MACK - THOUGHTS ON TRADE DEADLINE & OTHER TIDBITS

 

 I don’t write for Mack’s Mets anymore. I retired from that. Instead, I have been producing a bunch of bio and analytical shite. But that changes today.

Instead, I return as a sportswriter, specifically covering the New York Mets. 

My weekly Friday column will reflect that going forward,

One of the things I used to do around here was to give you my spin/rating on the results of the trading deadline. I’m not going to go into an elaborate breakdown… other Mack’s Mets writers are doing a fine job on that. Instead, just a general overview.

I’ve already mentioned that, I believe, the Mets accomplished three things from the results of the trading deadline… one, they cleaned out the majority of bad money contracts that had no future offerings to this team past the 2027 season, two, they found a close to ready major league third baseman, and three, they added prospect depth to their chain, especially in the infield. 

Past that, it’s all speculation, especially because we all know the nerds are going to try and change everything these players have done once they put a Mets uniform on.

What they didn’t accomplish was to get a Top 50 Prospect, as defined by Baseball Pipeline, nor did they find takers for the likes of Marcus Semien, Jorge Polanco, Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, and Luis Robert Jr., five players they must now decide if they keep playing and remind both fans and the baseball world what stupid decisions it was to employ these duds, or give them a payout before the calendar year end so they have a clean slate the following year regarding team salary.

Me?

I love 3B Jefferson Rojas. He will be the starting Mets third baseman, latest, opening day 2028. I “ like” IF Sammy Stafura, Cole Mathis, Emilien Pitre, Billy Amick, and Aiden Smith. 

The rest? AAAA or steak knives. I especially like the return of infield depth in the chain. It’s no big secret that the future Mets are in need of both a producing third and second baseman. This year’s trade haul make a crowded positive situation on both bags.

I believe Rojas will be a star in this game and Mitch Voit will be a Benge/Ewing type player at second. Mathis and Amick will compete with Randy Guzman as the future Mets first baseman, that is, if Juan Soto doesn't agree to make the move here some day…I believe Stafura and Pitre will give Voit a run for his money at second… and I believe Rojas is heir apparent to third. Short? It’s Lindor’s until either Elian Pena or Wandy Asigen grows up.

Rating – B minus

 

Minor Tidbit 

AA/Binghamton’s RP, Bryce Jenkins, is the definition of helium. He is barely recognized by the Mets gaggle and only bloggers like Daniel Wexler (@WexlerRules),  and podcasters like Ernest Dove  (@ernestdove), write anything about this guy. Through Tuesday’s game, Jenkins has a combines AA/AAA ERA of 1.94, and a WHIP of 0.79… it seems that A+ Brooklyn SP Nicholas Carreno is getting his shite straighten out at this level. He dominated A-ball, failed miserable early at Coney. This week he went 5.2-IP, 0-H, 0-R, 8-K. Still needs to work on pitch count and control (5-BB this outing)… 

No one is hotter than AA-Binghamton IF Mitch Voit. He put modest numbers up for Brooklyn (.242) but I knew his numbers would grow once he left horrible Coney Island. But I never expected, through Tuesday night, an AA batting average of .539 and an OPS of 1.574!... once again, the nerds win. 

AAA-Syracuse SP, Jonah Tong, was supposed to be promoted by this weekend and Wednesday's start at Cuse' was the final test for the entirely new delivery the executives that never pitched a lick in their life gave this once star for this team. Their changes are like taking the entire engine out of a Shelby SS and installing the engine a Volkswagen Beetle uses. 

The result? Five home runs allowed in five innings. When are these guys ever going to stop this? SMH. The Breakdown of Tong... or, as Tom Brennan puts it... if it ain't broke, don't break it... A-St. Lucie SS Elian Pena committed another throwing error on Wednesday.  That's now 22 errors on the season.  A big reason why I feel Wandy Asigen will jump over him when down the road the B-Mets need a new shortstop.

GOO – (general overall opinions)

I used to be a newspaper reporter. That went away when they closed down that newspaper. It then became a blogger covering the New York Mets. The emphasis was on the minors. Mack’s Mets is now both the most read independent Mets blog, but it also is the longest running. 

My elimination of my weekly Friday Prospect Report came off of the elimination of a professional relationship with a high-ranking Mets insider. It spoke volumes to me about the degree of importance I am to the Mets. It makes my future direction is as a hobbyist who will write how I feel, and what I believe, not anyone else’s opinons.

I became a Mets fan in 1962, followed by a Mets reporter in 2005. I’m now simply a Mets blogger who writes in third person because I no longer root for this team. I still write about it and started a blog for other writers who are fans of this team. I take the Walter Cronkite approach… the team, and what they do is always “they”.

I lost my fandom when I realized the return is minimal. I thought this failure peaked near the end of the Wilpon era, but I was wrong. 

The Cohen train still hasn’t left the station.

MACK’S 2028 STARTING LINEUP:

C     Francisco Alvarez

1B   Juan Soto

2B   Mitch Voit

SS   Francisco Lindor

3B   Jefferson Rojas

LF   Carson Benge

CF   Aiden Robbins

RF   AJ Ewing

DH  Chris Suero

SP1  Tariq Skubal

SP2  Nolan McLean

SP3  Christian Scott

SP4  Jonah Tong

SP5  Zac Thornton