Well, it’s surely not been a dull week with the fining,
suspension and termination of the Houston Astros’ A.J. Finch and Jeff
Luhnow. Everyone is now waiting for the
next ball to drop on current Red Sox manager Alex Cora who was an Astros coach
at the time of the 2017 incident. Then
there’s the single ballplayer cited, a guy named Carlos Beltran. Why they would single out one player while
leaving others in anonymity is certainly worth questioning, but somehow the
Mets have a tentative thread to this whole scandal based upon the guy without
any experience they selected to be their new manager to replace the previous
one who struggled not having had experience.
A curious decision to say the least…
Anyway, the negative headlines are mostly off the Mets this
week with the front office of the Astros, the coaches of that World Series team
and lots of blasts surfacing from baseball professionals, dumping dirt on
former coworkers or competitors.
It would seem that in this topsy-turvy period of baseball
scandal it would be a great time to push hard to improve the roster to address
the backup catcher, centerfielder and other issues that are clearly in the
vision of any Mets fan. While people are
somewhat distracted, it would seem to be when you should strike for the likes
of players better than Yefrey Ramirez to help the ballclub.
One terribly frustrating thing to read over and over again
is how things will be different once Steve Cohen is handed the golden scepter
to reign over the Flushing franchise.
Hmmn…so in effect people are saying don’t count on much until the big
bucks (and spending motivation) arrives…so expect to tread water at best until
then. Gee, folks disagreed with me when
I suggested the very same thing, but that is why I’m adamant about improving
the club now through some creative machinations, including paying down the
contracts of expiring free agents to rid yourself of them now and to get a
little spending money to address the other needs.
For those folks paying attention, it’s not just the Yoenis
Cespedes and Jed Lowrie situations which need to be addressed. You’re on the hook for Robinson Cano money
for the next several years, Marcus Stroman is likely off to the highest bidder
and your one-year option for Wilson Ramos doesn’t say much for the future of
catching in Queens. Then there’s years
two and three of the formerly suspended wife beater in the bullpen.
The question for the Mets is how brave are they when it
comes to improving the club? Right now
there is never going to be a higher price available for one Pete Alonso, but
would they have the guts to cash in on him right now with Dominic Smith
available to take over at 1st?
They also have J.D. Davis available to play 1st and currently
he’s a man without a position if Brandon Nimmo and/or Yoenis Cespedes and/or
Jeff McNeil arrive capable of playing regularly. For a frugally oriented front office,
stocking up on a pool of highly rated AAA/AA players in exchange for the
reigning Rookie of the Year and All Star Home Run Derby champion may not be the
dumbest move in the world, but if he turns out to be a HOF caliber player, then
it could be.
Don’t get me wrong. I
would like nothing better than to see the Mets compete for the
post-season. My concern is that as the
roster is currently constituted they have too many holes and too many
good-but-not-great options occupying space.
People who want to win take action to improve the team. The Mets let Wheeler walk away, replacing him
with the vastly inferior Rick Porcello and better but injury-prone Michael
Wacha. Oh yeah, they picked up a stellar
reliever who has not yet demonstrated he can throw effectively. It really doesn’t look as if they’re trying
to get better.
6 comments:
Reese, many times I also gave thought to traded Alonso for all the reasons you wrote, but always asked myself, “For what?” The Mets don’t need much and even Cano is covered. So, for what? While the Mets enjoy a depth problem at first base, you always need all your talent, so don’t rush to get rid of it. The excess payroll on the roster that BVW brought in is the biggest problem for ownership.
I gave both sides to the trading Alonso postulation. What I wish they would do is actually make moves to improve the the team beyond the Gonsalves/Ramirez variety.
Back up catcher needed for sure...but Pete is an icon now. Trading him high might have some logic, but if he stays great, which he was last year, his gate value will be huge. And fans would kill the Mets for trading their icon away.
The Mets were one of the worst defensive teams last year. They need to prioritize up the middle defense. Cano has to be moved off second in favor of McNeil or Guilerme. Sanchez and Nido both need to play at Catcher to spell Ramos as much as possible.
Reese -
IMO, you are beating the same drum.
I believe we are done building whatever this team is in the last Wilpon run era.
Alonso is entirely too popular to trade in real life, even with Smith waiting in the wings. As a thought exercise, though, BVW would have to listen if he was offered Trout, Tatis, Jr., or Vlad Jr. Anyone else would be told to go kick rocks.
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