His cancer has returned, he’s taking a leave of absence – and his up-and-down tenure as New York Mets general manager is essentially over.
With the team in a massive tailspin, chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon and the 70-year-old Alderson made the announcement before Tuesday night’s game against Pittsburgh.
”With respect to the future, I would say two things: One is, notwithstanding the good prognosis, my health is an uncertainty going forward,” said Alderson, who agreed to a contract extension in December. ”And secondly, if I were to look at it on the merits, I’m not sure coming back is warranted.”
Asked whether he would like Alderson to resume his GM duties if his health eventually allowed that, Wilpon answered the same way twice: ”I think his health and his family are first and foremost.”
Assistant general manager John Ricco and special assistants J.P. Ricciardi and Omar Minaya will run the club’s baseball operations in Alderson’s absence. Minaya preceded Alderson as Mets general manager, and Ricciardi was GM of the Toronto Blue Jays from 2001-09.
Alderson was hired by the Mets after the 2010 season. He was diagnosed with cancer at the end of the 2015 season and had surgery, but stayed on the job. He reduced his work schedule at times but remained in a full-time role while undergoing chemotherapy treatments.
”One difference between then and now is that that took place in the offseason,” Alderson said. ”I had a surgery in the offseason, I had some chemo in the offseason. Much easier to manage that with offseason activity. I had the decision-making authority basically at that time. I will not have the decision-making authority going forward. If people want to call me, they’re welcome to do so. But at the same time, I don’t expect to be involved in day-to-day activity.”
Ricciardi, Minaya and first-year manager Mickey Callaway were all in the interview room at Citi Field when Alderson and Wilpon made the announcement.
Wilpon said Alderson informed him of his decision Sunday.
”It is paramount to all of us that care greatly for Sandy that he makes this a priority for him and his family,” Wilpon said Adam Joseph Duhe Jersey , later adding: ”The wear and tear on Sandy, I’ve seen up close and personal. I talked to him a couple times about maybe taking a leave, maybe stepping away a little bit, and I had sort of forgotten about it because so much has been going on.”
According to players, Alderson broke down a bit as he spoke to his teary-eyed team in the clubhouse before addressing the media.
”It definitely puts life in perspective,” said outfielder Brandon Nimmo, who was Alderson’s first amateur draft pick in 2011. ”Just very somber news that we received. Our heart’s broken for him. He’s been through this battle before. He knows what’s in store.”
Mets captain David Wright, sidelined by injuries for more than two years, said players stood and gave Alderson a round of applause.
”I think there was a lot of jaws hitting the floor,” Wright recalled. ”I think we had a bit of an emotional talk. It wasn’t long, but at the end we certainly wanted to pay him respect.”
Alderson said a recurrence of his cancer was detected around late April or early May and he’s been receiving treatment since.
”I expect that the treatment will continue, expect to have surgery later this summer. My prognosis is actually good. But in the meantime, the chemotherapy, the surgery, all take their toll,” Alderson said.
He said the treatment affects his energy level and leads to other side effects, explaining why he hasn’t been traveling on road trips lately.
”Which makes it difficult to stay up with sort of the pace, the tempo of the every day,” Alderson said. ”Operations continue Ty Montgomery Jersey , the game continues, we have a season to play. So I think in the best interests of the Mets and for my health, this is the right result.
”I feel badly that we’ve had the season that we have had to date. I feel personally responsible for the results that we’ve had,” he added. ”At the same time, I have confidence in our manager, our coaching staff, our players, that this will change. John, Omar, J.P., I’m sure will take a hard look at where we are, maybe take a fresh look at where we are and I have every confidence that they will serve the franchise well over the next few months through the end of the season.”
Alderson’s departure comes at a pivotal time for the Mets ahead of the July 31 trade deadline. Needing an infusion of young talent, they will likely look to sell off pending free agents such as closer Jeurys Familia, second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera and outfielder Jose Bautista. But ace pitchers Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard could command a huge return, and the front office must decide whether to embark on such a significant overhaul.
New York reached the 2015 World Series after rebuilding under Alderson and made it back to the playoffs the following year, but injuries and underperformance have decimated the team since.
After going 70-92 last year, the Mets replaced manager Terry Collins with Callaway and spent nearly $90 million to fill holes in free agency. They jumped out to an 11-1 start this season, but a 6-24 slide left them 31-45 with the fewest wins in the National League going into Tuesday night’s game.
”It’s been incredibly difficult,” Alderson said. ”And I’m reall The Minnesota Wild returned home from Winnipeg and regrouped to roar back in their first-round playoff series.
The Jets were a late arrival for Game 3 in more ways than one.
Mikael Granlund and Zach Parise had power-play goals in the first period for the spark that was missing on the road Jared Cook Jersey , and the Wild scored four times in the second to beat the Jets 6-2 on Sunday night.
”We’re here to play,” goalie Devan Dubnyk said, ”and we’re fully capable of pushing hard.”
The Wild will try to tie the best-of-seven series 2-2 when they host Game 4 on Tuesday night.
”They have been physical so we’ve got to push back,” said Jordan Greenway, who scored his first NHL goal just 20 seconds after Eric Staal sent a wrist shot past a struggling Connor Hellebuyck. Fighting pucks all night, Hellebuyck was pulled for Steve Mason at the second intermission.
Matt Dumba and Marcus Foligno bookended the furious middle frame with goals for the Wild, who won a postseason home game for only the second time in their last nine contests. Mikko Koivu and Nick Seeler each had two assists and Dubnyk made 29 saves, keeping the crowd loud all night.
Blake Wheeler and Tyler Myers scored for the Jets.
”We’re in a series here,” said Hellebuyck, who made 16 saves. ”We’re going to lose one once in a while. It’s how we respond to the next one.”
After overtaking the Wild with two third-period goals to win 3-2 in Game 1 and dominating the action in Game 2 on the way to a 4-1 victory, the Jets hit some minor turbulence. The blizzard that blanketed the Twin Cities forced their charter flight to land in Duluth on Saturday afternoon and return to Winnipeg for the night. The Jets skipped the customary morning skate and arrived Sunday about eight hours before faceoff.
Whether or not the Jets were actually affected by the weather hardly mattered, given the way the Wild greeted them after the lackluster performance in Game 2.
”I don’t know if it made us worse, but I can say for a fact that it certainly didn’t make us better,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said.
The only shot the Jets sent on target over the first 11-plus minutes was the one by Wheeler that went in, a wide-angle attempt on the power play and a softie if there ever was one in keeping with Dubnyk’s uncanny tendency to let fluke goals get by him while making many more high-degree-of-difficulty stops. Dubnyk also gave up a goal on the first shot in a couple of games late in the regular season.
”And then he shut the door. So I wasn’t worried,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. ”I thought, `OK. This is going to work.”’
The Wild snapped right back. Koivu took the initial shot that set up both goals in the first period, with Granlund waiting for the rebound on the first one . Parise freed himself from a tie-up in traffic with Jacob Trouba to move in position for the redirect of the second one .
Myers brought the decibel level down with his slap shot that cut the lead to 3-2 , but the Wild killed consecutive penalties with only about a minute between power plays soon after that to retake momentum. Then came the goals by Greenway and Staal Charles Woodson Jersey , and the rout was on.
”When when that second period started, we weren’t able to get faster,” Wheeler said. ”And that’s when the game changed. They stuck with it, and we just weren’t able to get to our speed we needed.”
The second period went from bad to worse for the Jets, when Myers was checked by Foligno and caught his skate at the bottom of the boards. He needed help off the ice and into the locker room and did not return. Maurice had no update on the defenseman’s condition, but without elaborating he suggested the injury could have been avoided.
”Didn’t love it,” Maurice said, referring to both the hit and the outcome.
There was a lot to like, at least, about the Wild’s performance. All four lines produced at least one goal, and the rookie defenseman Seeler had a breakout game in the back with four blocked shots and a breakaway shot that hit the post and barely stayed in front of the line.
”That’s playoff hockey. You need everybody,” Staal said. ”You don’t win unless you have four lines and all your defensive core going.”
NOTES
The Wild set a franchise postseason record for goals in a home game. Their high was a 7-2 victory at Vancouver in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals on May 5, 2003. … After clinching their first-round series with a win in Game 6 at Xcel Energy Center in 2015 over St. Louis, the Wild lost both home games in a sweep by Chicago. Then they went 1-5 on their own ice in the playoffs over the last two years in series losses to Dallas and St. Louis. … Jets center Mathieu Perreault missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury. Defenseman Toby Enstrom and center Matt Hendricks have yet to play in the series due to a lower-body injury. … Wheeler had the third postseason goal of his career in 28 games.
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