Mike Freire - Fleeting Thoughts (Final Edition)

Also at Mack's Mets:

Good Morning, Mets' fans!

Let's take part in a "thought exercise" for just a few minutes.

The date is April 14, 1912 and you are in the North Atlantic Ocean on board of a snazzy little vessel called the RMS Titanic.  The ship is the greatest thing since sliced bread (at least at that time), and it is thought to be nearly flawless in its design and completely safe for its purpose.

Around midnight on this fateful night, the Titanic enters an area of unusual ice pack for the time of year.  Despite multiple warnings from other vessels in the vicinity, the ship continues to travel at just shy of its maximum speed (perhaps due to a feeling of infallibility).  At approximately 2340 HRS, a very large iceberg is observed in the path of the ship, but the last-second maneuver to avoid the obstacle is unsuccessful.  

Consequently, the ship sideswipes the iceberg and sustains heavy damage, which leads to its demise a few hours later.

Granted, this is a baseball blog but the parallels are there between the ship and our favorite team if you want to see them.  I mention this because it seems that the 2019 Mets are about to hit the proverbial iceberg and yet another season will be lost at sea, if you will.

1. Pardon the religious overtones, but there is a saying that if you want God to laugh, tell Him about your "plans".  In other words, plans are nice but they are rarely foolproof and they will almost certainly require adjustments in order to be successful. 

BVW put together the Mets' roster for the 2019 season by propping up the offense (much needed) and adding some bling to the bullpen, but accepting the starting rotation at face value.  

Due to injury and "Mets' luck", not much has worked out he way that it was supposed to.  There are serious questions and performance voids across the roster and it makes you wonder what BVW has "up his sleeve" in the form of a course correction for the rest of 2019. If the answer is "nothing", then the status quo will look much like the last few seasons, sadly.

2. I mentioned this in a previous installment of this series, but I think that someone needs to take a hard look at the Mets' "sports medicine and training program" if that's even what they call it.  

Seriously!  Look at all of the injuries and games lost to the same that the team has had to deal with over the past few years.  Some of it is just dumb luck (Ike Davis' fluky ankle injury or David Wright's degenerative condition), but there have also been an inordinate amount of issues, in my opinion. 

If you look at just the last four years (2015-2018), the team has lost an average of 1,567 games to the disabled list and roughly 54 million dollars per season in lost wages!  Over that time span, the team has finished third, third, first and first in the listed statistic.  

Oh and 2019 is off to a "roaring start" as the team has already lost 181 games and 10 million dollars in salary and we are only 20% of the way into the season.  Where there is smoke, there is usually fire, right? 

I hope BVW sees this issue and finds the root cause, as opposed to simply "rearranging the deck chairs" prior to the next season.

3. To date, our four "full season" minor league clubs have a combined record of 58-55, which is just above .500 or "mediocre".  Furthermore, the team that most felt had the most "prospects" (Columbia), actually has the worst record of all at an abysmal 9-20.  I am not a scout, but this level of performance does not give the average fan much hope of fixing the parent club's issues in the short term OR the long term.  

Most of this should fall on Sandy Alderson's regime since a bulk of the players we are discussing were picked up during his tenure. With that said, hopefully the new regime and scouting coordinators are able to turn this issue around.  Much like the problems cited in #2, not much is going to change until a new approach is selected.

Sorry to sound such a "negative" tone, but I try to call them like I see them and there isn't much to cheer about these days.

Lastly, I wanted to let everyone know that this will be my last regular article on this blog for the time being.  My wife and I are both retiring from our jobs and we are relocating at the same time!  

In other words, we are about to embark on the next chapter in our lives and things are going to be a bit unpredictable for a while which makes schedules a challenge, to say the least.

Thank you, Mack, for letting me share my "fleeting thoughts" and thank you to the readers of this blog, as well........I wish all of you the best. 

As always, stay safe!