By Mike Steffanos December 13, 2020
I'm trying really hard to remember back a couple of days ago to what it felt like when the Mets were still trying to find a starting catcher and a GM. Try as I might, I just can't recapture that feeling. Not that the club's shopping list is all checked off by any means, but things have a right on schedule vibe to them now rather than a when the hell is something going to happen? feel. This contentment will last for precisely as long as it takes for word to leak out that the Mets are deep into things with Springer or Bauer, but I figure I might as well enjoy it as long as it lasts. Serenity is a transitory emotion.
All kidding aside, it really does feel like the team is in a better place today to many of us, probably not so much to folks who really had their heart set on the Mets signing J. T. Realmuto. Like I said yesterday, signing James McCann is going to be much tougher for Mets management to defend if things don't go well this season that signing Realmuto and having that deal turn out bad. Realmuto was the guy with the track record, while McCann is about projection. This really will be the first chance we get to judge the new front office on their own merits and, hopefully, start to develop some trust in their judgement.
Speaking of the front office, welcome to new incoming GM Jared Porter. The early reviews are raves, and I'll take their word on things until there's something concrete on which to judge the man. Porter seems to have a foot in both analytics and traditional scouting, which is mandatory for a modern GM. His last job was in Arizona, but before that he was with the Red Sox and then the Cubs, and that's a good background for understanding what needs to be done to run a team in a large market with modern ideas. Just as important, now the local media can move on from dismissing the entire Steve Cohen regime as a failure for not filling their front office job promptly.
Back to on-the-field guys, I saw quite a few takes on Mets Twitter that accused the team of cheaping out by going with McCann as the new catcher. I kind of get it. There was a feeling of euphoric optimism when Steve Cohen first took over that the Mets might spend on multiple guys at the top of the market, and all they've really done so far is bring in a right-hander named Trevor who wasn't Bauer and the catcher that was viewed as the consolation prize in the Realmuto sweepstakes. I get the disappointment.
I said yesterday that there's literally nothing that Cohen, Alderson and soon Jared Porter could do that would earn them unanimous approval from the entire fanbase. Alderson and Cohen are familiar enough with this market to understand that. Porter has plenty of years in Boston and Chicago to know that, too. But I'm sure there is still a strong motivation to let as much of the fanbase as possible go into the season with a real positive feeling, and that's going to take at least one marquis signing. My vote is for George Springer and a quality starting pitcher, but I understand that I might not get my top choice.
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