Reese Kaplan -- Blow It Up And Start Over

For most contending teams the revenue generated by ticket sales primarily takes place as the season begins with only the nosebleed seats generally available on game day.  Towards that end, putting fannies in the seats is not as important at this time of the year as is ancillary revenue that results from TV ratings, merchandise sales and the perception that your team is not only going to contend in the near future but also a desirable place at which to go to work. 

On the latter part, the Mets are probably not doing as much as they can.  Think about it.  If you are a free agent right now and say the Houston Astros and New York Mets made equal offers to you, where would you go?  The club did nothing to improve itself over last year, they have a reputation for being penny pinchers (or as least spending their money oddly), their manager can’t get out of his own way, and just when they were poised to take over the city they let the Yankees beat them at their own game yet again. 

Cries for a new ownership always fall upon deaf ears as it’s unlikely the Wilpons are interested in conceding defeat.  Cries for a new front office won't happen unless Sandy Alderson chooses to retire since he will take credit for bringing them to the World Series in 2015 and the post season in 2016.  Cries for a new manager may possibly finally be heard, with a scintilla of hope for change in the off-season, though it’s still going to be a painful July through September. 

So what can be done between now and the bitter end to generate some interest in the ball club and to evaluate players for the future?

• Trade away the folks who for sure won’t be here next year – Curtis Granderson, Lucas Duda and Jose Reyes.  Take whatever you can get by paying a portion of the salaries of the first two.  Think lower level prospects with high upside (like when you picked up Zack Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard).
• Play Wilmer Flores every day at a set position.  See what happens.
• Ditto T.J. Rivera.
• Promote Dom Smith and let him play 1B every day except against the toughest lefties (and that means Clayton Kershaw, not any shlub who happens to face 1B when winding up).. 
• Promote Amed Rosario to play shortstop every day (and batting leadoff, not 8^th).
• Promote Kevin Plawecki to play 1B against tough lefties and catch occasionally.  See if he’s finally learned to hit or if you have to start with a blank sheet of paper at catcher.
• Pitch Rafael Montero until he finally convinces you he either has it or he doesn’t have it.
• Ditto Robert Gsellman (when healthy).
• Ditto Seth Lugo.
• Move Paul Sewald into the 8^th inning reliever role and if you do wind up trading Addison Reed, let him be your closer until Jeurys Familia returns.
• Hold onto Jay Bruce until the 11^th hour and see if you can hold up another team for more than a Dilson Herrera type.  You want an organization's top 5 prospect.
• Ditto Addison Reed.  Same level of prospect here.
• If you do wind up trading Bruce, then play Brandon Nimmo (and when he recovers) Juan Lagares in a platoon.  See what you have.
• Offer the $2 million you would have to pay to decline Adrubal Cabrera’s option as an incentive to get something for him in return.  I'd go for more AA or lower types.
• Replace Fernando Salas in the pen with Tyler Pill or Kyle Regnault.  Neither can possibly be worse.
• Learn to play small ball.  With Duda, Granderson , Cabrera and possibly Bruce gone, you can no longer rely on the all-or-nothing approach.
• Pray for a miraculous recovery of Neil Walker by July 15^th so he has 2 weeks to showcase himself for yet another trade opportunity.  Be prepared to kick in a lot of salary as he’s overpaid.  Get more farm system enhancements.  

Will this type of team be better than the one you have now?  Probably not…but it will at least be more interesting to watch and may move some of those unsold nosebleed tickets while generating higher TV ratings as people will be curious about the new blood finally getting a chance to play. What’s the worst that could happen – they’d play sub-.500 ball?  Take a look at the record now WITH Granderson, Bruce, Reed, Reyes, Cabrera and Walker.  What’s the absolute worst?  You battle the Phillies for the number one draft choice?  That’s a better consolation prize for 2017 than looking up at the Marlins and Nationals while treading deep water.   Besides, you will have something on the order of $85 million to play with during the next off-season.