Rant Question - 2013

From Ross Clark - Hey Mack, rant/question for you… 

Has pessimism taken over?  No one seems to think the Mets have a chance at even competing next year.  This roster is largely unchanged from last year, excluding the loss of Dickey.  But it is reasonable to believe that Marcum, Harvey, Wheeler and the progression of our very young roster can even out to where we were last year.  That being said in the past couple years when we ended up double digit games back from the playoffs at the end of the year there was always optimism going into the all-star break with an opportunity to make the playoffs at which point the Mets usually fall flat on their face.  This brings me to my question, wouldn't the best plan with or without Bourne be to hope Santana and Buck play well early and net us a return from a team needing a third starter or 10 home runs in the lineup to make the playoffs, would this be able to net us the future outfielders we are looking for if we could throw in some of the lower level high upside pitchers in the system.  Could it net us outfielders that would give the extra bump to have a winning record in the second half of the season as well?  I see the Mets as being better off waiting and selling high on these types of players during the season than trying to squeeze water out of a rock this off season. Can we get what we need if we stay in contention until the break like we have in the past and sell high on the vets?

Mack – quite the question, or questions. Let me break this down

First of all, the trading of Dickey takes 20 victories off a team that had a total of 74. Shawn Marcum and a full season of Matt Harvey will help, but the Mets start this season off with a negative talent level on the opening day 25-man squad.

The Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves are doing everything they can to fill in the cracks to an already talented team. The Mets are still developing cracks.

It’s frankly embarrassing to read tonight that Justin Turner and Zach Lutz are going to be used in the outfield during spring training. It was okay for Lutz to play second fiddle to David Wright for what, six years, and now he’s going to be asked to be the second coming of Daniel Murphy?

The fact is that the Mets, under both Omar Minaya and Sandy Alderson have signed and drafted plenty of outfielders. The problem is they haven’t worked out. They picked a projected star outfielder with the first pick in 2011, Brandon Nimmo, but he finished 2012 in rookie ball and doesn’t ETA until 2016. Last year, they passed on college outfielders and picked another shortstop with their first pick. I don’t see a quick fix here.

Your ideas about moving Buck and Santana at the all-star break are sound, but you’re not going to get a team to trade you an outfielder that can help you in the majors the same year. Remember, you’re trading to a team that is trying to make a run for the playoffs. They’ll give you prospects, but not starters.

No, this is a team with excellent depth at pitching and a very talented infield with middle field depth in the system, but the outfield just sucks.

The Mets are going to get back to the playoffs some day because of their pitching. They actually are close to that level now. Don’t get crazy over the projected Atlanta lineup. Yes, it has a lot of talent, but it also has a lot of strikeouts against excellent pitching.

The Mets can’t stand up and announce that they aren’t trying to win in 2013. They need to sell tickets and hot dogs, and programs, and t-shirts.

The addition of Shawn Marcum for one year helps but this one’s for the fans. The real guys (Travis d’Arnaud and Zack Wheeler) won’t arrive until later this year. I think it will be an ugly year, but I expect to have a lot to write about in the minors.

Hang in there as a fan. Both Buck and Santana could get outfield prospects and the plethora of young starters in the system will begin to give the team the opportunity to put some deals together.

I’ve beat the same drum for three years.

2014.