Good
morning.
I said
earlier this week (Monday) as a comment on Chris’ Monday Morning Report that I
was going to wait out the Hot Stove week and not respond to what the Mets
either do, or not do, while meeting with the rest of the teams at the winter
meetings in Nashville.
It didn’t
take long (Monday morning) for VP John Ricco to
gather the gaggle together and pass on a bunch of tribble for everyone to send
out to the fans, including the speculation that it didn’t look like the Mets
had a chance with bringing back OF Yoenes Cespedes (due
to his salary demands in a deal).
Was it
necessary to say this at this point of the winter meetings? Is this posturing
or just another Ricco moment?
I also
mentioned earlier this week that I believe the Mets will wait until mid-season
to fully replenish their bullpen. This seemed to work well last season and I
wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t see the finalization of this pen once Zack Wheeler returns as a starter. What would I do?
Well, I would convert Jon Niese into a pen that
already had a returning Jenrry Mejia. I also
would have already converted Rafael Montero to join Sean Gilmartin, Addison Reed,
Josh Edgin, Jeurys
Familia, and Hansel Robles. There’s a lot
of talent on this list and it does make one stop and think before committing
any new money to an additional reliever during this off-season.
And lastly, The
Mets determined early on in this off-season that their prime target was Ben Zobrist. Then, all of a sudden, the Cubs and
manager Joe Madden supposedly came out of the
woodwork and closed a 4-year deal with the ex-Kansas City star.
I’m really
not sure what I feel about this right now. I never wanted to commit this kind
of money to someone that is going to turn 100 years old in four years, but it
would have been nice to have the kind of talent Zobrist would have brought to
the infield immediately.
I believe
the blueprint this off-season will mirror the one developed at mid- season last
year. A basic small list of retooling moves. An additional centerfielder and a
possible addition to the pen.
Events that
started in November and culminated last night have created a situation in which
your old second baseman is gone, your new one just signed with Chi-Raq, the
rookie is ready but green, your two shortstops have broken a leg and an ankle
and the guy I wanted to replace all of them is now in the Bronx.
A bad night
but a place we can build off of.
First of
all, we know as a fan now that the Mets management will commit big free agent
dollars if they can match up with the right person. It may no longer be in the
middle infield this season but we can begin preventing these kind of problems
by developing your own talent through the system. I’ll say this for around the
tenth time this off-season… I just wish the Mets would give Herrera one full
season in Queens to prove his value at second base.
Shortstop
may be more of a challenge now. A lot of weight, excuse the pun, will be placed
on the doctor’s reports on both Tejada and then Flores. Past that, team
officials make lightning decisions on the projectibility of guys like Asdrubal Cabrera, Clint Barmes, Ian Desmond, Jimmy Rollins,
and Stephen Drew.
On to
Thursday.
6 comments:
Does anyone know the asking price for Brett Lawrie
He can play 3rd and 2nd ,probably even LF
Lots of energy as a bench player, with some pop
How about Dalton pompey from Toronto for Niese
The guy has speed, and can play CF,was a top prospect
made Toronto opening day line up last season
Mack, all your writing efforts on Castro and he becomes a Damn Yankee? That has to be frustrating.
Tom -
Cubs moved quick and decisive. You have to appreciate that.
This is silly......Zobrist would have been a nice addition, but he was costly in terms of salary and the length of the commitment (especially at his age). Plus, he would have blocked Dilson for the foreseeable future, which is a bad move, IMO.
The best part, is the whining taking place in the media today.....how can we "lose" something that we didn't have in the first place? Sure, Zobrist was our top target, but the Cubs present a nice package, to include familiarity with Joe Maddon.
Morons (like Matt Cerrone of late) are now saying the Mets "look bad", because of this outcome. The hype was media created in the first place, so when it turns out to be inaccurate, it is now on the team? BS!
Whatever.....we are the defending NL Champions, with a killer pitching staff and a bright future!
The Mets do look bad:
but not because Zobrist chose the to go to the Cubs.
The Mets look really bad for assessing their own team and determining the most important thing they needed to do this offseason in order to improve was to target a 35 yr old second baseman that could play multiple positions
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