealing absolutely nothing was his delivery, which Mets fans can’t help but cringe at. He comes off as a bumbling buffoon, the ringmaster of a three-ring circus that has no animals, no high-flying trapeze artists, no one being fired out of a cannon.
All they’ve got are clowns. A whole bunch of clowns. And the whole act is starting to get, well, Krusty.
