Mets GM Alderson Attends Fans for the Cure Event

Mets general manager Sandy Alderson was open and frank about the state of the Mets when he spoke Tuesday evening at Fordham University for Ed Randall’s Fans for the Cure charity event.

Randall, a radio personality from WFAN and Sirius Satellite Radio, hosts the event with the active Mets general manager every year to promote prostate cancer awareness and education. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer at age 47 and has since beaten the disease.

All proceeds for the event benefited Fans for the Cure.

Alderson provided an expansive commentary, touching upon the financial state of the Mets and his time working as an envoy in the Dominican Republic for Major League Baseball.

He addressed the most pressing issue currently surrounding the Mets, which is the pending lawsuit against the team’s owners, the Wilpons, for their involvement with fraudulent investor Bernie Madoff. The family is now seeking a “strategic investor” who will ease the financial blow by paying for 25% of the team. But Alderson made it clear that the team’s financial crisis did not affect his ability to spend this winter.

“We started with $135 million worth of contracts, and we’re going nothat of that,” he said. “We’re going to be close to $150 million.”

Even though 2010 may have been a throw away year for the Mets, Alderson was optimistic about the team, asserting that with some luck and good health, playoff contention is a strong possibility. Going forward, Alderson was most hopeful with the organizational reform he has instituted.

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