Coming off a season-matching gap of 11 games below .500 it came as a most pleasant surprise to see the Mets take a game against the Cincinnati Reds in a questionable but ultimately successful way.
On the pitching side, however, this game was an adventure. Huascar Brazoban somehow battled his way through a scoreless first inning to open the game but he needed some good fielding to help him out.
Next up was Jonah Tong who is most certainly a work in progress. His control is not outstanding but he worked his interval in the game without giving up an earned run though he was responsible for the unearned one with his own throwing error setting it up.
After that it appeared that the club made its way through nearly the entire bullpen for an inning or so at a time which included lots of baserunners who didn’t come around to score. By final count the Reds had 17 men left on base. That’s not exactly pitching dominance from the hometown team.
The real exciting one was the 9th inning effort from closer Devin Williams who was facing a save situation with a 2-run lead but proceeded to load the bases on free passes, yet somehow also managed to fan the side. So he faced six hitters and no runs scored. That’s a save (of sorts).
With Jorge Polanco starting up baseball activity again people are getting mildly curious if the team could at least make a surge towards a mediocre record instead of the league’s worst they currently hold. Since he’s here for another year after this one and hasn’t done anything offensively in his brief but derailed trial in the first two weeks of April you should consider him here to stay.
Stories are starting to appear about whether the Mets indeed need to do some headline grabbing rebuild trades that could move high priced veterans for an armload of high level prospects. The club has no outfielders immediately knocking on the door (sorry, Mr. Morabito), and pitching is still a guessing game.
The question now is he going to provide more to the Mets over the next five years as he approaches the end of it at his age 37 season, or would they be better off having another club assume the financial obligation while the club hopes to retain substitute shortstop Bo Bichette for 2027 as well?
Right now there is no direct substitute in the system as a prospective Lindor replacement unless your belief in Ronny Mauricio is unreasonably optimistic. There are players in the lower minors like Elian Pena who could eventually play shortstop in Queens but he’s a few years away. Consequently making a Lindor deal would open up some roster vulnerabilities unless a top flight shortstop prospect was part of the return package from the acquiring team.
Bear in mind that Lindor is a pre-Stearns contract that was given to him. Consequently you can’t necessarily bank on loyalty over a deal Stearns didn’t endorse. Remember Edwin Diaz, Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso as examples of making solid players available to leave.
So, should the Mets make this type of monster deal to reinforce the roster in various places and save quite a bit of money, or should they instead welcome him back with open arms and look for him near the top of the lineup for the next five years?
8 comments:
Lindor remains a cornerstone of the Mets. If there was a great prospect behind him, a trade might fetch some strong building blocks, but without that a trade would hurt more than help. Bichette has fielded the position at SS as a fill-in, but he doesn't have the range or arm to keep the Mets "strong up the middle".
Defense isn't everything. If it was then everyone would be happy every time Marcus Semien stepped to the plate.
If Reimer was hitting a lot better, he could be called up as a 3B, but he has a long way to go. Christian Arroyo hitting a lot better than Reimer at AAA, and he is not getting an IF starter call up.
Another approach was suggested by Mike Francesca, which implied going for it this year…if Alvarez and Lindor return fairly soon, and the Mets still have a pulse, he suggested the Mets acquire…MIKE TROUT. Even at this stage of his career, adding Lindor, Alvarez back, AND TROUT would resuscitate the offense big time.
Semien is washed up due to age. Sad to say.
The Lindor trade question is because he will become a 10/5 player after this year and you will need his permission to trade him.
As I've pointed out in a previous post, the Met infield situation is a complete mess. No one can convince me that Vientos and Baty are cornerstones at the corner, and no one can convince me that Semien will hit for average or power over the next two years. There are some players in the high minors who right now project more like Vientos and Baty than anything else. Reimer is my hope because he has an incredibly quick bat through the zone. Let's see what he looks like at season's end. You know what they say about tall centers in basketball. You can't teach height. Well the same is true in BB. You can't teach K's; and when it comes to Clifford and far too many others, you apparently can't teach not to K.
The rest of the infield talent is too far away right now and moving Ewing to 2B right now or shortly will throw the outfield out of wack and thus complicate, rather than ease problems.
I am not sure what a Lindor trade accomplishes given the holes at the other 3 infield positions. We actually need to supplement in the offseason with infielders that are able to complement a true major league outfield and with a free agent signing of note (i.e. not scrap heap), a major league ready pitching staff
Only someone like Mike Francesca could be taken seriously for suggesting that the Mets go for it by signing Mike Trout this year. And give up what, and see him end up on the IL. And by the way does Trout also play 1B and 3B simultaneously. How about his ability to provide offense at the catcher position. I used to refer to the Mike and the Mad Dog show, which I listened to often, as 'Arrogance and Ignorance', but at this point it's getting harder to tell who's who. And maybe we finally have a 'player' who in one podcast can play both roles.
I don't care if Arroyo is hitting. 400.
Promote Reimer to AAA to accelerate his progress.
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