5/28/18

Reese Kaplan -- Bluto's Right, Psychotic But Right



When you encounter a disaster, sometimes it’s difficult to know where to begin.  Do you try to stabilize the situation by stopping the bleeding?  Do you take dramatic actions that could solve the problem but come with some risk?  Do you simply sit idly by and have confidence that everything will work itself out somehow?

Call me a pessimist, but option number three is perhaps good for those of immutable faith and naivete as actions speak louder than do hopes.  Ever since Omar Minaya and company were shown the door after the 2010 season we have been waiting for someone to stay awake at the switch and recognize when changes need to be made.  Unfortunately those folks who have somehow achieved a zen-like tranquility that a is solution coming eventually have infinitely more patience than I do.

At best the club has opted for option number two.  These “stop the bleeding” moves have been far too frequent and nearly always ineffectual.  Do James Loney, Jason Vargas, Adrian Gonzalez, AJ Ramos, Jose Bautista, Aaron Harang, Shaun Marcum, Rick Ankiel, Bobby Abreu, Omar Quintanilla, Michael Cuddyer, Alejandro de Aza and others ring a bell? 

Then there’s the corollary of sticking with ineffectual people way longer than should have happened.  In addition to this list you had the likes of Ruben Tejada, Eric Young, Jr., Jose Reyes, Kirk Niewenhuis, Anthony Recker, Rene Rivera, Matt Harvey, Hansel Robles and others would be people who inexplicably got chance after chance even when they demonstrated an inability to get it done (or get it done anymore). 

One of the tenets of project management is that your plan needs to include off-ramps when it’s clear that you’re not spending good money after bad.  We saw last year that even these late season trades were mishandled because the club (with the exception of Neil Walker) stubbornly refused to pay down the budgeted salaries of the players they were seeking to trade and the resulting acquisitions were, to be charitable, works in progress.  The club hasn’t understood the concept of the sunk cost.  When you’ve made a bad investment, you can hang onto it in the hopes it will someday become valuable again, or accept it was a loss and take decisive action to replace the asset with something that might prove to be a better investment.





To wit, it’s time to take some dramatic actions.  Cut Adrian Gonzalez.  Cut Jose Reyes.  Cut Hansel Robles.  Cut Jose Bautista.  Demote Jason Vargas. 

Replace Gonzalez with Dom Smith.  Find out what you have.  If he’s not capable, then you have Pete Alonso behind him.  Replace Reyes with Jeff McNeil.  He’s not getting any younger, can play 3B and 2B.  Both Asrubal Cabrera and Wilmer Flores can man SS for a day if Amed Rosario needs a break.  It’s not like their defense is any worse than Reyes’ at this point.  Replace Robles with Tim Peterson.  Replace Jose Bautista with Phil Evans.  I’d rather have positional versatility with someone who has proven he can still hit until a better option can be found from outside the organization.  If you do indeed promote Tim Peterson to the bullpen then I can be talked into letting Seth Lugo into the rotation, though I’d still like to see what a P.J. Conlon or Corey Oswalt (when healthy) can do.  They really would have to work hard to be a lesser option than Vargas. 

Please for once show the world you actually care about winning.  I won’t ask for major trades.  First of all, you have nothing to give (thanks, Sandy!) and it’s never been one of his strengths to evaluate talent properly to avoid getting fleeced.  However, don’t just sit around or apply more band aids when it's clear you’re hemorrhaging. 

5 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

I, along with many Mets farmlands, hope for you to be GM, Reese. Then you could bring in those youths, and let's roll. I am with Bluto Kaplan.

Mack Ade said...

Reese -

Morning. I hope Memorial Day finds you well (I never have understood how people wish me "HAPPY Memorial Day... it is like saying Happy Good Friday, Happy Passover, or Happy September 11")

Where do I start...

1. I believe that there would be considerable fan push back on starting over at this point in the 2018 season, unless you cut off the head of the snake. A replacement of the General Manager with a young, exciting, ex-player, who can replace the VPs and heads of the Minor League teams and Draft with young dudes that understand how to evaluate talent these days past sitting behind home plate and holding a radar gun (I could be wrong... after the Milwaukee series, the fans might accept anything today).

2. If you announce that you are taking the team into a complete rebuild, you can then operate the rest of this year like you are still in camp.

3. You need complete support of the Wilpon family, Saul Katz, and John Ricco (forget any thoughts of firing Ricco... the owners would never allow that). Without that, you are wasting your time here.

4. Eat money. I mean, big money. DFA ALL of the guys due to become free agents next season. Try to work out trades for them as best as you can. Cabrera should get you a decent chip. Familia two.

5. FINALLY... work out a deal with David Wright

6. DFA Vargas, Wheeler, and Robles

7. For now... for now... hold on to Cespedes, Bruce, Frazier, Swarzak, and Lagares, all for different reasons. Lagares is unmarkatable due to his season ending injury. Cespedes is hampered by injuries and massive contract. Bruce has no productivity and at least is a stable influence in a team with limited outfield talent. Frazier is cool and I would like a look at Swarzak for a month before I decide on him.

8. Fill the Vegas rotation with AAAA fodder until we move to Syracuse. There is no reason to blow up our prospect ERAs there anymore. Send Oswalt, Flexen, and Conlon back to Binghamton to finish 2018 there.

9. Creat a new rotation by putting the starters back where they pitched most of their career... deGrom, Syndergaard, Matz, Lugo, Gsellman

10. Make Alonso, Guillorme, Rosario, and Frazier my starting infield. Keep Dom in Vegas learning how to play the outfield. My two UTs would be Flores and McNeil

11. Make Plawecki and Nido my catchers.

12. My outfield would be Conforto, Cespedes, Bruce, Nimmo, and Kaczmarski. Frankly, the only guy here that would play every day is Nimmo as my leadoff hitter.

I could go on...


Mike Freire said...

I just don't understand how management can watch this team and think that everything is OK......or, that a "hot streak" is just around the corner that will right the ship.

They are playing inconsistent, lackluster baseball and it has landed them in fourth place in our own division.

What is the goal here, Sandy?

Met Monkey said...

Sandy is doing his kung Fu over rice paper. Because he is super swift and subtle, you just don't perceive the deadly skill and precision of his moves.

Pablo Grullon said...

Lmaooooo @ Met Monkey.
Every day the jay Bruce contract looks worse and worse. He's done nothing this year and has zero trade value