Tom Brennan - To Which I Say, "SO WHAT?"

 

Tom Brennan - To Which I Say, "SO WHAT?"

Former Mets minor leaguers turned free agents Jhoan Urena, Levi Michael, and Nabil Crismatt just signed with other organizations.

I could wax eloquent about them.  I could say, "Oh, no!"

Instead, I say: "So what?"

I mean, don't get me wrong - I liked following how the trio were playing in 2018 and prior seasons.

But, if one is focused on the Mets winning a World Series, which has happened just once in 49 years, I have to say again, as regards these 3 fellas, "So what?"

Those 3 are likely to be no more than marginal major leaguers, if they reach the bigs in the future at all.

Likewise, the Mets, like all big league teams, released a slew of under-performing minor leaguers after the season.

To which I say: "So what?"

Not that I did not follow them closely, to see if they might somehow evolve into the next Jeff McNeil or Seth Lugo, but they didn't, "So what?"

Where I don't, however, say "So what?" is where the Mets most often fall short, and cannot afford to do so in this winnable upcoming season.

In past years, while true contenders opened the purse unabashedly and with great purpose, the Mets signed cheaper, aging, previously injured players in hopes of reversal and over-achievement.

What the Mets got instead was under-achievement - as in: 

Cespedes, Bruce, Swarzak, Frazier, Reyes, Bautista, Gonzalez, Vargas.

To that, I don't say, "So what?"

To that, I say, "The acquisition grade for the above is an F, so what can you do this off season, in terms of player moves, such that the moves will be viewed by impartial observers as an A or a B, not an F?"

The Braves, you see, they want an A or a B.

As in, the Braves, not the Mets, just signed Josh Donaldson.  

To that, I don't say, "So what?"

To that, I ask, "Here we go again?  Again?"

The Mets need to make excellent, impactful moves to make the team playoff-probable.  

Not just sit there getting out-maneuvered by clubs like the Braves, the Phillies, the Bronx Bombers, the Red Sox, and the Dodgers, whose first 10 team goals, I imagine, are summarized as "Winning, and winning big."

To anything else, I say, "So what?"

To anything less, those teams say, "Not interested."

I want a World Series in 2019 in Queens - not the usual excuses, nor distractions that cause me to say "So what?"