You know, I
really don’t know what to write about today.
I’m sure you
can imagine how rough it gets sometimes to keep coming up with something
interesting about this team. Day after day. Week after week.
I already
said that I’m not going to write anymore about the Wild Card race. What race?
What is there, nine teams in the National League with better records? The Mets
didn’t live up to their end of the bargain here, so there is nothing to write
about.
I could
spend some time on the positive signs I have seen this year from both the team
and the affiliates.
I could
point out that the signing of OF Curtis Granderson was
a good thing and, though it does seem like he is being paid too much for the return, I consider this a big
upgrade from recent outfielders on this team (we also seem to forget to give
Sandy Alderson any credit for this sign… he was a free agent and a pretty damn
good one to get signed for your team).
I could write about the evolution of Lucas Duda into a legitimate baseball slugger and how few people he had in his corner when Ike Davis and he shared a clubhouse, but that's old news, right?
I could write about the evolution of Lucas Duda into a legitimate baseball slugger and how few people he had in his corner when Ike Davis and he shared a clubhouse, but that's old news, right?
I could
write about the incredible bonus P Jacob deGrom has
been this season. DeGrom should receive serious attention when the Rookie Of
The Year votes are taken and his arrival in Queens will make the formation of
the future rotation oh so much easier.
I also could
spend some time on catcher Travis d’Arnaud, who
is quickly proving out to be the kind of catching prospect we all hoped he was
when ‘the deal’ went down. D’Arnaud has found his stride but, more important,
he has remained healthy through all this and gives the team ‘options’ when it
comes to the future of AAA-Las Vegas prospect catcher, Kevin
Plawecki.
Maybe I
should spend some time on the Mets bullpen which was ranked as one of the two
worst bullpens in baseball during the press season. Jenrry
Mejia has done a wonderful job of sitting in for Bobby Parnell as the closer, producing 16 saves in 18
opportunities. In addition, Vic Black, Jeurys Familia, and Josh Edgin
have all produced ‘sub-two’ earned run averages, numbers we never could
have predicted on opening day.
I could go
into a complete different direction here and discuss what’s going to happen
next year on opening day… first of all, Matt Harvey,
Noah Syndergaard, and Rafael
Montero will join Zack Wheeler, Jacob deGrom, Dillon Gee,
Jon Niese, Bartolo Colon
in the 5-man rotation. This doesn’t work with eight starters, but it
should give the Mets the flexibility to get a few deals done before the season
stars and still not hurt their talented pitching staff. We can project who
isn’t going anywhere (Harvey, Thor, Wheeler), who the Mets hope somebody wants
(Colon) and the availability of the other three, but we’re written about this
so many times over the past year.
We could go
back to the bullpen and speculate on the return of Bobby
Parnell and where he would fit it with the current staff. Does he
deserve his old job back? Does Mejia deserve to keep what it looks like he’s
earned? We could discuss this, but I don’t know…
And lastly
about next year’s opening day roster, we could take a closer look at the
competition that is going to come out of the camp between the two catchers,
Plawecki and d’Arnaud. I know… I can package Plawecki with one of the young
pitchers and speculate which SS or LF can go after in the off-season… no, we’ve
done that a number of times.
I could also
go back to my roots and discuss in length members of the lower levels of the
Mets organization, but writers like Stephen Guilbert,
Christopher Soto, and Tom
Brennan seems to have that covered.
In
particular, I could do a complete 180 on the recent first round pick, OF Michael Conforto,
who looks like the bat I had hoped the Mets would have drafted (Austin Wilson, Courtney
Hawkins, Yazmani Grandal) in previous
drafts.
I could give
into Brennan’s non-stop Matt-love and admit that Reynolds is starting to make
me wonder if the Mets have another dark horse in their system. There’s another
guy like him (T.J. Rivera) right behind him in
Binghamton. Maybe Fangraph’s Dan Szymborski is
right. Maybe the Mets already have the parts needed to turn this into a winning
team.
I could
spend some additional time trying to explain what it’s like being an owner
during hard times, but, as the French say, who fucking cares about the rich guy
in the front office?
No…
I just don’t
know what I’m going to write about.
11 comments:
When you don't know what to write about, write about what Matt-ers!
I did see a rumor that Chris Young is close to being cut, and Matt the Dekker of the Den called up to start in his place (I know Matt went hitless last night, but he had a good excuse - they were off last night). Do that and put Flores in (Ruben did walk, and I'm sure somewhere, somehow, that helped.
As we go from one no-offense outing to the next, largely due to a non-productive 5 thru 9 (good for 2 combined hits last night), making those 2 moves may not turn the line up into Murderers' Row, but it could make the offense less comatose. If you guessed that Ruben, in 350 plate appearances, had 50 combined runs and RBIs, you'd win the prize. That offensive malaise is part of the problem. In 350 at bats, Flores might have had 50 runs AND 50 RBIs. Try the change, and stick with it for the rest of the season. Or try Matt Reynolds there soon. Something.
Hi Mack, not sure if you or Steve want to tackle this, or someone else, but Dilson Herrera would be a great topic - how close is he? When will he be ready for the big show?
I saw that he injured his finger sliding last night. Hopefully not badly. His play in AA has been remarkable. In 42 games, after promo to AA, Dilson has hit .341, 37 runs, 21 extra base hits, and 36 RBIs, on base .407, slugging .553. 8 steals in 12 attempts, 22 of 29 for full year. He'd probably do better for Mets at SS right now than someone whom I will not name.
David Wright put up similar #'s in AA in 2004 and then got called up after a 31 game stint in AA in 2004. Why can't Dilson, assuming he is day-to-day with the finger, follow suit? Maybe he is the 2015 SS or 2B.
Maybe I can write about the middle infield situation........whether stars or not, this team might go into winter meetings with Tejada, Reynolds, Flores, murph and even Herrera all possibly being major leaguers/major league ready......even though this organization has long track record of leaving guys stuck in minors levels below their ability, there are other middle infielders below these guys who also need to move like rosario, mazzili, t.j rivera, cecchini, etc.
Let the pitching, middle infield and possible catcher prospect trading begin.
@Tom
Oh Dilson's name will come up....We're only at #22 today for the prospect listing. Give it time, he's high on the list ;)
As for Chris Young, you are correct.
The Mets will be evaluating his situation on Monday after they finish this road stand.
Looking forward to your Dilson dabblings, Chris. I'll be patient!
Ernest, don't forget Jeff McNeil in the middle infield picture. He's having quite a year, still hitting over .300 despite an initial struggle in St Lucie after his promo. Young, quick, very good on base. Add some power, and he'll become a serious contender in 2016, if there are any spots open.
Don't worry, in 2016, im sure that management will simply start McNeil over Wilmer Flores.
It's August already. Alderson made comments in an interview about rosters expanding soon so I'm not sure what is to be gained by promoting players who won't play. Unless they are prepared to sever ties with Chris Young, there are no ABs to be had for the likes of Eric Campbell and a deserving Matt den Dekker. He said that Kirk Nieuwenhuis was chosen because he did a good job for them earlier this year. Really? Did he like the 39% K rate (which would rank him worse than Mark Reynolds in his all-time record setting year for whiffs by a batter) or was it the replacement level batting average that appealed to him more? Yes, in a small sample size he has some nice pinch hitting numbers but he's had well over 400 ABs in the majors to show he doesn't belong. If only Flores could get that many chances.
Hey Reese
I am HOPING that Kirk getting called up before Dekker is only because Kirk (despite his ongoing strikeout woes) is seen as a decent 5th OF who's had some success in that role. Dekker has to play every day a righty pitches WHEN he is called up next week (I'm starting to hope that being emphatic will somehow make it happen). Kirk can stay #5 until someone better comes along.
Maybe they planted the seed for Campbell instead platooning with Dekker, rather than Duda, when Collins very recently said that they were considering Duda to hit against lefties as well as righties. I'd still prefer them to keep the platoon at 1B and also call up Brown to platoon with Dekker, releasing EY Jr.
Brown has been pretty cold for a long time, but his AAA lefty #'s are still .391/.506/.781.
Radical, but what the heck. Start Flores along with that, and let's bring hitting back to Queens.
(Did anyone get my attempt at humor here?)
Got it, but sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying :)
Reese,Thomas,
I think you have it. Niewenhuis isn't CY's replacement, he's replacing Abreu.
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