Reese Kaplan -- Mets Praying for .188 Miracle

With the latest Asdrubal Cabrera injury the cries to promote Amed Rosario are louder than they’ve ever been, yet it was T.J. Rivera who got tabbed to come east to rejoin the Mets.  The rational reasons do make sense – they know what he is, they’ve already burned his option for this year and – here’s the kicker – THEY WOULD RATHER HAVE THE GHOST OF JOSE REYES PLAY SHORTSTOP THAN GIVE A CHANCE TO AMED ROSARIO.

We’ve heard the company line.  He needs more time to cut down on strikeouts and become more adept at pitch recognition.  Who here thinks that he will miraculously make these adjustments post All Star Break when there’s no risk of the Super Two “gotcha” hurting the club?  Then (when the season is pretty much in the tank) they will deem him ready to join the big club.  Nevermind that Jose Reyes and David Wright were younger than Rosario when they made their debuts in the majors. 

To be fair, others who shined in short stints such as the Nationals’ Trea Turner are having a something of a comeuppance the second time around.  That’s part of growth and adjustment, both on the part of the hitter and of the opposing pitchers who get time to build a book on how to get the batter out.  However, holding him in AAA isn’t going to cure this problem.  Consequently I put little stock into those folks who cite the lackluster performance of Turner and other second year rookies.  Rosario will at some point be a second year player, too, and just as Michael Conforto hit a bump in the road, so too may Rosario. 

However, the fact is that he’s hitting and running and fielding like a potential star.  The starting shortstop is hurt yet again.  However, rather than try to win games, instead the club will lean on Jose Reyes’ past reputation thinking that it’s 2007 instead of 2017 and a .188 hitter is indeed the answer.  If you believe that, there’s a bridge in Brooklyn I can post to Craigslist. 

I won’t even get into how the club mishandles day to day injuries into several-month-long maladies.  That’s another rant for another day.  I’m actually pleasantly surprised that they disabled him immediately which has not been their modus operandi.  Even the bizarre decisions like benching their hottest hitter worked in their favor as Cabrera and Jay Bruce saved Terry Collins bumbling butt from the second guessers for having Flores ride the bench.  Where I have a quibble is the decision to place dollars ahead of victories which is doubly galling when the club is on arguably its best streak of the year.  All of the pitchers have clicked the past several days and the offense has been adequate.  Consequently they’ve won ballgames. 

Like a kidney stone, this too shall pass – painfully.