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12/9/23

Reese Kaplan -- Mets Front Office Having a Tom Petty Moment


One of the challenges in running any kind of business is mapping out a strategy and then figuring out not only how but also when to execute it.  This thought came to mind as the naysayers are already getting their pitchforks ready when the Mets came to Nashville and left with some minor league flyers on, to be charitable, non impact players.  

The needs going into the Winter Meetings were clear -- improve the starting rotation, build up the bullpen and find an outfielder.  Left unsaid was also the question of a Designated Hitter.  

Well, the great Juan Soto transaction took place across town during the Tennessee meeting.  Other teams have started securing quality players like Sonny Gray, Eduardo Rodriguez, Craig Kimbrel, Reynaldo Lopez, Nick Martinez and others found new homes by apparently more assertive and aggressive GMs and team owners.  

By contrast the Mets signed Ryan Ammons, Kyle Crick, Jose Iglesias, Andre Scrub and Michael Tonkin.  Prior to the Winter Meetings they did execute a moderately expensive and very high risk move to give $13 million to the oft-injured Luis Severino.  But all is not lost, they did add catchers Tyler Heineman and Cooper Hummel on waiver claims.  Somehow one of these things is not like the other.


Yes, everyone knows that the Shoehei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto contracts are kind of tying the hands of many others who hope their prices rise as resources are taken off the table, but it didn't stop teams like the Braves, Phillies, Cardinals and others from doing what they felt they needed to do.  

During the Wilpon years after becoming Ponzi paupers it was somewhat understood that there was some value in waiting to see who was leftover at bargain prices after the best quality players were already taken.  There was also well communicated conjecture that 2024 is a bit of a transition year with 2025 being considered the next big spending season when a ton of money comes off the books.  

Still, any way you slice it, Steve Cohen is not a Wilpon and David Stearns likely didn't come on board to try to find otherwise hidden gems at bargain rates.

A lot of stuff will happen as soon as the numbers one and two find new homes.  Then you will see top starting pitchers like Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, relievers like David Robertson, DHs like J.D. Martinez and Justin Turner all finding new homes.  Behind them are other solid if unspectacular options seeking employment and it would be foolish to think that spending big is the one and only way to win.  How did that go in 2023?

Still, as a long suffering Mets fan whose frustration, anxiety and anger go back way further than the season just concluded, it was surprising and disappointing to see the Mets come crawling out of the starting gates.  Even a second tier signing to buttress the bullpen or the outfield or the DH would have at least gotten some positive juices flowing.  Inertia has the opposite effect.


Of course, all of this rhetorical meandering means a whole lot of nothing, doubly so if they do wind up inking who they want and trading for new faces from other franchises.  Right now as Tom Petty put it, the waiting is the hardest part.
 

12 comments:

  1. An excerpt of the more generic early portion of The Serenity Prayer should be read aloud before every Mets game, for all the suffering Mets fans to hear:

    God grant me the serenity
    To accept the things I cannot change;
    Courage to change the things I can;
    And wisdom to know the difference.
    Living one day at a time;
    Enjoying one moment at a time;
    Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace

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  2. I wanna piece of the action. Sign Yamamoto!!

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  3. Good Morning Reese,
    There is nothing more frustrating than seeing the Mets clean house of the scrubs only to see them fill it up again with different, more expensive scrubs from other teams.

    It doesn't matter who the GM is. It seems that this is simply a "Mets" thing. Stearns is simply following the command from the Voodoo doll that Fred Wilpons is manipulating.

    I still say that Justin Turner is an important get for the Mets.

    Voo Doo.

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    Replies
    1. The Mets are fully embracing the new pitcher lab they have had installed in their Florida complex

      It has the ability to measure and pinpoint both the exact pitch thrown but also the swing of the batter in their box

      The new Mets brass has history and chemistry with many of the new players being signed and feel they can immediately go to work with them to correct flaws

      Also the new relievers are all known for high velocity something lacking in the 2023 pen

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  4. Mack, baby steps are better than no steps at all. I’m serene.

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  5. Viper, I always speculated that the team sold its future soul for “Gets by Buckner” to happen, and have been paying ever since.

    But it might also involve voodoo. Mets fans have experienced a lot of doo doo, that’s for sure.

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  6. Mack, high velocity you say?

    What ever happened to Bryce Montes de Oca? Maybe they can fix this kid?

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    Replies
    1. As I understand he is a current member of the Mets minor league staff

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    2. He had TJ surgery this year. Should be ready mid-2024. May be a bit wilder than before, but you can’t teach 102.

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  7. Most of these are minor league signings with only an invitation to camp

    No risk with possible high reward

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  8. Might be a bit wilder,might be a bit slower.

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