Alderson adept at covering all the bases

MILWAUKEE

Fred Wilpon entered the Pfister Hotel's lobby at 11:15 a.m. Wednesday, smiled and shook hands with a few people in his immediate proximity and then turned on his internal "Mute" button.

"You know I have nothing to say, anyway," Wilpon told a handful of reporters, adding that he had an 11:30 meeting to attend. Follow-up questions concerning Jose Reyes went unanswered as Wilpon strolled toward the elevator.

On one hand, most Mets fans probably would like to hear from their CEO at a time when the team is dramatically cutting payroll and is on the verge of losing arguably its most popular player in Reyes. You know. The whole accountability thing.

On the other hand, what are the odds that Wilpon's words would soothe any of the raw emotions currently out there? This is a guy who, the last time he spoke about Reyes, wound up dissing him with the "won't get Carl Crawford money" comment to The New Yorker.

No, the primary salesman of the transition is second-year general manager Sandy Alderson.

"I would say my job is to execute [the transition]," Alderson said Wednesday at the general managers' and owners' meetings. "And part of that execution is explaining it to people through all of you.

"At this point, it seems to be part of the job description, so . . . I'm happy with that."

He said the last part with a characteristically hearty chuckle. Alderson, who turns 64 next week, has seen and done so much in baseball -- in life, really -- that he often seems bemused by tackling the daily narratives by which we subsist.

But tackle he does, and he does so mostly with intelligence and a level of forthrightness that ranks pretty high on the baseball / honesty spectrum. And with actions, a year into his job, that provide us a decent view of his philosophy.

With Reyes' departure to Florida or somewhere else now more of an expectation than a fear, Alderson patiently has explained that sure, the Mets' finances are a factor, but that it might not be a good baseball decision to commit massive years and dollars to someone who is so injury-prone.

In going after second-tier relievers on the free-agent market -- Alderson met with the representatives for Frank Francisco, spoke to the agent for Matt Capps and even has a modicum of interest in bringing back Jason Isringhausen -- he pointed out that, while the late innings became a liability in 2011 after the Francisco Rodriguez trade, the Mets have more bullpen inventory now than they did a year ago.

In Tim Byrdak and Danny Herrera, for instance, the Mets have two lefty relievers on their 40-man roster. Which gives them two more than they had last year at this time.

The payroll cut from $140 million to about $100 million is "only one aspect of our direction going forward," Alderson said, and we get that. The Carlos Beltran trade brought back pitching prospect Zach Wheeler, and assuming Reyes departs, the Mets will get a pair of 2012 amateur draft picks as compensation. The Mets' 2011 draft, for which they exceeded slot recommendations on multiple players, received their best grade in many years.

It's Wilpon who authorized that additional expenditure, as well as the $4 million shipped with Beltran to San Francisco. And now it's Wilpon who needs the payroll slashed, in order to get his bank accounts back in order so he can keep the team.

Wilpon should be talking now. It's weak that he isn't. Then again, perhaps the Mets wouldn't be in this mess if they had been better, all along, at recognizing their own weaknesses.

Even though Alderson shouldn't be the face of the transition, at least he's pretty good at it.