Tom Brennan - OFFENSIVE ANEMIA IN DEAD BALL METSVILLE

Conforto was really something back in those Team USA days.

Not a long article today. (Well, turned out longer than I thought).

I sometimes test the waters by floating a post on Facebook, to see what the uninformed Mets fan masses think.  

Yesterday, I floated the idea that the Mets might want to look ahead to the possibility that Carlos Cortes and his minimum wage salary might replace Michael Conforto in right field next year.  And spend big bucks this off season on someone else.

I got just one comment - pretty much, "the guy's just in AA, cool your jets."  The Facebook comments that get 100 comments are the ones people post where they say "Lindor Sucks."  50 people agree like mad, 50 defend him to the death.  Cortes? Crickets.

I am not saying Cortes will be ready by OD 2022.  Or that he is ready today (he is not).

But when a guy has a 38 game stretch where he collects 26 extra base hits, including 9 HRs, I sit up and take notice and at least start to consider the possibility.  

Especially since my suggestion was about 2022, which if Cortes stays healthy means he has about eighty 2021 remaining games to continue to bop.  Former 3rd rounder - some 3rd rounders end up excelling.

Why do I even think along those lines, that Cortes could replace Mike?  

Isn't it heresy to consider replacing St. Michael and not just automatically giving him mega millions?

Well, Michael did miss a chunk of time, but Vlad Guerrero has 26 homers.  MC "If I Had a Hammer" Conforto has 2 HRs.  

In fact, 37 major leaguers have as many or more HRs as Conforto has RBIs (14).

I know, just be patient....after all, there is a little more than half the season left.  He'll no doubt have 30 or 35 by then.

Of course, 271 MLB players currently have at least as many RBIs as the Hammer.  That's 9 players on average per team.

Where's the quilt pen?  Sign him up.  Make it 10 years.

Moving along...

I've always loved Jeff McNeil.  

But 139 plate appearances, 9 RBIs, .228.  Really?

He's had 348 plate appearances in 2020 and 2021 and scored 34 runs and knocked in 32.  That is quite substandard.  Jeff is a guy I always expect to ignite - so count me puzzled.  And, maybe a bit concerned.

Nimmo?  Love the guy.  Gets hurt a lot. Gets a lot of Get Well Soon cards.  Never heard of Lou Gehrig.

Just 145 games played n 2019, 2020, and 2021.  His on base % is great above 40% - but his in game % over that span is barely above 40%.  Not so good.  7 runs and 8 RBIs this year, despite getting on base 35 times.  Last night on AAA, a hit and 2 walks - nice - but no RBIs and no runs - not nice.

Lindor?  25 RBIs in roughly 300 plate appearances.  Bud Harrelson said he used to drive them in like that.

Dom?  He'll no doubt ignite...right?  Everybody erupts in Metsville at least once in a blue moon.  Whee!

Smith has 29 RBIs and .240 in 69 games and 6 HRs.  Leaving him tied for 115th in RBIs. Oh, and 190 guys have as many or more HRs than Dom.  Which works out to more than 6 guys per team.  McCann has just 6 HRs too.  Six homers on the Mets, though?  Impressive.  

Except that the guy who missed a lot of time with a crushed nose and stuff already has 8.

It is clear the dead ball has returned to baseball.  As an experiment, though, it is secretly only being used in Mets games.

I love Luis Guillorme.  Don't you?  Fundamentalist, tough.  

His 1 RBI, though?  Not loved by this writer so much.

In 375 plate appearances, Pillar, Peraza and Nido have walked 17 times.  I like all 3, but I am not willing to give them a free pass on that, are you?  Heck, the former Met anti-walker, Amed Rosario, has 18 in 261 plate appearances. Swing away, Merrill!

Albert Almora was 1 for 21 when he got hurt.  I suggested he not play for the Mets again until he got hot in AAA.  

Mets, though, decided what the heck?  He can work that hitting stuff out in MLB games.  So now, Albert Almora is 3 for 37.  If you tripled his batting average of .081, you'd have .243.  But at least his OBP is above .100 at .105 because he actually drew a walk.  

The running count for the law firm of Almora, Maybin and Lee is 5 for 83, but at least they can brag that they have as many RBIs (one) as Luis Guillorme.  

Vlad Guerrero, on the other hand?  He has 66, but of course he has a lot more plate appearances than those guys, so you can't really compare them, right?  

But Almora, Maybin, Lee, McNeil and Conforto have 459 combined plate appearances and an impressive 25 RBIs. Vlad has 66 RBIs in 327 plate appearances, which is 132 fewer PAs than the fearsome Mets' 5 just named above.  

Of course, Jake can brag that he's 12 for 29 with 6 RBIs, by comparison.  But Jake is Jake.

Taijuan Walker was 13 for 65 coming into this year, but is 1 for 27, so I am ascribing his hitting drop-off to the Mets' Dead Ball Experiment Theory.

And based on my firm and unwavering adherence to that theory, I give Michael Conforto an 8 year, $240 million extension, RIGHT NOW, because he and Scott Boras would like that.  

No questions asked.  Do it today, so I can sleep better.  

I figure that dead ball theory is 100% correct, as is my belief that the world is in fact flat, and if Conforto hits a ball just right in a flat world, it will just keep rolling forever.     

The theory that given another 80 minor league games this year, Carlos Cortes could possibly hit as well for the Mets in 2022 as the aforementioned Mets guys (excluding Jake, of course) is patently absurd, isn't it?  

Why after all would Cortes possibly continue to hit like a maniac?  

AA statistics are all a mirage, you see, and anyway, they don't play with a dead ball in Binghamton.  I know, because....well, because I said so.

Mark Vientos, his teammate, knows that the one and only reason Vientos himself has 9 HRs in his last 12 Binghamton games is fairy dust.  

Mark is another guy who (don't let the numbers delude you) won't be ready for the Mets until at least 2030, because his name is not Michael Conforto - and those AA numbers of his?  They're all a mirage, I'm sure.  Wind must have been blowing out at 40 MPH for all of those.  

But, maybe I'll float a post about Vientos' 9 HRs in 12 AA games on Facebook and see if any of the morons want to make a dumb comment.

Because the Mets' stats?  I love them, don't you?  

No need for anyone to ignite.  They're all good.  

And let's keep all of the Mets' performers.  After all, I love never scoring.  It's a fine Mets tradition.  Mets fans wear it like a badge of honor.