Reese Kaplan - Anatomy of a Winner

While it’s easy to sit on the sidelines and kibitz about everything that Terry Collins and Sandy Alderson have done wrong keeping the franchise mired in the second division, there are some incontrovertible facts that demonstrate a lot of what’s wrong is their own doing.  For purposes of illustration, let’s take a look at the last World Series winning Mets team and see how it compares to the approach taken today.

The Mets had an alcoholic problem child on their hands in Neil Allen.  Despite being a successful relief 

pitcher, his big mouth and hard partying ways indicated it was time to sever ties.  Back in the Twitterless days of yore, this scandal was pretty much kept under wraps, but less so than the St. Louis Cardinals bad boy, Keith Hernandez.  It was pretty well known that Keith had his own recreational drug issues and marched to the beat of a different drummer, yet when Frank Cashen had the opportunity to make a trade for the troubled star, he didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.  We all see how that helped contribute to a winning franchise.

At second base the Mets employed a kind of/sort of platoon of fiery Wally Backman and latter day coach  Tim Teuful.  Backman hit .320 over 124 games and only struck out 32 times while walking 36!  Combined they delivered nearly 60 RBIs.  Daniel Murphy is good though he doesn’t bring the same in-your-face attitude that Backman provided.

At shortstop they recognized they had a problem with the .218 hitting Rafael Santana.  Over 1/3 of the games went to offensive minded players Howard Johnson and Kevin Mitchell because they decided that they needed to score some runs.  Instead we have Ruben Tejada and Omar Quintanilla.  Wilmer Flores is an afterthought. 

At 3B most of the games were started by Ray Knight who delivered well in his championship season, culminating with this World Series MVP trophy, yet he was cut loose in November of that year because the team felt that his production would decline and he was indeed out of baseball after two more seasons.  That bold move opened up 3B for Howard Johnson to play every day.  They didn’t hang onto someone in decline simply because he was a proven veteran. 

Frank Cashen addressed the catching problem during the off-season by sending All-Star Hubie Brooks, good glove/no-bat Mike Fitzgerald, speedster who couldn’t hit Herm Winningham and mediocre pitching prospect Floyd Youmans.  Essentially Montreal got a star in Brooks, a replacement catcher in Fitzgerald and a couple of dice rolls on people who never amounted to much.  When was the last time the current regime traded multiple players (including prospects) to try to improve the team?

George Foster never did for the Mets what he had for the Reds, but there he was in his age 37 season manning left field.  Eventually they grew weary of his act and split time between Kevin Mitchell, Lenny Dykstra and Mookie Wilson.  They mercifully cut him later that season and after a very short stint for a few weeks with the White Sox he was out of baseball to pursue his dream of selling Amway products full time from the trunk of his Rolls Royce.  Management felt it was time to move onto the future with the young players around whom they could build.  Imagine that!

Speaking of Kevin Mitchell, do you know where he batted in his first start for Bobby Valentine?  Leadoff!  He was not banished to the 8 hole where he had no protection with the pitcher behind him.  You want to know who did bat there?  Rafael Santana – the worst hitter on the team.  How many times have the Mets brought up a rookie under Collins only to have him inserted in the 8 hole and then they wonder why he doesn’t flourish.  Mitchell eventually became the cleanup hitter because he was handled properly once they figured out how to get his bat into the lineup. 

Another interesting trend from Bobby Valentine was the matter of rewarding players who performed well on the field.  Could you imagine Bobby V, after a player had a game winning hit or a multi-hit game sentencing him to the bench?

As I looked over the hitting stats a few things jumped out at me.  First, there was only one player in the entire lineup – Darryl Strawberry – who posted triple digits in strikeouts.  Wow, another revelation here – you have to put the ball into play in order to have a chance to win ballgames.

You also had four players in double digits in stolen bases, 3 with totals over 20.  Let’s see, you get no speed out of 1^st, SS, C and wherever Curtis Granderson is playing.  You do have Chris Young, Daniel Murphy and David Wright with 20+ stolen base potential.  Do you really need to have Eric Young in the lineup for his singular talent?   By the way, Lenny Dykstra had a .377 OBP and Mookie Wilson a .345.  That kind of speaks volumes about Eric Young’s .325, no?

The team also had 7 players in double digits with home runs.  The Mets last  year had 5, 2 of whom they traded away before the season ended.  In the two previous years it was just 4.  Wow, another surprise – not only do chicks dig the long ball, but they also help win ballgames.

Finally there was the pitching.  What a staff Bobby V had!  Of his top ten pitchers, 5 of them had ERAs under 3.00 and the rest were all under 4.00.  There were no Aaron Laffeys, Brandon Lyons, Chris Schwindens, Collin McHughs or Shaun Marcums among the whole lot of them.  As we prepare to enter the 2014 season we see one starting slot handed to a pitcher with a career 4.52 ERA and a key bullpen slot going to a guy who most recently pitched to an ERA approaching 6.00 due to their veteran status. 

There’s are lesson here about addressing problems when they arise, gambling on trades to improve the team, giving young players a chance (and positioning them to succeed), finding players who can hit the ball even if it means taking a toll on defense, and having enough stolen base aptitude scattered throughout your lineup that you don’t have to rely on just one player.   Marilyn Monroe once starred in a movie called “The Seven Year Itch” about when spouses get restless seeing the same old same old every day.  Well, it’s been 28 years since the Mets last won a World Series and it’s going to take more than a Costco sized drum of Calamine lotion to give them relief.  Try SOMETHING different.  What you’re doing is not working.