Joel Sherman
Blog: Hardball
HARDBALL
I was chatting with a general manager recently who, unsolicited, said, “The Cardinals are a good organization.”
And Jose Reyes returned to Citi Field last night.
Let’s see if I can connect those dots.
The Cardinals won the World Series last year without a pitch from ace Adam Wainwright, who underwent Tommy John surgery prior to the season. This season they are arguably the best team in the NL despite losing their iconic player, Albert Pujols, manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan; plus Chris Carpenter — Wainwright’s ace fill-in last year — has been out since the start of the year with a shoulder ailment.
Reuters (inset); Neil Miller
CITI BANKING: Giving a contract extension to David Wright (above) would be a shrewd use of the money the Mets did not spend on departed free agent Jose Reyes, a move in the pattern of the depth-building spending the Cardinals did after Albert Pujols.
But, as the GM said, “the Cardinals are a good organization.” St. Louis has a winning culture that has survived the exits of La Russa and Pujols. And the front office has found answers. They used money not spent on Pujols — so much more vital to Cardinal history than Reyes is to the Mets’ lore — to extend catcher Yadier Molina, re-up first baseman Lance Berkman and shortstop Rafael Furcal and import right fielder Carlos Beltran. Their farm system has delivered, among others, David Freese, Jon Jay, Jason Motte and Lance Lynn, whose spectacular transition from the pen to the rotation has helped the Cardinals compensate for Carpenter’s absence and Wainwright’s early struggles.
“To have sustained success, it is about being deep in all areas,” St. Louis GM John Mozeliak said by phone yesterday. “So you are not reliant on any one person or one area of strength.”
The Mets, for too long, have had tunnel vision in addressing needs while ignoring overall organizational depth, a philosophy that hurts them more today than the absence of Reyes.
They determined their 2007 collapse was due to lack of starting pitching and added Johan Santana. It was the bullpen’s fault in 2008, so Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz were obtained. It was lack of power in 2009, and that is how Jason Bay became a Met.
Yes, Omar Minaya’s farm system has proven more fertile than initially thought. Still, the Mets have been woefully under-supplied to weather a 162-game season. This is how Miguel Batista ends up the sixth starter and the losses of Bay and Mike Pelfrey feel more gut-wrenching then they should.
That is not just Minaya’s fault any more. Sandy Alderson, in Year 2 as GM, used what little funds were allocated to concentrate on healing the bullpen. Sound familiar?
But Alderson’s administration is still in its infancy. This front office is going to be judged if — like the Cardinals — it can build something strong and diverse enough to withstand any absence. A huge part of that is what happens post-Reyes.
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Jose Reyes, Albert Pujols, The Cardinals, the Cardinals, Adam Wainwright, Cardinals, Cardinals, Tony La Russa, GM, GM, Chris Carpenter, The Mets, Mets, Lance Berkman, Yadier Molina, David Freese online, Carlos Beltran, David Wright, Rafael Furcal, Jason Motte, Johan Santana
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