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6/26/21

Reese Kaplan -- Waiting for the Proverbial Shoe to Drop


I looked down the list of New York Mets hitters recently and the high water mark among them was lightweight Luis Guillorme at .277.   After that the numbers dwindled rapidly and it makes you wonder what the powers that be in the front office and in the dugout are doing about improving things.  

Now, to be fair, the players taking the field have been a motley assortment of substitutes made up of DFAs from other teams and poorly selected and projected talents for the regular roster.  I won’t go into the rabid hostility people have towards Albert Almora as a classic example, but the fact is that the ailing pitching staff that was struggling to find five members is even worse off when you’re hoping a .220 hitter can drive home the go-ahead base runner.  


As much as the fans would like to see the club improve its roster the fact is that pretty much everyone is replaceable (at least based upon 2021 output).  You hear people offering up guys like Dom Smith for a bag of balls and they’re even entertaining offers on previous favorites like Jeff McNeil.


When you look at the ballclub right now and how they will shape up in 2022, the fact is that there are definitely moves that could be made, but probably the free agents to be should be the bodies the Mets attempt to peddle away.  They cannot sign everyone in the off season no matter how deep Steve Cohen’s pockets actually are.  It would simply be good business to divest themselves of players who will either leave for nothing at all or just a minor league draft pick.



I’ve brought up the issue of Michael Conforto in the past about how he is a good but not great player.  Maybe it’s time to see what the rest of the league thinks about him for the 2nd half of this season.  He’s not truly worth a qualifying offer at nearly $20 million next year, though his agent Steve Boras will demand more than that per season to lock him up.  They could roll the dice and gamble on him turning down the QO in the hopes that the draft pick they get becomes the second coming of Fernando Tatis, Jr.  Or they could dangle him in trade now to bring back someone a little further along the development cycle to help themselves lock up a pennant this year or in the near future.  


The ability to trade Conforto has a lot to do with the relative health of the infielders on the club.  Right now Jeff McNeil could take over one of the outfield slots if the team knew that just-IL’d Jonathan Villar or substitute Jose Peraza or already on the 60-day IL partners J.D. Davis and Jose Martinez are not ready to play every day.  For now the club is relying on Luis Guillorme to be a semi-regular on one side of Francisco Lindor and McNeil on the other.  They need infield reinforcements for McNeil to return to the outfield.  



Now news has come out that Brandon Nimmo is close to a return in another week to ten days.  This development would enable them to start an outfield of Dom Smith, Brandon Nimmo and Kevin Pillar.  While it’s not the makings of an All Star roster, it is manageable if they get a sizable return for Conforto.  



As difficult as it is to consider, they would normally have to consider the same thing about Marcus Stroman and Noah Syndergaard.  Both are slated to hit free agency, but the overstuffed waiting rooms, ambulances and AAA shuttle mileage is going to make trading pitchers almost impossible.  Now in this case both of these starters would be pushing the QO limits.  Stroman may be the more valuable at this point with Syndergaard’s setback.  However, with no one in the minors ready to assume the innings you’d give up by trading away Stroman, it doesn’t seem to make sense to try to consummate a deal.  


Something has to change to propel the Mets to a more consistent winning formula.  


10 comments:

  1. The talent us there... the results aren't.

    Need Nimmo and Davis to complete the circle.

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  2. Juggling act indeed.

    Tough loss last night - saw the McCann shot - just missed a bags full HR. Did not see the Mazeika AB - bags full, none out, fanned on 3 pitches...those are the career moments.

    I see people angling the Mets towards trading for Berrios - I say, let's see what Megill does in his next start first. Unless they really think Cookie won't come back like his normal self.

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  3. Reese, you might be a little too tough on Conforto - but did you see Ohtani's 24th homer last nite. Gargantuan. He is a guy worth boatloads of yen. Conforto is a good, solid guy. Maybe he will have another All Star year, maybe two - but I'd trade Baty, Mauricio and Conforto for an Ohtani. Conforto is not worth massive millions.

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  4. Yes, the offense has been very disappointing, but look around and you'll see that this is true everywhere.

    As of yesterday, there were FIVE NL hitters at .300+. Teams renowned for being "mighty", such as the Yankees and Dodgers, have been very disappointing offensively, too.

    We've been playing with basically a AAAA team, yet still have a nice lead in 1st place.

    I don't know the answer to pitching-dominated MLB, or how the new ball is the factor, or whether the 61.5 mound will help, but I do know that it's a problem that MLB, not just the Mets, needs to work on. There are only so many 2-1 games that fans will watch on TV, or pay to attend in person.

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  5. Bill, Mets were eaten up by Nola's curve. Add a foot to 61' 6" and how much more would it break? I don't like that. If I added anything, I'd add 3 inches. 6 inches tops.

    Or just move the fences in several more feet around baseball. McCann's fly out becomes a HR. Almora's too. Two more hits right there.

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  6. Mack, JD Davis has been out so long, his teacher is planning to issue him a JD card.

    Vientos can play 3rd base.

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  7. Tom to get Ohtani you'd have to throw in Jake, Dom, Pete and maybe Mrs. Cohen and some cash to make it work. I like Villar at third and with JD imitating Jed Lowrie Luis can handle it till his return. My BIG hope is that with Cohen at the helm we can find our own Ohtani or Tatis or Acuna.

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  8. Simply put, the way this team's offense is currently constructed this is not a good offensive team. Even when everyone is healthy they can go through long periods of struggling scoring runs. While I don't advocate wholesale changes, the Mets do need to upgrade their offense without sacrificing defense.

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  9. Gary

    Could be catcher Francisco Alvarez or third baseman Mark Vientos

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  10. Tom, you and I may be the only ones here old enough to know what a JD card is. 😁

    Yes, moving the fences in would create more HRs, but it's the BAs that have shrunk to an alarming level throughout both leagues. Nola's curve ball was very effective last night, but all 3 of the other SPs in the 2 games were just as effective in run prevention, as were the bullpens.

    The problem is deeper than the fences.

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