12/18/12

Mack Ade – No Dress For The Dance



Well, the great Blue Jay robbery of 2013 is now complete and the Mets brain trust have proven they can hold their own in a critical negotiation. The smartest thing Sandy Alderson might have done here was nothing for a couple of weeks. It was becoming quite obvious that the cost for quality starting pitchers was rising every time one was signed. This was a seller’s market that has reached the point that someone like Mike Pelfrey can get a $5+mil deal and no one even knows if he can throw a ball anymore. No, this was a great deal and more than made up for the Angel Pagan for Andres Torres and Ramon Ramirez debacle last December 7th.

Mets fans are drooling for the ‘next deal’ forgetting that there really isn’t any depth on this team that could generate another decent trade. It’s current  team with three players over 30-years old and only one that was obtained via free agency. Everybody wants to go to another dance but there simply was only one dress to wear.

Local reporters in Detroit are reporting that the Tigers have put 23-year old LHSP Drew Smiley in play. I can’t even imagine the potential of a Harvey-Wheeler-Niese-Smiley-Montero rotation someday, but how can this happen if you have no one to trade them?

This was a great day to be a Met fan. The dress fit perfect, everyone bought a ticket to dance with you, and you went home with more than you came with. This is not the time to get depressed that you may not be in position to come off this regal again for quite a while.

Now the tough part begins. Now you have to pull off what the Baltimore Orioles did last season. You have to go find yourself some cheap outfielders that can play above their heads while your pitching staff gives up one less run than you score. You can’t afford a 40-home run guy, so you need to go sign two that hit 20. Put new buttons on that pants suit in the back of the closet. If you find one killer relief pitcher, all the others on your team just might command a little more when they are asked to produce less.

You have got a great infield and a talented rotation. You now own the top rookie catcher in baseball and you have taken the steps to possibly create a 2015 rotation that could be the best in baseball. You don’t need a beautiful dress to get asked to the dance. You just need one that fits.

San Francisco has won two of the last three World Series. They also were dead last (30th) in producing home runs in 2013. Dead fucking last.

Strangely, they were only 13th in WHIP, 7th in ERA, 12th in strikeouts, plus 4th with the most errors.

What they do is win ballgames, which means they score at least one more run than the team they are playing.

So, take the night off and enjoy what has just happened, but set the alarm to get up early to work on that pant suit. There’s more dances to attend though it may be tougher to get asked to dance this time.

3 comments:

Michi L. said...

Nice!

Shankbone said...

Hey Mack - that Pagan trade worked out nice for my Gigantes. Its a return the favor for Wheeler. I can tell you a couple things about them Giants, the stats don't always jive. I think it starts with having an anchor guy - Buster Posey - being deep in the pen, deep in the rotation. But its been 4 years of up and down on that score 1 more run jobby, exciting baseball all, to get the wins. Giants defense was bad early, tightened up late and was actually the best I've ever seen by September. Sabean takes his knocks, but he adjusts on the fly with the best of them.

I'm with you on the Courtney Hawkins non-call. I think that was a huge mistake. The Mets need one impact player to pair with Wright and the pitchers, then they can fill in. I think Hawkins was that guy. Still, they have enough to scrap and be a bit competitive next year, get the pitching a little bit of experience. The run by the Giants with the home grown pitching has been the most fun I've had rooting for the French Vanilla. I hope you guys get the breaks and do something similar.

Mack Ade said...

thanks, Shank