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12/13/22

Mike's Mets - Cohen-Vision

 


By Mike Steffanos

While a former New York Met waxes poetic on the vision of the Rangers' organization, things are looking just fine here with the old club. 

In the olden days, hearing the Mets associated with the name of a premium free agent was almost inevitably a precursor of eventual disappointment, even before the Madoff fiasco crippled the team's finances. One of the factors that made Omar Minaya so popular with the fanbase initially was his signings of Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran during his first winter at the helm. I remember feeling electrified by the news of Beltran's signing, fully expecting Carlos to end up elsewhere that winter.

Those signings turned the franchise around. For an all-too-brief period, they made Queens a preferred place to be. Sadly, Minaya's magic faded, soon followed by the owners' finances. By the time Steve Cohen took over the club in November 2020, New York's National League franchise was about as favored a destination as Khabarovsk in January. The eventual cure would take one measure of spending and another measure of winning to turn things around for the Mets.

Newly appointed Mets GM Billy Eppler went on quite a spending spree last November, inking Max ScherzerStarling MarteEduardo Escobar, and Mark Canha just before the lockout shut down baseball. Then the club hired Buck Showalter to be their manager the following month. The Mets were coming off a disappointing season in Cohen's first year as owner. It was clear that Steve Cohen had no intentions of enduring another. I remember thinking that the rapid-fire signings, necessitated by the lockdown, would likely be a one-of-a-kind experience for Mets fans like myself. Not that I didn't expect the Mets to sign some free agents in the future, just not at last November's frantic pace.

As you know, it took only another year before my assumption was blown out of the water. It began late in the evening of last Friday, December 2, with the sad news that Jacob deGrom was leaving town, heading to Texas for oodles of cash with a side order of vision. The Mets headed into baseball's winter meetings in San Diego with a big hole to fill in their rotation and other essential needs to be addressed. The Daily News' Deesha Thosar neatly summarized the events of the next few days in this tweet:

In a scant few days this past week, Steve Cohen's club went on an epic spending spree that dwarfed last November's haul. First, the Mets replaced deGrom with Justin Verlander, the one available starting pitcher capable of truly replacing him, ace for ace. Then they added third and fourth starters to the rotation, an important setup man to the bullpen, and brought their leadoff batter and CF back into the fold. Oh, and they traded for Brooks Raley, finally adding a capable southpaw to the bullpen. A week after deGrom's departure left a big hole in their roster, the Mets plugged that hole and arguably just about every other hole that needed filling.

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12 comments:

  1. There is a reason that Steve Cohen was the person that the cable show Billions based Bobby Axelrod on.

    The baseball world has seen him pissed twice.

    First by Matz that this time by Jake.

    Remember the old commercial "you don't fool with Mother Nature"?

    Same here re: Steve.

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  2. Mike,
    Excellent article. I always enjoy your analysis on the Mets trades and signings.
    It is being reported that the Mets will have seven choices in the first 4 rounds of the 2023 MLB draft. The numbers may change, but as of today these are their choices:

    32- First round
    58- Second round
    93- Third round
    103-Comp pick for lose of 2022 third round choice, Brandon Sproat
    125-Fourth round
    135 Comp for lose of deGROM
    136 Comp for lose of Bassit

    We could add several prospects with a good 2023 draft.


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  3. 7 picks on the top 136... in THIS draft... will definitely strengthen the farm.

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  4. Bullpen is unfinished. Outfield backups are unfinished. DH is unfinished. Catching is up in the air. There's still plenty of work to be done. Right now the starting rotation looks great. The offense looks adequate at best. It has not improved an iota over the good days of 2022. The holes are still there. The bullpen is worse.

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  5. I'm not as pessimistic as you. I see one more arm for the BP and why not Escobar as 4th OF.

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  6. Ray, good point. Escobar has manned the outfield nearly 50 times in his MLB career. Baty and Vientos also played some OF.
    in the minors. Give me an Ottavino re-run.

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  7. Escobar as right hand DH to complement Vogelbach or use the kids.
    McNeil as the primary 4th outfielder.

    FS

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  8. Agree - all of those comp picks in the draft make it interesting, despite their first pick not being until 32.

    Reese, you seem to be almost looking for things to be pessimistic about - a true lifelong Mets fan. I do believe that Alvarez should get a real shot at significant reps at C and DH. I'm also still of the mindset that they need to figure out how to build a bullpen without signing a lot of free agents. I'd be happy if they signed one more experience reliever and pieced together the rest.

    I'd love to see Baty get a shot, too. They need to get younger. I would like to see them add an OF, as mentioned in my piece.

    I didn't even think about Escobar in the OF, especially if Baty makes the club out of spring training. Good call.

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    Replies
    1. Never overestimate draft picks

      They dropped 10 slots due to the Verlander signing.

      What would you rather have?

      An untested draft pick 5 years out of the Cy Young winne

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  9. My Take on the NY Mets starting pitcher moves.

    If you think about it, the entire 2020 NY Mets starting rotation is now someplace else other than with the NY Mets. (1) Jake deGrom (Tex) (2) Noah Syndergaard (Philly) (3) Marcus Stroman (Chi Cubs) (4) Rick Porcello (retired at age 31) (5) Michael Wacha (Beantown). The year prior (2019) my favorite Mets starter (Zach Wheeler) had left for Philadelphia as well, where he now pitches with Aaron Nola, Ranger Suarez, very recent ex-Met Taijuan Walker, and Bailey Falter. Thor is unsigned and in Limbo to date.

    To my eyes, the 2021 rotation began the season quite soundly. Then Jake's injury happened. The team was a serious first place contender right up until that time and saw all wheels fall off. We all just recently lived the 2022 season. No need to address it again really. Thank you very much.

    I think that three very, very good things happened this off season with the 2023 Mets rotation, that one day all NY Mets fans will probably recall most happily.

    (1) Jake bolted the Mets.

    Don't get me wrong here everyone loved Jake pitching here, but to many fans his arm looked a little bit on the shredded wheat side of things. Even the most avid NY Mets fan would probably agree with this. I was a little bit surprised that this franchise even wanted him back after the '21 and '22 seasons. But he was great here prior.

    (2) For a whole lot less contracted monies, the NY Mets signed free agent Justin Verlander to take Jake's spot in the 2023 rotation. Hard to lose with Justin on the mound. (3) The Mets also signed Japanese sensation Kodai Senga to quite a reasonable 5 year contract, a better deal than signing Chris Bassitt for more.

    Overall, this represents the NY Mets very best starting top three that this franchise has assembled probably since the 1986 Championship season with Dwight Gooden, Ron Darling, and Sid Fernandez. Some would aptly argue that in time this current top three could actually be even better.

    The success this NY Mets 2023 rotation will have now falls upon the quality of its four and five starters. I for one believe that Carlos Carrasco in the four slot, along with one starter from the David Peterson, Tylor Megill, Drew Smith, Joey Lucchesi, Jose Quintana, and my idea often expressed here (that no one will ever listen to I am certain because it is entirely a creative one) LSP Josh Walker will all come together for a terrific 2023 season.

    I for one am thrilled with this current off season.

    All the question marks have been removed. And come second half, the Mets could have Jose Butto to consider as well from Syracuse. Depth.

    Grade: A+ Two recesses a day from now on for Steve and Billy! You boys done good!

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  10. New York, New York...

    It's kind of a NY-ish thing to get lost in the money end of business. It was and still is. It's a national phenomena these days. Look at the incredible amount of Free Agent Dollars that floated about this off season. Player being given long contracts at age 34+ where their last year of playing will be 40 years of age. That didn't use to be so often seen as it is now.

    Everything in NY tends to be (well) pricey. True. But money cannot (always) buy you love. Sometimes really outstanding things come in much smaller and unexpected packages. Like diamonds. Like gold. Like young bright eyed rookies

    I think promoting the MiLB best players each year, could be one of these types of things. And that's what spring training is for. To see.

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