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6/5/23

Reese Kaplan -- What Roster Changes to Make Next Month


As the All Star Break approaches next month it’s the unofficial halfway point to the season.  For folks who are the glass half empty types, there are holes in the Mets offense and pitching which accounts for their more-or-less .500 record.  For the glass-half-full types, the club is still within single digit reach of first place and they’re doing it without a lot of contributions from hitters and hurlers. 


The question facing Billy Eppler is who belongs here and who does not going forward as the club still is within reach of a pennant if they can start firing on all cylinders.  Some of the decisions are easy.  Some are much more difficult.

Let’s get the “Keep ‘em!” list out of the way first.  There should be no surprises here.  You have Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo and yes, even while not contributing much other than stolen bases, Starling Marte. 

On the starting pitching side you have Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga and somewhat surprisingly Carlos Carrasco.  If the club was ready to throw in the towel on the season then a single year obligation to Carrasco might have been marketable, but his last few starts have shown what he is capable of doing and it’s not as if the minor leaguers behind him are beating down the door.

Then there is the bullpen which as been more leaky than the Titanic.  Obviously no one is going to replace Edwin Diaz directly, but save for his Saturday clunker, David Robertson has been very close.  Adam Ottavino was too good last year to push the panic button.   Drew Smith and Jeff Brigham have been mostly good this year.  The rest of the relievers, however, are fungible and if improvements are available on the open market then Eppler had better be prepared to make appropriate moves. 

Now where it gets real interesting concerns the rookies and the yet to be promoted rookie.  Right now Francisco Alvarez looks like he has leapfrogged over recovering Omar Narvaez as the number one catcher.  Brett Baty has slumped a bit but looks as if he’s taken over for Eduardo Escobar.  Mark Vientos isn’t playing often enough to draw conclusions one way or another as he only starts about twice a week.  Then there’s the defensively versatile (by mandate if not ability) Ronny Mauricio.  These four folks seem to be a part of the future.

The flip side are the hitters not getting it done.  Count the two halves of the DH equation, Daniel Vogelbach and Tommy Pham.  Eduardo Escobar has played some other positions in a backup role but has yet to excel with the bat (again!)  Then there’s the recently revived Mark Canha.  As nice as it is to see him find a power stroke, the fact is he’s on a one year obligation as well and like Escobar may find suitors on other ballclubs.


What concerns Mets fans and media types are the horrific trades Eppler has made in the past overpaying for people who simply didn’t deliver.  This time around, however, if the goal is to make the Mets into a contending club with solid veterans and talented newcomers then some of the 30 year old and over players may not want to take out long term real estate obligations. 

Personally, I would be happy if Mauricio was force fed into the lineup at 2B or LF with Jeff McNeil taking over the other position.  Then let Canha DH the remainder of the way while Baty slots into 3B on a daily basis.  It can’t be any worse that what hasn’t worked thus far.


6 comments:

  1. Pham seems to have used smelling salts offensively. I heard he offset his 2 HRs yesterday with a truly bonehead play in the field. His offensive pick up is slowing down Vientos and Mauricio.

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  2. Word is that Nido has been DFAd, I assume for the return of Omar

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  3. So many capable, but underperforming veterans right now! I would hate to be the GM, because anyone you trade is likely to have a remarkable revival where they end up and anyone you get probably comes with baggage.

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  4. Play Vientos,call up Mauricio!

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  5. Pigeon View or Pigeon Pooh, You Decide

    The only problem that I often had with the Wilpon' era of NY Mets Teams, except the 1986 season of course, was that instead of using their designated offseason budget to get one or two really, really good players to fill out their weak spots, they tended more often to use that same amount of money to get like six so-so/iffy players in instead each season with it never working out well. I say this mainly because it's a reoccurring pattern of a lot of MLB teams over the decades.

    Even today's Mets team.

    But the reason for this is somewhat different, and you cannot blame the manager, owner, or GM. It's all about a non-deep minor league system of surefire talented players that owner Steve Cohen and these Mets sort of inherited.

    So 2022 was a bit of a surprise to me actually here. The Mets luckily got Max Scherzer in here, and Jake deGrom could still show up (healthy) for a few games. Chris Bassitt, Candy Carrasco pitched very well, and at times All Star Taijan Walker looked like an up and comer in this same one Mets rotation.

    Once a MLB team has developed a three-tier really decent and deep MiLB system, then the need for bringing in veteran 33 year old players from other teams via trades begins to wane, as the reliance switches over to homegrown players like Baty, Vientos, Mauricio, and Alvarez each season.

    This is precisely how a franchise dynasty is made.

    -Pigeon Out

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  6. Da Pitching.

    Right now on this Mets team it looks like they are turning an injury corner, so to speak. Scherzer, Verlander, and Carrasco are looking healthy-er. This is a very, very good thing.

    But the Mets need depth even at starting pitching. And one more left-handed really good reliever. Maybe from the Peterson, Walker, and Lucchesi grouping at Syracuse can come one sensational reliever. But I wouldn't count on it quite yet.

    So I might go out and get one more really solid and dependable lefty reliever anyway. To me, Peterson is a one inning lefty pitcher right now. he needs to ramp up his out pitches to do this, and he can.

    The other idea I have, might be to see if any other MLB team is willing to trade one of their up and coming lefty starters not yet established in MLB. Like say an Andrew Abbott or a Kyle Harrison.

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