It’s a long hot stove season and granted it’s not even
Christmas yet so there is time for fortunes to change, but a quick perusal at the
NL East suggests that one of these teams is not like the other when it comes to
trying to improve its chances to win the division. Let’s see what steps each club has made to
improve themselves over where they finished in 2016:
Atlanta Braves
- Added a new manager
- Added a new pitching coach
- Added R.A. Dickey
- Added Bartolo Colon
- Added Sean Rodriguez
- Added Jacob Lindgren
- Added John Danks
Philadelphia Phillies
- Added a new hitting coach
- Obtained Howie Kendrick
- Obtained Clay Buchholz
- Extended the contract of young star Odubel Herrera
Miami Marlins
- Added a new hitting coach
- Added Edinson Volquez
- Added A.J. Ellis
- Added Jeff Locke
- Added Junichi Tazawa
- Added Brad Zieler
Washington Nationals
- Added Derek Norris
- Added Jimmy Cordero
- Added Austin Adams
- Added Kyle McGowin
New York Mets
Extending Ordubal counts as a Major Move????....and Re-signing Ces and Walker Does Not?
ReplyDeleteOK...it's December, Buddy!!!
Hopefully the Tortoise will beat the Hare, as the fairy tale goes (or more appropriately Looney Tunes).
ReplyDeleteYou forget, we also signed....Tim Tebow. LOL. Right there, we move to the top of the pack. Many say he's too old...tell that to Dickey and Colon.
Could you at least try to be positive for one day? Your non stop negativity gets really tiresome, to be honest. The Mets are fresh off back to back playoff appearances, have a really nice pitching staff that will likely be healthy and should be in the conversation for the division title this year.
ReplyDeleteSandy's entire body of work has been more good then bad, yet you still give him daily abuse. Sandy is also very good at timing the market and exercising some patience, which is lacking in your daily diatribes.
It isn't even January, yet.
I sometimes wonder if you are a Met fan.
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DeleteHere's one team that is being aggressive...wouldn't it have made sense for us to get him at these prices and move Duda?
ReplyDelete"Edwin Encarnacion, perhaps the top free-agent hitter on the market, is on his way to Cleveland, according to reports.
Encarnacion, who hit 42 homers last season for the Blue Jays, reportedly agreed with the Indians on a three-year, $60 million deal with a team option for a fourth year and another $20 million or a $5 million buyout."
@Anonymous -- The longer you wait, the fewer the resources are available to improve the team. Guys like Wade Davis, Mark Melancon and Edwin Encarnacion are already off the board.
ReplyDelete@eraff -- The premise was what has been done to improve teams since 2016 ended. Both Cespedes and Walker help maintain the status quo.
Also, @Eraff -- 15 HRs, 49 RBIs, 29 SBs and a .286 AVG. They liked what they saw, so they extended him. Hmmn..if only we had some young talent like Noah Syndergaard, Jacob de Grom, etc. that might be worth locking up for the long term...but I guess the team is too busy with other deals they're making to consider that. Oh, wait, what other deals...?
ReplyDeleteReese, I'll never forgive the Ownership of the Mets, but I can't remain trapped in 2011!!!! I think you need to learn a few new songs.
ReplyDeleteNegativity may be fun to read, but it gets very tiresome when endlessly repeated. You said the same things last year before Xmas (not to mention other years). Then we added Cabrera, Walker, Reyes and (later on Salas and Bruce). Stop sounding like the kid who gripes he didn't get the presents he wanted, before Xmas even comes. The race goes to the best, not those who get off to the fastest start.
ReplyDeleteIf today were Feb 1, with no moves, your rant might have validity. Not now, especially when you mention the ridiculous Encarnacion deal.
That "ridiculous" deal is for a player who outperformed Cespedes for the past several years and costs fewer years and less money. I'm not saying we should have skipped Cespedes, but winning teams try to improve. Encarnacion would have been an improvement over Duda.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteBeing positive while ignoring the negatives is the role of a parent watching their kids play youth sports.
I am sure that Reese would love to be singing the praise of Sandy Alderson every day and in every way here at Metsblog and elsewhere.
There are legitimate concerns regarding the 2017 Mets. Too much is reliant on IF. If this player.......if that player.....
Yes.. Alderson resigned Cespedes. Reese sung his praise.
Since that move, what has Alderson done to make the 2017 Mets in a better position to defeat the Nationals? Giants? Cubs? Dodgers?
Yes, there is still time. But with each passing day there is less time while the IFS remain the same.
May I ask also? What are you basing your statement on when you state as fact that:
"Sandy's entire body of work has been more good then bad"?
Are you sure based on more than just a feeling?
Have other General Managers demonstrated that they could have produced similar results? Better results?
A fan can most definitely be positive.
They may also be critical.
I would guess that it is important to be realistic in either direction though.
Aside from the budgetary problems created by adding EE's $65m, you're one of the biggest proponents of going with youth instead of adding the 30+ guys on the way down. And just as Dom Smith is on the verge of making it here, you push for adding a high-priced guy who'd block him, even while we've got Duda here at much lower cost.
ReplyDeleteBob-- what's your feeling about constantly looking at the negatives while ignoring the pluses?
ReplyDeleteBill
ReplyDeleteEqually unrealistic
Bill
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind though. Many fans want their team to achieve/perform/win.
That means critical assessment focused on improvement.
We all do that in our performance in our work environment in order to succeed and advance.
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ReplyDeleteoddly the only player that has been added to the NL east that I would want to add to the mets is the one you left off, Adam Eaton.
ReplyDeleteWithout the DH and I hate the DH the current mets brain trust are never going to be involved in the hunt for big money free agents over the age of 30 who do not have a defined position to play defensively. It is always a bad move for an NL team to pay a guy late into his 30s when you cant move him to DH.
Im a mets fan so negativity doesnt bother me, bc i signed up for it. the yankees can keep the front running fake fans who dont mind $13 beers in a blander then bland stadium. i bleed with my team. though i wouldnt mind taking metaphiorical hammer to young jeffy.
Apologies for that one, Robb. I had missed Ziegler by relying on one particular transactions site for background and they too had missed Eaton. It underscores what I've said, and Bob agreed -- that in business you should seek continual improvement. Right now the team is worse than the one that ended last season because Bartolo Colon and his innings are gone. Not a single player has been added while every other GM seems to think maybe improving your team is a formula for success. But Sandy knows better...
ReplyDeleteSandy needs to dazzle us between now and Feb 1.
ReplyDeleteUpdate: The Braves have extended the contract of young outfielder Ender Inciarte to secure him for the future.
ReplyDeleteSandy Alderson has announced he will not negotiate with any of the starting rotation until Spring Training if at all.
As I said, one of these things is not like the other.
I don't blame him for holding off on extending brittle pitchers until they get thru spring training.
DeletePoint taken...besides, it would distract him from the Festivus airing of grievances.
ReplyDeleteAnother update -- Angels sign career .306 hitter Ben Revere for just $4 million to serve as a 4th outfielder. Couldn't he have served as a low cost half of a CF platoon with Juan Lagares and thus enable them to trade both Granderson and Bruce?
ReplyDeleteReese,
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with you as usual. Why should the NL team with the most loyal fanbase be content with Lucas Duda at 1B when Encarnacion was a bargain? Did Sandy even check in on that? And BTW, who's that Metsiac guy, LOL!
Right about Revere, Reese (unless Brandon Nimmo steps up).
ReplyDeleteThe Wilpons wade in mediocrity!