Reese Kaplan -- For Mets Fans, Today is Like Christmas Eve

For baseball fans of contending teams (and also of rehabbing teams building for the future), the Major League Baseball trading deadline is kind of analogous to Christmas Eve.  For people who grew up observing that holiday, you had a tendency as a child to build up the anticipation and wonder about what goodies would await you when it came time to open your presents.

For Mets fans, this year they are indeed in contention, still in first place as of Wednesday morning, but a margin of 3.5 games over the Philadelphia Phillies and 4 games over the Atlanta Braves.  Of course, with a doubleheader scheduled for this day, it’s entirely possible to see these gaps between contenders and the first place team grow larger or smaller.  

Anyone who regularly watches the New York Mets knows that the primary need right now is starting pitching.  To hear some folks tell it, they are desperate and should do nearly anything to fortify the rotation to enhance their chances of contending through the end of the season.  Others would contend that with Marcus Stroman, Taijuan Walker, Tylor Megill, Rich Hill and apparently today getting Carlos Carrasco back, they have five solid starters.  Then there’s that dual Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom chomping at the bit to get back to pitching regularly.  Oh yeah, there’s a tall blonde with long hair hoping to get onto the mound before year’s end to enhance his free agent bidding war.  

Obviously the injuries have been horrific all year and seemed to hit the pitching segment even harder than it has the position players.  Right now the Mets are without pieces named Jordan Yamamoto, David Peterson, Joey Lucchesi, Robert Stock, Corey Oswalt and Noah Syndergaard.  There are relievers on the mend as well, including Stephen Nogosek, Robert Gsellman, Sean Reid-Foley and Dellin Betances.  While only Syndergaard stands out as a hard core loss, the fact is that the team depended on these many other arms to help. 

Of course, the Mets need help in other areas as well.  Michael Conforto has been horrific all year long and hitting free agency at arguably the worst time possible for his off-season auction.  Dom Smith has recently started getting good swings on the ball and Brandon Nimmo has been one of the few bright spots offensively.  Kevin Pillar has had his moments but isn’t even hitting to his annual averages.  There have been a plethora of other outfielders attempted in the 4th and 5th roles who have failed to distinguish themselves. 

On the infield, it’s been a bit of craziness.  Pete Alonso is obviously still on fire.  Jeff McNeil looks like he’s finally shaking off the rust.  However, that’s where it gets a whole lot less certain.  Francisco Lindor hasn’t done what was hoped and now is out for a prolonged period of time healing his oblique injury.  Jose Peraza had some hot moments before fracturing his finger.  Jonathan Villar has also had a nice highlight reel of occasional offensive competency, but not enough to declare him worthy of being a starter.  Luis Guillorme continues to surprise and impress with his contact skills in his limited usage.  The real question mark is J.D. Davis who at this point is hitting .342, yet most fans don’t want him playing the field given his defensive challenges.

Then there is the question of who is behind the plate and how well he is performing.  The arrival of James McCann was generally lauded as a shrew move by the front office, but for much of the year McCann has had difficulty achieving the offensive prowess they’d hoped to see when he became a Met.  Right now he’s actually exceeding his lifetime .249 batting average by hitting .253, but a lot of that productivity has been recent.  His backup, Tomas Nido, is right on par, hitting .248.  

It would seem that the Mets need to make some firm decisions not only about the 2021 season, but the future as well.  Who is going to be here in 2022?  Who is not?  Who can be dealt away and who needs to hit the bench?  It surely seems that a good outfield bat should be a priority with Conforto likely taking the Boras train out of town.  They also need to figure out what to do with PED-abuser Robinson Cano. 

For now I’d advocate playing J.D. Davis every day with the offensive challenges elsewhere in the lineup and just man up to live with his questionable glove.  Pitching remains an issue with highly questionable or unknown bullpen arms after the 8th and 9th inning guys.  They do stand to lose both Stroman and Syndergaard in 2022, so finding another starter is definitely not a bad idea at all.  For now, the Rich Hill acquisition was a necessary start in the right direction, but there’s still more to do and the deadline clock is set for 4:00 PM today.  Let’s see if Zack Scott and company have it in them to make productive moves.