Reese Kaplan -- The Waiting Game Is Mighty Stressful for Mets Fans

For Mets fans this off-season has been a highly emotional one, both in good ways and in bad ways.  We understood the sale of the team was going to take a little while and everyone was throwing confetti and drinking adult beverages in excessive quantities once the Wilpon family was no longer in the driver’s seat.  That’s most definitely a good thing.  

Then came the ill-fated quest for a head of baseball operations from some other club.  That effort was a lot of wheel-spinning.  Now some say it was not the fault of the Mets’ front office since they were told other clubs prohibited their under-contract personnel from responding to their hiring overtures.  Others feel it was perhaps the Mets not making the best effort.  Either way, the Mets quickly conceded defeat and said they would instead go after a GM and Assistant GM with likely Sandy Alderson taking over that role.  

Once again there were celebrations across greater Metsville when the team managed to lure away some well regarded talent from the Diamondbacks and from the Red Sox.  New GM Jared Porter has fresh responsibilities in an elevated role.  Runner up for the Mets job, Zack Scott, somewhat surprisingly made the move.  He is reuniting with Porter with whom both worked together in the past before Theo Epstein took some of his front office personnel with him to Chicago while Scott remained to work the gears in Boston.  Most folks were more than content with these selections.  

On the player personnel side of things, though, it hasn’t been quite as rosy.   First there was news about the Josh Bell trade from Pittsburgh to Washington to help sure-up a weak position for the Nationals.  It’s not as if Josh Bell was a Freddie Freeman equivalent, but the last full season in the majors in 2019 he hit .277 with 37 HRs and 116 RBIs.  That’s not exactly chicken feed.

By comparison, the Mets’ great roster additions thus far are setup reliever Trevor May and former backup catcher James McCann.  Neither are bad choices but the fans are actively lusting for more and thus far are not having that itch scratched.

Monday word came down that the San Diego Padres added former Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell for spare parts and added Korean baseball star Ha-seong Kim as a free agent for just money and no personnel leaving town.  Bear in mind the Padres already have Fernando Tatis, Jr. at shortstop and Manny Machado at third base, so it’s not as if they were fearing a personnel realignment or a crowded bench to make this inexpensive deal.  The Mets did not engage significantly and rumor has it that the Padres are now looking to acquire Yu Darvish from the Cubs perhaps including one of those infielders.  

At the same time the Mets are sitting on their hands when it comes to roster enrichment, word also filtered down that the club may not cross the salary cap which would force them to pay a bit extra if they exceed the league’s limit.  All of the sudden those billions of dollars controlled by Steve Cohen don’t appear to be available to buy a pennant in Yankees or Dodger style.  

Oh yeah, there is also a team down in Georgia looking to improve as well.  They did not sit quietly by and wait for players to come knocking on their door in Atlanta.  Instead the Braves went out and signed both Charlie Morton and Drew Smyly.  While neither are who people envision Trevor Bauer to be, they are definitely quality acquisitions.

In the meantime, the Mets, the last time we looked, are still short in the starting rotation and in the bullpen.  Oh yeah, there’s the issue about a centerfielder, too, as well as deciding who is paying 1st base, 2nd base, shortstop and 3rd base.  Other than that, they’re good to go.

It’s still 2020 and there is time, particularly when no one is aware of when the season will start nor how long it will be.  It’s surely too soon to hit the panic button.  Lots of free agents are still unsigned and many trade partners still exist.  However, it may be time to put one within arm’s reach as a reminder that a lot of work still needs to be done to improve the club while other teams seem much more actively interested in doing so for themselves.