After the Mets surprisingly won another game Tuesday night,
the news came down from Sandy Alderson and David Wright that they were shutting
him down for the balance of the season.
While everyone probably applauds this decision, it’s not without
questioning why it took so long to do what was obvious and necessary. Anyone who observed Wright struggling over
the past few months could tell something was fundamentally wrong with him
beyond the putrid results on the field.
While he’s never been the hitter he was back in his Shea days, it
certainly seemed plausible that something was ailing the man and affecting his
ability to perform.
Over the years there have been many who have suggested the
team’s medical staff would prescribe amputation for a hangnail, but this
particular time I would hold them harmless and instead ask questions of the
front office and the coaching staff who are responsible for protecting their
$135 million investment. At what point
does the feckless attempt to sell a few more tickets instead of facing the
reality of the team’s performance finally sink in? It was fiscally irresponsible to allow
further damage to occur instead of letting your captain – the face of MLB – to
heal.
Doing the right thing (albeit months too late) provides the
Mets with multiple other benefits as well.
While many people have become enamored with Dilson Herrera’s bat and
have already packed Daniel Murphy’s bags, they have the chance to play them both
by shifting Murphy to his natural position of 3rd base. This maneuver allows for a longer term
evaluation of which of these players should be starting for the team in
2015. Furthermore, should Daniel Murphy
prove to be the odd man out, allowing him to showcase some positional
versatility might increase his trade value.
Of course, this obvious solution is not necessarily a fait
accompli. Remember who is filling out
the lineup card. There are other options
at his disposal named Josh Satin, Eric Campbell and Ruben Tejada. For all we know he may want to shoehorn Eric
Young, Jr. into 2nd base to “get him going” as he’s been anemic for,
well, his entire Mets career. Here’s
hoping the adults in the room dictate to the manager who should be playing the
majority of the time.
As the season winds down there are a few things to watch for
the future. There’s Lucas Duda’s quest
for 33 HRs so he can put an exclamation point on his season as it would have
bested Ike Davis’ best output. There is
the aforementioned play of Dilson Herrera.
Wilmer Flores has been off and on with his bat, but his defensive
performance has been better than advertised.
There is the outstanding season put together by Daniel Murphy. There is the ongoing mad scramble of Matt den
Dekker and Kirk Nieuwenhuis for their Mets’ lives. There is the theatrical play of Juan Lagares
in CF. There’s even lately been some
flashes of productivity from Curtis Granderson.
On the pitching side of the ledger you have Jacob de Grom’s
quest for Rookie of the Year. Tuesday’s
performance had to help a lot. Zack
Wheeler has been pitching to a 2.21 ERA for most of his season after a slow
start. The veterans Dillon Gee and Jon
Niese are also pitching for their Mets lives.
Bartolo Colon is probably going to be there again next year doing what
he does – throwing strikes and maintaining his even composure win or lose. Rafael Montero is getting another start to
show whether or not some humidity and lower altitude are more conducive to
pitching success. Jenrry Mejia appears
to be in a bit of a mini-slump, but his celebration dance upon saving a game is
worth the price of admission. Jeurys
Familia has demonstrated he is a major force on the mound (unless the throw is
to first base), and the return of Vic Black means the power armed trio will
once again entertain late season fans.
Jim Bouton once described himself as having the optimism of
a robin with a ten foot earthworm in its beak.
Unless you are of a similar mindset, the season has long been over. Let’s play out the string, evaluate some
fresh faces in new roles and see if 2015 can become meaningful after all.
5 comments:
No one seems to want to hold Wright responsible for pointing out a long time ago that he was not playing at 100%.
Wright is like the Mets' Ferrari. It needed a tune up, but they chose instead to keep driving it. Now it has some engine damage, likely permanent, but likely will still run OK - not though like a Ferrari should. Dumb - agreed he s/h/b shut down far earlier.
Play Murph at 3rd, Dilson and Flores. Play Dekker. If young kids get hot, they could go on quite a roll with youthful enthusiasm that older players lose as they mature. Maybe the Mets go on a major win streak and make things interesting with the kids. But we'll see what we've got. No EY Jr. Please.
By the way, Duda lost a homer down the line last nite, caught at the wall in first inning (or so the radio said). Fences in, and that's a HR, and maybe he gets to that 33 #.
I was upset that Sandy is saying to bring the fences in this off-season for all the reasons I've noted (better ROI on large hitter contracts, fans love offense and buy more tix, more wins). Upset because in interpreting the vague Sandy-speak, it seems they will not bring them in enough. CF should be 400 or 402, RF should be in a lot, and let's move LF in while we're at it an eliminate all out-dents. They screwed up the last move-in, do it right this time. Our pitchers will adjust.
Personally, I would like to see Cesar Puello get the call and play LF for the balance of the year. He's out of options and they have to find out for sure if he's "cuttable" or if there's still something there. How much worse could he be than the two-headed lefty duo?
Puello is one I'd hate to see not be kept.
He did pick his game up in July and August in what was a disappointing, mediocre year, and his physical skills (speed, power, arm) have to give him one of the highest ceilings in the entire org, even if he never reaches that ceiling. I'd have called him up as you said and played him, perhaps every other game. While he showed few signs of it this year, he could have a huge year in Vegas next year.
He won't likely be in Vegas next year unless he voluntarily re-signs with the 51s. He probably realizes his chances to become a Met are gone, so he would be better off trying to get a fresh start with a new organization. Since he's out of options, the Mets can't simply stash him in Vegas.
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