Mets are golfing, the playoffs will soon end, and then shopping time will begin.
What to buy and where to buy it?
From John's Bargain Store, or at your local Mercedes dealer?
The Mets in 2022 had:
Some great hitter seasons (Alonso, Lindor, McNeil, Nimmo and Marte),
Some so-so seasons (Escobar, Canha, Guiilorme),
AND…unfortunately, and as almost an annual Mets’ obligation….
Lots of mediocre to substandard to downright awful offensive seasons: (McCann, Nido, Mazeika, Smith, a little Cano, don't you know, Ruf Ruf Ruf, Naquin, and the struggling rookie triumvirate of Baty, Vientos and Alvarez, along with your friendly neighborhood Plummer).
As a matter of fact, all of the 16 guys that fit into this category had 259 hits for the Mets in 1,269 at bats (.204), with just 22 HRs and a whopping 359 Ks. Remove the 2 "nearly so-so" hitters, Nido and Davis, from that calculation and what you’re left with is the remaining 14 dreggiest Mets hitters, that were 148 for 804, hitting a ghastly .184.
The NY Anemics.
The "great" and the "so-so" players clearly masked a lot of substandard teammates' ugliness in the batter's box.
The real hitters were running the glue factory 24-7, full tilt, but still not enough offensive glue in 2022, so…
What could a big bucks spender like Steve Cohen create in 2023?
How about a juggernaut offense?
Basically, another Big Red Machine.
How about this potential lineup?
1B - Alonso
2B - McNeil
SS - Lindor
3B - Escobar/Baty
LF - Marte
CF - Nimmo
RF - Judge or Turner (Trea, not J)
C - Alvarez/Nido
DH - Vogelbach/Vientos
Sheer thunder, with bolts of lightning thrown in. Totally killer.
And that upgraded line up, barring injuries of significance, would eliminate many of those 1,269 at bats in which a plethora of wannabes hit just .204.
Why is that plethora portion significant? Because it collectively constituted 23% of all Mets at bats in 2022. 77% great, 23% awful.
That's quite an anchor on the ovrall offense, it you ask me. Adding Judge or Turner, and Alvarez and Baty. would eliminate most of those substandard at bats. Result? BOOOOOOMMMM!!
Very expensive, tho’, to add a Judge or a Tray Turner.
How to afford such-same stars?
By signing cheaper starters, perhaps?
Max is on the hook for $43 million, and Eduardo Diaz won't come cheap.
I've already told Steve Cohen many times personally: "Diaz leaves, I leave too." I soon realized that was making him more inclined to let Edwin leave, just to get rid of me, so I clammed up.
But...would you take that prodigious hitting line up...but to not have a budget beyond imagination...NOT sign Jake - or Bassitt - or Cookie - or Taijuan?
The rotation could be Max, Peterson, Megill, Trevor Williams, and Butto. A few other low $$ signings.
Heck, building the team around pitching has for years led Mets fans to an extended stay at the Heartbreak Hotel. Logic says PITCHING WINS GAMES, but if so, how come we've been in just a few dozen playoff games in 20 years?
Sure, those hurlers would give up TONS more runs. But they'd also have hitters who score many tons more runs.
And, starting in 2024, the likes of Hamel, Tidwell, Allan and other minors starters begin to arrive, hopefully with at least one being the next Spencer Strider (with or without mustache) to revamp the pitching into something quality for the longer term, supported by a WICKED GOOD offense.
So - could the Mets lineup look like that?
SHOULD it look like that?
Even at the expense of a half run per game in ERA?
No snap judgments, please: think it through carefully.
Then respond.
But me? I ADORE teams that SCORE.
ARIZONA FALL BALL WEDNESDAY:
Kookin' Kevin Kendall 2 for 3, .292
Slammin' Stanley Consuegra 2 for 4, .250 HR (2); .650 slug %
Lagging Luke Ritter, 1 for 3, HR, walk, .094.
Banging Brandon McIlwain, 1 for 5, .184.
Cruisin' Chris Scott, 3.2 IP, 6H, 2R, 1K. 10.38 ERA
Garrulous Grant Hartwig, 1 scoreless inning, 4.32 ERA
Game ended in a 5-5, 10 inning tie, as both teams failed to get the free runner at 2B to score.
14 comments:
Your pitching staff screams fourth place. The Mets catchers were 17th offensively with the Astros and Cardinals being worse. Stop blaming the catchers. When you have Designated Outs in your lineup, you really suck. Vientos should have been up in July, but Showalter doesn’t know what he’s good at so he kept playing his scrubs.
The Mets don’t need offense as much as they need pitching. Keep Jake and add Rodon, lose Bassitt and Walker. For the same money as those two, Rodon and either Megill or Peterson is better. Cahna is serviceable in LF, but he sat for Naquin… why? Buck will give you that death stare if you ask because he makes no mistakes.
I'd be shocked that there would be a Turner or Judge acquisition unless they see deGrom and his cost go elsewhere. The rest looks doable but is Nimmo worth 5 years and $120 million as projected elsewhere?
I agree with Gus here.
If the Mets don't resign Diaz and rebuild their rotation, it will be along season.
Mets catchers had 7 HR, 53 RBI, .217. Not the worst, but very sub-par.
We can argue pitching vs. hitting all day. Pitchers break down more than a cranky Studebaker. Or a Stude-Jaker. Build me a killer offense, a passable 2023 staff, and promote kid pitchers in 2024. Maybe a different approach will end a 36 year WS drought.
Diaz is non negotiable. He leaves, so do I. I have never wanted a Mets player to stay more. Edwin = Exhilaration.
Gus beat me to it.. that lineup has too many strikeouts in it and too much injury history. They might hit a few more homers, but they will lose a lot of 10 -6 games.
All the bats in the world won't solve this
But…if you load up on super-expensive pitching for 2023 and guys keep getting injured, you’ve blown even Cohens budget with a broken team. Hitter get hurt less. If our young pitchers are really good, maybe we have killer hitting and young, capable pitching in 2024. Sustainable.
Tom, can you imagine the Tampa Bay Rays with their pitching and just the lineup the Mets had last year? If the Mets had just their approach they wouldn’t need anyone and Lindor, Alonso, McNeil, Marte, and Alvarez would be enough. But, the Rays never sign hitting because ownership doesn’t care but just wants to collect money.
My point is have great pitching and add impact bats. Rather than give Nimmo the 5/$120MM this winter that nj.com says the Rockies will offer, hold that money for Ohtani next year and Soto the year after. I mean, if you will give Nimmo $24MM, wouldn’t you rather give Ohtani $32MM next year?
Please no platoon at 3B. Baty is a super prospect and deserves to play every day. Let's talk about the elephant in the room. Vogelbach needs to go. We need to sign deGrom and perhaps Rodon. Without strong pitching we'll be fighting for a wild card spor
You don't need to load up
Fill the Jake hole with Rodan
Sign another FA starter.in the 10mil range
Fill in with combinations of Peterson .McGill, and Butto
Wait for the kids to arrive in 2024
An elephant with a bat
I like Mack's plan too, Gus, and would be happy to wit for Ohtani (if we realistically can get him) - let's see what Eppler does.
Could Matt Allan suddenly make our pitching prospect pipeline look good?
I hear elephants will sign for peanuts...LOTS of peanuts.
Wait I thought the walls were being brought in 5 feet? Tom I'm waiting for your call we have to do this. No Jake because we won 101 games and he won FIVE so lets stop the we must sign DeGrom nonsense like on SNY. Turner for leadoff so we can finally have someone who can steal
as long as it's still allowed and I like Rodon for the starting rotation and of course sign Diaz or start the rebuild. Buck also has to retaliate for all those HBP's as it's really gotten ridiculous as his death stare isn't working.
Gary, brilliant as always. You said much in a small space.
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