Carlos Beltran Is Out Of The Lineup...For Now

According to a tweet by the New York Post's Joel Sherman, Carlos Beltran will not be in today's starting lineup because of flu-like symptoms. Those flu-like symptoms must have found their way into Beltran's body overnight, because they surely were not evident when Beltran smoked his 14th home run of the season last night over the center field fence, just slightly to the right of the home run apple.

Sandy Alderson may or may not be actively showcasing Beltran for other teams (wish he would just come out and say it instead of beating around the bush when approached with the topic). Having Beltran out of the lineup for however long these flu-like symptoms fester in his system will clearly hurt the team in more than one way.

Is this an example of "flu face"? No, it's probably just gas.

First, if the team was looking to make one last push for the wild card, putting out a lineup that has no Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, David Wright and Ike Davis will not cut it. Reyes and Wright should be back next week. Beltran will hopefully only miss today's game. The Mets are dangerously close to being double digit games back in the wild card race. The team must stay together if they hope to play meaningful games in September.

Second, no team is going to trade for Beltran if he's out for too long or can't produce once he comes back. We already saw what Beltran can do (or not do) when he comes back before he's ready. Last year, Beltran returned to the Mets after the All-Star Break sooner than he should have and the team suffered as he struggled to return to form.

Carlos Beltran is going to help the Mets one way or another this year. He will either stay on the team and help them in their quest to win the wild card, or he will be traded to a contender for a top-notch prospect or two, giving the Mets hope (and salary relief) for a brighter future. But if he's only playing at 85% capacity, he's not going to help anyone.

Perhaps these flu-like symptoms are just that, and don't turn into a full-blown case of the flu or something worse. With the Mets' recent history of players missing significantly more time than originally expected (hello, Ike Davis), it's easy to be concerned anytime a player is out of the lineup. One of these days, a player is going to miss an entire season because of a paper cut. Let's hope that "paper cut" isn't Carlos Beltran's flu-like symptoms. The Mets need him to stay on the field for more reasons than one.

Broken News: Alderson To Become Mets GM

Welcome to the latest edition of Broken News, where other people break the news and we break it some more to the point where forensics experts can't even identify it. In today's edition, we discuss the hiring of Sandy Alderson as the new Mets general manager.

According to numerous tweets, including one by Jon Heyman and one by Joel Sherman, the Mets have notified both Sandy Alderson and Josh Byrnes that a decision has been made and that Alderson is their choice to be their next GM.

Since Major League Baseball generally frowns upon major announcements on days when World Series games are being played, the Mets will more than likely not make this signing official until Friday. The Giants and Rangers have an off day between Games 2 and 3 as the Fall Classic moves to Texas over the weekend.

Alderson brings a decade and a half of GM experience to the Mets, as he was in charge of the Oakland Athletics from 1983-1997. Under his reign, the A's won four division titles and three American League pennants. Oakland won the World Series in 1989, when they swept the San Francisco Giants in the series known more for the devastating earthquake that struck the Bay Area before Game 3.

It was Alderson who introduced sabermetrics into the world of general managing, a system that he passed along to his successor, Billy Beane. By using sabermetrics, both Alderson and Beane were able to put together competitive teams while spending as little money as possible by focusing on statistics that help teams win ballgames, but don't necessarily lead to exorbitant contracts. (One such stat is on-base percentage, as detailed in Michael Lewis' book, "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game".) It was this cost-effective system that helped Beane become one of the best and most coveted general managers in baseball.

So now Alderson will be on hand to help turn the Mets around from a fourth-place team to a contender. His plate will definitely be full at the start.

From Hisanori Takahashi's soon-to-expire contract to the search for a new manager to the acquisition of a starting pitcher (especially when you consider the uncertain status of incumbent ace Johan Santana), Alderson will have to make many key decisions early on in his tenure as general manager. It will be these decisions that will serve as the seeds for what Mets fans hope are a return to respectability and contention.

A change is in the air, Mets fans. Let's hope Sandy Alderson is the man who will bring it to us.