LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Sandy Alderson has been baseball’s Charlie Bucket, forced to live in poverty for three years while his classmates frivolously throw around money. This past week, Alderson finally happened upon a Golden Ticket.
Instead of visiting Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, however, Curtis Granderson and Bartolo Colon (who could be a plus-size Oompa Loompa) came to him and are sticking around.
For the first time in his four years as the Mets general manager, Alderson departed the Winter Meetings prosperous.
“Within the baseball department, morale is always pretty high,” Alderson said, when I asked him whether such high-impact moves lift the spirits of the front office. “… Hopefully, we’re moving in the right direction.”
They are, and while they seem unlikely to take on any more eight-figure contracts — of course, we thought the same before the Colon signing — the Mets have to keep moving away from the past as they move forward.
That means changing up first base, shortstop or both, and Ruben Tejada is far more likely than Ike Davis to be a Met in spring training. Which is the right call, too.
The Mets spent a good amount of time this week engaged in trade talks for Davis. They met twice with the Brewers and also engaged Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay. The Mets made clear to their potential shopping partners that they were focused on trading Davis. It wasn’t a matter of who among Davis, Lucas Duda or even Daniel Murphy would bring back the best return.
The Mets conveyed to some industry folks that they were close to trading Davis when the Colon deal surfaced, diverting their attention. Officials with Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay all disputed the notion they were on the cusp of acquiring Davis at any juncture.
It’s obvious Davis, whose terrible 2013 season probably puts him on track for a slight raise from $3.125 million to the $3.4 million neighborhood, generates deep excitement from no team at this point. These clubs have other options, most notably free-agent James Loney, who resurrected his career in 2013 with the Rays, and Texas’ Mitch Moreland, who has become superfluous in light of the Rangers’ acquisition of Prince Fielder. Loney might be too rich for the Rays, whose poor stadium situation leaves them forever coupon-clipping.
Clubs are intrigued by Davis’ ceiling and scared by both his swings (the streakiness) and his swing (the mechanics). It just doesn’t look realistic for the Mets to get a strong return on Davis. A bullpen piece could be as good as it gets.
That speaks to the buyer-friendly supply and demand of first basemen — the Mets have Duda ready to succeed Davis — and that takes us over to shortstop. The Mets have made clear their displeasure with Tejada, who registered a 2013 even worse than Davis’ and whose work ethic has come under question.
There just aren’t many shortstops out there, though. The Mets targeted Jhonny Peralta in free agency, meeting with him at the general managers’ meetings, only to fall well short as Peralta signed a four-year, $53 million deal with the Cardinals. Stephen Drew, the other prime free-agent shortstop, doesn’t intrigue the Mets enough for them to push the market the same way they did for Granderson and Colon.
“A high-end shortstop is more likely to come in a trade,” Alderson said.
It’s hard to figure out from whom, though. Cleveland’s Asdrubal Cabrera? The Indians, a contending team, are counting on him as their everyday shortstop and would need a significant return to blow up that plan. Texas’ Elvis Andrus? The Rangers, too, would want a lot back.
Colorado’s Troy Tulowitzki? Only in Mets fans’ dreams.
So with reality biting, it’s worth remembering Tejada is only 24 and not long ago was regarded as Jose Reyes’ successor, a commodity who could get on base and play reliable defense.
Even in the best-case scenario, Tejada isn’t great. But the Mets already have struck gold twice this winter. No longer the paupers of the baseball neighborhood, they just need to give away Davis and import some relievers to carry this positive vibe into spring training.