Man, oh, man, did that 2015 season feel great.
Reorganized the squad mid-season, then blew past the Nats, and made it to the World Series. So thrilling. A sad ending, but hopes of future World Series trips danced in our heads.
But, as so often happens in Metsville, it all then went wrong.
The Mets did barely squeak into a Wild Card in 2016, but lost it and quickly went home. That was to be their only playoff game after 2015.
What went wrong? Let’s look at 2016 today, and 4 subsequent articles on 2017 through 2020’s failures.
A lot did go right in 2016 to make the Wild Card.
But what kept them from winning the Division was letting Daniel Murphy go to the Division winning Nats.
Murphy in 531 at bats had 77 extra base hits, 104 RBIs, and hit .347. He should have been the Mets’ 1B after his Herculean 2015 post-season. The Mets’ instead had first basemen Dud Duda and Baloney Loney who, in 496 combined at bats, hit nearly 100 points lower and drove in 47 fewer runs.
The Mets lost the Division to the Mets by 8 games. Had a Murphy been on the Mets rather than the Nats, iy would likely have had the Mets win the Division by 5 games.
But what else made them fall short?
STARTERS:
Jake, Bart, Thor, Matz, and Matt, the five man rotation, only started 126 games. Lugo and Gsellman started several games, but 21 starts were taken by Messrs. Verrett, Montero, Ynoa, Gilmartin, and a faded Niese. Those 5, in relief and starting, allowed a ghastly 101 earned runs in 158 innings.
HITTERS:
Besides Loney/Duda, the Mets allowed too many at bats to AAA talent. Campbell and Reynolds fanned 58 times in 164 at bats and hit a powerless .201.
They also took a chance that an aging Alejandro de Aza would not decline. He did suddenly get baseball-old, hitting a paltry .205 in 234 at bats.
So the Mets had 400 at bats' worth of .200 low power hitting from those three. Not a formula for success.
SUMMARY:
Guys will get hurt. Know that. Own that. You need more depth. Sometimes, older and marginal back ups work out. Bartolo Colon defied Father Time amazingly, for instance.
But, so many times, the older and marginal wearing “Mets Stripes” do poorly, as they did in 2016.
And you OF COURSE need to not let the best-by-far hitter of the franchise go to your Division arch rival.
Why did they flop? Insufficient willingness to spend, to NOT have lousy back up starters and utility players. A familiar refrain.
NEXT ARTICLE:
2017’s reasons for failure.
FINAL NOTE:
One point my brother made right after the 2015 World Series:
TRADE MATT HARVEY.
HIS VALUE WILL NEVER BE HIGHER.
It is hard, and almost contrarian, thinking to trade a heroic star.
But brother Steve saw the Braves get a treasure trove of prospects including Ender Inciarte and Dansby Swanson for a lesser pitcher than Harvey in Shelby Miller...
Stevie wanted that sort of a bumper crop trade for Harvey. Concerned about his likelihood for injury after 2016. A Harvey trade would have meant even more coming back in great young talent than the Miller trade.
Instead, the Mets kept Harvey and got almost nothing good out of him afterwards.
Brother Steve was right, the Wilpons were not.
Let’s hope the new Steve, Cohen, makes those shrewd decisions well.
4 comments:
Man I wish I could join your brother and you on a Mets ranks sometime
But yes Harvey was never going to be signed even when he was good
So maximize your assets
Eddie, my brother was spot on then with Harvey, which at the time I had not considered - but when he mentioned it, I thought he made a lot of sense.
He independently agreed with me on retaining Murphy, as did my cousin Bill (and even more so when, at the time, I suggested we trade Duda and keep Murphy for any combo of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, as I spelled out in the article).
He also has rightly killed the Mets on not extending Wheeler, and EVERY YEAR he has rightly excoriated the Mets for pulling up short on securing more talent, particularly in the bullpen. He has been right on all counts.
He does not seem to want to write here, unfortunately, but I think I am going to get him to come up with a rebuilt roster and see what he suggests.
Agree that Murphy should have been retained. It was a terrible move. Regarding trading Harvey who knew the downfall would be so swift.
Rds 900, my brother at the time saw what the Braves got for their lesser pitcher and figured that Harvey might be injury-prone (and true, who would have guessed it would happen so soon), but if traded his value then was huge. It is very hard to sell high.
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