Mike Freire - Fleeting Thoughts, Volume #2

This will be the second installment of my burgeoning "Fleeting Thoughts" series and I hope it is better then the first one.  That is probably debateable since most "sequels" are not as good as the original like Caddyshack and Caddyshack 2, or Fletch and Fletch 2.  Apparently, I have Chevy Chase on the brain this morning, so I should probably move on to what I actually want to share with everyone this week.

1.  Granted, Yoenis Cespedes is an excellent athlete and he possesses baseball skills that are rare within the sport.  However, the more I pay attention to his current situation, the more I am convinced he is a "spoiled brat" or even a DIVA (to use today's terms).  When things were going well, like in 2015 for example, he was on the field consistently (for him, at least) and producing at a level commensurate with his pay scale.  Since getting paid, he has been much less available, to the point that I openly question whether wants to play baseball anymore?   He sits out for almost two months with his "hip ailment" only to return for one game and subsequently announce that he has "bad heels" and he likely needs season ending surgery!   Boy, I wish we had a do over for his current contract as I would rather have Daniel Murphy back at this point.

2.  Speaking of injuries or being "snake bit", Noah Syndegaard cannot catch a break.  Despite the circumstances surrounding his various ailments over the past couple of seasons, has he official become "injury prone"?  He is still a young guy so there is time to shed that potential label, but if he wants to get a nice contract extension he needs to be on the field regularly.  I love his potential and I can see him as the "ace" of this pitching staff for the foreseeable future, but I would be leery if offering him big time money at this stage. 

3.  Maybe we eventually deal Noah and extend Jake instead?

4.  There has been a bunch of negative press coverage this year and most of it has been deserved, if you ask me.  The negativity has risen to record levels and the latest catalyst was the HORRIBLE trade that the Mets made with the A's involving Jeurys Familia.  I understand why he was traded, since he is an expiring contract and the Mets were not likely to sign him to an extension before the year ended.  However, I don't understand why you wouldn't use the week leading up to the trade deadline to increase your potential return by playing multiple teams against one and other?  Instead, the Mets (predictably) hindered their return by executing poor timing and refusing to pick up any salary.  The players they received in the deal appear to be "average", so let's hope that the International "bonus" money leads to an excellent player down the road.  Oh and just for grins, review the following trade from the 2016 season and compare the return to what the Mets just did;

07/25/16 - The Yankees trade CL Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs in exchange for Adam Warren, William McKinney, Rashad Crawford and GLEYBER TORRES!

***Torres future was still to be determined, but he was the Cubs top rated prospect at the time and #24 in all of MLB, not to mention the other three players in the deal.

I simply shake my head when I read about that trade and then look at what we just did with Familia.  Granted, Chapman was the top rated "closer" in baseball at the time, but he was on an expiring contract and he had served a 30 game suspension earlier in the year.  You could argue that Familia is not that far behind Chapman, at least to the point where the Mets SHOULD have gotten more from the A's.

Oh and to make matters even worse, the Yankees signed Chapman as a free agent that off season, so they had their cake and they got to eat it , too.  Two different organizations and two RADICALLY different approaches and is it any wonder why they are where they are today?

5.  Lastly, I wanted to give a quick "shout out" to Mack for the blog, as well as his relentless coverage of the minor leagues.  He does an excellent job giving all of us regular updates on the "kiddie" corps.  Through this coverage, I have been encouraged by the performances of our lower level teams (short season, rookie ball and DSL teams) and the possibility that better days are on the horizon.  Perhaps that horizon is four or five years from now, but if you squint just right you can almost see it! 

In closing, let's consider an interesting question.  IF the teams rises to power in 2022 or 2023 with a bunch of the kids referenced above, will anyone remember that they were obtained by the current administration or will the next General Manager inadvertently get the credit?