Deep Thoughts With Sandy Alderson

Earlier today, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson appeared on WFAN, talking to Mike Francesa on the state of the team.  He regurgitated stuff we already knew (Scott Hairston is Plan B in the outfield), some things we didn't want to know (Brian Wilson left his velocity in San Francisco), and apparently has a fever, and the only prescription is more Cowgill (as in Collin Cowgill).

He also revealed three little nuggets that I'd like to chew on for a moment, if I may.

Like a master chess player, Sandy Alderson is always contemplating his next move.

Zack Wheeler will more than likely start the season at AAA-Las Vegas.  However, if the Mets can't acquire a starting pitcher to join Johan Santana, Jonathon Niese, Dillon Gee and Matt Harvey in the rotation, and if the trio of Jeremy Hefner, Jeurys Familia and Jenrry Mejia fail to impress in spring training, then it wouldn't be out of the question for the team to consider having Wheeler on the Opening Day roster.

Alderson also revealed a very interesting tidbit about catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud. Apparently, prior to trading R.A. Dickey to Toronto, Alderson tried to swing a deal with another unnamed team. The Mets' general manager was asking for two top prospects in return for the Cy Young Award winner, but was turned down. However, after Alderson acquired d'Arnaud from the Blue Jays, the same team that wouldn't send their two prospects to the Mets for Dickey, asked if the Mets would be interested in those same prospects for d'Arnaud, to which Alderson told them "d'Ar-NO!"

Finally, Alderson stated that Matt Harvey would not have an innings limit imposed upon him in 2013. Last year, Harvey was two outs short of pitching 170 innings between AAA-Buffalo and the Mets before he was shut down for the season. Alderson admitted that the reason why Harvey was shut down before season's end in 2012 was because he had advanced so rapidly, moving through the Mets' minor league system in less than two years. Harvey is expected to remain in the Mets' rotation throughout the entire 2013 campaign and as a result, will not need to have his innings scaled back. If he pitches well enough to throw 200 innings, then he will throw 200 innings.

Regarding Zack Wheeler, I would rather he pitch part of the season at the Triple-A level before being called up to New York. Harvey made 20 starts at AAA-Buffalo before making a successful transition to the big leagues.  Wheeler has already made six starts in Triple-A.  That's not a large enough sample for the Mets to say he's ready to face hitters at the major league level. However, since he does have some Triple-A experience, he should receive his first promotion to the majors before the All-Star Break, assuming he continues to progress at Las Vegas.

The Travis d'Arnaud news was impressive. Clearly, the unnamed team (aren't they all unnamed when news like this surfaces?) thought so highly of d'Arnaud that they'd rather have him than the reigning Cy Young Award winner. Alderson must have loved rejecting their offer after they turned their noses up at his.

The one topic that caught my attention more than anything else (other than Francesa's constant interruptions) was the news that Matt Harvey will not be on an innings limit, to which I say "it's about ding-dong time!"

There will be no summer vacation for Matt Harvey this year. Just lots and lots of innings.

Every highly-touted young pitcher coming up to the big leagues seems to have an innings limit these days. Stephen Strasburg was not allowed to pitch more than 160 innings in 2012 and it might have cost the Washington Nationals a chance to play in the NLCS. Granted, Strasburg was coming off Tommy John surgery, but that was in 2010. He made a total of 11 starts in 2011 (six rehab, five at the major league level) and was deemed healthy at the start of 2012. Much closer to home, the Yankees came up with "Joba Rules" for their can't-miss pitching prospect, Joba Chamberlain, during his first few years in the majors.  Chamberlain has rewarded his team with various injuries and a 4.43 ERA in 154 games since 2009.

When Dwight Gooden broke camp with the Mets in 1984, he was just a teenager. But he still managed to throw 218 innings during his Rookie of the Year campaign and followed that up with two seasons of 250+ innings pitched. Injuries didn't contribute to his downfall in 1987. Drugs did. Prior to his first stint in rehab, Gooden was 58-19 with a 2.28 ERA. More importantly, he didn't spend a single day on the disabled list from 1984 to 1986. Although he was still only 21 after he had completed his third major league season in 1986, he had already proven to the team and the rest of the league that he didn't need to have his innings curtailed.

Matt Harvey will be 24 by Opening Day. He has already tossed over 300 innings of professional baseball. He's not in diapers, so the team shouldn't treat him like he is. Harvey is ready to bust out in a major way in 2013, and the Mets are right not to put any restrictions on him.

Rome wasn't built in a day. The powerhouse Mets of the '80s weren't built in a year. The same can be said for the current incarnation of the Mets.

Sandy Alderson has a plan. That plan includes the continued development of Matt Harvey, Travis d'Arnaud and Zack Wheeler. (I haven't forgotten about Noah Syndergaard. Neither has Sandy.)  It takes time to put together a well-crafted machine. And Sandy Alderson is doing his best to put all the pieces together so that they can run smoothly and effectively for many years to come.

Mike Francesa And The Case of Roberto Alomar vs. Craig Biggio

Earlier this afternoon on WFAN, Mike Francesa was talking about the Hall of Fame vote when a caller asked him about his opinion on Craig Biggio's chances to get into Cooperstown now that Roberto Alomar was elected. To my surprise (and the caller as well), Francesa said that Biggio should not be elected into the Hall of Fame.

The caller vociferously disagreed with Francesa's statement that Alomar was superior to Biggio in every way, leading Mike to huff and puff and blow the caller's opinion down.

Between every other sentence ending with "Alomar hit 20-something points higher than Biggio" (despite the fact that Robbie's career batting average was .300 as opposed to Biggio's .281, a difference of 19 points on every planet not inhabited by Francesa), Francesa went on to toss random stats on why Alomar was far better than Biggio and why Biggio is not a Hall of Famer. He said:

• Alomar won 10 Gold Glove Awards to Biggio's four.
• Alomar made 12 All-Star teams to Biggio's seven.
• In Alomar's best season, he drove in 120 runs; Biggio's career-high was 88.
• Alomar hit .313 in 58 postseason games; Biggio hit .234 in 40 playoff games.

Okay, I'll give Francesa the benefit of the doubt on the last comparison. Alomar was a better postseason player than Biggio. As a result, his teams were better. Alomar won two World Series and played in the League Championship Series five times. Biggio, on the other hand, didn't even make it to the NLCS until his 17th season in the majors. Overall, he appeared in two League Championship Series and one World Series (losing to the White Sox in 2005).

But the caller was not trying to argue that Biggio was better than Alomar. Rather, he was merely attempting to say that Biggio should join Alomar in the Hall of Fame when he becomes eligible to do so in 2013.

All Francesa did was run down the list of categories that Alomar was better in. Not once did he look at the stats that Biggio was better than Alomar in. In addition, he made no consideration of certain variables that would bring down Biggio's numbers.

For example, when Francesa mentioned that Alomar drove in 120 runs in his best season (1999), he did not say that Robbie was Cleveland's #3 hitter that year (149 starts in the three-hole). The year Biggio drove in 88 runs (1998), he was the Astros' leadoff hitter in 155 games. Many hitters drive in 120 runs or more hitting third in the batting order. Not too many hitters can drive in as many as 88 runs batting leadoff. In addition, Biggio was hitting directly behind the pitcher for most of his career, while Alomar played the majority of his career in the American League, where everyday players bat in the ninth spot.

Craig Biggio played in 2,850 games over his major league career. He was the Astros' leadoff hitter 1,564 times and their #2 hitter 754 times. That's over 2,300 games batting in a spot in the order where you're not expected to be an RBI guy. Yet Biggio found a way to drive in 1,175 runs over his major league career, which Francesa failed to mention was MORE THAN the 1,134 runs Roberto Alomar drove in over his career. Oh yeah, both Alomar and Biggio started their careers in 1988 so they perfectly overlapped each other.



What else did Francesa overlook while he was pounding his chest over Alomar's superiority to Biggio? Let's consider these five items:

1) Biggio scored 1,844 runs in his career to Alomar's 1,508. Only 12 men in baseball history have scored more runs than Biggio. All of them are in the Hall of Fame except for Pete Rose, who is ineligible for Hall of Fame consideration. By contrast, Johnny Damon has scored more runs (1,564) than Roberto Alomar and I don't think the Hall is going to be calling Damon five years after he retires.

2) Craig Biggio hit 668 doubles in his career, while Alomar hit 504. It is true that Alomar is one of only 51 men to ever surpass the 500 double plateau, but Biggio's total is fifth on the all-time list, surpassed only by Tris Speaker, Pete Rose, Stan Musial and Ty Cobb. If they sound like Hall of Famers, that's because they are (except for the man who liked the horsetrack a little too much).

3) Biggio hit 291 HR as opposed to Alomar's 210. Whereas Alomar only had three seasons of 20+ HR, Biggio produced eight such seasons. In fact, Biggio had as many 20+ HR seasons after his 38th birthday (three) as Alomar had in his entire career.

4) For as great a hitter as Alomar was, he only won four Silver Slugger Awards over his career. Biggio did him one better by winning five. Maybe Biggio's extra Silver Slugger Award had something to do with the fact that he picked up over 1,000 extra-base hits over his career (1,014 to be exact) compared to Alomar's 794.

5) Alomar's career fizzled out after he was 33. Once he turned 33, he only hit .262, with 58 doubles, 20 HR, 116 RBI, 167 runs scored and 28 stolen bases. After Biggio turned 33, he hit .266, but had 279 doubles, 139 HR, 469 RBI, 724 runs scored and 68 stolen bases. Biggio actually started driving the ball more as an elder statesman than as a spry youngster.


Now let's stop comparing the two and just focus on Biggio. Tell me these numbers aren't Hall of Fame-worthy...

.281 batting average, 1,844 runs scored, 414 stolen bases, 668 doubles, 55 triples, 291 HR, 1,175 RBI (mostly as a leadoff hitter, which by the way, was the position in the order Rickey Henderson batted out of. Henderson had 1,115 RBI despite the fact that he played five more seasons than Craig Biggio.)

I feel like I'm forgetting something. Something's missing up there that would shut Mike Francesa up regarding his anti-Craig Biggio shpiel. Ah, yes. Now I remember. Come closer to your screen so that you can't miss it.

CRAIG BIGGIO HAD 3,060 HITS!!

The last time I checked, if you had 3,000 hits, you were going to the Hall of Fame, assuming that you weren't on the permanently banned list (you're such a dummy, Pete Rose) or tested positive for steroids. (Don't point your finger at me, Rafael Palmeiro. You know I'm talking to you.)


Alomar didn't make it to 3,000 hits, calling it a career after picking up 2,724 safeties. Even if Mike Francesa ignored all of the other statistics, surely the 3,000+ hits for a non-gambling, non-PED using Biggio would have been enough to make him change his mind on his Hall of Fame candidacy.

But alas, we're talking about Mike Francesa here. Whatever he says is gospel. Who are we to disagree with him? He's the one with the radio show. We're just little ol' sports fans.

Be thankful he's not in charge of the Hall of Fame Committee. If he was, Craig Biggio would have to pay his way to Cooperstown to see all the players he should be enshrined with.