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10/5/21

Remember's Ramblings: October 4, 2021

 

Remember's Ramblings:   Thoughts from early October 2021   

  



As I roll over another year of my life this week, I, like all of us are, am disappointed again in the results of the now ended Mets season.   I am also just returning to work for my prior employer who laid me off two years ago but came back begging this summer.   I will never understand corporate America.   Got funding for jobs, don't got funding, and the cycle goes on.   So for better or worse, my retirement will have to take a break for a bit - there is a special project that is supposed to wrap up in January 2023, so I'm thinking a year and half will do it.    Next summer will be hard - kinda got used to my time off after two summers.   I suspect my golf game will continue to flounder. 

Now for the Mets.     This offseason is setting up to be an interesting one.   After not renewing the contract of the Manager, there is no org structure between the players and whatever Sandy's title is.  That needs to change.

As far as the player changes go, there has been, and will continue to be a lot of chatter about what should be done.   If only we could all be the GM by committee, although I'm not sure we'd all agree enough to get anything really done.

My take at this point is to shoot for 2023.    Let 2022 happen and make the best of it.    My thoughts:



Mike's Mets covered this pretty well in his last post, but the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, CBA for short, expires on Dec 01, 2021.    After watching the owners and players negotiating how to handle the pandemic season of 2020, it is hard to imagine that there will be a smooth process to sign a new one.   As Mike points out, this could be a fairly lengthy process which could drive a lockout and cancel games in 2022. 


My take from this is:
   don't make any trades for one year players, particularly if the return has to be prospects.    In my thoughts on how to rebuild for 2022, I have proposed trades for the likes of Byron Buxton and Mitch Haniger.    They would need to be 'salary dump' trades from the Twins or Mariners, because it would really hurt to give up top prospects for players that may not even play a full year.     The same can be said for Free Agent signings.   

While I am in the camp that there definitely needs to be Qualifying Offers out to both Michael Conforto and Noah Syndergaard and would certainly risk paying each of them $20M for the year, they cannot simply let either of them walk without compensation.

That brings me back to maybe 2023 and not 2022 is the year to shoot for.   IF both Conforto and Syndergaard should decline the Q.O. and move on, they would be entitled to compensatory draft picks (making an assumption that that piece of the CBA will remain in place for another year) and with their Rocker re-do pick at 11 and their miserable season finish pick at 14, they would then have 4 of the first 40 or so picks.   That is a pretty good talent haul and can really beef up the system.     I would encourage them to not throw away any of those picks by signing anyone from a different organization that might have the Q.O. attached in their quest to spend money to improve.   This year is not the year to do so.  If one of their two own free agents does come back with the Q.O., fine, but don't go out of the way to sweep their draft advantage away. 

Lastly, much of their 'major league ready' core players that could be used as trade chips are coming off down years.   Guys like Dom Smith, Jeff McNeil, J.D. Davis and James McCann, have shown they are good MLB hitters.   I cannot guess what went wrong through the whole lineup this year, but trading any of them would be trading low.   Let's keep the band together (except for Conforto, probably) for another year and see if a possible different hitting approach will bring them all back to what we anticipated at the beginning of 2021. 

When (if) 2022 gets going and they are in the "same 'ol" funk, then address it at the trade deadline and build even more for 2023.    By then their farm should be starting to reap its rewards as well. 

Who knows, perhaps 2021 was just a pandemic hangover for this team, and as one commenter pointed out, the Giants, with just a few tweaks went from losing teams in 2019 and 2020 to 107 wins this year.  Why not try with the crew that we were all so optimistic with just 6 months ago?    Build for the long term with an extensive draft and play for the short term with players that have done it in the past.    

9 comments:

  1. I'm honestly not trying to be sarcastic, but haven't the combination of Conforto and Thor been part of what hasn't worked lately and you are advocating bringing back the same regime? I think it's time for some wholesale changes to be made from the front office down to the field manager and then to the roster.

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  2. The number one trade bait in the organization is...

    SS Ronnie Mauricio

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  3. I am with Reese...only do a Q.O. if you are virtually sure they will turn them down. Thor has his allure, but also we tend to forget he was terrible at holding runners on - and will he be able to return to his normal breaking pitch pre-TJS effectiveness and frequency, or not? And will he be able to fully dial it up again?

    A guy who cannot hold runners on is not a good bullpen choice. And it is unclear if he will be a good starter choice, from a durability and pitch selection perspective. A bit of a crap shoot.

    Big question: Let's say the season is delayed by 2 months. Are minor leaguers also locked out if there is a strike?

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  4. I would VERY SERIOUSLY think about trading deGrom, unless fully convinced he will be healthy. Lock and reload for a killer 2023 team, while not giving up on 2022. We need a Wander Franco or Juan Soto. Dangle Jake, assuming he doesn't have a no-trade, and see what you can get. I think Alvarez, Vientos, Baty, Mauricio, and Ginn will be quite a quintet. Add some Uber-prospects for Jake and rock hearty in 2023 and for years to come. If young guys struggle? OK. Watching older guys struggle is no fun at all.

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  5. Remember 1969 has some great points here. It is natural for all of us frustrated fans to want to dump everyone that didn't perform, but the analogy to "selling low" is very pertinent. Guys like Smith, Davis, and McNeil are much more valuable than their 2021 results, and the Mets would regret those trades in the future when the players return to their potential.

    The QO for Conforto is a very reasonable strategy. His probability of having a better year next year is as good as the probability of any incoming player performing at the same level - but the ~$18M or so you would pay for Conforto is less than buying a player that performed well in 2021.

    The QO for Syndergaard is a little riskier, because he has to reinvent himself from a dominant power pitcher to someone more crafty to get outs. When he was throwing high 90's, there were not a lot of pitchers that could do that. Now everyone has a half dozen on their staff throwing 95-100, so hitters have adjusted.

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  6. I guess my thoughts come down to this:

    Paul touched on it, but 'who are the replacements for Conforto and Thor' and what will be the difference in salary. At this point, each will command something close to the nearly $20M contract they would get with a Q.O.

    To replace a guy like Syndergaard and fill the #2 or 3 slot would cost at least $15M and probably a draft pick because of a Q.O. (Jon Gray, Carlos Rodon?) OR prospects in a trade.

    If he should accept, it is a one year trial. If not, they get a draft pick. Don't let either of them walk away for nothing as they will get that kind of money anyway. It's a reasonable risk to take.

    (for the record, I am guessing that Thor will accept, and I will be glad to have him on that staff).

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  7. Conforto? If he’s gone you can sign a hitter, a Bryant,a Schawber,a Castellanos. Why sign Conforto for 20 million and risk another poor season?

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  8. Adam Oller as a 2022 starter? No one is bringing that up. Maybe for good reason. No one brought up Jeff McNeil before 2018, either. Or Megill before 2021.

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  9. And how about Lee or Vientos? June call-ups maybe?

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