Reese Kaplan -- Place the 2021 Blame Where It Belongs

So what kind of team do fans really want to see come 2022?  Certainly everyone wants one that is competitive with a chance to win every game.  They no longer want to assume it’s a lost cause once they fall behind by a run or two.  They want to see energy, enthusiasm, fundamentals and smiles.  Fans are tired of the drudgery of players seemingly sleepwalking through the 9 innings until it’s time to retire to the clubhouse spread of food and the big paycheck awaiting them at the end of the month.

Getting back to the original question, how should the club start to assemble itself to become this type of team?  Some folks want Steve Cohen to channel his inner George Steinbrenner and overpay for every free agent available to become a part of the Mets.  There’s some merit to that approach when you put a past All Star at every position on the field, but there’s no guarantee either.  Wasn’t Francisco Lindor an All Star?  Wasn’t Javy Baez an All Star?  Wasn’t Michael Conforto an All Star?  Wasn’t James McCann an All Star?  Putting former All Stars on your roster sounds good in theory, but the backs of baseball cards aren’t what makes teams win now.

Then there is the polar opposite approach, building up through the minors and bringing in more high level minor leaguers from other teams in salary dumping trades.  This philosophy has also been known to work where teams who are unexpectedly good play small ball, emphasize fundamentals, steal bases, bunt runners over, hit behind people, go against the shift and create a long term success based upon low cost and youth.  

Then there’s a hybrid solution in which you grow or acquire the youngsters to build for the future and supplement them with proven talent you already have or you acquire.  This method doesn’t put all your eggs into the basket of youth nor does it require you solely to dig deep into your pockets for the salary requirement for past accomplishments of veterans. You kind of hedge your bets through both extremes and seek to balance things out.  

Now the problem with that third option is how you manage it.  Right now there are no folks printing jerseys demanding Luis Rojas return.  It means you need a creative, energetic and effective leader who can motivate the young ballplayers to work hard and perfect their techniques.  However, this same manager must also be able to keep the veterans from becoming prima donnas who are too lazy to work on their game.  

As much as I hate to place the player performance responsibilities on the manager, changing from the top down has got to help.  It’s clear that Rojas is not the person who is influencing these players effectively.  Whether it’s the veteran stars like Lindor or the up and comers (if the Mets actually had any), the fact is they are all falling flat on their faces.  I find it hard to believe every man would slump at the very same time for the course of an entire season.  A leader would be able to motivate some improvement out of somebody.  Rojas is proving he’s not the man for the job.