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1/15/20

Reese Kaplan -- Accelerate While Everyone's Merely Watching!



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:

  1. 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.

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  2. 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.

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  3. 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.

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  4. 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.

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  5. Reese -

    IMO, you are beating the same drum.

    I believe we are done building whatever this team is in the last Wilpon run era.

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  6. 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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