Reese Kaplan -- The Pros & Cons of the Lockdown

One of the questions that came up among a group of deprived Mets fans had to do with the pros and cons of the pandemic shutdown?  After all, the main goal should be the survival of the species, but it is, after all, a big business and a great many players are being affected both positively and negatively by the forced suspension of the first half of the season.

Pros

It is said that time heals all wounds and the forced duration of half a season (or more) time transpiring without games actually can help the folks looking to recover.  First on the list would be oft-injured outfielder Yoenis Cespedes who has shown he can still hit the ball, but has not yet proven he can handle the rigors of being on the field or running the bases.  He is recovering from dual heel problems fixed with surgery as well as the wild boar’s barrage that caused further injury.  All of this forced time off theoretically should buy the man time to prepare for the regular baseball workload when games return.

Another among the walking wounded is infielder Jed Lowrie whose free agent contract has to rank as one of the worst investments ever made in the game of baseball.  He turned in a mere 7 ABs last year in late September as a pinch hitter without earning a single base hit.  He arrived to Spring Training in 2020 wearing a full length brace that seemed to run from mid-thigh to his ankle.  He surely did not look like he would be ready to play games anytime soon and threatened to put his second year of a two year contract looking a lot like his first year.  That would amount to $20 million for doing pretty much nothing except racking up medical bills.

Cons

The players who had poor seasons in 2019 or who were looking to develop as regulars in 2020 are being kept at bay while everyone sits around awaiting the start of the baseball season.  The first who comes to mind is reliever Edwin Diaz who came into the NL hurling strikeouts but also watching a great many balls flying over the outfield fence.  His initiation into the NL was not a good one and everyone was looking forward to seeing what he could do given a fresh approach and a new pitching coach.  

Jeurys Familia was brought back to the Mets to serve as the 8th inning guy last season, a role in which he pitched rather poorly his first time around.  Nothing changed in 2019, with Familia looking eminently hittable as a setup guy with increased girth.  Everyone was impressed when he came into Spring Training having lost a significant amount of weight and were anxious to see what he could do with regular workload supporting Diaz in the Saves effort.  Now we don’t know what he might have done.

The In-Betweens

J.D. Davis was absolutely a stud with his 400+ ABs in the New York Mets uniform during the 2019 season.  He hit with contact, power and high on-base frequency.  His problem was two-fold.  Where did you put a guy whose glove is reminiscent of the Michael Jackson decision to wear just one for no apparent reason?  For the Mets he could reside in the left field position or at 3rd base, but there are other contenders for these spots.  The discussion of a DH for the NL for this season opens up another possibility, but then there are others like Cespedes and Lowrie who might need to embrace this change, too.

Brandon Nimmo is a fan favorite who has shown an inordinate ability to get on base but not the same capability to stay in the lineup.  He’s had lung and neck issues that curtailed much of the past couple of years, so relying on him as an everyday contributor is still a bit of a gamble.

The newcomer pitchers -- Michael Wacha and Rick Porcello -- seem pressed to be part of the starting rotation replacing respectively Zack Wheeler (gone as a free agent) and Noah Syndergaard (gone under the surgeon’s knife).  Some feel one of the relievers like Seth Lugo or Robert Gsellman should get that fifth starter’s role, but the fragile and ineffective bullpen seems not a wise transition weakening the late innings while subjecting the starting rotation to unproven quality.  

While we all wait for the season to begin, there is a lot unknown about the overall impact to the quality of the team.  The longer we wait, the more uncertainty is removed, but at the same time the bounce-back guys are not getting the regular work they need either.