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I'm sure you've read the news that allegedly future Met Elian Soto has decided it is better off to play with his brother on the Washington Nationals. For this occasion I can't blame the Mets for disinterest or inflexible budgetary limits. For a high school player coming into a foreign country to play baseball it has to be a great comfort to have a family member there for familiarity and to help ease the transition to American Major League Baseball.
Numerous bench coach candidates have either declined the opportunity presented by the Mets or have been denied permission by their current employers for the Mets to interview them. Again, the Mets are blameless in this one as well because it's entirely reasonable for another club to try to avoid assisting one of their competitors in becoming better. All you can do is return to the list of prospective candidates and try, try again.
The Yankees made headlines this week with the announcement that they are naming Rachel Balkovec as the new manager for their low-A Tampa Tarpons, the first ever female in this role in an affiliated MLB organization. I applaud the Yankees for naming the person they felt was best suited for this position regardless of gender. Now how soon will there be female ballplayers? One step at at time...
Word filtered out from the Winter Leagues that Robinson Cano is showing some signs of life at the plate. Cynical people will, of course, presume that his sudden flourish is less about his talent than it is about sketchy competition and perhaps something in a syringe. Although I lean in that direction myself, a productive Cano is good news for the Mets whether he plays at 2B, 3B or a newly created National League DH role. It also opens up slightly wider the prospect of trading him if he's back to being an offensive weapon.
Lost in the early headlines this week was the decision that Brandon Nimmo has switched from CAA to Scott Boras for representation. In the past that combination was a sure sign of no-go for the Wilpon-led Mets, but they did work with Boras for the new contract provided to Max Scherzer, so it doesn't mean he's necessarily gone. Do look at history, however, and realize that Boras is going to want to have the annual .400+ OBP Nimmo see what he can earn on the open market in order to maximize his agent's slice of the free agent pie. If the Mets want to lock up Nimmo they had better make it a high priority once a CBA is signed.
Right now the Mets appear to be overloaded on the infield and thin in the outfield. Hopefully Billy Eppler and company are working hard to ascertain how to restore a bit of on-the-field balance to the offense. No one seems ready to see more of Dominic Smith in the outfield and few are confident that Mark Canha is worth the money they paid to obtain him. Everyone would still like to see another booming bat out there.
Pitching continues to be a black hole for the Mets with openings both in the rotation and in the bullpen. Again, player movements are not possible during the lockout but planning should be taking place. Left handers are needed in both roles and hopefully a combination of free agent signings and trades can help supplement the collection of wannabes already on the roster.
11 comments:
Pitching is not a good area to have a black hole. ANd if deGrom and Scherzer are not healthy...
With Canha, they got a guy who has had a .397. .387, and .358 OBPs over the past 3 years, which has to be top 20% in baseball. And a righty bat for balance. 93 runs scored in 2021 in 141 games is pretty great, especially since he scored 76 times when he didn't hit a HR. Seems solid to me, if age doesn't smack him down. He is better than his low batting average. And he'll tide the Mets over until Alex Ramirez is ready.
I wonder if the Yanks truly felt she was best, or thought she was equally competent and they'd be the first. I guess we'll find out. It just seems odd to have a female managing an all male team. But, in other sports, men have coached all-women teams, Time will tell.
The Soto thing is why I don't like to speculate too much - why get excited about a kid until the ink is dry on his Mets contract?
Reese...great points.
Not sure I totally agree that the Mets staff being a black hole. The way they stand right now I feel they are a top 10 staff. I also believe they still need another starter and reliever.
On Cano...what I actually don't understand is why a team can't cut a player after he tests positive a second time. Now that would be a deterrent. Imagine having your contract terminated if you get caught cheating. What a novel idea...actually being held responsible for your bad decisions.
With Cahna, while I think we overpaid a bit on this one, but I think we are getting a similar player to Nimmo, good OBP, decent fielder, plays hard...I can live with that signing. I actually thought they were going to make a play for the Asian outfielder (sorry I forgot his name).
As for Nimmo...signing with Boras means he's a goner...too bad I really like him.
I worry about pitching this season.
I would love to sign Bryant but even Cohen is going to turn off the faucet soon.
Get us some pitching, guys!
Joe P - lots of common sense regarding Cano. If they players offered that up, maybe the two sides could come to an agreement.
Thank you John,
That was always a sore point to me. In any other job in the world if you get caught cheating, stealing, breaking rules you get fired. You not only lose your salary but sometimes you lose your pension. It's amazing that the owners have no recourse.
Mack, as far as pitching you can never have enough...i'm with you on that one.
But what if a Clemens,Bonds or McQuire are cheating? Would the Mets firemAlonso,Scherzer or DeGrom or is it just the underperforming guys you fire?
Fire them all!!!!!@
Yes...fire them all. I know with superstars you want to overlook it but they have to be fired.
I'll use Cano as an example. The Mets are on the hook with a known steroid user for 2 more years @ 24M per year. After his second offense he should have had his contract terminated. To go one step further they should lose their pension too.
Remember the Jenry Mejia 2 lifetime bans?
Joke.
This should have started with that Mike football guy that abused dogs.
The problem for us fans is that all the rules, including the penalties, are agreed to in the CBA between the owners and the players union. The Mets could not just release him as if they were another company with another employee. There is a different set of rules in place. They still have to pay him, regardless, just like they would have to pay anybody else they just release, and there ain't too many $24M ball players sitting home getting paid not to show up. (Bobby Bonilla excepted)
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