I think the New York Mets will have a very busy off season. The
first task on their agenda is the search for a new general manager to replace
Sandy Alderson who will not be coming back as they began interviews this week.
There were two candidates that did not show any interest for a chance to be
interviewed. They were current Toronto general manager Ben Cherington and
current Minnesota general manager Thad Levine. The current candidates are Cardinals
director of player development Gary La Rocque, former Texas general manager
Doug Melvin, Washington special assistant De Jon Watson and Major League
Baseball executive Kim Ng.
The next task they
should seek to complete is to sign Jacob deGrom to a long-term contract who
remains under club control through the 2020 season. The new general manager
will have plenty of input into that important task. deGrom needless to say had
a historic season which may enable him to win the National League CY Young
Award. He basically was the best pitcher in baseball with an ERA of 1.70 which
was one of the best in baseball history. deGrom has said that he would be open
to the possibility of a long-term contract which would make many Mets fans
happy.
As for the postseason I still can’t believe the offensive
failures of the Chicago Cubs. They only managed a paltry one run in three of
their final four games played at home especially including that Saturday game
loss against their arch rivals, the St Louis Cardinals two weeks ago in which
the Cardinals played spoiler. That itself made the Cubs feel worse. This was followed
by the division title loss to the Milwaukee Brewers which caused more pain and
then the National League Wild-Card Game loss against the Colorado Rockies in
extra innings was very tough emotionally for the Cubs. You would think that the
Cubs would have been very much up for these games and score more than one run. The
Cubs were built to win and it looked like they were going back to the World
Series. This will be a very long off-season for the Cubs. Also, in the American
League wildcard game from last week it did not surprise me to see that the New
York Yankees defeated the Oakland Athletics 7-2 as Aaron Judge blasted a two-run
homer. The Yankees have had success against the Athletics in the playoffs
throughout the years.
If the Mets management chooses the ideal general manager
that would focus on making a few trades to upgrade the catcher position and add
to the bullpen perhaps the Mets may be in the postseason in 2019 especially
since their staring rotation will be back. When you have a rotation like that
it would enable you to contend for the next few years.
2 comments:
Arizona Fall League starts today - "meaningful October baseball" - for Alonso and Gimenez.
Tony, what offer would you make to Jake? To Wheeler? When?
The first order of business is to stop shopping at the scrap heap and targeting the 3rd tier free agents. Also remember there's a vehicle for changing your roster called "the trade" which is something Sandy Alderson seemed to forget (unless itw as a salary dump, then he took whatever meaager scraps other teams offered).
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