Mets360 - On Luis Rojas’ return, the top offseason priority, bullpen vs. defense

 

By Brian Joura and Chris Flanders November 19, 2020

Welcome to the second installment of our baseball chat, again with Chris Flanders. Most of this took place before the news about Robinson Cano hit but know that both of us were not disappointed at all.

Brian – Everyone was all excited about the dual Steve Cohen/Sandy Alderson press conference the other day and truthfully it would have been huge news if the fans didn’t come away pumped. There were so many positives, chief among them, at least for me, was they were going to be concerned about the acquisition, not the cost. But one thing that came across as a sour note was the discussion on retaining Luis Rojas. Alderson acknowledged the dugout gaffes but essentially swept them under the rug, saying it’s the easiest thing to learn/improve/fix.

I hate the idea that consistently making sub-optimal decisions in the dugout is no big deal. I hate the idea that it’s okay to have a dolt in the dugout as long as he doesn’t make mistakes with the press. Is it wrong to want the Mets manager to be more like Gil Hodges and less like Kellyanne Conway?

Chris – I was pleasantly surprised watching the news conference, and certainly got what I hoped to hear from Cohen. Instead of hyped-up hyperbole coming from meddling ownership, I saw a guy who looked at the landscape with optimism, but more importantly, realism. He certainly said all the right things from my perspective. Given he’s a numbers guy for a living, it strikes me that the approach he will take with the team will be based on facts. I also liked the notion that he’s not just planning to throw good money after bad in building a club. I plan to give Alderson regime number two the benefit of the doubt to begin with, despite my serious reservations about his idea of baseball. What I did like was his taking control of the front office with initial set of good-byes, the fact that his moving on selecting a GM, and his recognition of the abysmal defensive performance of the team (which he took shared responsibility for). That leads to your thoughts about who will be on the top step of the dugout next year.

I certainly see consistency in your negative view of the Rojas experiment. I wonder how you might consider that as part of a “small data” consideration? I did find it interesting that Rojas was not left in a more of a wait-and-see mode given the absence of a GM in place, who surely should have input on that decision. Next to Callaway, I thought Rojas looked pretty solid, and there is a clear affirmation from the clubhouse. I don’t think that can be entirely dismissed given the clear “group think” decision making in modern baseball. It will be interesting to see how the new GM fits in. Too bad Kim Ng was snapped up by the Marlins.

So, what do you see as the pressing matters for putting a team on the field? Having Stroman come back caught me by surprise, but clearly the diminished resources from last season took a toll. In that regard, Cohen is insulated from that assuming he’s already cleared the accrued debt from last season in the purchase. I still am a firm believer in the “strong-up-the-middle” approach so see catcher and center field as projects to address, and of course pitching. It is also time to get less left-handed at the plate.

Brian – I want to like Rojas. He came up through the system and he’s young enough where he could be here 20 years. But my preference is for an old guy who doesn’t screw things up over a young guy who does. My hope is that Rojas was being ordered by the previous administration to do some of the bonehead stuff that happened – we shall see.

To me the pressing matter for the team is pitching. They need at least one more high-end starter and it wouldn’t hurt to pick up another mid-rotation guy, too. And they need relief help, too. My roster makeover had them DFAing Jeurys Familia but that doesn’t seem very likely. But they still need a late-inning guy. After that, it would be nice to get J.T. Realmuto on a short-term deal, even if it means overpaying him. A two-year deal would be ideal and a one-year contract would be fine, too. Mets don’t need him for three years and no one needs him for five or more. George Springer would be a very nice addition but that absolutely necessitates a trade. Hard to argue for that route when we don’t know who the GM even is yet.

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