The big news out of Mets team president Sandy Alderson’s media session on Tuesday was the news that Jacob deGrom’s elbow issue was, in fact, a partially torn UCL (or “sprain” as Sandy called it).
However, the interim acting GM was also asked about the situation of actual acting GM Zack Scott, who is on administrative leave after being arrested for DWI last week, and he offered up perhaps the longest “no comment” one could ask for.
"We were all caught by surprise. Very unfortunate and there’s not a lot I can say beyond the statements that we’ve previously made. It’s a criminal case at this point, and until that’s resolved their really won’t be any further comment from us or anyone else in the organization,” Alderson said. “As long as this is a proceeding that is unresolved, we really have to take a step back and make sure that we're not interfering with the process. So to this point we have not done any fact gathering. He has a hearing coming up, as I understand it, in October, and if it’s resolved at that time or perhaps before or after, whenever that resolution takes place, then we’ll become more involved."
Scott’s absence means Alderson is, ostensibly, the GM who will decide what roster moves the Mets make down the stretch, a role that’s not unfamiliar but is tenuous in part to him.
“It’s only been a week or so and the fortunate thing is that we’re past the trade deadline and really what we’re talking about is managing the current roster, watching the waiver wire, and where there are significant issues and if they relate to 2022,” Alderson said. “We do have some decisions we have to make going into ’22. Not just in terms of individual players, but also just a general approach to 2022.”
Alderson was expected to be more involved in the business side of running the Mets when he was rehired by Steve Cohen when Cohen assumed ownership of the team, but diving back into the baseball side means he’s focused on that while delegating his responsibilities elsewhere.
"It’s an important period of time, but in terms of making the train run on time, it’s not a burden. Now, I’m spending more time on the baseball side and delegating more on the business side,” Alderson said. “But, just as in November, the important thing is to be able to stay up with the baseball calendar, make sure we’re not falling behind. So I think that’s true as well now."
Listen to New York sports talk now on Audacy and shop the latest Mets team gear!
Alderson said that “no one in the front office has had to take on more responsibility” in the wake of Scott’s leave, intimating that he simply slid right into Scott’s seat – which, he noted, was easier due in part to the way Scott conducted business.
“Zack was very collaborative in his approach. They were all involved, they continue to be involved, and I expect that they’re having as much interaction with me, and I hope they are, as they had with Zack,” Alderson said. “I just expect them to continue what they’ve done. There’s no question that when something like this happens there’s disruption. I mean, it’s unexpected, but they’ve all responded really well, just like the team has responded, I think, over the last week."
Owner Steve Cohen has reacted as well as could be expected, too.
"I think he understands the ups and downs of a season. I think he understands how perhaps unusual this season has been, but I don’t think it’s deterred him from his enjoyment of the team,” Alderson said. “And look, it’s an experience for him just like it’s an experience for the rest of us. I’ve been around a long time and I don’t think I’ve ever been through a year like this. So we all learn something whether we’ve been around for a year or longer."
Related
All that said, though, if Scott for some reason doesn’t return, whomever succeeds him will be the fourth general manager or acting GM, not counting Alderson, in Cohen’s brief tenure as owner. And, it’s possible that someone will be brought into the fold in a President of Baseball Operations role, which was ideally the Mets’ plan last year before they decided to just bring in a GM.
Alderson said the Mets will “look at all of our options and we want to strengthen the leadership on the baseball side,” but he was non-committal about his future role.
"I work for Steve, and as I’ve said, I’m not going to do this forever, but as long as I’m needed, I’ll be here,” he said. “I haven’t talked to Steve about any of that. Probably at some point we should review the year, and I’m sure he’ll tell me what his impressions are and so forth, so yeah, I expect that to happen at some point.”
Related
And the same went for Luis Rojas, who was thrust into the Mets’ managerial role quickly after Carlos Beltran stepped down, and has led the team to a .500 season so far in a year with heavy expectations.
"I think that’s a decision that will be made at the end of the year or thereafter. I look at the first half of the season, and I think Luis did an exceptional job keeping this team afloat in spite of all the injuries and in some cases underperformance,” Alderson said. “Not surprisingly in some minds, we hit a rough stretch against some good teams, but we’ve rebounded form that. So I think that the credit for that resides among the players, and I think to some extent it resides within the coaching staff as well. We’ll see what happens and we’ll make a decision at the end of the season."
But can the Mets count on Alderson to make the right moves, given his last three major hires – Scott, former GM Jared Porter, and manager Mickey Callaway years ago – all ended up out of the game?
"Well, it’s incredibly unfortunate and I’m personally chagrined by the whole thing, but to a large extent they’re unrelated, each one of them,” Alderson said. “I’m not sure that it points to a single flaw in our hiring process, but it’s obviously caused us to take a hard look at it, which we continue to do. So, each one of those cases was a little bit different."
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
Follow WFAN on Social Media
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch