Lots of interesting, funny, idiotic, and insightful things were said by the Mets—and about them—recently. Here are some of our favorites.
Alderson’s State of the Mets address begins with his trademark humor.
"My goal was not to win 74 games as we did last year. I don't recall specifically what I wrote down or had in mind." —Sandy Alderson [Mets.com]
We get it Sandy, I think we all understand the plan.
"But we're not there since we haven't even hit .500. On the other hand, we have had other issues to deal with. This is what I told the fans over the last three years when they asked about the plan, what we are trying to do: acquire and develop talent, create payroll flexibility and win as many games as possible without compromising one and two. So have we been successful in that regard? If you phrase it that way, we've definitely made progress. But now's the time. We've acquired more talent. We have more payroll flexibility. Now's the time to turn the corner and what allows us to turn the corner is eventually our young talent. We're just about at that juncture." —Sandy Alderson [Mets.com]
Again, I don’t know why you have to keep reiterating...
"I think we're much further along. We have many more young players and prospects. If you just look at the farm system, we're in much better shape than it was. We have eliminated a lot of burdensome, onerous contracts. We would've liked to have won more games over the last three years, but honestly our priority was improving our farm system, getting younger at the major-league level and more flexible payroll-wise." —Sandy Alderson [Mets.com]
…oh.
"I know the plan, but what is the goal?" —Matthew Cerrone [MetsBlog]
We’re all glad as well.
"Right now I’m in Port St. Lucie. I’m going through a regular spring-training arm-strengthening program. I figure I should be back throwing BP in two weeks. … Being away I realized how much I missed it. I have to continue to take better care of myself, but I’m really glad to be back." —Frank Viola [New York Post]
Got to admire his attitude.
"It’s just a lot of math." —Buddy Carlyle on his Type-1 Diabetes [ESPN]
Personally, I liked the team unity.
"[The umpires] scolded me. I took it like a man, like I always do. It’s not the first. It won’t be the last. [The players] just saw the replay on the board so they came off the field. They’re supposed to stay on the field. They’ve been out there so much they want to get off." —Terry Collins [ESPN]
In this era, probably better to choose a different word when talking about a player’s power
"That kind of juice got him to the big leagues." —Terry Collins on Duda’s home run against the Phillies [ESPN]
What doesn’t Jeff Francoeur love and thinks is fun? Walks, amirite?
"Say something happens. I’ve talked to my wife about it: I absolutely would give it a go, pitching, before I got out of baseball. Because one thing about me, I’ve always had one of the best arms in baseball, and it’s very accurate. I throw strikes. I’d love to. It would be fun." —Jeff Francoeur [New York Times]
It might have more to do with the lack of offers/money than the ball park.
"They've given David no help. They build a mammoth ballpark that isn't attractive to free agents. I hope he gets a chance to be on a contending team again." —Paul LoDuca [Wall Street Journal]
Always got to feel for a player that gets sent down with less than 3 years of experience, just think about how dramatically their paycheck changes.
"I was almost relieved a little bit because I needed some time to get right with my swing. Last year, being here and getting [220] at-bats really helped me. When I went up there, I was ready to play. Obviously I wasn’t thrilled to get sent down here, but I knew it was the right thing for me." —Josh Satin [Las Vegas Review-Journal]
Garbage goes in garbage can, makes sense.
"Ideally, for the long run, you never want to play 14-inning games, much less back to back." —David Wright [ESPN]
Is he talking about the players or the fans?
"There’s some tired bodies out there." —Terry Collins [ESPN]
And now your favorite former GM speaking about your favorite owners.
"Fred and Jeff desperately want to win and that part was never a question for me. There’s always this perceived notion when George Steinbrenner was alive that he always wanted to win more, but the Mets run their team as a business and they want to win. They are kind of caught in between right now of still giving young guys opportunities, while adding those veteran pieces that are necessary, too. They don’t blindly go after that without having a prudent business plan." —Steve Phillips [New York Post]
Yeah, you can locate all you want but you still need to have command that’s off the charts to succeed.
"I knew I had it today. I could locate all of my pitches. It's easy when you can locate all of your pitches and everything is working." —Zack Wheeler [ESPN]
Well, even with command you still better have control, preferably a lot of it.
Said Travis d'Arnaud: "Today his command was off the charts." —Travid d’Arnaud [ESPN]
I withdraw my comments.
"I probably 'backdoored' more than I threw inside. That's rare for me to do. I just had a lot of control today." —Zack Wheeler [ESPN]