The Cost of Being Relevant in 2018...And Beyond...

By David Rubin

First - it's great to be back at Mack's Mets. Life, work, and circumstances has prevented me from being able to post on any regular basis, and a big thank you to Mack for keeping me around on the site.

Second- happy holidays to everyone and wishing all of our loyal readers and Mets' fans a Happy Hanukkah and happy holidays to come.

Although it wasn't his first day on the job, new Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen really had his first day of note today, at the press conference that introduced new acquisitions Robinson Cano, to take over second base, and Edwin Diaz to become the team's closer.

There are many ways to look at this deal - optimists can say that we acquired one of the 3-5 best closers in the game, and a potential Hall-of-Famer at second base; pessimists can say we overpaid for a guy who had 1.5 great seasons as a closer with bone chips in his elbow and a 36 year old who missed half of last season due to a PED suspension, while the free agent market was riddled with answers at both positions that only would have cost money and not young talent. 

Rather than argue about the specifics (and know in advance that I have been a HUGE fan of Jarred Kelenic) I think you need to also look at what this trade does for the New York Mets, both as a team in the MLB and for their fan-base.

The Mets have rarely been "headline-worthy" since Omar Minaya's tenure with the team ended in the hiring of new GM Sandy Alderson. Those headlines unfortunately turned towards the "dark side" at the end of Minaya's tenure, with Alderson being foisted onto the team by MLB regardless of whether or not the Wilpon's actually wanted him to steer their organization. 

It's not hard to tell that Jeff and Fred never truly trusted in the guy former Commissioner Bud Selig insisted they hire in response to the entire "Madoff-situation" and they never gave Sandy the type of financial commitment that they offered Minaya, again due to the entire "Madoff-situation." 

Sandy's tenure was mixed, at best, with one World Series loss and a number of years of futility on his Mets' resume. It's hard to blame the so-called "father of Sabremetrics" for many of the team's failings when his entire Sabremetrics department consisted of 3 people, not all of whom were even full-time employees. Sandy attempted some out-of-the-box thinking in the hiring of first-time manager, Mickey Callaway, but the majority of his tenure was simply trying to do the most with the least money. 

The result, besides the single (and much-beloved) appearance in the 2015 World Series was nearly a decade of unfulfilled promise and lack of relevancy in the largest media market in the world. The fan support on the heals of the World Series appearance were heartening and the Wilpon's coffers certainly were well re-stocked (and the $50 million dollar one-time award from the sale of MLB's tech company didn't hurt) by a fanbase that had grown desperate to contend again. 

As someone who was a young kid when the Mets' won it all in 1969 and a college student when the team won it all again in 1986, I can say that the team's lack of relevancy has cost me a ton of ridicule over the years, but, more relevant, as someone in his mid-50's who lost his father 10 years ago without seeing another Mets' World Series victory since 1986, the time has MORE than come for this organization to do whatever it needs to do to become relevant again, to take over the back page headlines again, to go back to the World Series again. 

To that end, the hiring of Brodie Van Wagenen represented some MAJOR out-of-the-box thinking, and was a hire that truly motivated Jeff Wilpon, who considered BVW a friend and a respected baseball-mind, in spite of the fact that he was an agent who represented some of the most important major and minor league talent in the organization. 

In making this deal, BVW grabbed Diaz out of the clutches of their rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies, who were said to be VERY desperate to add the closer to their ranks, making the trade a double-victory. 

As the first move of what will be an over-active off-season, I'm ready and willing to give the team's new hierarchy (which includes the excellent hires of Allard Baird and Adam Guttridge) a chance to fill in their remaining blanks before I judge them on one trade. Remember that young talent serves 2 purposes - to come up to the bigs and take a spot on the 25-man roster, or to be included in a trade in order to grab assets that you want from other teams. 

Using Dunn and Kelenic as trade assets may go against what many of us wanted to see, but you have to think that 2 things are in play here- first, that the Mets want to win now and cannot wait until either player is ready to take their place on the 25, and second, there's no guarantees that either player even makes it that far or performs at a level worth keeping them there if, indeed, they do make it to the bigs. 

Baird and Guttridge were brought onboard to address serious discrepancies in analytics and player development that have haunted the team throughout Sandy's regime; you have to think their knowledge of the players' involved outweighs ours as fans, be it fanatical or casual. 

Granted, it's not getting Mike Piazza in his prime, but as the first move of what is to come, I can think of far worse ways this could have gone.

Moving forward, I'm hoping for the following moves by our new braintrust:

~Sign Andrew Miller, Adam Warren & David Robertson for the bullpen

~Sign Lance Lynn as a sixth starter for the rotation

~Sign Marwyn Gonzalez as the extra OF/Utility Infielder to both replace Wilmer and solidify the outfield

~Sign Martin Maldonado to take over catching duties

I have heard encouraging things about Cespedes' return; I don't believe that the Mets will trade Noah Syndergaard; Corey Kluber most likely won't be traded, and if he is, unless the Mets are willing to create a package of Nimmo, Giminez and Peterson a trade won't happen and that trade would weaken the organization more than the addition of another top-end starter might help it, UNLESS the team was in on another outfielder like Michael Brantley or AJ Pollack; finally, as a fan-base, no one deserves a World Series victory more than WE do (in my opinion, anyway!) 

In order to make it happen, the braintrust needs the room and support (and $$$) to make things happen. I want to think that this trade is the beginning of making those things happen...I want to think that this trade was the cost of being relevant again, in 2018, in 2019, and beyond...

(All photos copyright David Rubin)