Tom Brennan - OLD AND YOUNG MAN HITTING TRACKER

As the injuries mount, and the Mets Mash Unit is busting at the seams, how are the two old men doing 35 games into this 2017 season?

And if it were deemed replacement time, how are their replacement parts doing in the minors?

Old Men?  Not good at all.

New Men?  

The ones they are unlikely to call up for a while are doing well, but the more immediate possible replacements are playing like the old men, which is not good at all.

Old Man # 1, Jose Reyes, seemed to have turned it around after his 7 for 67 start to the season.  But after a hot stretch, in which he had 15 hits and 10 RBIs in 11 games, he is 1 for 16 since.   I hate to say it, but teams that start guys like that lose 100 games.  

TJ Rivera, who can hit, has (much to the surprise of Reese Kaplan) taken away much of Jose's playing time of late.

Old Man # 2, Curtis Granderson, has seen his average climb in May from ,128 to .148, because he has hit .194 so far in May.   I hate to say it, but teams that start guys like that lose 100 games. 

NOW ON TO THE YOUNG MEN:

The two young ones unlikely to be called up until the Super 2 deadline passes in mid-June, if then, are Amed Rosario and Dominic Smith.

Rosario could replace Reyes, and is hitting .355, with 13 extra base hits, but just .238 in his last 10 games.  So I would not be inclined to rush him.  Let's hope for mid-June.

Smith plays first base, a position of apparent relative solidness for the Mets, who could put Duda, Rivera, Flores, and Bruce there.  

Smith is hitting .324 with a .483 slug %, good numbers but not great for Vegas.  His time is more likely to come around the trading deadline, if he is not traded for pitching himself.

How about 2 young men with major league experience?

Brandon Nimmo is putting NO PRESSURE on Granderson, as he is just 4 for 37 in Vegas after a brief rehab in St Lucie.

Gavin Cecchini has checked off the "Improved Defense" box, with 2 errors in 33 games, but his recent 0-14 stretch dropped him to .228, 100 points below last year's encouraging level, so there is 0 impetus to call him up either.  

So the Old Men have been horrendous, as we approach the end of the first quarter of the season, and the Nimmo/Cecchini duo are not putting any pressure whatsoever on management to force the replacement of Granderson and Reyes.

So the solution currently seems to be to bench Grandy and Reyes, and hope for something to change for the positive.  And of course David Wright seems to have as much chance of playing again as Derek Jeter.

Because with the Mets' heralded starting rotation sitting DEAD LAST IN ALL OF BASEBALL IN ERA, and the loss of their almost-elite closer for the season, we don't need old men hitting like old men who realistically belong on the Long Island Ducks squad instead.   

We need hitters who can hit like young men.