Tom Brennan - THE IMPACT OF METS PLAYER MOVES UNDER BVW

I’VE SEEN BRODIE’S ACQUISITIONS REPORT CARD. 

JUST AIN’T PURTY, JETHRO, JUST AIN'T PURTY.

We've seen a bunch of BVW moves and they've been rehashed a lot.  I like hash, so I'll serve up my own rehash.

I am going off the top of my head here, so I hope I don't leave anyone out.

The Cano and Diaz for Kelenic, Bruce, Dunn and Swarzak trade has been looked at a ton by armchair pundits. A few brief thoughts:

Kelenic - Seattle has real hopes that the kid will be All Star caliber for a long time when he arrives, and his arrival is reportedly not far off.

Bruce - think a late-in-career Dave Kingman.  Still banging HRs, low average, low OBP.  I don't miss the latter two one bit.

Swarzak - a useful 2019, but not pitching in 2020.

Dunn - awful so far this year.  7.80 ERA. Walking a man an inning since turning up in the bigs.

Cano - when healthy, as he has been for stretches of 2020, he may still be far more lethal as a Met than most the arm chair pundits give him credit for.

Diaz - a miserable 2019, I concede, but his lethal arm remains.  A return to 2018’s supreme form is not out of the question.

Overall, this one still seems like a thumbs-down, but the jury is still out.

The Marisnick for Blake Taylor trade:

Idiotic.  Taylor is living up to his reputation as a solid reliever forged in the upper minors in 2019.  Houston saw it, the Mets didn't, despite the Mets having horrid pen years in 2018 and 2019.  Taylor in 2020? 12+ innings, 2 runs allowed.  Marisnick was a dime a dozen OF; of course, as Jed Lowrie just pointed out to me, is hurt.

The JD Davis-for-prospects trade:

Houston had an offensive surplus - the Mets took advantage.  None of the prospects (e.g., Adolph, Manea) are likely ones you'll lament in the future.  Of course, acquiring JDD allowed the Mets to allow Wilmer Flores to leave.  Since leaving, in 255 at bats, he has put up Jeff McNeil type numbers: .322/.362/.517.  Could they have kept Wilmer and not done the Cano trade?  Maybe.

The Stroman for Anthony Kay and Simeon W-R trade:

Stroman delivered little and bailed on the team once he achieved free agent availability; he is a “team first” guy... as in the first team that backs up the Brinks truck will work for him, I am guessing.  Kay meanwhile is 3-0 in the big leagues and has been effective if not (yet) dominant.

SWR is considered to be a soon-coming excellent MLB pitcher, perhaps for many years, given his youth.  

That was a questionable trade when it happened,  It is no doubt now that it was a terrible trade.

The Keon Broxton for Bobby Wahl and other prospects trade:

Broxton made every at bat look like Edwin Diaz was pitching to him.  103 at bats in 2019, 49 Ks. 

Fortunately (in a sense) for the Mets, Wahl got hurt in 2019, and so far in 2020 has been very poor in limited action so he has been a non-factor for the Brewers.  The other Mets prospects to the Brewers are likely not elite, and I'll worry if and when any of them actually show up in the bigs.  So this trade was essentially an exchange of dreck for dreck, most likely.

Travis d'Arnaud:

TDA not given enough time to see if he really recovered after TJS, and was summarily released by the Mets:

TDA has been one of the best hitting catchers in the majors since leaving the Mets. Of course. 

With Tampa and now division rival Atlanta, 20 HRs and 84 RBIs in 388 at bats, hitting around .280 since then, including .344 through Friday night in 2020. This one reminds me a lot of the awful Daniel Murphy non-retention move, after 2015’s Murphy Wonder Finish.  The dopes kept Lucas Duda rather than re-sign Murphy, who could play 1B, 2B, and 3B and who had proven the ability to out-hit the BEST pitching anywhere, while Duda (right before their very eyes) went 11 for 47 in that post-season with 20 Ks. 

Murphy he was THE difference maker in 2016 and 2017 for the Nats in suppressing, distressing, and regressing the Mets.

Back to TDA: Simply, a disastrous move to let TDA go, given the Mets’ dearth of catching alternatives.  Sure, he had a rocky health-impacted history with the Mets, but how long had that elbow bothered him?  How much exactly was the elbow the reason for much of his hitting and throwing woes?  Seemingly a ton. Now we all see the true, healthy TDA.  The one valuable enough that we traded a Cy Young winner to get him.

Wilson Ramos: 

Willie Ray gave them a solid offensive year (and a weak defensive one) as a 2019 free agent.  This year is starting to look like perhaps Father Time might have come knocking.  

Decent acquisition, nonetheless, given that they were stupid enough to not keep TDA.

Jed Lowrie: 

On the one hand, one could cut Brodie some slack, thinking, “how could a guy effectively get to the plate 1,320 times in his 2 years prior to the Mets, but just 7 times in his 2 Mets seasons?"  

On the other hand, why not just keep Flores and pass on the far older Lowrie, given how older players tend to suddenly deteriorate and get hurt more often than not?  Or use the Lowrie bucks instead on arms, to have a deeper 2019 pen instead?  Had that happened, the Mets may have been the squad to win the 2019 World Series.

Jeurys Familia:

So far, not at all worth the shekels laid out for his expensive return engagement.  He still throws hard - but will he ever be truly effective again?  71 innings, 45 runs allowed in 2019 and 2020. If all else fails, Kaopectate could help reduce the runs.

Justin Wilson?  

Nice acquisition indeed. I’d do that one again in a heartbeat.

Chase Shreve?  

So far, seems to be an excellent pen pick up.

Jared Hughes, Brad Brach?  

So far, nice pen work, by and large.  Keep it up.

Porky Porcello and Willie Wacha?   

Their 2-4 record and 6.00 ERA as the hydra-headed duo to replace Zack Wheeler makes one surely wish they could have retained the services of 3-0 Wheeler instead, understanding that as a FREE agent, Zack was free to sign wherever he wanted.  And Walker Lockett?  Don't get me started.  Just don't start him.

That's my Brodie Recap.  But, if I may, let me add to that some shortly-before-Brodie-Blunders: 

1) Rafael Montero?  Not kept by BVW’s predecessor, he had arm surgery in 2018, had a nice 2019, and in 6 games with the Rangers this season, he has saved 5.  Hmm...could he have been kept?  How good will he be?

2) Hansel Robles...run out of town in mid-2018 after allowing a flurry of homers in the pen, he was dumped unceremoniously despite a 19-14 Mets career record, while the likes of Tyler Bashlor and Paul Sewald (combined career 1-21) were kept.  Ouch.  Does that make a scintilla of sense to you?  It doesn't to me.

Hansel finished 2018 strong with LAA, then was their closer for much of 2019 and had 23 saves and pitched great.  Dominant. An arm that, if kept, absolutely gets them into the 2019 post-season. 

This year, he allowed a ghastly 9 runs in his first 3.2 IP, but then had 5 straight scoreless outings before allowing 2 runs in an inning in his last outing.  Considering the Mets' pen woes, he was a true keeper that the Mets gave up on instead, in typical knee-jerk fashion (emphasis on the jerk part).  I was like everyone else at the end of the Robles Mets tenure...why is he pitching so badly?  

But I also felt at the time that you don't dump a guy with past success who throws 98.  You stick him in the back of the pen and see if he turns it around.  The same arm chair guys wanted Diaz thrown in the trash.

I'll stop there - did I get everybody - you tell me who I missed.

Overall Brodie grade?  

To me, a D+, and why we all feel that new, QUALITY ownership is needed, PRONTO.  Brodie did, to his credit, pull off 2 terrific drafts - so I'll give him an overall C grade.

Unless he trades these top prospects, too.  The he will get an F (bomb) grade.