I have long cultivated a well-deserved reputation for being the
Debbie Downer of this site, always looking at the negative side of things. Part of it is simple personality type and
part of it is my professional training.
Optimists are people who continually go through life expecting the best
will always happen. Pessimists always
anticipate the worst. Frankly, I’d
rather be in the latter camp and be continually pleasantly surprised when I’m
wrong than to go through life with one disappointment after another.
Consequently, when I read Mack and others make the assertion
that no one in his or her right mind would want to take the Mets GM job as
evidenced by executives like Thad Levine, Ben Cherington, Josh Byrnes and now
Mike Chernoff refusing to even sit for interviews, well, there’s some validity
to what is being asked.
So let me try to exercise those seldom-used optimistic
muscles and think why someone would want the job as GM of the Mets:
Starting Rotation
Led by Cy Young Award frontrunner Jacob deGrom, then Cy
Young Award future contender Noah Syndergaard, Comeback Player of the Year
possibility Zack Wheeler and the when healthy often unhittable Steven Matz,
that core is going to help keep the team in pretty much every game. Behind them you have Jason Vargas who showed
flashes later in the year, Seth Lugo and other reinforcements in the minors on
their way up.
Young Offensive Core
Brandon Nimmo was in the discussion for a reserve role on
the All Star game this year after beginning the season in the minors. Michael Conforto has already been an
All-Star. Jeff McNeil picked right up
where he’d been in AA and AAA when he got to the majors, finishing his rookie
campaign with a .329 batting average.
Amed Rosario really turned in on in the last 1/3 of the season, showing
his speed, some power and becoming someone feared in the batter’s box. Soon to join them will be pounding Pete Alonso, he of the 36 HRs and 119 RBIs split between AA and AAA last season. He's doing everything in the Arizona Fall League to show that was not merely an aberration. Behind him you have Andres Giminez who should start the year where he left off in AA and be on a fast track to Queens.
Veteran Support
I’m not here to argue right now the merits of having signed
both Todd Frazier and Jay Bruce to multi-year contracts last off-season. What’s done is done. However, what can happen if they remain
healthy is a return to All-Star form which would help support the burgeoning
young core who may know how to swing the bat and field their position but not really
know the nuances of the game itself. No
one can forget Frazier’s variation of the hidden ball trick on a diving “catch”
of a foul ball. They don’t teach that in
the Spalding guides on how the game is played.
The Honeymoon Period
While the Wilpons are both notoriously meddlesome and
dysfunctional, the fact is that once someone is hired they have greater latitude
up front about making changes than they might have down the road. If those changes work, that might extend the
honeymoon. A prospective GM might relish
the opportunity to bolster the bullpen and find a solution for behind the plate
that the club has pretty much lacked since the days of Mike Piazza. With those pieces in place, there’s no reason
this team can’t contend quickly.
The First Gig
Everyone has to start somewhere, and for folks who have
worked their way up the ranks with a single team (like Chaim Bloom of the Rays)
or someone who has bounced around between proven winning organizations like the
Yankees and Dodgers (as Kim Ng has done), the brass ring they’re all seeking to
grab is the full GM title. Even veterans
like Gary LaRocque of the Cardinals who is approaching his golden years
baseball-wise has not yet had that chance (and word came out yesterday he won't this time, either).
Whether it’s the title itself, the challenge or the fulfillment of a
dream, no matter if it was the Mets, the Cleveland Browns or the Los Angeles
Clippers, someone is going to want to be in charge (or as much in charge as
Jeffy will allow).
Final Thoughts
While there’s certainly something to be said for experience,
it’s really a two-way street. Just
because someone has been doing a job for a long time doesn’t necessarily mean
he/she has been doing it well. When word
filtered out that Dave Littlefield most recently of Pittsburgh was up for
consideration I got bad Terry Collins flashbacks of someone who’s been around the
game a long time but was unable to win anything. Dan Duquette of the Orioles would be another
of that ilk. The Mets went in an unexpected direction last year when it came
time to choose a new field manager with Mickey Callaway. Yes, there were growing pains for sure, but
by the end of the year the team was hitting on most cylinders. I’m hoping they take another chance on
someone with potential rather than proven mediocrity.
22 comments:
Where is Reese, and what's happened to him?
A strong team core - but it will take more. It is tempting to be a pessimist. This is the Mets, after all.
A team with what is likely the best rotation in baseball won't need as many runs as others do.
The pen and the Catching need strengthening, but there is talent and depth all around the lineup with improving young players. And there is more coming, in Alonso, Gimenez and Yo.
The optimists WILL be rewarded.
Wow a rare (yet obviously based on hypotheticals) positive Reese post
The Mets are right there on the fence...there are reasons for optimism and reasons for pessimism. The NL East is a far cry from the AL East, but the Braves are stacked with prospects and the Phillies stacked with cash. On the other had, the Mets are stacked with Wilpons. But, as I saw a baseball guy quotes somewhere, there are only 30 GM jobs and they all come with warts. If we know the Wilpons are tough to work for, the insiders certainly do. That being said, I wouldn't reason too much into the Cheringtons and Levines passing on the interview. Word is some of these guys passed on other interviews too. Specifically, the Giants, who spend a ton, fill the ballpark, and have three titles this decade. I think the Mets have some high quality candidates as finalists, and the most important attribute will not be an ivy league degree or phd is statistical analysis, it will be the ability to work effectively in this type of family business, with two generations hands on and often with differing opinions. Whomever can balance that best while setting up a winning structure with the ability recruit will have the most success. This can be an older candidate like Melvin, an first timer like Ng, or a whiz kid like Bloom, none of us are sure, nly time will tell.
Fine!!! I'll be the GM!
Are you willing to get a lobotomy first? It may be a prerequisite.
Only if you call yourself Queens Gus
Reese I have always said your take the most realistic approach... if it comes off as a Debbie Downer isn’t the proof in the pudding? The Mets are what you have said they are ... being optimistic didn’t change the results...
Also you assessment on why someone would want the job is on point... there are only 30 of these jobs you have to take one if you don’t have it
Reese,
Unles the Mets are bringing in a young GM, they might as well let one of the GM Trifecta, 3 Amigos, 3 Stooges take over at least for a year until they can get that young, upcoming GM they should be looking for.
If I have to pick one, it would be Omar.
Viper raises an interesting point. I, too, don't see much upside to a Littlefield or Melvin pick over the braintrust in place. Now if you're talking about Bloom or Ng, I'm all for that.
The Mets don’t need a new GM, the Mets need a new path, a new vision. The previous regime believes in big windmills that struck out alot but hit an occasional homer. That walked a lot, but had no speed so the walk was useless because it took four walks to get a run. Oh, and they believed that their starting pitchers would strike everybody out, so why bother with the gloves. In fact, Alderson even said that defense and pitching go together, so if offense is 50% and pitching and defense is the other 50%, then defense must be worth much less than offense because pitching is the main component of repressing runs. So, while they kept getting their heads knocked in by Washington, the Mets were able to overcome in 2015 and that was a combination of the perfect storm of Granderson, Murphy, Cespedes getting hot and the Nationals folding their chairs and going home.
The Mets need to realize that you can’t get a hit if you don’t hit the ball. You can’t score more runs than the other guys if you can’t catch the ball to keep them from cycling the bases all the time. If the new GM installs Lagares as the starting CF 75% of the time, we have a chance. If the new GM puts Bruce in left field rather than right field, we have a chance. If the new GM finds three very good pitchers for the bullpen, we have a chance.
However, if the new GM is looking for offense only, dumpster diving on the bullpen additions, and keeps letting the veterans dictate terms, we are winning less than the 77 we got this year.
Hey, that wasn’t anonymous, that was me!
Lagares cant stay healthy 25% of the time.
How would he ever be able to play (not to mention start) 75% of the time?
"The Mets don’t need a new GM, the Mets need a new path, a new vision."
HUHHHHHH??
How can you get that new path and vision without a new GM? New won't come from the same people who you blame for the old.
I'm not saying I agree with hour assessment of the old, but that's a different topic. If you want new, you go after new.
“Behind them you have Jason Vargas who showed flashes later in the year, Seth Lugo and other reinforcements in the minors on their way up. ”
It mist’ve hurt you to write the sentence above. It made me chuckle to read it. I have trouble believing that we have any starters of value behind the top four. And Matz makes it three and a half.
In Vargas'final 8 starts, he gave u more than 2 runs ONCE. So chuckle away, but as far as I'm concerned, he's as good a #5 as any. And Matz, once he got healthy, is a terrific #4.
The Mets already have a GM that knows the direction the Mets must follow, knows the budget they must have and knows what players should be signed in order to improve the team. He has the now and future vision locked.
Who is this visionary wonder? Fred Wilpon.
Anonymous's Above Post
I concur with a lot of what you said.
I agree the Mets need a whole new direction and culture now. Maybe a new belief system (or something) geared toward actually being successful. But you have to consider too, that a new direction sometimes takes a lot of planning and often new faces.
Look at the ages and results of some of the more veteran players here presently. Jay Bruce age 32 during the 2019 season, with a .247 career average. Best year batting average wise was 2010, .281 BA. Seems at times to have lost mojo or focus, not as laser like as he used to be. It may be due to constant nagging injuries. Would working out a lot more this off season help? Probably. But will he? Good question. Todd Frazier, 33 next season a .242 career batting average over 8 seasons. Not the same guy he was in Cincy. That guy left town and went back home to sleep in. Can he regroup, workout a lot over the off season, and be his old Cincy self again in 2019? Sure, he could. But don't count on it. He'll probably ride it out and then retire at season's end to manage at Tom's River or something. Travis d'arnaud...Who? Travis will be age 30 during the 2019 season. Has a .245 career BA and just two seasons with over 300 AB's. Kevin Plawecki, age 28 during the 2019 season. 14 career Met HR's over four part time MLB seasons. Holds a .218 career BA in bigs. Tomas Nido, age 25 during 2019 season. 94 Mets AB's and a .181 BA to show for it.
So it's more than just culture and direction changes to become a real winning team, it's new faces too.
Red Stockings vs. the Dodgers of LA
First game, Clayton Kershaw looked like a bad team's fifth starter. Boston bats too much, Red Sox win.
Second game, same story. Dodgers so-so pitching performances. Boston carrying the lumbar.
Whole thing switches over to the warmth of LA. Will it change this? Probably not. The Red Sox are clearly the better team and the Dodgers have too many dogs on theirs. Personally speaking, this isn't Dave Martinez's best series ever. He has too many HR bats asleep on the bench and an overrated pitching staff.
"From The Tomato Garden beyond The Fence"
Looks like Melvin to me. Not a bad choice at all.
Should he keep Callaway?
Not sure yet, still thinking on it more. My main problem with Mickey was he never could establish nor settle on a definite seven pitchers in the bullpen. It was like watching people shop at Walmart on Christmas Eve.
With Collins and his bullpens, he changed pitchers (in game)like most people change socks. And it seldom ever seemed to workout as he had planned, I did notice too. But Callaway either never got the horses, or he just could not figure out which horse went where or when, which is probably the case. He kept insisting upon trying to make Paul Sewald into something fabulous, I guess because he threw sidearm. No comment there either.
Gsellman and Lugo are definitely better than average, but they can be hit too as we have all seen over 2018. But they certainly aren't chopped liver, but can they become Dennis Eckersley? (Jury out)
The only guy in the 2018 bullpen who really impressed me over the second half of the season was Tyler Bashlor, and almost Drew Smith too at times. With Gsellman and Lugo certainly an honorable mention. But the whole truth may be that the 2019 NY Mets will have to come up with four or five more really good relievers to make it all work out from the tomato garden beyond the fence.
Any ideas?
Yes, some. But I'll save it for later on in the off season.
Anon -
LAST TIME
No one is reading your comments because you are posting them too late in the process. The posts no longer show on the lead page of the site.
Anonymous, as the top anonymous was me when the system didn’t accept my name, I thank you for the compliment and also agree with much of what you wrote, but not all.
Firstly, I don’t know if Dave Roberts is actually a good manager or just a Tony Robbins type that makes these guys heads bloat. All year long and every year, the Dodgers act like they’re the New England Patriots of baseball with their huge pockets and I am having no problem seeing them get whacked, except my dad is a Dodgers fan from the 50’s.
Secondly, while Tyler Bashlor’s numbers seem fine, I had to do a little digging for a write up and found that he threw 43% of his pitches down the pipe or within a few inches of it on either side. That to me is not control, that’s called “cruisin for a bruisin”. He needs to locate much better because as Darling taught us, control isn’t throwing strikes, it’s throwing it where it needs to go.
Lastly, the Callaway you refer to was the first half of the year, when he just played matchups. Ironically, after Alderson got fired, he started to let guys go whole innings, but he only has so many usable pitchers. Sewald sucked, Rhame sucked, Peterson barely pitched down the stretch, Blevins sucked, Swarzak sucked... what do you want Callaway to do about that? If he had to use those guys, it was clobbering time.
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