The Mets may stick to signing free-agent relief pitchers to only minor-league deals, Sandy Alderson suggested to reporters at Citi Field in mid-January.
"If you go back and look at our history, we haven't exactly come up cherries on signing free agent relievers and I think that has a lot to do with the volatility they represent,"Alderson explained, according to NJ.com's Matt Ehalt. "The fact is, once you commit to someone that eliminates and detracts from the flexibility we currently have right now and I think we have flexibility with quality."
This is fair. I don't disagree with Sandy's premise, but - given expectations for this season and the importance being put on their pitching - I'd say this is the year to do whatever is necessary to help make the bullpen as good as it can be.