Mets franchise gets dose of reality

Sports and life have a lot of comparable situations and Tuesday the struggling New York Mets’ miserable season became secondary. Beloved baseball executive and Mets’ General manager Sandy Alderson announced he was stepping aside after his cancer returned in May. He broke the news to his team, which has lost seven straight and is 32-44 after starting 11-1, prior to Tuesday’s extra inning win. To say the team took the news hard is like saying Santa would be missed on Christmas. Many players broke down and team captain David Wright, who has battled his own injuries over the past two years, spoke with a cavalcade of reporters.
"When you get news with what Sandy is going through, it kind of puts everything into perspective," Wright said, according to MLB.com's Anthony DiComo. "And obviously you want to go out there and win baseball games, but when you're talking about—everybody in there, either a small part or a big part, is here because of Sandy."
When Alderson took over the Mets in 2010, the team was a MESS. He drafted, signed some free agents and made some great trades. He built the 2015 National League Champions. He made tough choices—Lucas Duda over Ike Davis, Wright over Reyes, R.A.Dickey trade—and hired Terry Collins. The team was fun, built the right way and appeared poised to win the third World Series in franchise history. Then a selfish me-first guy got in the way in the ninth inning of game five, and that dream was gone. Next season a one-game playoff pitching duel was ended by a homer from a guy who many major league executives could not pick out of a lineup. Since that game, NOTHING has gone right. And it defies logic. ANYTHING that could go wrong has. The roster has been riddled with injuries, hired-fired people, and wasted money. Now their leader is gone, and it stinks. A man who served in Vietnam had to step down. Welcome to the 2018 New York Mets.
This is not a pity party. If you told me Sandy Alderson would be okay, I would forfeit Mets’ wins for the next ten seasons. It is what it is. A terrible day for a terrible season. But this isn’t some dumb game where a team based on PITCHING gave up seven home runs. A good man who has done a good job structurally and foundation wise is sick and so is his team. And I am sick about that. Sandy Alderson built the Canseco-McGwire Oakland A’s. He gave Tony Larussa his second MLB manager job. He hired a burnt-out prospect to become an A’s scout. You might have heard of him. BILLY BEANE. He has done some incredible things. He turned the Mets around and leaves with both his health and the health of the franchise in shambles. Sports and Life. Neither is fair. Get well, Sandy. #LGM

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