Mets Officially Announce Hiring of New GM Sandy Alderson

The New York Mets officially announced the hiring of new General Manager Sandy Alderson today, signing him to a four year contract with a club option for 2015. Alderson is the 12th new GM since the Mets first took the field in 1962.

In the press conference announcing his hiring Alderson said "Baseball, it's not always the result that best defines the effort. It's about the probabilities. Our goal is to constantly improve the probabilities of success to the point where we will have that success on a consistent basis."

With $111 million owed to eight players in 2011 Alderson does not have much flexibility to improve the probabilities of winning until multiple contracts come off the books after the season. That being said, he does not see the current Mets team as a rebuilding effort nor does he see the 2011 Mets as a total loss. "The thing about baseball, it's so unpredictable," he said. "Because somebody had a bad year last year it doesn't always mean he's going to have a bad year this year, so I'm very optimistic about 2011. At the same time we need to think about how we approach it on at least an intermediate and, to some extent, a long-term business."

Alderson's first priority is hiring a new manager. This is a task that Alderson hopes to have finished by the end of November. He says "the manager is a critical part of the overall leadership structure." When looking for a new manager Alderson will most likely look for a cheaper low profile manager. Possible candidates include but are not limited to Bob Melvin, Chip Hale, Ken Oberkfeel, John Hurdle, and John Gibbons. According to Joel Sherman of the post candidates such as Joe Torre, Wally Backman, and Bobby Valentine are long shots.

When asked about any big splashes this offseason Alderson replied "Will we be aggressive in the free agent market this year? Not likely." Alderson sidestepped questions about veterans Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo saying that teams must "be careful about writing off any player or any asset."

With Sandy Alderson as the new GM expect a change in culture and leadership throughout the Mets organization but do not get your hopes up for a dominate 2011 Mets.