Tom Brennan - NOW THAT BAEZ AND WILLIAMS WILL BE HERE, WHO DO YOU DROP?

Conforto Strikes Again

Bringing in two players are the Mets, fellas named Baez and Williams, and presumably they will be activated today. 

So what do you do?  Send down Banda for Williams?  

I guess so. Banda had one fine inning, one poor inning last night. 33 pitches.  He needs to improve.  AAA is the place.

For Baez? Do what?

Send Drury down? He is the most scorching bat for a non-scorching team. Keep him. Unless you’re stupid.

Nimmo needs IL? Unlikely, but if so, that would be a temporary answer.

Guillorme?  Well, they are bringing in an infielder in Baez, so that’s a real maybe.

Or…DFA Conforto? WHAT?  OK, swap him for somebody.  I’m sure he’ll immediately hit like it is 2020 again, then, when he hit .322.

But even that .322 was a fluke. He hit .412 BABIP in 2020, you see.  

That was about 25 points higher in terms of BABIP than ANYONE ELSE in baseball. Unsustainable. Smart people said it wouldn’t last.  Prescient they were. 

This year’s BABIP? .167 points lower, at .245.

So why not move him out? 

Unless it is a cheap one year re-signing for 2022, I do not want to see him in a Mets uniform next season. Change is good. Do you want him to stay?  Be honest.  Please, if so, let me know why.

The Mets’ offense perennially under-performs…and Conforto is much of the sand clogging those gears.  Last night’ 6-2 loss was not aided by Conforto’s 0 for 4 with 3 Ks, dropping him to .199.

ONE NINETY NINE.

Last year’s .322 was also a fluke, in the sense that you thought “Wow, .322!”  But he had just 31 RBIs in 233 plate appearances, way below what one might expect given that average. This year, in 258 PAs, a crushingly low 24 RBIs.  So that is 55 RBIs in 491 PAs in 2020 and 2021. Simply irreplaceable…who else could give you 55 RBIs?

This year’s slug %?  A gaggingly low .329.  Meanwhile, Itsy bitsy slap-hitting Wilfredo Tovar in AAA has a .413 slug %.  Conforto ought to be ashamed.

Why not make a change?  Move on.  Do it now.

Do a post-deadline player move of some sort to replace him.  Oh, I know you’ll say, “we need him for the playoffs.”  Without Jake deGrom for another 5 weeks or more, the playoffs are in great jeopardy.  Baez or no Baez.  If you possibly can, move him out and somehow get another quality pitcher in.

Conforto? He is a bum. 

I heard he is one for his last 34 against lefties. Kind of begs the question, doesn’t it? Why is he ever hitting against lefties?  Just 8 for 66 in 2021, with 3 RBIs, vs. lefties.  Strictly platoon him, at a minimum. Career vs lefties? .220, with a .380 slug %. Again, how can one possibly replace such prodigious production?  Where are the Analytics folks?  This is a glaring flaw. Let me make the introduction: “Ass, this is bench. Why don’t you two get to know one another better?” 

No, they won’t DFA Conforto. There would be howls and screams. But, for Pete’s sake, at least sit him for a few games AND strictly platoon him. We do, after all, have Kevin Pillar.  At least he’s not a wimp.

I’m almost 68 now. I have increasingly little patience for Mets failures.  Injuries.  No hitting with RISP, like it’s a Mets badge of honor. 

Mack no doubt has seen my demeanor change in my writing over the past 10 years.  

My brother Steve is 53.  He really worries he’ll never see another Met World Series win in his lifetime.  Me, too. The Dodgers made huge playoff-focused moves. They are driven. The Mets?  Much more timid. Conforto should have been dealt.  Addition by subtraction.

The Mets, so far, are miraculously in first place despite scoring 1.75 runs less per game than the Astros all season.  The Mets are 29th in scoring.  Baez could be a catalyst. 

But first place is in real jeopardy.

Conforto IS an albatross. DO SOMETHING.