Reese Kaplan: What Problems Must Steve Cohen Fix?

The next phase for Steve Cohen's brain trust is to figure out what the Mets issues are that must first be addressed.  After all, spending this past season struggling to stay out of last place instead of fighting for a pennant suggests that having good offense alone is not enough to be competitive in the standings.  There are a great many decisions to be made, the priority order of them still open to debate but the actual needs pretty much obvious to anyone with even a passing interest in the Mets.  I'm going to present the list.  It's up to fans and Cohen cohorts to ascertain the sequence of priorities.

 

For a club that grew itself based upon the strength of its pitching, this past short season was like watching a horror movie in which you were faced with some of the worst hurlers the league had to offer.  Once you got past the successful Jacob deGrom and the surprising David Peterson, the Mets were pretty much throwing batting practice to the opposition (and it showed).  

 

The bullpen wasn't much better.  Even the bad first week by Edwin Diaz kept many from believing what they were seeing as the season progressed.  You can't make up the numbers -- a 2-1 record with a 1.75 ERA and 50 strikeouts in just 24.2 IP.  Some are even suggesting the Mets sign one of the many closers on the market for theoretically less money than Diaz will cost as he approaches the end of his arbitration period and free agency is on the horizon.  

 

The problem is that aside from these two starters and one reliever, the rest of the pitching staff was almost indescribably bad.  Now they are stuck with Brad Brach and Dellin Betances exercising their player options for 2021, so unless both rebound like Diaz did this past season, they're starting way behind the eight ball.  Seth Lugo may be called a starter due to the three vacancies there, but he was a 2.00 reliever and about triple that number when in the rotation.  I don't know about you, but it seems to me when a guy excels at one thing and struggles in another, you give him the situation where he can excel with ease.  

Catcher is another black hole for the Mets with Wilson Ramos and Robinson Chirinos bought out, Rene Rivera on the free agent list and little accomplished by the pair of Tomas Nido and Ali Sanchez.  To hear most folks tell the tale, J.T. Realmuto is the only option available, but former All Star James McCann will be a whole lot cheaper and provide the staff with the top notch defense back there they've been missing since the days of Charlie O'Brien.  

 

They need to decide how they're going to handle the third base position which right now is also something of a black hole with no glove types like J.D. Davis or unproven position switchers like Amed Rosario or Robinson Cano or even Jeff McNeil.  

 

The outfield is the area that worries me greatly.  You have Michael Conforto, of course, for right field duty, but after that it's a slew of DH types trying to man an outfield position.  With the dismal pitching and poor defense the Mets place onto the field each night, they really need to improve how they handle batted balls.  To do that will require parting ways with some capable hitters but that's what needs to be done.

 

On field management is a big unknown.  Luis Rojas didn't have the time to prepare properly for the 2020 season and frankly some of the horrific performance does fall squarely on his head.  He had plenty of minor league managerial experience and coaching duties gave him much greater familiarity with the players than a true newcomer would have had, but they were playing down instead of up.  The thinkers in the front office need to decide if they would be better off letting Rojas have a full season to show what he can do (at minimal cost) or if they would be better off with a proven skipper. 

 

Front office management is yet another decision point for the ballclub.  Most folks are frustrated with the job done by super agent Brodie Van Wagenen wearing his GM clothing.  I think some may have backed off a bit given the turnarounds by both Diaz and Cano this past season.  However, there's no excusing the many members of what could have been the future peddled away for scraps and has-beens from other teams.  It's likely going to require Sandy Alderson's input to help sway Steve Cohen's mind about whether or not a year three will or will not exist for BVW.  

 

There are things that need to be done in terms of analytics, the farm system and international scouting.  All of these facets of baseball operation will require a smart guy like Alderson as team president to help advise what needs to be done when someone has the ability and willingness to spend for success.  There is optimism to be had, for sure, but Rome wasn't built in a day.  It was not an overnight destruction of the Mets organization done by the Wilpons, so it's not likely to be an overnight cure.