Mets' Sandy Alderson To Decide On Luis Rojas, Syndergaard, Conforto After Season
With the 2021 regular season coming to a close, Mets team president Sandy Alderson will have some important upcoming decisions to make in the near future prior to the hiring of the new president of baseball operations.
First, Alderson has to determine whether Luis Rojas, whose contract is set to expire after the season, will be retained as the Mets' manager.
"Decisions on the manager and coaches will be made after the season," Alderson told reporters on Wednesday. "My hope is as soon after the season as possible."
Although this move seems like it should be reliant on what the new POBO wants to do, Alderson cited the offseason calendar for the reason this decision must be made beforehand.
He also believes this candidate will not want to have to come in and address these infrastructure tasks right away either.
And the same thing goes for whether or not the Mets are going to extend the one-year qualifying offer to Noah Syndergaard and Michael Conforto.
According to Alderson, these decisions will also be made sometime in October, before the Mets can take action on them following the conclusion of the World Series.
“Michael Conforto has been a stalwart for us for many years…We think very highly of Michael…Obviously, Michael has not had the year he would have liked, but his career speaks for itself," said Alderson.
President of Baseball Ops Search
On an additional note, Alderson confirmed the Mets have yet to begin their search for a president of baseball operations.
However, they are looking to hand the reigns over to a strong leader that's going to be invested in the team long-term.
If this individual will be Theo Epstein, who has already been rumored to be on the Mets' current short-list of candidates, Alderson plead the Fifth due to not wanting to use specific names.
Alderson also refused to say whether they will be looking for someone with prior and extensive experience as a POBO.
As far as what Alderson's involvement in the baseball side might look like once they make this hire, he said that's up to whoever they bring in to decide.
Alderson is expected to revert back to his role as team president, with a larger focus on business operations. However, he could still be somewhat involved in baseball meetings.
Last year, Steve Cohen and Alderson failed to fill the POBO role due to being denied permission to interview several candidates they were targeting.
Alderson said this is an area that could change this year due to evolved situations for certain candidates, or if the Mets have different targets in mind.
So what exactly are Alderson and the Mets selling to these prospective hires?
“I’m selling Steve Cohen, I’m selling New York, I’m selling the opportunity to realize on the potential of a storied but not yet iconic franchise. Theres a tremendous amount to offer someone coming to the Mets."
Another candidate who is reportedly on the Mets' radar is Alderson's former apprentice with the Oakland Athletics in front office guru Billy Beane.
But this topic was not addressed in today's conference.
Additional Offseason Plans
As far as the rest of the Mets' offseason plans are concerned, Alderson was asked if re-signing star infielder Javier Báez was realistic.
"Is it possible? Yes. Is it realistic? Maybe...But to say "No, there's absolutely no way that Javy Báez can be part of the Mets next year", no, I wouldn't be prepared to say that at this point," said Alderson.
Báez has arguably been the Mets' best player in the final two months of the season. In 44 games since being traded to New York, Báez is slashing .316/.387/.542 with a .929 OPS, nine home runs and 22 RBIs.
Entering play on Wednesday night, Báez is riding an 11-game hitting streak, along with a 20-game on-base streak.
Regardless of Alderson's rather murky answer about Báez, shortstop Francisco Lindor is extremely close with the 28-year-old and has the ear of team owner Steve Cohen.
Starting pitcher Marcus Stroman is also set to hit the open market following a strong season: 10-13, 3.02 ERA, MLB leading 33 starts.
Alderson credited Stroman for his durability in making every start this year, despite not throwing a single inning in 2020.
The soon-to-be 74-year-old said the Mets "value" Stroman and look forward to the possibility of talking with him about a new contract this offseason.
Even if Stroman stays in Queens, the Mets still have a number of question marks on their pitching staff next season due to the health concerns of Jacob deGrom [UCL sprain/partial tear in right elbow], along with Taijuan Walker and Carlos Carrasco's disappointing finishes.
"We want to have as deep of a roster of starting pitchers as we can have going into spring training," said Alderson.
Although it is not in the Mets' offseason plans, MLB and MLBPA are gearing up to enter talks for a new collective bargaining agreement this winter, but if things go south, it could bring on a work stoppage.
While Aldersons says this won't affect how they operate this offseason, a lockout would freeze all transactions, so they must be cognizant of this occurrence being a possibility down the road.
Zack Scott Situation
Mets acting general manager Zack Scott has been on administrative leave since September 2 after getting arrested for a DWI.
As Alderson said, there has been minimal contact with Scott since this occurred, and they will make a decision on his status once his court case comes to fruition in early-October.
What Went Wrong?
Alderson was asked to sum up what went wrong for the Mets in 2021, who became the first team in baseball history to hold onto first place for 103 days and then ultimately finish with a losing record.
According to Alderson, it was injuries, underperformance and running out of pitching depth that did the Mets in this year.
"To boil it all down, we didn't get there," said Alderson.
The Mets received a number of disappointing seasons from players who have been successful in the past. And one area these results stemmed from were due to a lack of plate discipline.
But Alderson feels that guys like Jeff McNeil and Dom Smith can bounce back moving forward with an improved approach offensively.
Alderson also said the current core of the team is "eroding" with players such as Syndergaard and Conforto set to become free agents.
And regarding whether the core of the Mets' current big-league group is good enough to take them to the next level, Alderson is currently unsure.
"We need to continue to grow our own players," he said.
Alderson believes the Mets have done a good job at drafting, developing and signing international free agents, but they still need to augment and be transactional in order to improve the current team.
“I’m optimistic we will end up in the right place," said Alderson. "How exactly we get there, and with whom, is up for grabs.”
