Alderson's honesty is truly priceless
Sandy Alderson brings some integrity to a franchise that sorely needs it in light of the Wilpons' apparent financial and legal troubles. Credit: Christopher Pasatieri
Monday's conference call with Mets general manager Sandy Alderson was supposed to be about the two-year contract the team agreed to with R.A. Dickey.
It wasn't. It was about Alderson's response to the news that the Mets need a cash infusion.
Alderson Monday conceded that the situation brings "a certain level of ambiguity." That's a nice way to put it.
And it's one of the reasons the Mets hired Alderson - to be the public face of the franchise when bad things happen. To be the calming influence the organization sorely lacked through its recent wave of public-relations nightmares.
Listen to Alderson and you hear honesty. Integrity. Competence. Confidence.
He could have ducked the questions or hid behind the phrase "it's a legal matter" or flat-out lied. It's just not in his makeup.
He's been through muddled ownership situations before, in San Diego and Oakland. He's going to stick with his plan of trying to make the Mets a model organization from top to bottom, no matter who ends up owning it when all is said and done.
"The plan and the approach that I have taken over the last two months has not been affected at all by any other outside factors," he said.
That's easy to believe, because his plan for 2011 was to basically punt the season and look to next offseason to begin building a better major-league club.
Did Alderson fully understand how the Madoff affair would affect the Wilpons' wallets when he took the job? He said he didn't.
"From my standpoint, when I took this position, when I interviewed and took this position, I, of course, was aware of the pre-existing involvement of the Wilpons and the Mets with Bernie Madoff," he said. "I wasn't privy to all the detail, nor am I, or most of us at this point, privy to all that detail, and I wouldn't expect to be."
Alderson also was asked if recent events would have affected his decision to take on the Mets' mess. He hesitated before answering.
"You're right to say that some circumstances have changed," he said. "Would it have changed my position? I don't think so."
Remember, Alderson is in charge of the team on the field. Of getting talent. The biggest ingredient in that quest is not always money. The teams with the largest payrolls don't always make it to the World Series. The Texas Rangers made it there last season despite beginning the year in bankruptcy and getting sold through a drawn-out auction.
Back in May 2009, Rangers owner Tom Hicks announced he was looking for investors to join his ownership group. Sound familiar? He's now the former Rangers owner.
I asked a high-ranking baseball official Monday if he sees a parallel with the Rangers' and Mets' situations.
"That's a good parallel," he said. But "anyone who tells you they know what's going on is only speculating."
That includes Alderson. But today, Mets fans should be happy he's in the front office. At the moment, he's about the only hope they have.
