Webster’s dictionary describes “filler” as “material used to fill extra space.” This word came to mind when thinking through the roster decisions the Mets have made thus far in their quest to rebuild from a tied-for-last-place team into a competitive one.
To be fair, they have made one significant acquisition thus
far. Trevor May perhaps is not the
Trevor most Mets fans were hoping they’d sign, but he is a seemingly very good
addition now that some of the more effective pieces like Justin Wilson and
Chasen Shreve are no longer part of the bullpen mix. May started off rather poorly for his first
three years, but in that third year he seemed to master his velocity and spin
to accumulate strikeouts. That change led
to three decent years out of the bullpen for the Twins including a 2019 season
in which he appeared in 65 games with a highly respectable 2.94 ERA under the
tutelage of one Jeremy Hefner. For the
last three years May has delivered a 10-4 record with an aggregate 3.19 ERA
while fanning over 12 per 9 IP and maintaining a 4:1 strikeout to walk
ratio. Yes, I’ll take that big man as
part of my bullpen any day. While his
acquisition wasn’t quite in the Brad Hand realm, it’s a smart move and helps
fill in some serious gaps for the later innings.
No, the filler issue is more about the bodies that have signed Mets contracts with little to show on their resumes to make the fans start packing away champagne for an October celebration. The first one that had folks scratching their heads was the 6’7” Sam McWilliams out of the Tampa Bay organization. He’s bounced around between several organizations and on the Rays’ taxi squad last year he was pitching north of 8.00 for an ERA. However, the peripheral numbers were interesting and there was something of a bidding war for his services. Apparently what drew him to the Mets is a major league contract paying $750,000 for a man who would need to make his rookie debut as he’s yet to hurl a pitch in the majors. For a guy that size he doesn’t wow you with strikeouts and has given out more hits than innings pitched. He’s a bit of a head-scratcher, but apparently the advanced analytics folks are enthusiastic about what he can become.
Similar moves were made for other pitchers, including Jacob
Barnes. As a 31 year old for the
upcoming season he has had a rather mediocre major league career. His strikeout numbers are better than McWilliams’
but his walks are worse. His ERA for
parts of four seasons in the big leagues is 4.36 and though he did have two
respectable years in the ERA stat sheet, he had two awful ones as well. This one rings as something of a double head-scratcher.
Folks here are anxious for the Mets to stop focusing on the role
players and instead make a stronger effort towards the ones who will start for
them on a regular basis. The names are
not new. Everyone has their Trevor
Bauer, George Springer and one of the two primary catcher option Mets jerseys
on their holiday shopping lists. Of
course, negotiating for the crown jewels of the free agency pool without a General
Manager is a bit of a handicap. Yes, it’s
only money, but there are parameters to be analyzed and accepted, marketing of the
franchise to the player and his agent, and assorted other detail-oriented
activities that need to take place.
Yes, I’m the first to admit I’m impatient. While I prefer they do a long term effort at
improving the minor leagues to create a pipeline of sustainable quality players
in the future, the immediate short term needs shouldn’t be neglected. There is lots of fodder about “interest in”
or “meeting with” in the various media concerning the aforementioned top free
agents as well as some other lower-tiered options such as Jake Odorizzi and
Sonny Gray. Sandy Alderson was pretty
adamant about free agents being the preferred route with the team somewhat bereft
of players to trade away that other clubs would value as highly perhaps as Mets
fans do. Still, the Winter Meetings are
where the groundwork should be laid for upcoming transactions. Folks are not hearing a lot of rumors (which
is a good thing in and of itself), but silence isn’t always golden.
8 comments:
Reese, I think we are all anxious. Hopefully our Christmas stockings will be stuffed with new stars.
On Hot Stove, Duquette suggested the Mets give up JDD or Gimenez, and Oswalt, for Hader. That one can go right in my stocking.
I'm seeing a lot of this on the blogs these days -- impatience and, I think, a radical misunderstanding of the free agent process.
Some dopey blog the other day , "Reflections on Baseball," had a headline about how Steve Cohen's "rah-rah act is wearing thin -- let's see some action."
It's dumb for a number of reasons. There is a negotiating process here that really can't be rushed, short of blowing someone out of the water with an insane offer. That wouldn't be good business.
If we believe that MLB is in a retrenchment mode, with many teams flat-out not spending, it's realistic to believe that the Mets will have opportunities to sign qualities at reasonable and even "bargain" (in quotes!) contracts. Those deals are not going to happen in early December.
In general, fans and writers need to chill out and allow the process to unfold. Overpaying across the board is not a wise use of assets, it would be the squandering of an advantage.
Jimmy
I often wish there was an edit function to the comments section. Meant "quality players" not "qualities," but of course you knew that!
Reese, hopefully you didn't think my frustration was aimed squarely at you, since I don't think you overstated your impatience (too much), and despite my (frequent) quibbles, I do appreciate what you and Tom are doing here on this site.
Jimmy
Comments are always welcome. It tells me folks are reading and pondering (even if to disagree). Your thoughts are well reasoned, but it brings me back to my frequent complaint that it's hard to negotiate when you don't have a GM and appear not to be making much progress in landing one.
I don't know whether it is just the really weird COVID environment, or what, but it really does seem to be developing a bit slower this year.
On John's daily post, it reminds us that Zack Wheeler signed his big contract with the Phillies a year ago today, and I seem to remember that he was taking a long time to sign. I also remember that Thanksgiving week used to be a big week for signings. I also remember the Harper and Machado thing a couple years ago that dragged into late January and February.
Of the other big signings last year, Grandal was early, signing with the White Sox on 11/21, Moustakas signed with the Reds on 12/5, Baumgarner and Cole with the D-backs and Yankees on 12/17 and 12/18, respectively, and Castellanos with the Reds in January, so things were stretched out quite a bit through the winter months.
I would think things will start happening and there will be some good stocking stuffers by Christmas, but the way 2020 has gone, who knows?
I do share Reese's concern about the the empty desks in the front office. While not having a GM does seem like it would affect the player negotiations and/or trade potential, it also is not a good look to the league for what seems to be that they are having issues filling these positions in the biggest market with a deep pocket owner. It is truly an odd environment.
Remember 1969, that makes me think of the song in Les Miz: "Empty chairs and empty tables...."
Of course, that is also the theme song for the restaurant industry in NY and California.
On a positive note, looks like McCann is happening.
Your post obviously lit a fire under Sandy!
Jimmy
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