When I was in undergraduate school I once took a course
called “Business Communications” which was subtitled “How to write a bad-news
letter.” At the time I had been
preparing myself for a career in public relations and this course was a
fantastic introduction to the concept of spin doctoring – how to make the worst
possible news sound like a positive.
During the class we covered things like when Proctor &
Gamble had to deal with a tainted Tylenol capsule scandal, the Amoco Cadiz oil
spill and other major disasters. It
resonated so well with me that I remember laughing uncontrollably at an episode
of the old Carol Burnett show at the time that portrayed a pair of political
speechwriters who were tasked with having to make the problem of runaway
inflation sound like a positive. After
debating it awhile, Harvey Korman volunteered, “In the coming year you will
have more money pass through your hands than ever before!”
These thoughts came to mind when I saw the overdrive
operation of the Mets PR machine over the past several days. Just yesterday I read an article saying that
a farm system rebuild wasn’t necessary because what the Mets had was very good,
just further away than people would like.
I read about how the recent returns of Wilmer Flores and Jeurys Familia
allowed the Mets to part with subpar performers and strengthened a team on the
upswing (huh???????????????) I read
about how Yoenis Cespedes is returning to rehab and should be assuming his role
in LF very shortly. I also read about
how after a couple of decent games Michael Conforto is back.
Now, you can’t spin things without the slightest glimmer of
truth. However, less than 2 wins per week is not
nearly enough for even the most optimistic among us to declare that this team
is good to go and headed back into contention.
In case you haven’t noticed, they do not feature a batter
hitting even .275 in their lineup. (And
the “savior”, Yoenis Cespedes, is hitting .255):
Dom Smith -- .267
Asdrubal Cabrera -- .267
Amed Rosario -- .237
Todd Frazier -- .224
Brandon Nimmo -- .274
Michael Conforto -- .218
Jay Bruce -- .216
Devin Mesoraco -- .218
The manager has seen fit to put the batter with the least
plate discipline into the leadoff slot on multiple occasions. They farmed out a reliever with a 2.08 ERA to
make room for one with a 5.91 ERA (who promptly looked even worse than that in
his first appearance). The “Joses” are
both inexplicably still on the roster. Yes, Reyes did bunt his way on in yesterday's win due to a brain fart by Diamondbacks' catcher Alex Avilas and Bautista did hit a double on a bad route taken by Diamondbacks' right fielder Jon Jay. Even with a couple of hits on Saturday, neither Devin Mesoraco nor Kevin
Plawecki are making the case for a starting catching assignment in the
future.
Don’t fall for the machinations of Jay Horwitz and
company. Keep the pitchforks and torches
handy. This club is a mess from top to
bottom with no light at the end of the tunnel except, perhaps, an oncoming
train.
2 comments:
Tops spin, Reese, but eventually the spin in unsustainable and the top topples.
For this team to turn around this season, the several recent positive signs need several more - and those sorts of things rarely happen. it did in 2015, but it is rare.
Unless Alonso and McNeil make truly impactful major league debuts soon, the upper minors is very bare indeed in terms of legit future major league helpers. So, any reference to the minors with positive spin is fake news.
Even Topps seemingly met its match with Fleer and Donruss :)
Post a Comment