Stupid is as stupid does in Queens.
Flash back to early 2019.
The oft-injured Travis d'Arnaud was just getting over his Tommy John Surgery.
He reportedly was throwing better than pre-surgery.
But he'd missed an awful lot of playing time due to that surgery.
He was due to make a "whopping" $1.3 million in 2019 as opposed to Tomas Nido minimum wage, back in the Coupon era. I guess the thought was cut your little losses quickly. Small-minded. Cheap.
In his last mostly healthy season pre-TJS, he had a very healthy 57 RBIs in 348 at bats. A clearly better rate than McCann, Conforto, and Smith this season, just as a perspective.
He started out slowly in 2019 with the Mets after a rushed rehab in AAA (how about 7 at bats as being rushed? SEVEN!), going 2 for 23 with the Mets despite only fanning 5 times in those 21 outs. Bad luck? Rust just about off?
DUMPED. JUST...LIKE...THAT. BUH BYE.
I wrote at the time:
WHAT? Why not give him a little more time to shake off the rust?
The DUMP probably had a lot to do with carrying that big, huge $1.3 million salary even another week or two.
With the Athletics, the rest of 2019, though, TDA had SIXTY SEVEN RBI'S in 327 at bats. I would describe that as a killer RBI pace, I don't know how you would describe it. Over 600 at bats at that pace, it would be 128 RBIs. A Pete Alonso-in-2019 pace.
The A's made the playoffs.
The Mets of 2019 break out Alonso, McNeil and Jake did not.
Nido hit .191 as the back up catcher. Willie Ramos hit well as their 2019 catcher, but he really could neither catch nor throw. And one of the grounders he hit in 2019? He's still running it out. MAN, that dude was slow. Willie Mays could get to first base on one leg faster than Willie Ramos on two. And I'm talking the current 90 years old Mays. Anyway...
The Mets of 2019 probably would have made the playoffs with TDA.
Then d'Arnaud signs with arch-rival Atlanta, and so far has 60 RBIs in 374 at bats with the Braves. While the Mets have had lousy RBI production in 2020 and 2021 at catcher.
d'Arnaud made the playoffs in 2019, 2020, and 2021.
And had a huge game Friday night. He loves the Braves, the city loves him, and Jethro Tull singer and Braves starter Ian Anderson referred to TDA as his secret weapon when he pitches.
Imagine that....a city that loves, and doesn't berate, its players.
HUH. How about that.
I posted a positive short piece on d'Arnaud on Facebook. Mentioned the 127 RBIs in 704 post-Mets at bats, a stunning total.
As always, vitriol ensued. I corrected each and every one of them. With facts. Someone has to try to de-fang short-sighted, Mets' sports "fans". It might as well be me. Because they make Mets players press and play worse. Real smart, huh?
The Mets did not make the playoffs in 2019, 2020, and 2021.
The Mets are major league leaders....in the "Bonehead" category.
Mets fans see Sewald and Flexen go 23-9, see Zack Wheeler lead the majors in innings and miss the MLB K title by a single strikeout, and must be thinking something. I'm thinking "Bonehead franchise."
Hey, Dannie Boy Murphy, the super-hero of the Mets' 2015 playoff run, was discarded, essentially, and kept the Mets out of the playoffs in 2017 and 2018. All they had to do was trade Duda and put Murphy at first (and eventually third) base.
Boneheads.
Dross turns to pure, valuable gold when it leaves the Mets.
The As and Braves? They got 14 karat TDA.
Seattle got gold.
Philly got gold.
Washington got gold.
The Mets got dross.
"Wait 'til next year" is a mantra for idiots.
It's how the Mets got to the playoffs a mere 3 times in 20 years.
Mr. Cohen, may I politely say:
WINNING NOW is what is relevant.
To do so, it helps for an organization to not repeatedly be Boneheads.
So please...
Find a good surgeon for the Mets.
One who can skillfully find the Bonehead.
Then remove the Bonehead.
Once removed, a full and speedy recovery is guaranteed.
28 comments:
I disagree.
Travis was a much injured bust as a Met
Like many other ex-Met busts, his game came together after that.
Shit happens.
TDA is a SoCal kid. He signed with the Dodgers after the Mets cut him. The Dodgers traded him to the Rays after five days because they had the kids coming up and TDA wasn’t going to get much of a chance. In Tampa, according to TDA, he reunited with his minor league hitting coach from the Blue Jays. He put TDA back together correctly and then the Braves signed him as a free agent.
Mack is right, shit happens. No one liked TDA here but even if they didn’t cut him needlessly, he wasn’t going to suddenly find himself after seven years. The Mets are idiots on many fronts. Impatience with players was typical and still is it appears, that’s why people are talking about dumping players who had a bad year.
Under impatience, I would list Justin Turner, Flexen and even though they cut TDA, they should have waitied. It’s ironic that they had just picked his option a couple of weeks earlier for his last year before free agency so they were on the hook for the whole salary anyway.
Sewald was terrible. He had nice K’s, but he gave up bombs when that slider went flat. Maybe the Mariners fixed something the way the Angels did with Hansel Robles when they convinced him to throw the change of pace more and let the fastball - slider combo play up better. But, they cut him after two years and now Boston is happy.
On Murphy, that was such a crime there should be jail time. He came up a third baseman and Wright was always hurt. For $12M per year, they preferred the #1 draft pick - Anthony Kay it turned out. Funny how prospects are more valuable before they play. Murphy only had two good years left, and the Mets fans had the best seat to see them. What a shame, but good for Daniel. No one wanted him in Queens. The only time the Mets showed appreciation is when they were licking their wounds from his latest RBI extra basehit against them.
Tom, I love the Jethro Tull mention!
Don't agree with the assertion that the Mets should have kept d'Arnaud though. His hitting was up and down, he managed the pitchers well, but where he really hurt the Mets was that he couldn't stop the opponents' running game. He's still not throwing out runners with proficiency with Atlanta, and as soon as his bat swoons again, they will also tire of his defense. He may have better stats this year than McCann, but I think time will show that McCann is a better hitter, and he is already a better defender. I'm not a big McCann fan, but he's a good enough bridge to Alvarez.
The other references to guys like Murph and Flexen are spot on. Mets give up on players too quickly on players - and so do fans - you can tell from the chatter on this site calling for guys like McNeil and Smith to go. Gotta have some patience. It has been 35 years since a title, so another 1 or two of building isn't so bad.
Mack, I hear you. I disagree, only that I feel they were 2-4 weeks premature in making a stay-go decision. There was no rush.
Gus, I agree with much of what you say. I, though, wanted Murph to stay in Queens after he conquered top MLB playoff pitchers.
Always thought Sewald /h/b better here. Someone screwed up. Fans lynched him.
Turner…good add.
Paul, thanks. I drop many a pun, and appreciate the get.
I’d be thrilled with a McCann/ d’Arnaud combo.
d'Arnaud continues to miss time due to injuries and still is not a particularly good catcher. Yes, he can hit sometimes. That's good. So did Jason Phillips. So did Mackey Sasser. Neither were long term solutions either.
This is a crazy discussion. d'Arnaud has always been an injury waiting to happen and a lousy defensive catcher.
To cherry pick a little, d'Arnaud hit .220 in 2021, McCann .232. d'Arnaud OBP was .284; McCann .294. While it is true that d'Arnaud's HR and RBI rates were a bit higher, he gave the Braves about 230 plate appearances - about 40% of a full year.
He threw out 16% of the attempted steals against, well under the league average of 25% and under his career average of 21% which includes a few years of catching the Mets pitchers that are known to not hold runners on well.
The guy simply is not that good and to insinuate that the Braves are in the World Series because they signed Travis d'Arnaud as their catcher is just wrong.
Of all those listed, I agree that the Daniel Murphy situation was handled poorly, particularly after his 2015 post season heroics, although to be honest, I did not disagree with them at the time for not pursuing him as permanent fixture. His defense was pretty terrible and I am always looking for more speed and better defense in the lineup. Also, would he have had the same stats in Citi Field that he provided in Nationals Park? Who knows.
Chris Flexen and Paul Sewald? Please. They were never either prospects or very good major leaguers with the Mets. How long do you hold players like that? Both may have benefited from the 'change of scenery' thing, but for every Chris Flexen, there are about 10 Chris Schwindens, Wilmer Fonts, or Drew Gagnons. It is better cut a guy early than put up with him too long.
Bottom line, there is no sure fire thing in baseball. Some transactions will be wins and some will be losses. As Mack says, shit happens at times, other times the golden touch shows up.
I hate looking back.
For every Travis there is an Adsm Oller.
Well said in the above listed comments, regarding TDA.
I can’t recall anyone complaining about his release “at the time it happened”……….he was viewed as an injury prone, below average catcher with a little bit of pop in his bat (when he was available, which was not very often). He didn’t have any trade value at the time, either.
In hindsight, he would have been a better #2 then Nido, provided he had a similar run with the Mets, as he did elsewhere.
I don’t miss him at all and think his release was the right call.
Now, some of the others on your list are much more debatable!
Adam Oller? The new ace. No doubt. Just hope it isn’t with Seattle.
Bill, I am looking at his entire post-Mets play. 127 RBIs in 704 at bats. Stop there. Is there a better back up in all baseball? 127 RBIs. Lots and lots of rib eyes. No knock on Nido…but he doesn’t knock in runs. OK, I’ll knock if off now.
Gus, Hansel Robles was dumped way too quickly. Park him in the back of the pen for a while, where the Yensy Diaz types dwell, and see if he rights himself. To just let him walk? Duh. The pen is usually what, 7 deep? Make him # 7 for a while, see if he could climb back.
Bill, in 2019 and 2020, Travis threw out 26 of 92. About 29%. Not terrible. I’ll take that and an RBI bat any day.
And, yes, he hit .220 this year, but .263 with Tampa in 2019, and .321 in last year’s short season. That’s dang good.
Lastly, he is a .429 hitter against the Mets in 8 games, with 11 RBIs.
I rest my case :)
I gotta love Mack's comment about looking back. It is fine to learn, but once done, it makes no sense to hash and rehash ad nauseum.
Can't wait for all the comments on Conforto when he hits .337 with the Giants or Mariners next year.
Let's reflect a bit on Murphy's stats against the Mets as a National. So bad, it's comical:
2016: 75 AB, 6 2B, 7 HR, 14 R, 21 RBI, .413/.444/.773/1.218, 239 OPS+
2017: 65 AB, 7 2B, 2 HR, 12 R, 14 RBI, .354/.425/.615/1.040, 161 OPS+
2018: 22 AB, 1 2B, 2 HR, 5 R, 8 RBI, .364/.481/.682/1.163, 225 OPS+
LOL, a severe butt kicking huh?
Bill, you won't find me 2nd guessing on Conforto. He is not worth the Mets' $$. I am just concerned if he teams up with the Yanks' short RF porch.
But I sure feel like I have license to repeat my feelings when I said it loudly at the time, on Murphy and d'Arnaud.
We need to learn from our mistakes in Metsville, or they will be repeated.
Gus, Murphy was Ruthian against the Mets. They deserved a huge whupping from him after stupidly not retaining him (and disrespecting him).
In continued rehash:
Same concept with Matz. As I mentioned last off season, he had been awful as a starter, but why not keep him and stick him in the pen a la Brad Hand and Andrew Miller who were both horrible lefty starters who became sensational relievers. In the Mets' case, more so, since they got thru so many starters every year - if Matz had been hot in the pen and a starter went down, slide him over.
Sewald? I wanted him gone. Seemed he could not fix himself.
Flexen? In 2019, I wanted him gone. After what he did in Korea in 2020, which was real 2nd half dominance, I was open to the Mets consider having him back. They didn't and he inexpensively went 14-6 for Seattle. The Mets for some reason thought Eickhoff and Yamamoto would be better. Why, I don't know. Seeing both, both were clearly AAAA.
But, in the spirit of pause and reflection, I promise I won't do an article Sunday. Monday? Well, that's a different story :)
Tom, I really do appreciate your writing, but like any two people on any two topics, we have to agree to disagree once in a while :-)
While it is true that Murph did hit well for about 2 and a half years in Washington, and especially AGAINST our team, second base was not particularly a black hole in those years. They got pretty good production from Neil Walker, Asdrubal Cabrerra, and yes, even T.J. Rivera at 2nd base between 2016 and 2018.
I can't lose any more sleep about not signing Murphy. Jeff Kent was a worse story as he went on to have a borderline hall of fame career with the Giants.
Bill, we can agree to disagree agreeably :)
On Murphy, though, I STRONGLY recommended at the time he was up for free agency, which was after that brilliant post-season in 2015, that they sign Murphy, put him at first base, and trade Duda. I was done with Duda after his errant World Series throw sailed well wide of - yes - d'Arnaud - and helped cost the Mets the WS. And also due to Duda looking overmatched against good pitching - the kind you face in the playoffs, and lousy in the clutch. A decent - but losing - first baseman.
I also thought that, if Wright did not hold up, and he didn't as it turned out, Murph could slide over from 1B to 3B. Unlike $341MM Lindor, Murphy was a mere $12 MM a year for 3 years. To me, an absolute no-brainer: Sign Murph, Dump Duda. Man, would that offense have stayed strong. Boy, did not doing that cost the Mets where it counts most - playoffs.
Also, he signed with the Mets' key division rivals. You wouldn't make key trades with a division rival, why allow Murphy to go inside the division and not strategically block that? Just a huge blunder.
While we are confessing, I usually want the Mets to retain just about every player that came up through the system, so I really don’t have a leg to stand on. But:
I couldn’t understanding cutting Turner after he had just hit a go ahead pinch hit single in the seventh and saying that you’re cutting him because he’s lazy.
I didn’t have a problem trading Matz because I felt the pressure of NY and pitching at home was killing him.
Sewald sucked, and I expect him to regress next year.
Robles was a ten cent brain and I had no problem.
I liked Flexen very much and thought he didn’t get enough chance.
I was sad to see Murph go because I felt he was coming around, but never ever expected MVP numbers from him.
Lastly, I felt they cut TDA needlessly but Nido was out of options and I didn’t want to lose him if they weren’t going to carry three catchers. Still like Nido and don’t want to let him go.
Gus, I respect the "confession."
Sewald? One would think the only way to go was down in 2022. But...
I did want to mention one thing, saying in advance (for Mack's benefit LOL) that I turned on the Yanks vs. Seattle only to see Sewald pitch at the Stadium. Who was this Clark Kent-turned-Superman? He fanned the side, but gave up (as I recall) a couple of 2 strike singles and then gave up a pop fly 3 run HR to Rizzo - went about 315 feet - in Citifield, that is not even close to going out. Those 3 runs probably added a half run to his season ERA.
Whatever he did to reinvent himself, I hope he bottled it.
He was a fine reliever in the minors, and I was always puzzled at how much worse he did with the Mets. Dillon Gee was the opposite. 4.96 ERA one year in AAA, and I figured he'd be a bum, but then he was a really solid Mets career in subsequent years. You really almost never know.
How much of this is a problem with the player development side of things or having the right coaches to fix problems with talented players? Keeping some of these players might not have worked out if the right support system to continue their growth was not in place. I honestly have no idea but it seems like Houston, Atlanta and Tampa Bay are very good at this sort of thing.
The Mets gave d'Arnaud enough time and chances. When healthy, he either didn't hit or quickly got injured again and again.
If he was still a Mets, he would be in the injured list. No big loss really.
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