Saturday night, Gavin Cecchini went 3 for 4 and I was contacted by a Mets' insider who said,
"I don't know for certain but look for Collins to bench Cecchini in favor of Reyes tomorrow at second base."
The Mets starting line up for Sunday, September 17, 2016, as they are 25 games out of first place?
1. Norichika Aoki RF
2. Jose Reyes 2B
At least Collins is giving Philip Evans a chance to play third in favor of the current hot hitting but lame duck Cabrera.
Cecchini is just beginning to get major league pitching. The former first rounder has found very little precious playing time. If not for injuries, he'd not get the essential and scarce experience needed to adjust to the major league level.
Terry Collins continues to hold on to the lost clubhouse by favoring vets; something that reached a point of no return with Jay Bruce when he finally spoke out about it. Bruce specified Amed Rosario specifically, but added about his hope for others.
Keith Hernandez explained this well, and even Ron Darling, forgetting for a moment that he went to Yale, addressed it:
The few precious innings of major league baseball experience is something the kids fight for, crave and must have if they are going to develop into the future. Darling talked about the opportunities that must be given to kids. When Hernandez was not in the booth, Darling defended Collins, playing both sides. Hernandez, the curmudgeonesque critic, had been calling for Rosario's promotion for months, as well as the playing of kids. He was frustrated watching the season lost before summer, as Collins refused to budge from a failing line up, both offensively and defensively.
At 25 games out, eliminated and furlong, it is unthinkable that Collins continues to play Jose Reyes, Astrubal Cabrera and waiver pick up, the weak hitting 35 year old Norichika Aoki. With Cabrera's hitting streak, after losing 5 in a row, it matters not. The Mets know what Cabrera brings, just like Reyes, for consideration for utility next year. There's no purpose to playing any of these three. Collins' response to this objection was to say "winning is contagious" after we won a few games from the cellar dwellers.
It is well known what they can do.
What is not known is if Gavin Cecchini can develop into a full time second basemen for the New York Mets in 2018.
It is unthinkable that as the season winds down, playing time is being given where it should not be.
It is frustrating for fans who long for leadership changes for the 2018 Mets. It is frustrating for the fans who want to see hunger on the field, and not the nonchalance of egos.
Even the New York Post had to admit: the Mets leadership regrets the Cespedes signing, yet appear helpless to change the stagnant environment within a static refusal to move forward.
Gavin Cecchini, at all of 22 years of age, like Amed Rosario and Dom Smith: is not tired. He does not need nor want a rest.
He wants to be out there working through the issues, just like we see with both Dom Smith's figuring out the off speed pitches, and Amed Rosario adjusting to the speed of play.
Should Cecchini prove to be a solid fixture at 2B, it would leave us with only 3B as a desperate need.
Yet, we may not now know, because Cecchini is not being given the time on the field he needs to figure things out.
The at-bats accumulated in September can be taken into off season work outs and Spring training. It takes time for the brain to make the minute adjustments needed at this level.
Cecchini appears to have the talent.
If only Collins would let Reyes, Cabrera and Noki go golfing with Cespedes, we could see if any of these kids has what it takes to make a difference.
Cecchini just did not hit well, and with little power, this year. But he should be playing everyday for exactly the reasons you outline. Phil Evans, who wasn't even going to get a call up until Flores' nose was introduced to a baseball, is hitting line drives in his limited cameo after hitting over .330 the last 9 weeks in AAA.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is tempting to play a hot Cabrera and Reyes. It also makes a degree of sense to play a hot Cabrera if they are strongly thinking of trading him, as better #s may make him more valuable in a trade. But my guess is they keep him.
Also valuable is allowing kids to taste the major leagues up close and personal by playing, and if they fail a bit, and the Mets lose games, the bonus is better draft picks. PLAY THE KIDS
Well said.
ReplyDeleteThe Wilpons are cheap owners. They will spend one year and if it fails, they will go back to the 110M payroll which means the Mets can't compete.
ReplyDeleteThe GM is a Genius in his own mind. Which is why the minors are devoid of real talent. We probably have a worse minor league system than all of the NL east teams whom we compete with. Got maybe one reliever that can help next year BP while trading Granderson, Reed, Duda, Bruce, Walker and giving away Rivera to the Cubs. It takes a Genius indeed.
The manager is an Imbecile in the dugout. He cannot understand that his lineups make no sense, that he buries youngsters that he should be evaluating and that we have nothing to find out from Reyes and Cabrera. But true to form, he will play Aoki because he is a veteran.
This organization is just plain stupid from top to bottom. There is no sugar coating it. The first qualification to get a Mets job is to be stupid. IF you're really stupid you can become the GM and manager.
Players getting hurt all over the place = keep the same trainers even if this has been happening for years. Change nothing.
NL east teams getting better = Mets will cut payroll in order to compete.
Why couldn't the Doubleday family kept the team instead of the Wilpons? This team needs an exorcism.
Purge the white haired ghost in the dugout and then the septuagenarian pulling his puppet's strings.
ReplyDeleteGuess who's starting in the first 3 spots tonight?
ReplyDeleteIs Harvey trying to pitch his way off the team? Pretty awful.
ReplyDelete