The hits and misses of Sandy Alderson’s Mets regime, which may be over.
Hits
Trading for Noah Syndergaard: Alderson turned the Cy Young season of 37-year-old R.A. Dickey into one of baseball’s best young arms. While Dickey never came close to replicating his brilliant final season in Queens, Syndergaard is one of the team’s top-two starters.
Acquiring Yoenis Cespedes: The lineup got the power infusion needed in 2015 in a last-minute deadline deal, in which Alderson gave up pitchers Michael Fulmer and Luis Cessa to get Cespedes. The outfielder sparked an unexpected World Series run by hitting 17 home runs in 57 regular-season games, then finished eighth in the NL MVP vote in 2016, while leading the Mets to another playoff berth.
The other deadline deal: Alderson built much-needed bullpen depth in 2015 by acquiring Addison Reed from the Diamondbacks for Miller Diaz and Matt Koch. Reed posted a 1.17 ERA over 17 games, then had a career-best 1.97 ERA in 2016, before filling in as closer last season.
Veteran signings: Asdrubal Cabrera’s career was on the decline when Alderson snagged him. Cabrera currently leads the team in batting average, and has produced two-plus solid seasons. Previously, Alderson got three strong seasons — and a valuable veteran presence — out of Bartolo Colon, and respectable contributions from Curtis Granderson, who hit three homers in the 2015 World Series.
Drafting Brandon Nimmo: The 25-year-old from Wyoming was taken with the 13th overall pick in 2011 and appears to be a fixture for years to come.
Misses
Letting Daniel Murphy leave: No player meant more to the Mets’ 2015 postseason run to the World Series than Murphy, who was drafted by the team in 2006. With the impending free agent set to turn 31 by the start of the 2016 season, Alderson let the NLCS MVP walk to the rival Nationals, then watched as Murphy reached back-to-back All-Star Games and finished second in the NL MVP voting in 2016.
Justin Turner non-tendered: One of Alderson’s first decisions was to not bring back Turner, who spent three seasons with the Mets, and had hit .280 as a utility player in 2013. Upon joining the Dodgers, Turner hit .340 the next season and became one of baseball’s best hitters.
2018 free agents: Alderson swung and missed on nearly every addition this offseason. Adrian Gonzalez and Jose Lobaton are already gone. Jose Reyes looks ready to retire. Anthony Swarzak has only made the bullpen worse. But no signings were worse than Jason Vargas, who sports an 8.40 ERA, and Jay Bruce, who is hitting .212 with three home runs.
Yoenis Cespedes extension: Few fans would have argued with the decision to give the star outfielder a four-year, $110 million extension after the 2016 season, but since then Cespedes has been frequently injured and appeared in just 118 games. Now 32, Cespedes was hitting .255 with eight home runs this season before his current stint on the disabled list.
Michael Cuddyer signing: Cuddyer was brought to Queens on a two-year, $21 million deal. The signing cost the Mets a first-round pick, and Cuddyer retired after hitting .259 with 10 home runs and receiving a buyout for the second year of his contract.