Tom Brennan - Roll Those Dice; And Can Everyone Ease Up On Trashing Tong?

JARED YOUNG, THE CHEAP, ONE YEAR GUY 

Baseball has increasingly tied up enormous amounts of dollars in high profile candidates.

One such rich fellow is Vladimir Guerrero Jr, whom the Mets courted but who ultimately signed an VERY LONG extension with Toronto. 

What an extension. 14 years, $500 million through 2039.

Well, VG II did have 48 HRs, 111 RBIs, and .311 at age 22 in 2021.

But what has he done in this 2026 season, so very early on in that multi-generational-length contract, thru September 23?

141 games, 9 HRs, 56 RBIs.  .263/.336/.359. In 596 plate appearances.

No sweat, Blue Jays, there are only 13 years left after this year. 

He will do SO much better at age 40.

Now, let’s take another current player you may know, for comparison. 

Let’s boost this player’s stats up to Vlad’s 596 PAs, for an apples-to-apples comparison:

16 HRs, 68 RBIs, .263/.330/.429. Numbers Vladi surely wished he had.

Who is this 2nd player? 

Jared Young. 

Salary? One year, $1.15 million.

How would you as the Blue Jays owner feel to have Vlad under contract for well over a decade longer, after putting up numbers this year that he basically could have gotten out of Jared Young or Brett Baty.

Mets’ fans moan all too much at times about Juan Soto and his long deal. 

And he has 27 HRs in 453 PAs.

Mets fans would be all over Vlad this year. Screaming bloody murder.

THE NEXT TIME GRUMPY FOLKS WANT TO TRASH JONAH TONG:

Consider the great and mighty Paul Skenes. 

This season, a very mortal 10-11, 3.82 ERA.

Even great talents, you see, can scuffle. So…

Give Jonah Tong a real chance.

If Tong pitches well, but gives up a 3 run homer, remember:

1) that it was just one pitch, and 2) these are the best hitters in the world.

Heck, Bert Blyleven gave up 430 HRs, in a less power-laden baseball era.  

HOF Tom Glavine, his first 2 years?  9-21, 4.80. Mets fans would scalp him.

And…let’s not forget…

Four expensive Mets guys (2 now gone) did this in 2026:

 - Kodai Senga as a Mets starter this year? 0-7, 9.66.

 - David Peterson as a Mets starter this year? 1-6, 7.71.

 - Freddie Peralta as a Mets starter this year? 5-9, 4.99.

 - Sean Manaea as a Mets starter this year? 5-6, 4.51.

That’s 11-28 with an ERA well north of 5.00 for the fraud-some four. 

Fraud? Yes. They pitched like frauds.

So…back to Tong…

Like Skenes, he too has a 3.82 ERA, in his 31 MLB innings this year.

With a strong 1.24 WHIP. 

SO…

Ease up on Tong, “for Tong’s sake”. 

(I’ve expunged “for Pete’s sake” from my vocabulary, so this is now its replacement. Mack hates when I bring up any Pete stuff).

Or just criticize Tong all the way out of town, so he can be a star starter somewhere else.

Tong kicked the crap out of the Nationals on Saturday after I pre-written this article, proving my point. 

5 IP, 1 run, 9 Ks. “Yeah, but…” No yeah but’s.  How about OH YEAH!

NO LOCAL CHAMPIONS? 

AU CONTRAIRE

I hate to break it to you, but the Mets’ ENTIRE ORGANIZATION had zero playoff games in 2026.

Eight teams, zero playoff games.

The LI Ducks however won their independent league championship this year. 

Islip NY’s finest. 

In a much finer ballpark than that hitters’ neutron bomb dump in Brooklyn.