In one of my previous articles, “New York Mets and the Power of Belief: Will It Work For Sandy Alderson's Team”, I talked about the fact that Alderson and his crew firmly believe that they can make this organization into a winner, despite all of its internal and external issues. You would have to think so, otherwise they would not have taken the job.
However, there are five main questions at hand for Alderson, at least for this season. Don't worry. He does have the entire season to solve them.
1) Are Chris Young and Chris Capuano both ready? It's a risky move, bringing in two pitchers, when both are recovering from injuries and your ace is going to miss at least half the season. They will both be counted on at some point this season to produce. If they don't, it could be a long season for the bullpen, and remember, “Perpetual Pedro” Feliciano is not there to pick up the slack.
2) How much input will J.P. Ricciardi and Paul DePodesta have? These three men do comprise the super think tank that is now the Mets front office. Can they mesh well enough to get some good mileage in this regime?
3) If the lawsuit against the Wilpons goes south, will Alderson be forced to make any drastic moves? I would not anticipate it, but I'm sure the question will be out there, especially as the season goes on.
4) On the other side of it, if the Mets are a serious playoff contender, will Sandy have the flexibility to go for it? Again, you would think not, but depending on how desperately the Wilpons want to win, and sell tickets, that could quickly change.
5) Is Terry Collins the right man for the job? Ultimately, Alderson's tenure with the Mets will be heavily weighed by not only his player moves, but his choice of manager as well. He dug up Collins out of moth balls to run this team. That means either genius, or doofus—one of the two.
I'm sure that a lot of people have a lot of questions. After all, it would not be New York if there weren't. For Sandy Alderson, in year one of his reign as Mets general manager, he had better hope his almanac of baseball knowledge still works.
Otherwise, the media will not hesitate to make what looks to be a long year for the New York Mets even longer.
In addition to the New York Mets Audio Minute at Lexy, Korbid Thompson can be found on his blog at Extra Bases with Korbid Thompson, where you'll see five questions that Terry Collins needs to have answered, before spring training is over.
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