By the time this piece is read the Mets will have made their roster adjustments for the month of May when the team must revert to 26 players instead of 28. Everyone has their own ideas about what they should be doing but it's ultimately in the hands of Billy Eppler with input from Sandy Alderson and Steve Cohen as to what will actually take place.
A great many people advocate the disposal of Robinson Cano as one of these two moves, but it's very early in the season to write off an April slump to the tune of $40 million lost by the previous regime headed up by former agent extraordinaire Brodie Van Wagenen. He traded for his former client in a deal that rocked the Mets world both good and bad as the primary prospect sent packing towards Seattle was slugger Jared Kelenic who can indeed hit the long ball when he connects with anything.
I recently penned an article in which it appears at this point the Mets got the better end of that deal, though the way Cano is playing you could make the case that it's time to wish the 39 year old goodbye.Granted, he's not hitting for power and barely making contact at all, but he's always been a slow starter in cold weather. It's hard to believe that the front office would say that 3 bad weeks in April is worth $40 million, particularly when they have the recent arm woes of Sean Reid-Foley making his stint on the IL an easy way to use up one of those two necessary moves.
That brings the Mets to the second one of these moves and while it looks as if it should be another pitcher it likely won't happen that way. Right now if we assume Reid-Foley is a goner through cutting or IL-stint, they still have on their pitching roster XX names, including Max Scherzer, Tylor Megill, Chris Bassitt, Taijuan Walker and Carlos Carrasco in the starting rotation.
Then you have bullpen arms consisting of Joely Rodriguez, Chasen Shreve, Seth Lugo, Adam Ottavino, Drew Smith, Trevor May, Trevor Williams and Edwin Diaz. Leaving out Reid-Foley, that's eight relievers plus five starters -- 13 pitchers in total which is right at the 13-pitcher maximum for this second phase of roster construction.
That means the other player to leave would come from the offensive side of the ledger to join Reid-Foley. Right now there are a few little used players who are possibilities. J.D. Davis and Dom Smith are not doing any better with the bat than Cano.
Luis Guillorme has an option remaining and Eduardo Escobar could handle emergency duty at shortstop should Francisco Lindor need a day off but he is hitting .259. Travis Jankowski has been a pleasant surprise with his bat, defense and speed (despite a few boneheaded running decisions), but he has no options which means the Mets would likely lose him to another team since they can't put him directly on Syracuse's roster.
Now not matter how your slice it the decision (if not Cano) comes down to Davis vs. Smith. Davis is recuperating from a hit-by-pitch to the ankle area. Smith is often inserted as a late inning defensive replacement for Pete Alonso. On paper it would seem that it makes more sense to part with Davis than Smith which means Smith is likely the one to go.
As much as Cano is dragging the team down with a .195 average, Smith has been even worse at .167. It is easier to eat a few plane tickets for Smith than it is to choke on a $40 million loss in Cano no matter how much the fans and media would like to see that happen. As a betting man I'm thinking Guillorme or Smith are the ones to accompany Reid-Foley at this time.
None of these decisions will make anyone happy but something needs to be done. Come Monday morning let's see how accurate my prognostications turn out to be.
10 comments:
This is a tough decision today.
You would think Dom dodged one with last night's 4-4 line, but Buck loves Janky and Steve loved Robby.
We'll see.
Win The Series
I think it will be Guillorme - Jankowski has been valuable. They still owe Cano almost $37 million, and lots of guys have slow Aprils and heat up. So while I think he is done, cutting him could be premature. Luis has an option - I use it and demote him for now. Does he deserve it? No. But he is not a run producer - 36 runs scored and 23 RBIs in his 400 plate appearance career.
(Oddly, in a time when HBP is so prevalent on the Mets, Luis has never been HBP. I guess pitchers see him as little threat and figure there is no advantage gained by hitting him).
Smith can't go down. Not after 4 for 4. It would be an insult. I'd cut Cano before doing that.
Until last night,I was looking at Dom to be optioned, play 1B or LF every day upstate, and sharpen his batting eye.
But last night's game changed everything. I don't want to lose Janko, it's too soon to dump Cano, so it comes down to Guillorme vs JDD, who both have options. Although it's close between them, I lean toward keeping Luis and optioning JDD.
We'll know the answer in a little over 2 hours.
It’s Trevor Williams…
Wish you were right.
If we weren't facing 8 games vs the Braves and Phillies in 7 days, I'd agree about Williams. But this is no time to shrink the pen.
Why puzzles me is that with only an hour and 10 minutes until the deadline, there's still no announcement.
Could they be working on a trade of a player with no options, for one with them?
I cannot think of another reason.
Cano! Wow--biting the bullet, hoda thought?
They must have truly felt Cano was going to be mediocre at best, and cut bait to not steal ABs from .362 McNeil and the already at-bat-squeezed Dom Smith, who had just 40 ABs thru May 1. Robby gets paid and now won't have to worry about more failed PED tests.
Of course, with a wave of the magic wand, the Yanks could sign him for the minimum and have him hit .280 with 30 HRs the rest of the season.
Now, there are a lot of freed-up ABs for Dom and JDD, which makes oodles of sense.
Well, the decision has been made and it is Cano. This is clearly a tough call given what was written in the article - very good points by Reese. In the end, this was the right call. Short term: Cano was not hitting, and when Buck provided opportunities, it was a hole in the lineup. It could/would have changed with time, but the lost opportunities could have turned into lost wins.
Long term: There are many deserving young guys trying to make their way up through the depth charts and plenty below MLB level that are working hard to move up. As long as Cano was on the roster, it impeded one more person from that move.
Robinson Cano may very well show up on another roster and play well. I'm not sure that he is completely done with his playing career. But part of the cost of developing a deep roster is that you have to make tough calls on letting a good player go to make room for a potentially better player. This was the case today. The money owed to Cano by the Mets was already spent - nothing short of a suspension would get that back.
If it were TC he would have played him just about everyday till the end of his contract which is just another thing I love about Stevie making roster moves NOT based on salaries but team needs.
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