Reese Kaplan - Tales of the Bizarro World

There was a famous place called Htrae in the DC Superman comics called Bizarro World in which everything was the opposite of what you came to expect as normal.  Mets fan and sometimes color man Jerry Seinfeld paid homage to Bizarro World in an episode of his legendary sitcom in which there were foils for himself, George and Kramer who behaved with kindness, depth and generosity – the qualities absent from the originals. 

Bizarro World came to mind when evaluating what’s going on in Spring Training down in Port St. Lucie with respect to performances and perceptions.  Let’s take a look at what various players have been doing vs. the reported future for them.

Matt den Dekker – the man who would be Juan Lagares (gold glove defense roaming center field) is hitting .467 over 15 ABs.  He’s the forgotten man who has pretty much fallen off the radar.  He has had a reputation for taking a year to adjust to each new level and early indications are he’s following that same pattern.  At 27 his prospect window has probably closed.   However, as a 5^th outfielder who has some pop and flash the leather, you could do worse.

Speaking of which, there’s Kirk Nieuwenhuis.  He has a reputation pretty much the polar opposite of den Dekker.  He starts off hot and then quickly gets Arctic.  The same has been happening this Spring, with his high performance rapidly falling back to earth.  He currently stands at just .238 with 9 Ks in just 21 ABs.  A rational person would say goodbye to Captain Kirk, but he’s familiar to the manager so a major league role is still a distinct possibility.

Erik Campbell has been doing yeoman’s work with a .412 average and more ABs than the two other 5^th outfield prospects.  He brings versatility to the table with the ability to play the infield corners as well.  However, outside of this forum, do you ever hear his name mentioned?

Juan Lagares’ main issue would appear to be his offensive ability.  For that reason people (well, Terry Collins) has concerns over whether or not what he does with his arm and his glove make up for his perceived lack of offensive prowess.  Of course, he’s a career .280 hitter in the minors and is hitting .318 this spring after reigning near the top of his winter league, too.  Still, his ticket is probably being punched for Las Vegas to make room for…

Eric Young, Jr. is a tremendous threat on the basepaths.  Getting there is the problem as it has been his whole career.  His OBP is below average for a regular paper and horrific for a leadoff man, but some people (Terry Collins) feel that it’s essential for the leadoff hitter to steal bases.  Unfortunately you can’t steal first.  Still, he’s being penciled in to play LF and lead off.   He is hitting .294 this spring, so I’m confident his performance will be used to justify the decision to go in this direction (while discounting superior efforts from others being “small sample sizes”.)  While the latter thought is true, one advantage in evaluating veterans is their body of work.  Young’s is not good.

Chris Young is performing consistent with his career numbers.  He’s hitting .227 and making most people reaffirm their confounded reaction to Sandy Alderson offering him a contract.  Mercifully it’s just for one year.  Unfortunately his paycheck will dictate his starting role, much as happened with Jason Bay.

In the catcher arena Anthony Recker is running away with the race while hitting .364.  It’s understandable that he’d have a leg up on Taylor Teagarden who’s here on just a minor league deal while Recker performed for the Mets last year in front of a manager who once again favors the familiar.  What’s truly puzzling is the most recently .280+ hitting Juan Centeño , the man who threw out Billy Hamilton.  He has 2 hits in his measly 6 ABs this spring, so apparently the “competition” for backup catcher was pre-ordained before anyone schlepped to Port St. Lucie. 

On the shortstop competition-by-attrition, again you have to wonder what goes on in the mind of the guy who fills out the lineup card each day.  The position has been a glaring hole since 2012 and, surprisingly, Collins announced more than once he was going to take a look at the offensive-minded Wilmer Flores out there.  Hey, that makes SENSE!  Then he proceeds to trot out non-roster invitee Omar Quintanilla and scrap heap pickup Anthony Seratelli to play SS in place of the injured (and most recently incompetent) Ruben Tejada.  Today, on March 11^th, 3 weeks after spring training began Collins finally gave Flores a start.  Doesn’t he know the results of these games don’t count in the standings and it’s the time to take a look at the new, not the familiar?  I can understand Seratelli, but what hasn’t he seen of Quintanilla who, after a 3-4 performance today RAISED his batting average all the way up to .188. Will what anything he does this spring going to change anything?  Remember, he has a body of work to demonstrate what he can do.   It’s the shortstop equivalent of the Eric Young decision but with even less upside.

At the first base position it’s become clear there not only won’t be the much ballyhooed Ike Davis vs. Lucas Duda battle that everyone anticipated due to their lingering leg injuries.  So instead of looking at players who might have a shot at producing in the position such as Zach Lutz with 2 HRs in his 16 ABs, instead the erstwhile skipper plays the Matt Clarks and Brandon Allens of this world for some Bizarro reason.   And they’re producing -- .222 and no HRs for Clark and .100 with no HRs for Allen.  Both have had more ABs than Mr. Lutz, of course. 

In the 5^th starter battle it is even weirder.  Daisuke Matusaka (Dice-K to the people unwilling to look up the correct spelling) has pitched to his career norms.  He has a 4.52 ERA since coming to America and this spring is pitching to a 4.50 ERA.  It’s not bad – probably worthy of a 5^th starter slot.   However, Rafael Montero has not yet sacrificed a run this spring while sporting a career minor league ERA well below 3.00 and finishing only slightly north of there in the hitters’ paradise of Las Vegas.  Jenrry Mejia pitched to a 2.30 ERA last year, has a 2.87 ERA for his career and this spring is pitching to the tune of 0.00 ERA as well.  So who is the manager trumpeting as the leader in the race for 5^th starter?  Why, Dice-K, of course!  (I left John Lannan’s name out of the mix due to the diminished velocity and ineffectiveness of Josh Edgin which led to his early banishment to the minor league camp.  With him gone, Lannan may find himself as the second lefty in the pen with Scott Rice.)

In the bullpen there are the anointed battle-worn veterans Jose Valverde and Kyle Farnsworth.  Both have shown why they were still available so late into the off-season with the former Tigers closer pitching to a 6.75 ERA and the well-traveled Farnsworth pitching to a more respectable 2.25 but the former 100 mph hurler only reaching the mid 80s in velocity.  Bobby Parnell, Scott Rice and Vic Black were already locks for the pen.  Carlos Torres did well as the long man and the aforementioned Lannan probably in the pen.  That leaves 2 slots for the last men standing.  Joel Carreño hasn’t given up a run this spring.  Nor has Miguel Socolovich (who should have more credibility based upon last year’s pick from the independent leagues, Scott Rice).  AA closer Jeff Walters lost a game, but he’s got a 2.70 ERA and is giving up less than one baserunner per inning pitched.  Jeurys Familia also has been all but unhittable.  The sad fact is all of the above may take a back seat to both Valverde and Farnsworth. 

Of course, the flirtation with proven mediocrity doesn’t stop on the field.   After registering losing seasons every year he’s been here the Mets extended Terry Collins’ contract (with a record worse the last two years than the first one).  Apparently they like veteran underperformers, too.   Unless the adults in the room start making roster decisions the 90 win season expected by Sandy Alderson has all the likelihood of happening as winning the lottery.

My final thought on the Bizarro Mets is about the rest of the league’s perception of the talent they have on their roster.  What is to be gained by stashing Montero, Mejia, Syndergaard, deGrom and others in AAA when there are obvious problems at 1^st and SS?  You would think you could somehow parlay this excess of riches (and I’ll throw Wilmer Flores into that mix, too) into players who could address these glaring holes.  Yet Alderson does nothing.  That’s so bizarre!