Reese Kaplan -- Making Sense of Doing Less Than Expected

I happen to own some land in the country of Panama where I’d planned to retire.  Recently there were a few developments that had me reconsidering that option.  The local government decided to expand the nearby national park and thus demand that private property in the area adhere to the same ecosystem constraints.  That made building rather difficult.  Then there was a bit of a mudslide that eroded some of the hillside.  Consequently I considered selling the property.  I was not forced to do so and would probably only agree to relinquish it if someone met what I felt was a fair asking price.

On Wednesday morning Mack asked me in a comment after my article what I thought the Mets would do between then and the afternoon’s trading deadline.  I volunteered that I felt they would do nothing, and, like a broken clock, it was one of two times that day I was right about something.  Despite all the speculation, haranguing and hoopla after the Marcus Stroman and Jason Vargas deals, my gut simply told me that what you see is what you is what you get. 

Right now there’s a lot of teeth gnashing and BVW bashing over the fact that Mssrs. Syndergaard, Wheeler, Diaz, Ramos, Frazier and Lagares are still part of the Mets active roster.  There are a lot of ways to spin it, but the one I feel makes the most sense is probably close to the reality of what happened.  Over the past several years we have seen the great devaluation of expiring contracts with rental players (Aroldis Chapman notwithstanding) rarely bringing back anyone of note.  Remember, Brodie Van Wagenen got this gig by selling the owners on the idea that the team could compete in 2019 for the post-season.  Until recently, it appeared that the emperor had no clothes, but then a funny thing happened on the way to the forum.  The Mets started winning.  Right now they’re on a six-game winning streak and have won 7 of their last 8. 

In many Asian cultures the idea of saving face is a woven deeply into the cultural fabric.  Apparently BVW’s new outfit is made of just such cloth and he was given the opportunity to do that as a result of this well-timed hot streak.  Rather than give away a Todd Frazier for the proverbial bag o’ balls (or sub-Mendoza 26 year old AA catcher), he was now able to enjoy the luxury of being in the driver’s seat when it came to trade offers.  He was not forced simply to dump salary (as apologists for his predecessors claim during the fire sales of 2017 and 2018).  He was in the proverbial catbird seat with a starting rotation that had been upgraded through the substitution of All Star Marcus Stroman in place of the mostly good in 2019 but awful in 2018 Jason Vargas.  The whole five aces scenario we’ve heard about for many years could possibly even rear its powerful head for once with both Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom turning in 11 K performances to go along with Steven Matz throwing his best game of the season.  Brodie was having his Panama moment…try to improve but if nothing looked dramatically better, what you’ve got is still pretty damned good. 

Now I was one of the folks firmly in the “trade Wheeler” camp since I can’t see them going the $18 million Qualifying Offer route after having been burned once with that gamble when Neil Walker took them up on their foolish generosity.  However, keeping Zack Wheeler gives you the opportunity to see if he has indeed turned a corner once again after his recent injury, and opens up an exclusive negotiating window to extend his contract prior to him hitting free agency.  In fact, in a way you’ve shown some love to Wheeler by NOT trading him away a’la Jeurys Familia.  Yes, you could always re-sign him after the season’s end, but maybe the faith you’ve shown in him signals that he is indeed valued by the organization. 

Even beleaguered reliever Edwin Diaz who, according to backup catcher Tomas Nido, was “pitching scared” looked as if the weight of the world was off his shoulders Wednesday night.  Yes, he did give up a solo home run to diminutive centerfielder Leury Garcia after striking out the first two batters in the 9^th, but he recovered quickly and struck out Ryan Goins as well to put it in the books.  You can’t teach that kind of stuff and now that he knows he’s not on the trading block, perhaps we will finally get to see the pitcher who set records in Seattle last year.

There’s not much that can be done about Robinson Cano or Jeurys Familia.  They are what they are and you’re stuck with them for the long haul.  However, you’re no longer required to showcase others.  One can also hope that the insistence on playing the mediocre Todd Frazier with the expiring contract over at third base will cease and instead relegate him to the bench or late inning defensive replacement in order to see more of the surprisingly productive J.D. Davis.  Let’s hope it’s not a Terry Collins-esque run of playing Jose Reyes who would not be a part of the future at the expensive of a younger player who will be.  One can also hope that Juan Lagares has seen his last start as a Met. 

Yes, things had a way of unfolding not quite the way anyone expected, but rather than blast BVW who might otherwise have made a “shake things up” trade for the sake of doing something, he stuck to his guns asking high prices for his assets and when equitable offers were not made, his fallback position was to keep playing winning baseball with the addition of an All-Star pitcher.  That’s not bad at all.