Reese Kaplan -- The Mets Are Not Pretty F*cking Good

We've all heard the media and fan ridicule leveled at Yankee head baseball man, Brian Cashman, who in a rather bizarre viewpoint asserted that after the disaster that was the 2023 Yankees (after the nearly unremarkable 2022), he declared vociferously, "We're pretty f*cking good!"

Huh?

Over the past couple of hundred games the Yankees are straddling the .500 won/loss metric and this past season put on such a poor excuse for an offensive assault that the only team that finished worse in team batting average were the soon-to-be Las Vegas "Whatevers", currently Billy Beane's Oakland A's.  That's pretty embarrassing.

Why this story strikes home is that the Mets finished even worse than did the Bronx Bumblers, er, Bombers.  The difference though is that the Mets were realistic about how they'd gone off the rails, made necesssary personnel changes in mid season to reinforce the substandard minor league rosters and then terminated their famous manager.  

Whether you want to believe Billy Eppler's departure was a resignation or a termination doesn't matter, but it was another necessary change that had to be made.  No one was bragging about historically how many pennants have been won nor how many times the Mets had a winning World Series parade in lower Manhattan (it DID happen more than once...there was a second time as well).  

For Yankee fans, however, putting up the hitting numbers they did that would make Daniel Vogelbach look like an All Star is enough to make folks run for adult beverages in questionable quantities or pharmaceutical prescriptions to deal with their rage and anxiety.  Losing is a new thing for their fans and writers.  

We could help friends get through this difficult stretch by regaling them with tales of trading away Tom Seaver (then bringing him back and letting him get drafted away), the myriad of bad trades that sent players like Amos Otis, Nelson Cruz, Nolan Ryan and others, the choice to retain losing managers for way too long or to try to save money by bringing in first timers and then not realizing that there is a learning curve, off the field issues with players involved in drugs, PEDs, domestic violence and peeing on a pizza place in Florida during Spring Training.  Losing is a lifestyle and there is a certain creativity in identifying new and imaginative ways to bring humiliation to the franchise.

Of course, not all is well with the Mets either.  In addition to needing a new manager who, incidentally, is another first timer, not having a GM and seriously in need of both hitters and pitchers, there are the injuries.  We all know about Starling Marte, then came Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo and various pitchers on the shelf.

Wednesday, however, word came down that David Peterson, part of the so-called spare starting pitcher brigade is now having torn hip labrum surgery which will put him on the shelf until likely the All Star Break.  Now given his ERA north of 5.00 for the season doesn't necessarily mean the loss will be extremely painful to overcome, but it does put additional pressure on Jose Butto, Joey Lucchesi and Tylor Megill to be the 6th or emergency starter when needed.

Now David Stearns did come out and declare what was already glaringly obvious to everyone that the Mets need to acquire 2-3 (or 4) new starting pitchers.  After all, no one is any more anxious based upon results to see additional starts by Megill.  Butto is still something of an unknown and while Lucchesi has a longer track record his health history is not something anyone is bragging about.  

The roster housecleaning has begun in earnest while there are still many others hanging on by a thread.  While some might question the wholesale makeover of the roster, the fact is that the players who were on it this past season helped get the Mets to a fight to stay out of the basement.  We can always hope the newcomers are better than the already or soon-to-be ex-Mets.