Reese Kaplan -- Songs of Joy (and More)

So with the season that just concluded it’s time to revisit theme/walk-up songs for some of the people associated with the Mets ball club.  It’s unlikely there will be an “Enter Sandman” controversy over who “owns” which piece of music. Please feel free to contribute your own suggestions.  It will take your mind off the fact that the team has missed the post-season yet again, though improvements certainly did take place.

Pete Alonso

The self-proclaimed Polar Bear may have been selling himself short.  His monstrous season deserves a more fantastical name than a mere Coca Cola spokes-Ursus.  Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein” came to mind but it is instrumental and not suggestive of the Herculean efforts he achieved.  The more I thought about it, the catchiness and sheer magnitude of the destruction he wrought on opposing pitchers. Therefore I nominate:

Jeff McNeil 

Now that he’s proven his rookie year was not done with mirrors and that he actually improved upon it, the Mets fans came to rely on McNeil working strong at-bats and delivering in the clutch, whether it was to set up a rally or push runners across the plate when needed most, he delivered the kind of consistency where it appeared he would take on the burden of carrying the load for everyone watching the games:

Edwin Diaz and Robinson Cano

The prodigious strikeout numbers were there but that’s about the only positive you could take out of most of his appearances late in games.  His first near in New York was not what Brodie Van Wagenen thought he was getting when he traded away a pair of major leaguers and a trio of minor leaguers to bring both he and Robinson Cano to New York.  The former Yankee and Mariner looked like a man lost and he was shell of the guy they thought they were getting. He did heat up in the second half but from opening day for most Mets fans it was:

JD Davis

The acquisition of Astros’ farmhand JD Davis was not considered a major deal.  After all, he struggled in early big league trials and despite winning a PCL-inflated batting title, there was no room for him in the AL Division Champs’ immediate future and it looked like another overpay in prospects to land someone of middling reputation.  Wow, is everyone happy they were wrong about that one. In fact, as the season progressed and numbers continued to improve, all you could think was:

Jacob deGrom

Here there are a lot of ways to go for the Mets’ Cy Young Award Winner.  You could take it from the perspective of the hitters in which they knew that as soon as Jake entered the game the good times would indeed stop rolling.  Towards that end, Willie Nelson’s “The Party’s Over” would be appropriate. However, the fact is that in 2018 the sole good thing to watch was a deGrom start (even though the likelihood of a win was slim when the batters went into the witness protection.  I thought long and hard about it, but the fact that BVW got the Wilpons to let the moths out of their wallet and ink him to a highly lucrative extension, it would seem we pinch ourselves to hear him pitching as if he's singing to us:

Mickey Callaway

Wow, there are so many ways to go with this one.  Yes, the club improved a great deal this season and affter being left for dead they stormed back and were mathematically in it until the final four games of the season.  The vision of meaningful games in September indeed came to fruition, but many think that they could have done much more without the bullpen mismanagement, the questionable lineup decisions and the many head scratching maneuvers.  When he was signed to a three-year deal by the Wilpons they were hoping he would do more.  There are many now saying it's time for BVW to choose his own man and bring in someone with more experience to take them to the next level.  In that case, will we be singing:

Brodie Van Wagenen

You have one job in improving the team for 2020.  You have to find a way to get the bullpen ready to do its job to: