Reese Kaplan - Tempering Expectations

I remember vividly on Christmas morning from my childhood awakening to find a glorious tree festooned with popcorn, candy canes, tinsel, sparking lights and a treasure trove of ornaments.  Underneath its boughs were piles of festively wrapped packages that held the promise of all the great things  I wanted and needed.  For me the piece de resistance was the ultimate Hot Wheels race track set with its orange track and a collection of the wildest cars destined to perform the daring double loop to thrill and impress my friends.

This memory returned when I perused the many articles about the baseball equivalents of the high speed chase and thrills guaranteed to bring me countless hours of unbridled joy.  Troy Tulowitski to  the Mets for a package of prospects!  Carlos Gonzalez patrolling left field!  Giancarlo Stanton getting a stage as big as his talent!  Starlin Castro on a one way ticket to New York to allow the young shortstop prospects behind him in the Cubs system to advance!  Alex Rios bringing his speed and seemingly forgotten power stroke to form one of the greatest defensive outfields in all of baseball!

Do you want to know what my boxes under the tree contained?  Socks.  Underwear.  Maybe a shirt or a pair of pants.  For a kid dreaming of Hot Wheels, it was a major let-down, yet year after year I allowed myself to get worked up into a frenzy about how this time it was finally going to be different.

No wonder I’m a Mets fan.  Disappointment and boundless optimism are in my DNA, yet year after year we get socks and underwear – Chris Young, Jose Valverde, Eric Young, Taylor Teagarden, Kyle Farnsworth, John Lannan and Bobby Abreu. 

Don’t get me wrong.  There are a myriad of very pleasant surprises and developments during the 2014 season.  We’ve seen the emergence of the young power arms in the bullpen.  Jacob de Grom could win rookie of the year when he wasn’t even really on anyone’s prospect radar.  Lucas Duda being handed first base was met with derision but he’s earned the right in this lineup to be the cleanup hitter and make many of us seek out tasty recipes for how to enjoy crow.   Travis d’Arnaud is looking like the prospect we’d heard about.  Zack Wheeler has cut down on his walks and upped his strikeouts.  At times Jon Niese and Dillon Gee have been all but unhittable.  Then there’s the tweet of the week, “I like big Bart and I cannot lie.”

For all of the crap Sandy Alderson receives for his seeming unwillingness to make the big splash or ink the big free agent, he’s actually done alright in terms of what seemed quieter moves at the time.  He got us Vic Black and Dilson Herrera for free agents to be Marlon Byrd and John Buck.  He parlayed a Cy Young Award winner into d’Arnaud, Noah Syndergaard and Wuilmer Becerra (who’d better petition for a name change lest he catch invisible man disease, too).  He picked up some useful scrap heap pieces. 

What we need to realize is that he’s not Frank Cashen.  He’s not even M. Donald Grant.  The “Big Deal” is not his forte.  We need to get the dreams of All-Stars out of our heads (unless they’re over the hill or coming off major injury or PED suspension and looking to reestablish themselves).   Deals will be made for prospects, fringe players and role players.  There is simply no budget for the big move.  

Where’s it’s most frustrating for the fans is the old “you’ve got to spend money to make money” mantra that has some validity.  You could likely more quickly ascend to the upper tiers of your division had you opened the wallets to bring in a Jose Abreu when he was available.  However, with the tenuous financial condition of the Mets side of the Wilpon empire, there is probably real fear of another Jason Bay contract that will hamstring the organization for the foreseeable future. 

Thursday’s non-waiver trading deadline will pass and don’t be the least bit surprised if the Mets do nothing at all.  They can always do an August waiver deal for Bartolo Colon, even accepting nothing in return to be out from under the $11 million in 2015 salary arbitration.  You’d like to think there would be a Daniel Murphy move in the works to free up his projected $8 to $10 million in 2015 as well, but it doesn’t appear likely despite having multiple alternatives on the roster and in the minors.  

Assuming a few more minor moves and a little salary flexibility through judicious trades brings the team over .500 next year, perhaps in 2016 there will be something a little more exciting than socks and underwear for the fans to unwrap during Hot Stove season.