So we’re just over a month from pitchers and catchers
reporting to Spring Training and a year later after a disastrous 2017 the Mets
front office has seen fit to sit on its hands rather than trying to improve the
roster for a second straight year.
Departing since the All Star break last year were Addison Reed, Lucas
Duda, Jay Bruce, Neil Walker, Curtis Granderson, Jose Reyes and Nori Aoki.
You can argue that the club’s 2017/2018
off-season is even worse than the one after the 2016 season ended because that
was a playoff team and PERHAPS could contend again without additions. Instead, the 2017 team was an unmitigated
disaster between injuries, mismanagement of said injuries, and the ponderous decision
making to play departing veterans rather than the younger players who might be
part of the future. Any reasonable person would think that things would need to change in order to improve.
Now how do other clubs deal with the off-season? Let’s take a look.
The Washington Nationals can be somewhat forgiven for
relative inertia given the fact they have won two straight division titles (and
4 of the last 6, never finishing below 2nd). Still, they chose to add two major league
complementary pieces in Matt Adams and Brandon Kintzler. Paired with some injured players recovering
there’s no reason to believe they won’t be atop the division once again.
The Philadelphia Phillies appear to be a team on the upswing
and to fortify that momentum they have added All Star Carlos Santana, and solid
relievers Pat Neshek and Tommy Hunter via free agency. In addition they have traded for pitcher
Enyel De Los Santos whose career ERA of 3.70 is better than all of the
relievers Sandy Alderson acquired for much bigger talents than Freddy Galvis.
The Atlanta Braves have added two credible pitchers in Scott
Kazmir and Brandon McCarthy, while also adding some wildcard pieces without
much of a track record in Charlie Culberson, Preston Tucker, Chase Whitley,
Justin Kelly and Grant Dayton. No one is
sure how much any of this latter group will contribute and when, but when you
throw a lot against the wall, something may stick.
Along those lines, the salary dumps by the Miami Marlins
have generated a lot of roster additions for the folks in southern
Florida. The lone standout is Starlin
Castro from the Yankees as part of the Giancarlo Stanton deal, but the rest of
the players are mostly prospects -- Caleb Smith, Garrett Cooper, Chad Wallach, Daniel Castano, Magneuris Sierra, Sandy
Alcantara, Zac Gallen, Jorge Guzman, Jose Devers, Nick Neidert, Robert Dugger
and Chris Torres. While no one in Miami
is happy with the model chosen by Derek Jeter & company, you have to admit
there are a lot of additions to the roster.
Now we come to the Mets…a backloaded deal for one-year
wonder Anthony Swarzak. Allow me to
remind you again about the 7 starting caliber players who departed. If I remember math class, that’s a -6
differential which is far worse than the previous season. Oh wait, don’t let me
forget they have inked Nationals’ castoff Jose Lobaton to a minor league
deal. Print those World Series tickets
now!
Once again it’s clear that one of these things is not like the others…it takes patience, antacid and hard liquor to be a loyal Mets fan. My hope is that I won’t wind up in a hospital with an ulcer or AA with a drinking problem waiting for the front office to do SOMETHING. (For the record, I'm not being negative -- I'm merely presenting the facts of the inertia for a second straight year.)
20 comments:
Let's hope this is The Tortoise and the Hare, and the Mets' off season tortoise beats out the Hare. Not holding my breath.
Reese -
Morning.
I am going to continue my 'wait and see' attitude, both as a fan and a writer, until this Hot Stove season is over.
He will look like a genius ff the market comes back to Sandy.
If not... well, we all know what part of a horse that is going to make him look like.
It's a familiar role for him after the last off season.
A year ago, when the Mets gave a big contract to Yo (and a QO to Walker, plus picking up Bruce's option), there were those who were critical of them for "bidding against themselves" for their most important player.
This year, when they wait for the market to develop (as MOST teams have been doing) the critics are pouncing without seeing the results by the start of ST.
Which is it---"Act in haste, repent at leisure", "look before you leap", or "he who hesitates is lost"?
Last week, the "reports" said the budget restraints were keeping Sandy from making any moves above "dollar store" level. Over the weekend, "they" were linking him to Moustakas, Cutch and Harrison.
I guess we can pick and choose which ones we want to believe, or be patient and save the judgment until next month.
I'll go with the latter.
Let's see:
Gambled and lost that Neil Walker wouldn't accept the QO and then were stuck paying $17.2 million for him. But wait...we got Eric Hanhold and his 5.50 ERA for that investment. Silly me...the front office knows exactly what it's doing.
Then there's the contract handed out to the one of the most toxic people in the game. Who else was bidding for Yoenis Cespedes? If so, why didn't he go? Remember, this is the same guy who was on 4 teams in his first 4 years in the league. Ever wonder why?
The Jay Bruce thing was necessary because you didn't know if you were going to be able to retain Cespedes or not, but then you got Ryder Ryan and his 4.07 ERA from A-ball for the guy leading the league in RBIs. Yeah, that front office is a cracker jack operation, alright!
I wish I had access to your inside sources who were able to tell you what offers all the other GMs made or didn't make for Yo, but I don't, so I'll have to just guess like most fans.
Meanwhile, I wonder about your contradictory stances.
If we act aggressively and beat the market for top talent, it's because we foolishly overpay.
If we wait, or fail to sign someone you want, it's because we're "sitting on our hands", or just too "cheap".
We should've let Yo walk, and ditto for Walker, instead of making the QO.
We "didn't know if we were going to be able to retain Bruce", but we (not he) held the option.
We need to be sellers of our FAs-to-be if we're out of contention, but must get more than the market value for them instead of taking the best offer.
We need to aggressively go after Asian players, but you can't name a single one of them (except H. Matsui and Ichiro) who has become a star position player here.
Have I left anything out before I jump onto my horse and ride off in all directions?
We knew about Bruce. We didn't know about Cespedes. Please re-read.
We waited out Cespedes and STILL overpaid. It's the David Wright situation all over again (but this time with character issues).
Walker was not worth $17.2 million. He was worth about what he'd been paid the year before -- $10 million. So yes, he should have walked and then theoretically that money saved could have been put into more players. (Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha)
If you are selling players that other teams want, you hold them up for greater returns or offer to pay down the salaries to replenish the barren farm system also created by the great thinker in the front office.
Asian players include pitchers...or did you forget that? I've profiled several.
Bottom line: Alderson's tenure as the Mets General Manager has been very disappointing.
1 World series year and 1 playoff year, due in large part to the poor play of the rest of the National League East during those years, may sound good.
BUT
The organization has found itself in just as bad of a position as it did when he took the top spot in 2010.
One could argue that the organization may be in a far lesser position when you factor in the disappointing performance and development of the "all-ace-rotation"
Remember each and every one of the rotation has some degree of medical questions. Yes, even DeGrom. Remember it was just 1 1/2 yrs ago that he had to be shut down after fighting through various issues. Last year there were times during the season he needed time off after periods of poor performance.
Syndergaard has still not proven his return to pre-injury form. In fact his return to the mound produced very disappointing results.
Harvey? If he some how reclaims the promising form he demonstrated before his injuries ..... he will most likely continue his career as part of another team's pitching staff.
Matz and Wheeler have done nothing to prove themselves as reliable full year rotation members.
It is realistically possible that Alderson's legacy at the midpoint of 2018 will see:
1) Alderson's "all-ace-rotation" crash and burn
2) Mejia does not return to 2016 form
3) Smith & Rosario top out at good, not great players
4) the farm system remain in the bottom third of the league.
The Mets had 2 opportunities to move on from Alderson by simply not renewing his contract.
I find this decision is where the Wilpons are most responsible for the Mets disappointing state.
Even more so than any payroll restrictions.
Agreed on every point but the brain lapse on Mejia 😀
Oops my bad....FAMILIA
Reese, you know I like your incisive analysis and that I find your incessant negativity about the front office disappointing, but I think you should check all your facts before you print them.
I think you will agree with me that Drew Smith's career ERA of 1.80 is actually lower than Enyel De Los Santos' 3.70. His WHIP and other peripherals are better too. The same is true of Jacob Rhame's ERA, WHIP and peripherals. Similarly, Stephen Nagosek and Gerson Bautista have better career ERAs than De Los Santos. If you think the fact that De Los Santos is a year or two younger than any of them makes him better, say that (although I don't agree) but stick to the facts.
I was disappointed in the "haul" that Alderson received for his efforts in July and August, but I am certain it was the best he could do without sending additional cash along with the players. When I look at those relievers objectively, though, other than Hanhold, IMO, they all have promise. Smith and Rhame could be standouts.
The Mets under Alderson have been a disaster. For the first three years, the Mets were the butt joke of baseball. Followed were one so so year and two very good years. But here we are again, after tanking badly in 2017 the team is failing to add good players to make it better.
In the meantime, the Philthies have rebuild, have one of the best farm system and are actively improving the team for 2018.
The Braves have done the same.
The Nats are a powerhouse.
The Marlins had a better team but tore it apart.
Would it surprise anyone if the Mets finished 4th on the NL east in 2018?
The Alderson tenure has been very bad.
@Herb -- you are absolutely right about Smith. I tend to forget about him since they have not added him to the 40-man roster nor said much about him in general. He was indeed the best on paper of who they received though Bautista looked good in his brief Mets minor league trial. Nogosek regressed in A+ but there's time to improve.
My frustration is that they received six players who perform the same position, none of whom were considered the top tier talent from the organizations from whence they came. It would have made more sense to pay down some of the salaries departing to up the ante on what you got in return, but hey, it's water under the bridge and you can't rewrite history -- only repeat it if you're Sandy Alderson.
Hey Reese, two additional comments.
1) When you throw a pile of shit against the wall, it too is likely to stick. (LOL)
2) It takes patience, antacids and hard liquor, but you are not exhibiting the patience. The off season isn't over. When I emailed Sandy a few weeks ago to talk about the lack of movement, he asked me to be patient and wait to see where we are when spring training starts. I am taking his advice, although I told him that his patience exceeds mine. Meanwhile the antacids are fine, but not too much hard liquor. please. It may be the reason your annoyance and sarcasm is so close to the surface. (Once again, LOL)
Alderson has not earned the privilege of another year of patience.
His philosophy leading the Mets was built upon three pillars.
1) develop a young power pitching rotation of aces that could be the cornerstone of a winning team throughout their cost controlled years.
This has not materialized.
The cost controlled years have been eaten away by injuries.
There is no replacement round of rotation aces in the minor league pipeline ready to take over.
2) Field players and bullpens pitchers are less valuable as individuals. They can be treated as simply number producers that can be replaced as ling as the overall combined PROJECTED team totals match.
The constant replacement never allowed for the team's (and individual-especially young players) year to year growth.
3) Total rejection of traditional basic baseball statistics in favor of On Base, & Power.
High HR totals did not translate into runs.
2 or 3 men on base with 1 or fewer outs too often resulted in just 1 or NO runs!
Natural born hitters found themselves second guessing their natural instincts in favor of looking for perfect pitches to hit. Natural ability becomes burdened by too much thinking. Too much thinking can actually cause the deterioration of natural ability, such as hitting.
(Imagine Juan Gonzalez as a youngster trying to break in to the Mets lineup during the past few years)
All three of Alderson's philosophical pillars have cracked and/or crumbled.
His plan has failed.
He has shown no indication of learning, adjusting, and developing a new plan.
Instead it seems like he is trying to use bandaids to patch the cracks in his philisophy's crumbling pillars
Bob,
Juan Gonzalez has been retired for a while but Juan Lagares is still here. jaja. But your points are all good.
Even on a bad year, the Mets should address team needs. For 2018, the Mets have a gaping hole at 3B, starter, reliever but continue to try addressing CF, 2B and 1B.
Sandy's time has passed but just like Freddy did with Collins, he just can't cut the cord.
Yes, you've mentioned pitchers, though even there we can see as many Irabus and other failures as we can start. But you have posted many times the stats of position players that you wanted Sandy to sign. Japan's ML is no better than AAA.
Walker surprised most people by not going for a long - term deal elsewhere. But his acceptance doesn't mean offering it was wrong. Did you want him to leave with no compensation?
Lastly, who is your inside source tbat told you that no other team was interested in Yo? And how would you have reacted if the Yankees or Nats had signed him for the same deal he got here? Would you have credited Sandy for not outbidding them, or ripped him for the same thing?
I will agree with Bill on Walker. Neil started 2017 slowly, then put together 6 or 7 weeks of Murphy-level offense. Of course,this is the Mets, so what do hot players do (think Reyes, 2011) - they get hurt. Neil badly pulled a hammy, not an injury he was prone to. If he had not pulled that hammy, he might well have been a $17 million caliber player last year.
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