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6/14/17

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.

10 comments:

  1. Reyes needs a LOT MORE THAN two and a half months to get started, Reese. Come on. I am reasonably confident Reyes will surge to .200, or even .210, if they let him play straight through to October.

    You just need Terry Collins-like patience.

    There is a message here - avoid signing once highly popular old guys - they don't do much and then it is hard to cut ties.

    The Two Old Men (Grandy and Reyes) have 414 official at bats and are hitting ,198, .280 on base %, 43 RBIs.

    Warren Beatty is going to star in a new movie called Amed Can Wait.

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  2. bring the kid up and maybe you get a jolt from him and we can make a run?

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  3. Bring up the jolt, discard the dolt.

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  4. I totally understand the process of the extra year of service and super 2 and the advantages... But if super 2 has passed, Rosario needs to be here... Reyes hasn't performed... And there is a shot that with Lugo, and Matz back we could get back in this... even just defensively (since Reyes isn't producing offensively... we need Rosario...

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  5. Mack, any thoughts on the Draft... You said you were happy with day rounds 1 and 2... What about the rest...

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  6. Watching Reyes and Cabrera, I'd even be happy to see Luis Guillorme. Anything but more of these two guys.

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  7. Eddie -

    Hard to say yet...

    Drafting all these college SENIOR pitchers means they will all sign for severe underslot bonuses... which could be setting up Day 3 for some high ceiling high school kids that they could pick.

    We'll have to wait and see.

    BTW... Tom Brennan has pitched in and helped me post the draft stuff while I'm under a family medical situation.

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  8. Eddie, lots of college senior righties drafted (rounds 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10). A few look promising. See posts on Rounds 6 thru 10 coming out on the hour between 11:00 AM and 3 PM today.

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  9. dam, does that mean you are giving Cabrera and his thumb a thumbs down?

    Wheeler last night showed me why I never felt he was an ace like Thor, Matz, Jake and (at one time) Harvey. Always felt to me like a # 4 starter, maybe # 5.

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