King David with Sir George, the Duke of Foster
My second Kong article fairly recently....why???
Why not, I say. Some of his home runs remain in low orbit.
When it comes to Kingman, there's always room for one more missive.
The Mets were a revamped and surging team in 1984.
Winners of just 68 games in 1983, they won 90 games behind the meteoric Dwight Gooden, Darryl, and Keith, but missed the playoffs as Cubs transplant Rick Sutcliffe went 16-1 over the last 60% of the season as a Cub to lead them to a 96 win season.
It wasn't "1969 redux" - the Mets could not reel a collapsing Cubs team in again, as Sutcliffe was the insurmountable obstacle, the hill too high, the one who prevented Cubs Collapse Syndrome.
The 1984 Mets had a very solid starting outfield:
Mookie, Strawberry, and a still-productive George Foster.
But the 4th outfielder, Danny Heep, had just 1 HR and hit .231 while driving in a Nido-like 12 runs in 233 plate appearances.
Why was Heep, who was a decent overall player for 4 years with the Mets (but not in 1984), the fourth shagger?
Because the Mets had released an outfielder who hit .198 in 1983 named Dave Kingman at the end of 1983. I guess, on the surface, you couldn't blame the Mets.
The unshackled, powerful Kong signed as a free agent with Oakland.
How did the Mighty Kong do on the Left Coast?
I'd take that secret to my grave, but OK, since you asked, I'll answer....
He experienced a renaissance, a rebirth.
Once again, he was scaling skyscrapers and scaring women and children.
For the 1984 season, you see, Kingman with the As hit .268 with 35 home runs and 118 RBI, and was named AL Comeback Player of the Year and #1 Kong.
I'm a guy who likes to think about roads not taken...if the Mets kept Kingman for 1984, what would the 1984 season have turned into?
My guess is a Mets World Series trip.
Maybe a World Series crown.
Motto?
Be careful what you discard. Someone's garbage may be another's treasure.
Before I go, a few Kingman tidbits:
1) Kong's contract was purchased from the Giants for $150,000 in February 1975.
2) After Kingman's big 1984 season, he earned slightly under $1.1 million in 1985.
Since a dollar in 1985 is worth $2.80 today, that would make Kingman's 1985 contract, after his 118 RBIs in 1984, mind you, be worth just over $3 million in 2023 dollars.
Where was Scott Boras when Dave needed him? These days, a season like Kong's 1984 would have gotten Dave a $20 million one year deal, or 2 years, $30 million.
PUTRID DRAFTS
I look at the following site, which list all high draft picks plus guys who made it in the majors for ALL of the Mets’ nearly 60 years (thru 2021) of drafts:
https://www.retroseasons.com/teams/new-york-mets/history/draft-picks/
Looking at it, I see some later round picks that the Mets hit paydirt on (Jacob deGrom R 9; Jeff McNeil R 12; Daniel Murphy R 13; Seth Lugo R 34.)
I will attribute that mostly to luck.
In the lower rounds 1-6, I then mentally scanned the list for 1) draftees who have been great, like Pete; 2) draftees who have been decent to good, like Conforto; 3) the marginal major leaguers; and 4) the altogether misses.
The results, at a quick glance and subjectively, are collectively brutal.
HITTING STINKS THIS SPRING - WHAT ELSE IS NEW, FRANKLY?
Through March 12, the team is hitting .229. In those 16 games, a scant 53 runs.
Best team ERA, though. I guess it is 1968 all over again.
Dodgers?
That fun team in 18 games has scored 72 more runs than the Mets.
Joey Lucchesi was roughed up in his Tuesday spring debut. It had to happen to somebody, sooner or later, on the Mets staff. Get ‘em next time.
On Wednesday night, though, the Mets’ pitchers fanned 15 Astros, with only Nunez having a bad outing in the 9th. Vientos homered, Severino was sharp, and DJ Stewart had a hit and 2 walks. 6-5 win, with a one game pickup in scoring spurred by 8 walks.
Re: Kingman
ReplyDeleteI still think the Mets gave up on this guy too early.
Imagine if they had the batting lab approach they have now?
Re: late draft picks
ReplyDeleteAll successful late draft picks were still on board because your team and all the others passed on them round after round.
Yes a lot are luck
But a lot are high school kids that have told baseball that the only was they would sign would be for considerable overslot moolah
As in the case of most things, money talks.I
Re: ST
ReplyDeleteYes, the bats seem like they were left in the rack, but the thing I am struck with is the LEAGUE LEADING ERA by the Mets ROTATION
Never expected that
Kong would have brought rats to the lab.
ReplyDeleteWho wold have thought that without Senga, and with just one inning so far from Edwin, they’d have an ERA like that?
Syracuse is going to have a killer rotation this season
DeleteYep. Should be fun to watch. With those arms, I am leery of those early April night games there. It can be mighty cold there, not healthy pitching weather.
ReplyDeletePate Crow and Kelenic combined this spring are a scintillating 7 for 63 with 3 doubles. So we need to cut Baty and Vientos some slack.
ReplyDeleteProspects are just prospects
DeleteAgree with you, Tom.
ReplyDeleteSure, there is luck involved but you create your own luck by knowing who to draft. The problem with the Mets is that until 2021, they were routinely swindled in trades by teams that knew their players better than they did. Rising Apple touched on three prospects that are doing well that were traded for unnecessary players. It’s one thing to deal John Gant for Jose Uribe when you have a hole at third base, but quite another to deal Brian Taylor and Kenedy Corona for Jake Marisnick, Carson Seymour and others for Darrin Ruf when Davis was the same player, and Hector Rodriguez for Tyler Naquin. These guys along with throwing away Endy Rodriguez and The Crow have left a sizable hole in the Mets minor leagues. And until last year, the Mets didn’t get this type of return for prospects not on a radar.
ReplyDeleteHard to say results are luck, but rather a culmination of much gathered information and opportunity, but also knowing your guys better than other teams do.
I was never a Kingman fan. He was the original prototype for the "two true outcomes" players that are in abundance today. They should have thrown away the mold. Give me a Daniel Murphy any day. Hits for average and then adds power.
ReplyDeleteGus, couldn’t agree more.
ReplyDeletePaul, that is baseball.
ReplyDeleteKingman, I surmise, didn’t really want to be a Met most of the time, probably based on a feeling he was disrespected. The disparity between his career Mets and non-Mets numbers were stark. .219 as a Met, but high .240s as a non Met, career. He marched to his own drummer.. But the Mets in the late 1970s and early 1980s hit for power like it was 1910 all over again. That one season with 61 total homers was excruciating. I missed the power of Kingman. One season, he had 32 HRs in his first 94 games, clearly on the way to 50+ as a Met, when he got hurt. The Cubs great season, he had 40 HRs in his first 108 games, then got hurt. Injuries kept him twice from being a 50 homer guy.
That said, loved 2015 Murph, too.
Mack, one thing “prospect” Vientos can do that most prospects can’t is leave the park. Last Sept and this spring, 9 HRs in 118 at bats. He could be a modern day…dare I say it…Dave Kingman.
ReplyDeleteYamamoto has 8.38 ERA this spring. Yet, there are still so many Tylor Megill (1.50) doubters.
ReplyDelete