Reese Kaplan -- A Sequel That Shouldn't Have Been Made

Brodie Van Wagenen made quite a splash with his very busy off-season.  Everyone got energized for the start of the 2019 chase for the pennant, and while it wasn’t necessarily a fait accompli that the Mets were going to be in the hunt, surely the fans (and apparently the Wilpons) felt much more optimistic about turning around the team’s fortunes after losing 5 of the 7 years during the Alderson regime.

As the All-Star break approaches, things have gone way off the rails.  Injuries played a huge part of it, of course, and that’s mostly beyond the control of the front office except that planning for multiple players in the twilight of their careers and then being surprised when they miss time due to a variety of ailments is naïve.  Furthermore, the secondary market for older players didn’t work too well during the Alderson years, so what made the Wilpons think that repeating the same formula would now work under BVW’s watch?

It’s depressing to note that Jed Lowrie hasn’t even got a locker in Citifield anymore.  Robinson Cano appears a shell of his former self and has spent two stints on the IL.  The same goes for Justin Wilson who has not played more than he has played.  Jeurys Familia has been mostly healthy but an injury might excuse the horrific season he’s had thus far.  Luis Avilan is MIA after injuries forced him off the major league roster.   In addition, you have holdovers Noah Syndergaard, Jason Vargas and Jacob deGrom all having missed time due to injuries.  Yoenis Cespedes may never suit for the Mets again.

Then you have the healthy but incompetent folks like Keon Broxton, Aaron Altherr and others.  The “win now” mode is apparently selective.  When the Mets felt they needed help, they went fishing for castoffs like Wilmer Font (he of the career 6.23 ERA) and now Brooks Pounders (he of the career 8.92 ERA).  Despite both of them doing well in a losing effort yesterday, they were head-scratching moves.  Ever hear the expression “You get what you pay for?”

Now contrast this approach with the folks across town.  They lost Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton to injuries.  Did they go after the Aaron Altherr types?  No, they traded to obtain Edwin Encarnacion, he of the AL-leading 21 HRs.  To get him they gave up just their 27^th ranked prospect AND got the Mariners to kick in on his salary.  That transaction demonstrates what a win-now mode looks like.

Granted, given the way Cano has performed and how Edwin Diaz has shown he’s not superhuman after all, while Jared Kelenic is tearing up the minors for the same Mariners, one can understand them being somewhat gun shy about parting with minor leaguers.  Read again, however, that the Yankees gave up not their number one prospect -- it was number 27!  That would be a Quinn Brodey or Luis Carpio for the guy leading the league in HRs.  There must be a reason why...  

However, not to rehash ad nauseum a  well-worn dead horse, but when players like Gio Gonazalez, Dallas Keuchel and Criag Kimbrel were available without even having to give up a single prospect, where were the Mets? 

There were actually millions of reasons why the Mets were not involved in making deals and signing the still-available free agents.  They’re all green (and not with envy).  The bill of goods BVW sold the Wilpons is now being parlayed onto the fans – that they are all-in to win, but when things go wrong, surely this year’s versions of Adrian Gonzalez, James Loney and Jose Bautista will be there to rescue the club from the second division.  We all know how well that worked in the past.