Tom Brennan - FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE
Remember Chipper, Greg, Tom and John. The Braves of yore had too much talent and left the Mets behind year after year.
The Cubs, through strong drafts and acquisitions (Zobrist, Fowler, Hayward, Lester, Chapman), have a hugely talented team. A headline yesterday speculated about a possible Cubs dynasty. What to do?
FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE...SIGN CESPEDES, FOR STARTERS.
Or spend a bunch of years coming in 2nd best. Again.
It is my birthday. I like gifts, timely or tardy. I'll take Cespedes gift wrapped in Mets wrapping paper. FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE.
The direct answer is sign Chapman which hurts the Cubs and helps the Mets, particularly since they're looking at a Familia-less half season or so. You could sign Fowler as well and then look to move both Bruce and Granderson. That's the best set of candles on your birthday cake.
ReplyDeleteDespite some moves that have worked well, I still don't trust this front office (ownership included) to make good talent evaluation judgements, nor to spend the money likely to be required to keep contending. I also don't believe that there is a realistic path to replace what Cespedes gives you if he leaves. As to the possibility of bringing in Chapman, wouldn't that make three domestic abusers on the 25-man? Can't see them doing it. (Plus, the money, of course). I am concerned that we're going to go into next season in hope. Hope TdA is a middle of the order bar next season, hope DW can play effectively, hope Granderson improves rather than continues to decline at 36, hope Jay Bruce's all or nothing bat is more all than nothing, hope that Lucas Duda recovers from his back surgery, hope Conforto takes a giant step forward, etc. There'/ nothing wrong with taking a stand on a couple of guys you hope will improve, (I'd be fine with a plan that includes Conforto as a starter, for example) but it seems like a lot would have to go very right for that all to work out. Signing Cespedes would at least lock in your middle of the order RH bat so you can build around it. We shall see, of course, but I'm not confident that we'are going to come out of this offseason with a lot to count on.
ReplyDeleteYou only have a few chances over a decade of baseball to build a team around an A+ bat.
ReplyDeleteWe did it with Wright.
We need to keep doing it with Yo.
No combination of anything else available to this team, will come out better than the Nats, no less the Cubs
Gentlemen, you all make excellent points. We, the unofficial Board of Directors, have spoken...will the Mets listen? They better.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly would make the 2017 planning a lot easier if they can start with locking up Yo. Unfortunately, there's a real possibility they may need to come up with Plan B, C and D and add them all up to equal plan A with Yo.
ReplyDeleteStill.. 2017 all rides on the Aces returning to health and dominance. There's no substitute for that. If they do, plan B+C+D could even still do the trick. Great pitching can stop the Cubbies. Let's not forget that job #1 is still to beat the Nats. Wildcard games suck.
Mike, I sure hope the elite pitchers all come back healthy. I'd be surprised if a few don't need roadside assistance for much of the season. Can't over-rely on those STARTERS...poor hitting is such a strain on the STARTERS.
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