PORT ST. LUCIE — The 2013 season is Sandy Alderson’s final Mulligan.
This is the last year the Mets general manager gets to explain away a worsening major league product in the name of cleansing the old, building the new and waiting for money to drop from heaven — or at least from a Wilpon.
The patience extended the Alderson regime, in general, is greater than most in his position receive around here. Consider Brian Cashman’s Yankees have made the playoffs
14 of his 15 years as GM, including last season when they had the AL’s best record and actually won a playoff round.
Yet, if, say, my email were a barometer, you would think the Pittsburgh Pirates play in The Bronx.
Alderson took a 79-win team that got Omar Minaya fired and turned it into a 77-win team, then a 74-win team. And it would surprise few watching the Mets this spring if they won 73 or fewer in 2013.
Fine, it is a process. Alderson took over a disaster — little high-end talent in the majors or minors — that grew worse as the Madoff money went away from ownership. Disasters are not fixed in a day or a season or even two. Sacrifice has been necessary.
The Mets could have won more games in 2011 had Carlos Beltran and Francisco Rodriguez not been traded during the season. They probably would exceed 74 wins this year with R.A. Dickey.
But Alderson has stressed the long view. It is not about a few more wins now. It is about constructing a serial contender. So Beltran and Dickey were surrendered for Zack Wheeler and Travis d’Arnaud, changing the perception of the Mets’ farm system from a wasteland to a legitimate pipeline of talent.
“We recognize the impact falls disproportionately on the long term over the short term,” Alderson said of his philosophy. “And many Mets fans get it all. They understand what we are trying to do. That approach remains in effect.”
Indeed, Alderson has followed the right course in trying to find cornerstones while shunning the patchwork route that undermined Minaya: Attempting to plug one roster flaw while holes arose everywhere.
It is possible an ownership fearful of further disenchanting the fans prevented Alderson from trading Jose Reyes and David Wright, too, to deepen the pool of young, high-end, inexpensive options. But when Alderson was hired he was viewed as having the tools — gravitas, maturity, fortitude — to successfully navigate ownership issues.
The other element expected with Alderson was ingenuity — that he was one of the smart guys in the room. He was a pioneer in bringing Moneyball philosophies to the majors while with the A’s. Thus, the belief was that while restocking the system, Alderson’s creativity would find pieces at the margins to a) help short-term competitiveness, and b) be part of a brighter future.
But that hasn’t happened. In assessing this year’s bullpen, Alderson semi-joked that “it can’t be worse than last year.” But it isn’t like his evil twin assembled last year’s crew. Alderson took most of what little money the Mets allocated
and invested in Frank Francisco, Jon Rauch and Ramon Ramirez. Meanwhile, the analytical group at Tampa Bay rebuilt its bullpen into an elite group yet again both on the fly and shoestring.
Alderson has kidded about the lack of legitimate outfielders on this year’s team — he used the Manti Te’o story to suggest he found help on the Internet. But this isn’t Al Harazin who is giving us Marlon Byrd and Mike Baxter.
And, again, it is hard to ignore that Alderson’s Oakland protégé, Billy Beane, found Yoenis Cespedes in Cuba, Josh Reddick in a one-sided trade and Brandon Moss on the scrapheap. That trio hit 76 homers as Oakland won the AL West last year and is part of a bigger group of outfielder/DH types that made Collin Cowgill available to be part of that 2013 Mets outfield punchline.
Did Alderson want Michael Bourn and Justin Upton in the offseason to speed up contention? Yes. But front offices are judged by what they do, not what they want.
Therefore, can Alderson lead a front office that could land a free agent outfielder next offseason such as Jacoby Ellsbury, Shin-Soo Choo or Curtis Granderson? Fred Wilpon has proclaimed the Mets’ financial house sound and that Alderson can be bold in future markets. That is dubious. Nevertheless, with at least Johan Santana’s salary vanishing, the Mets could explore the best products.
Also, while protecting Wheeler and Matt Harvey, Alderson’s regime has inventoried enough desirable pitching depth — think Michael Fulmer, Luis Mateo, Cory Mazzoni, Rafael Montero, Hansel Robles, Noah Syndergaard and Domingo Tapia — that a few could be bunched if, for example, Colorado’s Carlos Gonzalez becomes next year’s Upton.
If the Mets’ 2014 lineup is built around, say, Wright, Ike Davis, d’Arnaud, Ellsbury and Gonzalez to back a burgeoning rotation, then the growing pains with Alderson will have been worthwhile. Remember, while Mets fans feel an elongated pain that began with the downhill plunge since 2006 NLCS Game 7, Alderson did not assume power until after the 2010 season.
Yet, though not responsible for all the heartache, Alderson cannot expect unlimited
tether to get this right. This feels like the last year his administration will be given a major league pass to expunge the bad, continue to sow the good.
“The most important item to improving the perception of progress is getting to a winning record,” Alderson said. “So, obviously, it is very important to us.”
joel.sherman@nypost.com