We all do it and it is said by some to be a waste of time.
It isn't.
It is analysis. It is to learn to not repeat mistakes moving forward. It is to, in the face of injuries, make certain there is a contingency planning.
By the time the first two months of the season were complete, the 2017 Mets dug themselves a hole they were never able to climb out of.
Looking back, there was no way to avoid injuries...or was there?
With more control over their employees' off season work outs, we might have avoided injuries to Cespedes and Syndergaard, obviously, but with strong team leadership comes discipline and accountability.
Perhaps even Harvey may have avoided this disaster of a season had he been under strong leadership.
But even if we skip over the injuries, were there things that could have been done differently that might have kept us from falling into a hole the first two months of the season?
I can think of a few things in the line up that really hurt us.
Amed Rosario had a good Spring. Although jumping AAA is not the norm, might this have provided improved defense that did cost us games in April and May?
1. Cabrera
Cabrera was a disaster at short stop. .244 in April, his bat was little better. Poor defense, something that is not saber metric popular, is close to inconsequential as can be for Sandy Alderson, who admitted this recently. The impact upon struggling pitchers is strong.
Could Rosario provided better defense? Yes
Could Rosario at least equaled Cabrera offensively? I think so.
2. Reyes
Next, there was Jose Reyes.
In April, Reyes was a disaster.
He batted .174 with poor defense and even worse base running.
In May he "heated up" according to the Mets promos, and batted .216
In June he hit .213 and after a hot July, is batting .161 for August.
By the end of May, after 2 months of poor baseball, the Mets had dug their hole.
3. Granderson.
Curtis Granderson's leadership not withstanding,
In April, he batted .128 while our best natural hitter and all star Michael Conforto barely played and was relegated to pinch hitter. This horrific start helped dig us the early season hole that we never climbed out of.
In June, Granderon recovered and hit .316, but damage was already done.
When Cabrera demanded a trade, he scorched up too.
By the time Reyes heated up, it, too, was too late.
4. Cespedes
Besides no oversight into Yoenis Cespedes' off season hypertrophy leg workouts, the lack of leadership may have also contributed to his leg injuries.
On pop ups, Cespedes refuses to hustle. There were even times where he carried his bat to the dug out while the ball was still in the air.
Yet, twice on balls he chose to not run out, he had to turn on the gas, and came up lame.
Had there been leadership from the beginning that said, "You don't hustle, you don't play" and kept to it, it is possible that Cespdes may have avoided either the injury or at least, further injury (including mitigating the original strain.)
5. Steven Matz
What happened over the off season with this talented left arm?
Do we even know?
This point may seem a touch unfair, but this must be asked: Did we give the proper medical oversight that would allow Matz to fully heal knowing his chronic elbow and left arm issues?
Answer: I don't know.
I don't accuse Matz of concealing his workout or regiment from the Mets; he is not that kind of young man. He is very competitive, a bit hot tempered (with himself) but is known for "team first" and maturity.
Here, my question is about Mets' leadership and oversight; not about independence from the Mets, as in Cespedes or Syndergaard, or even disappearances like Harvey.
Objection: The players have a right to a private life.
Answer: The Employer owns their labor. Ethically, for the millions they are paid, it is their reasonable service to care for the bodies the employers so generously pay for, made possible by the fans in the manner prescribed by said employer.
If said employer abdicates responsibility; the failure is upon the employer, not the employee.
6. The BullPen
This is a topic for a different article, but suffice for now, Terry Collins' bizarre use of the bullpen combined with Sandy Alderson's bizarre love affair with the waiver wire, and the free agent money, conspired against us to bring despair to Metsie land before we ever reached Summer.
5 comments:
When you think of all the things you could be doing... I'm afraid it is a waist of time.
I agree that failing to recognize history usually leads to a repeat of the same.......or, the definition if insanity, which is doing the same things over and over again, but expecting different results.
In short, we need to break the cycle......a "change up" if you will.
That HAS to start at the top, but I don't think the Wilpons are selling any time soon. So, I would settle for a house cleaning in our management structure, to include a new approach to strength and conditioning.
The purge of overpaid veterans has already started and it NEEDS to include moving on from David Wright......I love the guy, but it seems that everyone is in limbo waiting for that dude to come back. Not going to happen, so move on and find a different solution for third base.
Mike
The current GM kept bringing back the same manager who has a career losing record. Whatever happened to the priority about WINNING?
Of course, this same GM didn't think it was necessary to improve the roster over the winter or to form any kind of contingency plans for injuries. How'd that work out for ya?
There's no arguing a full housecleaning is needed, but if I was a betting man I wouldn't risk a single penny that it will happen. I'm fully confident Alderson will be back and, if he is, then so too will Collins. The spin will be all about injuries and maybe not wanting to go out on a down note.
Cespedes coming back too soon in April to face the Nat and then really getting hurt was the first major staggering blow.
Collins sticking so long with the woeful offense of Reyes and Grandy (even though Grandy was mostly very solid after his hated month of April) was another staggering blow.
Familia's suspension and major injury was one, too. In games not saved by him, Reed and AJ Ramos, the rest were 2 for 14 in save opportunities. Staggering.
As was Thor's. Possibly Cy Young guy missed most of season. Staggering.
And most of the rest of the starters not named Jake (Wheeler, Matz, Gsellman, Montero, Milone, Pill) were staggeringly bad.
Too much staggering. Way too much to overcome.
We have the MLB union to thank for the attitude problem because when your employee makes what 100 times what your entire front office makes IT'S A PROBLEM! Unfortunately that will never change so your asking 20 year old's to police themselves and guess what it's not working. Now every team will have their Granderson's and Wright's and DeGrom's but management SHOULD be running the show but those days are over so were left with head first slides ( I still remember Roberto Alomar doing it INTO FIRST BASE and thinking what the hell ), no one being able to bunt, silly shifts that leave almost an entire side of the infield open and just about NO ONE takes advantage of it, not running out of the box hard, and catching the ball with one hand to name a few. I always wondered what their teaching these kids as they grow up through the ranks to make the majors and the basic's are so sorely missing anyway that's my rant for today.
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