Fired Mets hitting coach: GM Sandy Alderson hamstrung by ownership restrictions

Dave Hudgens was critical of Mets ownership after his exit from the team. (Eliot J. Schechter/Getty Images)

Dave Hudgens was fired as the Mets' hitting coach on Monday, and he spoke his mind about the team's struggles on Tuesday, saying general manager Sandy Alderson is hamstrung by ownership restrictions.

"If they want a winner in that town, then I would let the purse strings loose and let Sandy do what he wants to do," Hudgens told "The Michael Kay Show" on ESPN Radio in New York, according to ESPNNewYork.com's Adam Rubin. "I have no information. I'm just saying that I know what Sandy is capable of doing and I have great respect for him and what he's capable of doing. I know he'd put a winner in there."

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The Mets were 247-289 during Alderson's four seasons as GM entering Tuesday's game against the Pirates. They lost at least 85 games each of the first three seasons and were 22-28 entering Tuesday, last in the NL East.

The Mets' payroll is roughly $85 million this season, which is in the lowest third of the 30 major league teams, according to Rubin.

"Yeah, it's got to be frustrating," Hudgens said when asked about the fans' sentiment. "I would be frustrated, too, I'm sure."

When asked about Hudgens' assertion, Alderson said: "The short answer to that is no. Look, I take full responsibility for the results on the field with the payroll that we have and the choices that we've been able to make. Look, I expect whether we're paying a guy $10 million or $500,000, that if we choose to have him on the team, he's going to perform, and he's going to have to perform to an expectation that we have. It doesn't mean that we expect that every guy that we sign for $700,000 to have 30 saves. But we sign those players for a reason. We have expectations about what they can do. It doesn't always work out.

"The old adage you have to spend money to make money, I don't entirely believe that," Alderson added. "Does it raise the probabilities? Yeah, it probably raises the probabilities somewhat. But it doesn't ensure anything.

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