February 8, 2021: Off the Sandman Train
My disappoint can be best described as de maximis.
To say Sandy Alderson had plausable deniability when the Mets brought back Jose Reyes would be an understatement. Bringing back “The Spark”, a fan favorite, at a massive discount? Where could Fred Wilpon sign?
Remember that once the Rockies designated Reyes for assignment, right before his suspension for alleged domestic violence would conclude, it was reported the Mets were not interested in a reunion. A day or two later, SNY ran a Twitter poll during a game asking if the Mets should look into bringing Reyes back.
The Mets picked him up soon after.
My theory is someone from the front office leaked they weren’t interested, then Fred and/or Jeff Wilpon had a say, Alderson suggested the Twitter poll, and when the results came in…well shit. Despite the fact Reyes was not nearly the ballplayer he was the last time fans saw him in a Met uniform (otherwise sadly the Rockies would not have dropped him and ate millions), and the odds he only abused his wife the one time he got caught were astronomically low…ugh.
And they re-signed him twice after that.
Bauer signed with the Dodgers for a record AAV. The Mets suposedly offered more money. Bauer’s best season by far was the most recent one, and that was obviously an…ahem, Red Mirage. He also harasses women online. After Jared Porter and Mickey Callaway, Alderson and Steven Cohen still went after Bauer. With the knowledge Bauer’s success last year was done using foreign substances against the two weakest divisions in MLB, Alderson and Cohen still went after the Holden Caulfield of baseball. (If Cohen didn’t care about Bauer’s off the field reputation, Alderson very easily could have convinced Cohen that Bauer wasn’t worth $40 million a year based off of his 2020 performance.)
I feel as if Sandy Alderson in 2021 became your average 73-year old cis white man in front of our eyes and hearts.
Almost too obvious prediction
Mets will beat the Dodgers in the NLCS after Bauer tweets something pathetic, lighting a fire in his opponents. Revenge for the 88 NLCS when the Dodgers were supposedly motivated by David Cone writing that Dodger Jay Howell threw like a “high school pitcher.” Why the Dodgers needed motivation to advance the World Series is another story.
The Mets signed Albert Almora Jr.
Almora played for the Cubs the last five years. He’s likely to play the intended Juan Lagares*/Jake Marisnick late inning defensive replacement/occasional platoon partner with Brandon Nimmo role.
I asked Sara Sanchez, former Short Relief writer and Bleed Cubbie Blue scribe, about him.
I also hear he is a quality human and has excellent hair.
*Lagares signed with the Angels on Sunday.
JD Davis lost his arbitration case
He’ll make $2.1 million in 2021. Days after he made history as the first player to have his arbitration hearing over Zoom, he entered the record books yet again as the first player to lose an arbitration case heard over Zoom. The man is en fuego.
The bones are the skeletons' money
In our world, bones equal dollars
That’s why they’re coming out tonight
To get their bones from you
The skeletons will pull your hair
Up, but not out
All they want is another chance at life
They’ve never seen so much food as this
Underground there’s half as much food as this
And the worms are their money
The bones are their dollars
And it was also the night that the skeletons came to life
The bones are their money
So are the worms
They pull your hair up, but not out
To turn into a man and have another chance at life
But if they pull it out they turn to bones