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6/4/24

SAVAGE VIEWS – Welcome to June

When I wonder what to address in my weekly post, the Mets come through and give me a host of new ideas.  Here we are in the beginning of June and our bullpen has let us down once again.  A lot of times I ask myself what was Mendoza thinking?  In yesterday’s loss, he saved Jake Diekman to close out the game in the ninth inning.  Jake would not have been in my top five choices.   There’s also a lack of strategy involved – why not walk Marte and take your chances by facing less potent batters.

Most Mets fans are thrilled with having JD Martinez on the roster.  Since JD arrived on the scene the team is a disappointing 11-24.  Clearly not the difference maker we hoped for.  He has not been the clutch hitter we were expecting.  His arrival forced the Mets to furlough Baty to AAA.  The Mets were already an older team before the JD signing.  This is supposed to be a transition year to determine whether Vientos and Baty should be considered part of the future.  JD should probably be sent packing before the end of the month to open a spot for Baty.

It looks as though the team will be sellers prior to the July deadline.  Players such as Alonso, Marte, McNeil, Severino and some others may find themselves playing for other teams.  It’s unlikely the returns will be great.  The question remains who starts in place of these three.  While Vientos could take over for Alonso, there are no obvious choices to replace Marte or McNeil since neither Acuna nor Gilbert appears ready to assume those roles.

By the end of the year, it would not be surprising to see Scott, Tidwell and Sproat in the rotation.  These three have surpassed Mike Vasil and Dom Hamel as future starters.  However, there are many bullpen openings and these two should be developed as relievers if they have a future in the organization.

Recently the Mets honored Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden by retiring their numbers. That means no future Met can ever wear numbers 16 or 18.  What a breath of fresh air when Straw and Doc made their debuts.  Without doubt, these two future hall of famers would lead us for the next ten to fifteen years and we would be contenders for the long term.  As we now know things did not turn out as planned for both.  Both Doc and Darryl were guilty of drug and alcohol abuse and instead of being Cooperstown bound they wound up spending time in rehab facilities. Their bad behaviors set back the franchise by a decade.  And we are now rewarding them?

The question remains, are we playoff contenders or are we tanking to get a top draft pick next season?

Ray

June 4, 2014

8 comments:

  1. One thing to remember about mid-season sell-offs... something a friend of mine reminded me of... don't assume all these lofty contracts will be picked up at full value by the team you trade them to

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  2. Ray, I'm glad they honored Doc and Darryl. The alternative is to discard their history, and those 2 may have imploded, but they were both really something, especially Doc...and I'm proud of the present-day Darryl.

    Sproat? Above average MLB stuff right now. I have him for 6-8 more minor league starts, and call him up.

    McNeil? His career home and away slash lines are virtually identical, but I think the guy who hit 45 major and minor league HRs in 2018 and 2019 shut down his power game because he realizes with the fences as configured now, swinging for more power will mean more warning track fly outs, and he has this batting average calculator constantly in his head that will force him to pursue the highest batting average he can. Acuna has picked it up since warmer weather arrived, and likely needs another 6 weeks to continue to hit better. He already steals lots of bases (Jeff doesn't) and fields just as well or better.

    The selling starts soon, unless Vientos decides he'll hit .339 all year. You and I tried to convince everyone...

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  3. No doubt we will need to retain some salary to get a better prospect.

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  4. Ray, Iglesias can take over for McNeil for the rest of the year. Butto should be part of the rotation too.

    Trading McNeil will be very hard if he doesn't hit.

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  5. For better or worse the Mets migh be in a monster selling position to cash in big time with new prospects. Many vets and rentals are doing OK enough to garner attention except for Ottavino who they may have burned out already.

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  6. Well at least they found the formula for winning....have a 4 run lead in the ninth! I'm O.K. with the Doc and Darryl thing but the big shame of it was trading Mitch because they thought HE was a bad influence on them and my question was how did the FO not know?

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  7. Ernest, our man on the ground in Florida, any sightings of Bryce MDO and Matt Allan?

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  8. It will be tough to sell all these guys at the deadline because the precedent has been set that Steve Cohen will pick up big chunks of existing salaries. We will get nothing but low ball offers. Unfortunately, that is the reality but many of the current roster will have to go. There is no inkling of a winning mentality around this team.

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