By Dave Rubin
Yesterday was exactly the type of game that we can point to as what went wrong with the Mets trade deadline acquisitions.
Baez is a beautiful fielder and a dynamic guy but he is another all or nothing type player and in a lineup that does not drive in enough runs or produce enough timely hits. He becomes a drain on the offense more than he becomes a help.
Rich Hill can only go five innings at a time when Carrasco is still stretching himself out so you will have a drain on the bullpen two days in a row.
Our failure to bring in an arm that can go every five days and give us six or seven innings with any regularity becomes even more glaring.
Our failure to bring in another long reliever or spot starter also becomes more glaring because we are completely taxing out our bullpen and since the All-Star game our staff ERA is the second worst in the national league.
We gave up our only true centerfield prospect, but we held onto four shortstops or third base prospects and if we sign Baez to play third then that means that all four of them need to change positions.
We lost out on our #1 Draft Pick because we decided not to take a chance on medicals that may or may not be correct and when you consider the low success rate of the New York Mets medical system it's very hard to believe that there is not some way of fixing whatever ails him.
Since Sandy has been brought back he had trouble finding a president and was turned down by multiple people, he hired a general manager who ended up being fired because of harassment issues, multiple harassment issues were uncovered from his prior regime, they promoted the assistant general manager to the interim status, they failed to sign their number one draft pick and they did not add any important arms to a staff that is in desperate need.
While I truly believe in an ownership led by a Steve Cohen I am finding it harder and harder to believe in an organization that will be guided by Sandy Alderson- and that comes from somebody who really likes and respects Sandy as a man and as an executive.
16 comments:
Great points Dave - we need an outfielder so we trade for an infielder - which may ultimately lead to the only player on the team who is currently hitting, Jeff McNeil, to be benched. Plus - we gave up an item that we have in short supply - an Outfield Prospect!
Bryant or Baez and once again we got the wrong guy. In Baez the last thing we needed was an all or nothing guy but Lindor loves him but is that a reason to trade for him really? Also we have to find out why players thrive AFTER we trade/release them. The list is long and how much better are we with Matz, Flexen, Sewald and Lowrie to name a few on the big club now.
Thank you for writing this article. You expressed perfectly everything I've felt sbout the Mets this season. I wanted Bryant because he's not an all or nothing hitter like Baez. Who cares about disrupting team chemistry when it doesn't amount to wins. I know hindsight is 20/20 but I really wish we would've signed Springer this winter. I also think we need to go in a different direction than Sandy. If we don't make it to the playoffs, I'd support a major change in organizational leadership. Feels good to vwnt! 🤣🤣
Baez is not the right hitter for this team, although he could get hot - he does have a lot of RBIs.
Dodgers get Scherzer, and knowing Jake is hurt, the Mets get (over-the) Hill. How would the Mets' rotation have looked with Scherzer in it? Of course, had he been traded for by the Mets, he would have instantly sustained a major injury. The number of players the Mets have used in 2021 is incredibly high. Injuries-R-Us.
Here are my bug-a-boos here with this team right now.
1. Health. Including hamstring injuries galore. Why? What is that all about really? Can we not review how the team gets its players ready for games?
2. Sandy Alderson. Everything "Rubin's Rant" said today regarding Sandy is basically all true. He has never taken this team home a trophy. He's a good guy that we all like, but Citi Field needs a winning WS team here real soon like, before it turns itself into the NY Jets. Dismal.
3. Bad player personnel moves. The team was mired in injuries and a lack of nucleus hitting. So they went out and got a somewhat streaky hitting second baseman, Javier Baez, who also (and for a middle infielder) strikes out a lot. Mets did need power game added, true esp. with Conforto out) but its middle infield I did not see as a huge deficiency position here.
I was fine with Amed Rosario on short too actually. He's hitting like .270 BA now with his new team. Plus, Amed Rosario was (to me) a true sparkplug player here who could win games late inning.
4. I have stated here "umpteen times" already (going back years) that these NY Mets should have gone to a "six-man rotation" awhile ago due mainly to arm injury vulnerabilities of its starters. Their pitchers throw hard. Now look at where we are. Ravaged rotation. Bad pitching matchups versus opponents.
5. There's little to nothing at AAA Syracuse to help out. A hurt Harol Gonzales. The 2020 Covid 19 thing killed AAA ball last season everywhere. Players needing to continue refinement of their abilities couldn't play for a year in many cases. There is now no one to call up that is ready. Maybe soon lefty pitcher Jash Walker as an exception. Syracuse may need a total reboot for 2022.
6. Luis Rojas. I like the guy, many do. But what is the most important part to this to me is, does the team like him? Do they believe in him? His style?
It's not showing in other words. Although in Luis' defense, the team has been injury plagued all season long and that ain't going to change anytime soon. New people need to step up here soon, or this season is over.
Now go look at the LA Dodgers moves at trade deadline and how they player personnel that team. Big time diff.
Gary...
Steven Matz was obviously not the answer here. Flexen was not who he is now, here. He was here "an extra maybe piece" to the puzzle. Kind of like Drew Smith whom I really think is close to being excellent now.
John...
It is way, way, way too early to tell what Pete-Crowe Armstrong will end up being at the MLB level, if he can even make it here. Look at outfielders J. Kelenic everyone here was boasting on not too long ago.
But the Cubs were so (evidently) glad to dump the 26 year old Javier Baez, that they easily took that gamble with a 19 year old kid Armstrong. And that's pretty much all they got back.
Good comments Melissa!
I think a regime change will be happening here as well, if this team does not turn itself around.
It will be the time to rethink this all. It needs to be.
But it could turn around too.
So what was the correct answer here this trade deadline?
To me, probably Kris Bryant and Max Scherzer (if 100% healthy). But wishes and dreams do not always come true, as we all know. Sometimes, you just have to settle for third, fourth, and seventh best.
Tom: May want to get the trumpet ready.
July 18, 2021
A day that will live on in Mets infamy, forever.
Foul.
It's one thing to say the Mets should have traded for Scherzer, but did you really want to give up Mauricio & Ginn for him? Not sure that would have been enough.
And you are ignoring the FACT that Scherzer didn't want to come here.
Is this the season when you are all in? Push all those chips to the center of the table? I'm not feeling it.
I am glad they didn't trade away those guys.
Hill was a very good pickup and the other guy, down in AAA, was a solid emergency starter. We didn't give up a lot and they directly addressed need.
We needed a decent RH outfielder along the lines of Marisnick. Conforto should NEVER start against a LHP and Pillar is another guy who swings at everything. Another arm in the bullpen, too. Not big splashy moves, but a couple of deft pickups.
If you hit, you play. Remember that one?
If Jake isn't right, then the Mets scare no one.
The hope is that this is 1973 and 82 wins gets the Division. Maybe 85.
As for Sandy, seems like he's being fazed out. Omar gives more interviews these days. Sandy was brought in for a smooth transition and he's been an utter failure, for the second time around. Cohen needs to turn the page.
I think Scott has been decent so far. He didn't overpay. But Baez felt to me like a serious mistake.
But you never know! Three great weeks wins the Division.
Jimmy
As much as we all wanted Scherzer, he didn’t want NY and was not willing to allow a trade to either New York team. And Rizzo it’s still reluctant to trade that type of asset within his division. The Phillies in a single move boosted both their rotation and their bullpen in their deal with Texas getting Gibson and Kennedy & the Rangers return was hardly inspiring. There were deals to be made and all along all we heard was that they recognized that they needed to boost up the rotation but bringing in a 41-year-old lefty who can only go for five innings without subsequently boosting up the bullpen was a pretty big mistake. I really like watching Baez defensively and his home runs are exceptional and while I am not a huge fan of Bryant because he tends to run hot and cold in a similar fashion to Conforto he is a more consistent hitter and doesn’t rely on a home run to knock in runs. Finally there were so many open arms that changed teams during this deadline that I am pretty shocked that we did not get a single one and the only arm that we did receive was immediately sent to AAA. In 2015 working with far more limited funds Sandy actually did a very good job fortifying the roster at the deadline with Kelly Johnson and Tyler Clippard and Juan Uribe and of course Mr Cespedes. One has to wonder why they didn’t go at this deadline as hard…
Jimmy, I think the next 3 weeks are this team's death knell. Scherzer may have been impossible. But this team is sputtering. Without Jake, what flavor of jam do you prefer with your toast. Because they are toast. We needed to buy better jam.
David, I agree - with no Jake, we needed functional, reliable arms, even if their names weren't spelled Scherzer or Berrios.
I agree with EVERYTHING above, but want to add:
1. Can we please get rid of the “Anonymous” tag so we can see who’s writing?
2. The New York Mets had so many things go right early on that it tricked them into thinking they were contenders. But, like many previous Mets teams, they are not balanced and the few prospects they had were sent away for the sake of winning but the Mets got complimentary players back disguised as main guys.
3. Hard to understand why there were so many injuries, but they are still in first place but need to figure out how to manage each game ans stop saving for tomorrow. Their pitching not good enough.
4. Cohen has had one year to evaluate and now it’s time to juggle the Front Office and get a qualified leader because that Rocker screw up is one a good team doesn’t make.
Gus, agree, and not to worry, the Mets have exploded for one run in the first 4 innings tonight. Josh Walker dominating again tonight, maybe he pulls a Megill soon and comes to Queens. SO far tonight and last start, 13 innings, no runs, 2 hits.
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