Reese Kaplan -- Musical Musings at the 1/3 Mark

At a dead even 27-27 record coming into last night’s game, the Mets were most definitely at a crossroads for their 2018 season. 

As Yogi Berra once said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”  The problem for us Mets fans, however, is best summed up by Dee Snider who defiantly proclaims, “We’re Not Gonna Take It!”

To continue with the musical analogies, it’s time to take a sad song and make it better.  How then can the Mets salvage what’s left of the long season?

Why is it that other teams that are competing for a pennant can entrust starting assignments to players who are 20, 21, 22 or 23, yet the Mets feel it is better to employ a lineup with the likes of Jose Bautista, Jose Reyes, Adrian Gonzalez and others whose best days are clearly behind them?

Now if you’re running a team and you want to reinforce your bench with credible veterans who can impart wisdom and leadership to a younger crew, then a case can be made for that approach.  However, when the diminished skillset players are taking valuable time away from people who might be a part of your future, then it’s indefensible.  We saw that with James Loney and Jose Reyes recently under Terry Collins.   Treading water is not a viable plan for progress.  By very definition it is to stand still and go nowhere. 

Now you can’t lay all the blame on Mickey Callaway when he’s not being fed quality players from the farm system that his boss has failed to develop.  Still, a manager needs to walk into the GM’s office and declare who is and who is not getting it done and at least make the case for reinforcements. 

Anyone with even a passing interest in the Mets knows well how scalding hot both Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil have been for Binghamton.  Couldn’t the team use some youth and power about now?  The left handed McNeil and the right handed Alonso will have some growing pains, for sure, but I’d sooner live with people who will likely get better with experience than those whose best hope for the remainder of their long careers is to aspire to be a replacement level player.

The pitching staff is not exempt from this approach either.  With the injuries to Rafael Montero, Anthony Swarzak, Noah Syndergaard, Steve Matz, AJ Ramos and others the Mets have had to reach deep into their system to give innings to guys like former El Paso Chihuahua Buddy Baumann.  Buddy may be a nice guy but as a ballplayer at 30+ years of age and only 30 IP under his belt, it’s highly unlikely he’s suddenly going to morph into Aroldis Chapman.

Instead, it took multiple injuries and multiple 60-day DL stints until someone with potential like Tim Peterson ever got to sniff the big league roster.  They recently pushed Seth Lugo into a starting assignment out of desperation due to injuries to starters Syndergaard and Matz.  Maybe that’s where he belongs as the team has to conclude what to do with Zack Wheeler and Jason Vargas next season.  Both could be here but should they be?

Recently Mickey Callaway showed he can indeed learn from his mistakes when he took a less-than-stellar Jeurys Familia out of a game after his 8^th inning fueled by some Amed Rosario defensive heroics and let Robert Gsellman close it out.  Wow, think about it – taking out an ineffective pitcher and inserting the one who’s been getting it done handily.  It worked.  Imagine that!

It is almost as simple as “Play the kids!”  It’s a frustration we’ve experienced throughout the Alderson era under Terry Collins and threatening to repeat itself under Mickey Callaway.  

So I’d like to made a modest proposal as the Mets enter their second third of the season.  Put the following folks on notice about their current roles – Adrian Gonzalez, Jose Reyes, Jose Bautista and Jeurys Familia.  The former three should be on borrowed time, each departing as people like Todd Frazier, Yoenis Cespedes and Wilmer Flores get healthy.  Familia should be positioned as the setup guy to Gsellman to see how the latter adjusts to the high pressure role.  Then Familia should be traded at the deadline for a package similar to what the Yankees got for Chapman when he was in his FA walk year.

Jay Bruce needs to be held accountable for his miserable season.  It was not as if there were people beating down his door for his services.  Some have suggested that he is tradeable since the team was able to do so last year.  However, they conveniently forget he was then in a walk year and his compensation was limited to the balance of his 2017 paycheck.  Sandy Alderson handed out a 3 year deal to Bruce and while he’s perfectly capable of earning it, currently he is not.  Consequently you have to decide if you are willing to pay down some of that contract to entice another team to bite and thus solve the dilemma of how to get Brandon Nimmo into the lineup on a daily basis.  Frankly at this point I’d rather see Alonso at 1B than Bruce (which is the only other way to do it).  And, hint to Wilpons, Alonso would earn just minimum wage.  Say you offered to pay the rest of Bruce’s 2018 salary and one of the two remaining years.  The acquiring team would get Bruce for a net cost of $13 million for two plus seasons.  The cost to the Mets would be $26 million.  That kind of deal (and saving $13 million) should be appealing to another club to take a chance at less than $6 million per season for someone of Bruce’s caliber.  I’d ask for an outfielder no lower than AA in return. 

Even if Todd Frazier is due back within 3 weeks, I would still promote Jeff McNeil to play 3B every day to see what you’ve got.  Then keep him on the bench in place of Adrian Gonzalez as a left handed bat. 

Luis Guillorme is on my team as well.  His defense and his peskiness at the plate make him an asset.  Jose Reyes is just the first part of that word. 

Look to promote some other relievers who have not had the chance yet – David Roseboom, Kyle Regnault and Joe Zanghi.  Zanghi has a 1.87 ERA for his pro career and is turning 24 later this year.  Are you going to wait until he’s 30 to give him a chance???  Honestly, wouldn’t you rather see someone who might work than someone who is virtually guaranteed to fail such as Hansel Robles?

I would also quietly be working the phones to deal Asdrubal Cabrera.  Did the concept of “Sell high” never make it to Queens?  You have McNeil, Guillorme, Gavin Cecchini and Wilmer Flores all capable of manning 2B if you make a deal for the hot hitting Cabrera who is also slated to be a FA at year’s end.  Again, you don’t build around people on the wrong side of 30.  Look at the success in Atlanta, Philadelphia and in the Bronx to see what happens when you let the kids play. 

Now there will be the inevitable learning curves to overcome, stumbling out of the starting blocks and errors both mental and physical to absorb.  But wouldn’t this type of team at least be an interesting one to watch?  Apathy isn’t going to put more fannies in the seats.  Let's stop the Mets fans from singing their anthem: