Alex Trautwig/Getty ImagesSandy Alderson missed the GM meetings due to a medical procedure.
The Mets received troubling news just weeks after their most successful season in 15 years: General manager Sandy Alderson has been diagnosed with cancer.
Doctors confirmed the cancer after Alderson, 68, underwent a medical procedure at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan about three weeks, Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon told reporters Friday during an annual lunch at Citi Field.
“The doctors believe and have told Sandy that the cancer is very treatable and are optimistic about a full recovery,” Wilpon said in a press statement.
Alderson will undergo 8-to-12 weeks of chemotherapy and will miss Major League Baseball’s winter meetings, but will continue with his GM responsibilities through the treatments, Wilpon said, although there will obviously be some days he does not make it to the office.
The Mets did not disclose what type of cancer Alderson is suffering from or the procedure he underwent at Memorial Sloan Kettering.
Members of the organization privately expressed cautious optimism about Alderson’s prognosis. Players and employees continue to rally around longtime public relations executive Shannon Dalton Forde, who has been battling breast cancer since 2012, and one source said the organization is well aware that cancer is a serious health issue and deeply concerned for Alderson.
“I can speak for everybody in our clubhouse when I say our thoughts and prayers are with Sandy and his family,” Mets captain David Wright said. “There is no doubt in my mind Sandy will beat this and continue to be one of the best executives in baseball.”
Alderson collapsed during a meeting with reporters at Citi Field following the World Series. It’s unclear if that incident was related to his cancer diagnosis. He missed MLB’s general manager meetings last month to undergo the procedure at Memorial Sloan Kettering.
But Alderson, whose 11th-hour deals for Yoenis Cespedes, Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe helped the Mets reach their first World Series since 2000, was part of the Mets entourage that wooed top free-agent target Ben Zobrist when the infielder toured Citi Field Wednesday, and he will continue to guide the team through his treatment.
Wilpon said he would work with assistant general managers John Ricco, J.P. Ricciardi and Paul DePodesta, with guidance from Alderson, similar to the way the front office functioned at the GM meetings. During those three days, the assistant GMs met with players’ agents and said they were in position to make moves quickly if necessary.
“We’ll have plenty of access to Sandy,” Ricco said Friday. “We’ll talk to him all the time. He was with us the whole day with Zobrist the other day. I don’t envision that being an issue. He’s a phone call away.”
Wilpon said that the Mets would not provide additional updates on Alderson’s status.
“It’s nearly impossible to predict with certainty how a patient will react to chemotherapy, or chemo,” said Dr. Alvaro Carrascal of the American Cancer Society. “Chemo generally refers to the use of a cocktail of drugs that are selected based on a patient’s unique cancer diagnosis. There are more than 100 chemo drugs used today. Every patient is different and every cancer is different, so treatment and subsequent reactions are always different too.”
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.