Tom Brennan - DELAYED GRATIFICATION?

Tom Brennan - DELAYED GRATIFICATION

DELAYED GRATIFICATION is an interesting term.

It can be frustrating dealing with delays. I hate delays myself. I've never met a traffic delay I did not grouse about.

Delays can indeed be quite annoying. Delays coupled with uncertain outcome can cause a lot of second-guessing.

But when gratification comes, after a delay, after a struggle, after doubt, it can be especially...well...gratifying.

Are we entering into a perfect gratification storm with some of our high draft picks of years gone by?  Look no further than Dominic Smith, Brandon Nimmo, Gavin Cecchini, and Kevin Plawecki.

The first three were high first-round picks, and Kevin P was a compensation round pick. Their major league production to date has been mostly limited and unimpressive.

Nimmo actually has done pretty well, with a .264/.367/.392 slash line over the equivalent of about a half of a major league season.

Plawecki has 465 major league at bats and has hit just .222/.304/.310, with no one confusing him with Gary Sanchez.

Smith was overweight and underperforming In his debut, nicely smacking 9 homers in 167 at bats, but hitting just .198.  Hey, Mike Schmidt hit .196 in 132 big league games in his first full season at age 23 - he did all right after that, in my humble estimation.

Cecchini has managed just 83 major league at bats to date, with Muno-like unimpressive results. "Past performance is not indicative of future results", replied my stock broker.

In Cecchini's case as well, his overall minor league production has not been what one might expect of a high first rounder, with stuggles at times in the field and with the bat.  But he hit quite well in 2 of those seasons.

Now, here they are about 10 games into spring training hitting a combined 16 for 37 with 3 doubles, a triple, 3 homers and 13 RBIs through Sunday's games. And an on base % of roughly .500.  Satisfying and gratifying. 

And then Nimmo adds to "satisfying and gratifying", going all "Tommie Agee" on us with a game lead off homer Monday.  Brandon is becoming the Wyoming Wonder.

Hey, Brandon, you're humble about it, and the humble SHALL be exalted, right?

Yeah, yeah, Dom needs to get his quad healed up, but I think his svelte new physique, and combo bat and glove package, will be making us flash a gratified smile when thinking about big league Smitty some time in 2018.

If that does not happen until after he turns 23 in mid-June, so be it...he'll still just be 23 then.

Nimmo could be ready to cause us to smile a lot, and quickly, in 2018, with improved splits as compared to the decent aforementioned.264/.367/.392, we should be gratified by season's end.  Maybe the day is soon coming when we can all say, "I was wrong criticizing that Nimmo pick, this kid is awesome."

Cecchini faces an infield logjam, but I think it will come together for Cheech with the bat and glove this year.  I can see the beefed up Cecchini tearing up AAA if he does not make the Mets club out of camp, and flashing solid leather.  I like the whiskers, too...looks tougher.

If he does make the Mets squad early on, the Mets might be inclined to trade the more expensive Wilmer Flores some time in 2018 or in the off season to save a few shekels and drachmas in upcoming seasons.

At the end of 2015, I was getting pretty doubtful on the futures of both Nimmo and Cecchini; Nimmo I now think will have a long, successful career as a 3rd or 4th outfielder, and Cheech may just follow suit by 2019.  

He will be 24 all season this year, and some guys take longer to mature and break through.  His ability to make consistent good contact should be a real tailwind for his career going forward.  Gratifying things are coming for Gavin C.

Plawecki had his vertigo issues early on in his MLB days, and has mostly disappointed to date with the stick, but I have sneaking suspicion that those days of disappointment are in the rear view mirror, and that he and Travis d'Arnaud will combine in 2018 to provide above average hitting at the catcher position. How about .260/20/85 for the duo in 2018?  That would be both doable and gratifying.

So, unlike the instant gratification provided elsewhere by the likes of an Aaron Judge, our foursome of Nimmo, Cecchini, Plawecki, and Smith have been fairly disappointing so far.  

But I think the Delay Period is over.

And the Gratification Period is upon us with them.

Wouldn't THAT be gratifying?