D Whit - A Wild Week Already in Mets-World and it’s Only Tuesday Morning.

RANDOM THOUGHTS FROM A RANDOM MIND:

Where to start…well, how about at 1^st base where Ike Davis disclosed during an interview with the NY Post’s Mike Puma  that he was plagued by a previously undisclosed oblique injury. In the story Ike pooh-pooh’d its effect on his dismal season and asked Puma not to write about the injury. Of course Puma did and then when asked later by writers in the locker room he went all “Valdespin” on the assembled group. During his tirade Ike also swore he’d never do another one-on-one interview ever again. Memo to Ike: Chill man, it’s only February.  

Of course Ike’s 2013 oblique problem was news to the field general who had no idea Davis was suffering from it. TC stated that players need to notify the team of all injuries, and that protocol will be followed to the letter of its law in the upcoming season. This could be the final straw in the Davis saga. It’s obvious that the crush of New York and its media may be too much for Ike. This outburst shows that they seemed to have got in his head. Imagine what happens the first time Ike K’s in a clutch situation or gets off to another excruciatingly slow start. I don’t need to tell you that this is going to end badly.

Now we move on to problem child #2, Ruben Tejada. After getting lost returning from Michigan and being one the final camp arrivals, according to the New York Post the enigmatic SS is “underwhelming” TPTB once again. You would think that after the rigorous training regime in Michigan that has turned Wilmer Flores from an ugly duckling with the glove into a graceful SS swan, Tejada would’ve become the road runner. Instead “He looks pretty much the same,” a Mets source told the Post’s Kevin Kernan. Ouch!

That is probably why talk of acquiring Nick Franklin from the M’s has gained speed in the past 36 hours. Kudos to our own Herb G. for hitting on this topic Saturday afternoon in his post on here. I’m not sold on Franklin, but maybe they get the Bucs involved, and work on a three-way deal, moving Davis, acquiring Franklin with minimal damage to their pitching pipeline. I’ll tell you what, seeing how the Mariner’s are in a “win-now” mode in the right scenario I’d ship them Gee-of course it would have the “right” scenario. 

If he’s available one name I’d target is Danny Hultzen. Sure he’s out for the season and who knows how he’ll rebound from shoulder surgery. But he’s a southpaw starter, a commodity which the Mets sorely are need of, and if he rebounds you’re talking an elite lefty to slot in somewhere among the Dark Knight-Wheels-Thor juggermaut by 2016 at the latest. Sure he could be a washout. But we could easily roll with Lannan-Dice K-Meija till Montero and Thor arrive later in the season. As for the Pirates, well they served us well with Herrera and Black, so how about an order of Nick Kingham? Glasnow and Taillon are ahead of him so it’s possible but if not the “King” than what about speedy CF prospect Polanco? He pencils in as a 4^th/5^th OF for the big club but could start in Citi-Field by July. The question is how much more of damaged goods does this outburst make Ike? 

But maybe we don’t need Franklin or Tejada because yesterday I read where Wilmer Flores is impressing in the field at SS after his fall and winter sojourns to the Upper Peninsula. His bat is being compared to “Fonzie” so if we can flash the leather even a slight bit in the field I think you need to make him your opening day SS. I mean at this point why not? Of course after a few iron glove Grapefruit league contests my opinion might change. The good thing is that maybe the team can survive at SS till June when Stephen Drew takes the field. 

Drew, who really has become the poster child for the whole Qualifying Offer fiasco this offseason, stated he’d wait to play until June if can’t get the deal he wants beforehand. A team doesn’t have to relinquish their draft pick if they wait until June to sign the forlorn ballplayers who are stuck in this Qualifying Offer purgatory. So unless he signs with someone expect the Drew-Met chatter to continue for the next few months. 

I’m really surprised when seemingly knowledgeable baseball people write or say stupid things. What I’m referring to is this backlash Alderson is getting for signing Young instead of Cruz. Who in their right mind thinks Cruz would’ve signed on the dotted line for what is essentially a one-year “make good” deal back in November. Really? After David Murphy and Marlon Byrd inked two-year deals and Choo broke the bank? Cruz would’ve laughed in Alderson’s face in November if he was offered the deal he eventually signed for with the Orioles. 

It comes down to Granderson vs. Cruz. Those are two players you’d would've ahd to sacrifice a draft pick to acquire, not Young. At least that argument has some merit, though Granderson is far superior in the field to Cruz. In November Young was looking for any kind of deal, while Cruz wanted a multi-year one in the neighborhood of what Granderson signed for. You wouldn’t have gotten Cruz on a one year deal at the time. Another point is that Cruz may have wanted to go a contender all along and it's possible the Mets were not a team he was interested in signing with. But I guess this is the first sign that according to WFAN’s JJ After Dark that “Alderson is on the clock”. Well I agree that it’s time for the team to make strides but taking him to task for signing Young over Cruz is one of the worst examples of myopic 20/20 hindsight.