Reese Kaplan -- So How Do You Like 2020 Baseball?

I got into a debate with individual baseball fans as well as organized groups regarding the 2020 season such as it is.  The feedback was surprisingly unvaried among the participants.  They are universally thrilled to have some form of baseball back for the summer and are graciously allowing the inclusion of such oddities as the DH and the extra inning man-on-second to speed up outcomes of the game.  They have not yet witnessed the 7 inning games in doubleheaders, but having sat through them in the minor leagues I can’t anticipate any major consternation once that becomes commonplace.

The other thing that surprised me was the uniformity of tolerance for the players who have opted out of the season, coaches who have opted out and players who have missed time due to positive coronavirus test results.  The only exception was Yoenis Cespedes whose decision to forego the remainder of the 2020 season (and his paycheck) seemed to be greeted with great ecstasy among the fans, particularly when both J.D. Davis and Dominic Smith were heating up and now had opportunities to play regularly.

The lack of regular minor leagues has given fans the opportunity to see players who were clearly not in the 2020 mindset when the traditional February Spring Training began.  Andres Gimenez and David Peterson were at best September late season call-ups once rosters expanded from 25 or 26 to 40.  Now they’re a regular part of the season for the Mets in the majors a bit sooner than anyone could have anticipated and for the most part have conducted themselves quite well.

Of course, the shortened second Spring Training has led to a great many injuries that put players the team had planned to use on the sideline residing on the IL.  Robinson Cano, Jake Marisnick and others they had penciled in as part of the regular 2020 roster have already missed quite a bit of time.  It came as no surprise that surgery victim Noah Syndergaard and chronically injured Jed Lowrie were on the shelf, but the injury to Marcus Stroman was a bit tough to take (as was his later decision to sit out the remainder of the season).  Time will tell whether or not this decision was good or bad for Stroman, but it’s opened up opportunities for the likes of Peterson and a reliever converted to starter in Robert Gsellman.  

Personally, I really have to tip my cap to Luis Rojas who was thrown into the last minute mess in late January, then asked to somehow corral these malcontents and illness afflicted ballplayers into a team capable of starting every day.  The Marlins, Cardinals, Reds and Phillies have not been as fortunate in this regard.  As such, I think the sub-.500 record is not all that bad considering the deep water into which Rojas was asked to perform perfect aquatics.  

Some folks think that the Wilpons will pull out nearly all stops to ensure the Mets make the playoffs in the attempt to increase the price they can ask for purchase of the ballclub.  Of course some would wonder where the cash would come from to pay for the necessary reinforcements on the roster.  It will probably be more of the recent past where Brodie Van Wagenen trades away the crown jewels of the minor league system to other clubs to get some borderline or over-the-hill ballplayers in the blue sky fantasy they will push the Mets into October baseball.  That approach costs very little upfront but can cripple the club for the foreseeable future.

So how do you feel about the Mets during this bizarre 2020 season?  Are they what was expected?  Are they better?  Are they worse?  Are they spinning in a hamster wheel going nowhere?