LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — This can’t really be the plan, right?
This offseason that the Mets have spent 36 months telling us is their moment of change, their U-turn back to respectability and more, isn’t really adding Curtis Granderson and thinking you’ll be so overjoyed you dial 718-507-TIXX?
Let’s be fair to the organization: It is not even two weeks into December. The Mets say they are not done. But they are hinting at being done on relevant moves. That somehow they looked at the price for Jhonny Peralta, all but fainted, decided they would do one big thing, swallowed hard and went to four years on Granderson and now they are going to bottom feed and, yep, enjoy Ruben Tejada at shortstop.
If this really is it — after all the buildup asking for patience to let the money of Johan Santana and Jason Bay go away — then this will be a breach with the fan base. The promise was stick with us, we have a big vision: Restock the farm, regain financial equilibrium and then step on the gas pedal to relevance and contention.
“Honoring the commitment is about making the effort and we are making the effort,” Sandy Alderson said shortly after a press conference Tuesday that made Granderson’s signing official. “This isn’t just about making moves to make moves. You have to make good ones.”
I am sorry. This is not about effort. It is about execution.
The obstacles to delivering the goods did not sneak up on the Mets. They knew three years ago — at the outset of this process — free-agent prices were going to almost certainly keep rising (along with the revenues in the game). They knew how unappetizing that would be.
Implicit in making the promise is you know you are going to hate the costs. If that is unacceptable: 1) don’t make the promises or 2) get out of the baseball business.
These are the prices to sit at this particular casino — you don’t get to set the minimum at the blackjack tables or the shortstop market. At some point, this organization is going to have to rediscover its inner New York Mets — emphasis on New York, and the presence of a team-owned TV network, a relatively new stadium and a loyal Northeast fan base. Heading toward another $85 million-ish payroll is — quite frankly — not honoring the commitment. It is being the San Diego Mets.
“I don’t want to create expectations or defeat expectations,” Alderson said. “We are making the efforts.”
I bet that is true and I also bet that if you have read this far and feel indignation, you feel it toward Wilpon ownership. Fine. I think there is financial worry and caution at the top after being burned by Santana, Bay and Madoff. But this is about Alderson, too. This front office tends to move slowly — a complaint waged regularly by other front offices — examining, scrutinizing, getting down to molecular levels on deals. You do that and you will talk yourself out of almost everything.
Also, no front office likes free agency and the constantly burgeoning costs, but as one NL executive who admires Alderson’s work product said, “These guys really hate free agency to start with and now the prices have gone beyond the wildest expectations.”
Again, totally true. But here are other truths: The Mets have been miserable five years running. They have had falling payrolls, lowered expectations. The hiring of Alderson was about a journey to now, and now is here, and here was about accepting the cost and flexing financial might.
We shouldn’t pooh-pooh Granderson. He is an above-average player coming to an organization that has had too few. But the Mets needed way more than one, especially with Matt Harvey lost for next year. Is Chris Young above average? Perhaps. But he wasn’t last season, and actually has trended the wrong way the past three.
Jeff Wilpon described that duo plus Juan Lagares as “a pretty substantial outfield.” But across town, the Yankees have redone their outfield since July with Alfonso Soriano, Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran. The Yankees indulged the overpay, what the Mets loathe. But they have a more substantial outfield.
So where do the Mets go next? They bad-mouthed Tejada being their shortstop not long ago. But then Peralta went for four years at $53 million to St. Louis — about double what the Mets budgeted for him — and Rafael Furcal’s medical reports became more worrisome. Alderson did not sound enthused about the best free-agent shortstop available, Stephen Drew, and the Indians did not sound enthused about what the Mets might offer for Asdrubal Cabrera.
Plus there is still a starter, some late-game relief and general depth to address. There is a lot of winter left, perhaps Alderson’s crew can find some deals. But after 36 months of promises this can’t be it on significance — Curtis Granderson and a healthy new year to you.