Trust is a currency in as short supply within the Mets’ fan base as any type of currency seems to be within the franchise’s ownership.
Which is why general manager Sandy Alderson’s entirely rational explanation on Thursday why the Mets had been quiet at the non-waiver trade deadline fell on ears that if not deaf, are tired of hearing, “Wait ’til next year or the one after that or the one after that.”
Alderson didn’t say that; not this time. Rather, the GM explained the decision-making process that created a quiet Thursday in Metville, even as baseball bombshells were detonated across the major league landscape that involved contenders and bottom-feeders alike.
“In order to potentially improve the club in some significant way as opposed to some incremental way, we would have had to have been prepared to deal some of our young pitching, and at this particular stage we’re not prepared to do that,” Alderson said during a post-deadline conference call with the media.
“At least in the deals that were presented or available to us, I actually think that if we’re going to trade some of our young prospects, that we’re probably better off doing that in the offseason.”
But, colleague Joel Sherman’s report last week that the Mets had informed Colorado management they want to be invited to the party when and if Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez go on the market aside, it remains to be seen whether the Wilpons actually will put their money where management’s mouth is this winter.
It is all but impossible to trust this ownership will cash the checks its front office writes, to mix a particular Metaphor. And when an ownership loses the trust of its fan base the way this Wilpon operation has here, both pre- and post-Madoff, you get a half-empty ballpark more than half the time and you get well-earned eye-rolls on another idle deadline day.
At least the Mets didn’t make a hope-and-a-prayer deal built on the flimsy premise of seeking a quick fix in the midst of what could well be a sixth straight losing season in a building process that has been anything but quick.
The Mets slipped back to five games under .500 with Friday night’s 5-1 defeat to the Giants in the opener of a four-game wraparound series in Queens, and now the Mets are nothing more than a rumor on the outskirts of a playoff race in which five teams stand between them and the second wild-card spot.
Boy, the Mets could have used another bat against Ryan Vogelsong, who twirled a two-hitter for his first career nine-inning complete game after having gone 1-6 with a 4.71 ERA and .302 BA against over his last nine starts. Boy, the Mets could have used a bat to support Lucas Duda, whose eighth-inning home run (the other way) was his sixth in his last nine games.
But at what price?
There are legitimate reasons for the Mets to be as cautious in dealing any of their prized young arms as they have been dealing with Matt Harvey’s surgically repaired prized right one. There is a legitimate debate to be had about the wisdom of diluting strength on the mound to patch a weakness in the batter’s box, especially because the quality of young pitching pitch looks so darn impressive, the way it was when Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Gary Gentry and Jon Matlack (in the system) made Nolan Ryan expendable. Didn’t they?
“It’s really a fine line between trying to improve the team for the near future against giving up some of the young talent we have here,” David Wright said before a quiet 0-for-3. “I think you’ve got to get close to where you’re a piece or two away [in order to sacrifice the future].”
The Mets might not be more than a piece or two away when the calendar turns to winter. The Mets might not be more than one or two shrewd moves away, either.
The problem comes with trusting that the Wilpons will be willing or able to authorize them when the time comes. The problem with the Mets is that the void in trust in ownership is larger than the void in the middle of the order.