It’s never a good idea to get worked up over a single article, but the Daily News’ Andy Martino posted one last night that just may send large swaths of the Mets’ fan base into a frenzy. Martino, based on conversations with the ever-omniscient “team insiders,” dropped the proverbial bomb on the future state of the Mets’ offense. The story itself is a response to fans repeatedly asking him when the Mets are going to trade for that big bat to anchor the offense. The short answer is: that doesn’t appear to be the plan anymore. According to Martino:
“Team insiders acknowledge that a signature deal is unlikely to occur, and that the vision for contention under [Mets GM Sandy] Alderson looks more like Oakland and Tampa Bay than the 2000 Mets: Keep most of the high-end pitching, and construct an offense around more interchangeable pieces.”
The “vision for contention” includes an offense made up of interchangeable pieces? Isn’t that what the team has been (unsuccessfully) doing the last four or so years? That can’t really be the plan, can it? Here’s the thing: when is the last time you heard anyone around the team actually talk about acquiring a big bat via trade?
Many fans, apparently wrongly, had been under the assumption that Alderson would leverage his pitching depth to add a legitimate bat to the lineup. Of course he would. The talk of this quasi-rebuild had always included how the building from within would culminate with the final, vital piece(s) coming via trade, ala Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter in the 1980’s or even the Mike Piazza trade in 1998. That’s been the narrative, perhaps only really driven by the media and fans, since Alderson had taken the reins.
Now that doesn’t appear to be the case. The reasoning behind this shift appears to be that those bats, the ones that seemed to be there for the taking as recently as last season, are just no longer there. Giancarlo Stanton, Carlos Gonzalez, Matt Kemp, and other prolific hitters that were dancing in Mets’ fans heads back then are simply no longer options for various reasons. Maybe the team should have made a push for them last year, huh? Whoops.
Look, this writer is generally of the opinion that the whole “big market Mets should spend spend spend” is at best a bit overblown and at worst a recipe for repeated disaster. However, if the plan was to make that big trade and that path is no longer an option, the team is just going to need to spend more. It’s really as simple as that. Unless we’re waiting and hoping that Brandon Nimmo, Dilson Herrera, and Michael Conforto will be riding in on white horses in 2016, there really are no other options at this point.
Of course, the Mets could make this all moot and make a big trade next month or during the off-season. Perhaps some other team’s front office changes their strategy as well and makes that bat available. The team can’t depend on that, though, as they appear to have been depending on it to this point. You can’t make a team trade with you, but if they don’t you need to be aggressive in obtaining players in other ways. You don’t simply fold up and hope for the best.
Lets get Yasmani Tomas this time!!
What offensive problems?We scored 11 today. 🙂
Andy Martino’s next scoop will be his first. He never has real inside information. That being said, what he states seems to be relatively obvious based on the Alderson resume so far. And that relative inaction on free agents seems to be driven primarily from a lack of money at the ownership level. If that is the strategy then some of the current players such as Flores need more at bats to make things work.
Like many fans, I’ve been frustrated and at times infuriated at the (lack) of offense this team has shown. Unlike many other fans however, I haven’t been jumping on the bandwagon as far as trade or buy a “superstar”. First of all, as bad as people like Granderson and Wright had been in the early going, and the black hole that has been at short and catching, I’m a bit more optimistic of the In-house options available. First off, I think Travis d’Naud will live up to his billing when he comes back, and that Curtis and David are in fact showing signs of heating up for the 2nd half. Duda gets picked on as much for his quiet demeanor then his actual in field play.
No, my biggest frustration has been the trotting out of C Young instead of letting the youngsters play by management. Also, the mishandling of Flores; just let him play for two weeks solid already!
Writers keep harping about the “lack of talent” on this team….I say it’s been the mismanagement of the talent available that has been the problem. All things being equal, play the youngsters! Oh yeah, and fire Collins.
Editor’s Note – Please do not capitalize words in your post, as that’s a violation of our Comment Policy.
Not just lack of money.. but lack of trust in FA’s. Most dont work out. You usually get someone whose 65% of what you paid for or worse. Build up some minor league position player talent and hope that one in three make it and play well and one in 8 becomes a legitimate star. The key here is to have a manager who can put these players in “spots” where they are more apt to succeed. Bochy is great at this….
If the FO thinks that Met fans will wait until 2016 then Citifield will be a ghost town by then. It’s so interesting how a non-story can come full circle with no one in the front office being aware. Much ado about nothing. The talent is there. Just have to use it properly for it to work.
I just don’t buy the premise. For example, Kemp could be available and the Mets have players that could improve the Dodgers. The problem is that the Mets don’t want to commit 21.5M for the next 5 years. In order to do that, they would, dare I say, have to increase the budget. I believe that is the real reason an impact bat is “unavailable”.
Last winter, there was a perfect opportunity to trade for”interchangeable pieces” with a trade of Matt Joyce for Ike Davis. Or they could have committed to 2 years at 8M per to Byrd. Small commitments for productive players. These type of opportunities will resurface with different faces in the winter of 2014.
The team needs a productive 5th position left fielder.
OK, so the “Magic Year” has moved from 2014 to 2015 to 2016. If Sandy doesn’t put a lasso on that moving goalpost soon, there may not be anyone watching anymore.
Harvey’s TJ gave him a 1 year reprieve is what they think. But the ever moving goalpost is exactly what Alderson wants. Look, he has made no actions for deliverables on his watch. From that start I believe his plan was to make “winning” some else’s problem. He saved the team for Wilpon’s and indirectly for Selig, who now can depart as Commish without having to execute his best buddies. Looking at this tat way, the Alderson era has been a smashing success.
Fans? Winning? Baseball? none of that crap means a thing.
I don’t think the moving goal post is what Sandy wants: it’s what the Wilpons have given him. Ever notice how the budget is always in a state of flux? Sandy can’t make the definitive move, because he doesn’t know from 1 moth to the next how much money he has to work with. Even Cerrone admits to this.
Oh for sure. The Wilpons have stunted any chance for development. But look, not a single person drafted by Alderson has made the big leagues yet. That’s a signal the plan all along has been far ranging. In the same time Miami and Houston have begun the turn around with their draft picks, while Mets fans wait endlessly for news from who was promoted from savannah to lucie. As best as I can tell, we only have pitchers in aaa surrounded by aaa and aaaa position players.
Tomorrow tomorrow
I love ya tomorrow
You’re only a day away!
different sort of public service announcement …
read in the mlbtraderumors how the Jays had given up players like Syndergaard, TDA, Marisnick, Alvarez, Nicolino, and DiSclafani for “the likes of Dickey, Beuhrle and Reyes”.
Perhaps a snark was intended, and maybe I’m reading into the comment.
But here you go … trading for that great talent has netted the Marlins and the Mets a grand total of .6 WAR to this point.
Toronto’s yield from the veterans 12.7 WAR from the three guys mentioned (yes, and paid them a pretty good salary to be that good). I just didn’t think it would be that grave a discrepancy.
I don’t care what the Marlins got but I’m quite happy with the haul the Mets got for Dickey. I certainly didn’t expect Syndergaard to be producing anything at the major league level now and I’m not going to crucify TDA for getting hurt.
I’m glad the Blue Jays are happy. I hope they’re still happy 5 years from now. I’m extremely confident I’ll be happy. And there’s still a chance our lottery ticket of Becerra hits, too.
What does the fact that DarNo has been injured have to do with the fact that while he’s played, he’s contributed negatively to the team?
It means that he didn’t have a normal development curve. It doesn’t excuse his poor play but it should be considered. I’m still bullish on his chances of being an above-average MLB catcher.
He’s 25 years old. This is his *eighth year* of professional baseball, and he’s walked up to the plate nearly 2600 times.
Development curve? Mmmm.
I haven’t lost all faith in the man. He didn’t get cheated on that homer (although, to be honest it was offspeed, up and in). We’ll see.
Not sure what you’re trying to prove. The point of veteran for prospects trades is one team gets production now, the other team hopefully get production later. Of course in the first few years the team that gets the veterans are going to get much more Major League production.
In part, that negative production (DiSclafani, D’Arnaud, Marisnick) combined with the headstart provided by veterans make it difficult to win trades.
And that trades for minor league magic beans is more often than not fool’s gold … in particular, for difficult to assess players like pitchers (and catchers).
You only need to look to the trades of the 2012 top baseball pitching prospects – Bauer, Skaggs, Wheeler. Jacob Turner, a top 10 prospect in 2011. Nearly every trade of a top pitching prospect has not equaled the return.
So the bottom line? Trade Noah Syndergaard. He is overvalued.
2014 is way too early to determine who “won trades” for 2011/2012.
“Of course in the first few years the team that gets the veterans are going to get much more Major League production.”
While a lot of trades fail (they are called prospects for a reason), there are also plenty that succeed.
Both starters yesterday are examples (but on the different end) on trades that worked for the team that got the prospect.
Good news for the offensively minded: Plawecki is on the way in a hurry, and will not be blocked by any one other than TdA. From Adam Rubin:
Plawecki will have the priority for playing time once he is promoted to Las Vegas. So assuming Anthony Recker is optioned to Triple-A once Travis d’Arnaud is promoted, Recker would go from a major leaguer to a backup in the Pacific Coast League. If it’s Taylor Teagarden the Mets drop, that is one more reason for Teagarden to opt out rather than report to Vegas.
My question is will the promotion be too soon? Sure he is likely to beat up PCL pitching, but then what? I guess this means real business for TdA, who could be forced into a back up role this time next year of KP is still killing it, and he never really sees the boost he is having in LV now.
Just wanted to a do a public service announcement for one of our most underappreciated Mets. Duda has been a monster since Ike Davis came to town.
In 26 games, .286/.408/.595 with 5 HR’s and a 18/17 K/bb ratio.
Season slash up to .250/.346/.459
Yeah its been nice to see him hit. Im often worried in the compiled numbers, because solo HR in 8th 5 runs down mean a lot less than a 2 run single with a tie game.
Nevertheless, Duda has been hitting the ball hard and walking with good ABs. He needs to figure out base running though…yikes.
Still a butcher in the field.
He’s hit better than I expected, and that’s damning with faint praise. The stretch against Chi SF Mil is a 9 game stretch that’s faded because of the last 9 game stretch of dominance.
He has the capacity to disappear, particularly against good teams and better pitchers, then mount numbers in late innings of games or against weaker teams/pitchers. But – in baseball, every at bat counts and Duda’s better than I expected.
I’ve been more than pleased from what i’ve seen, but judging fielding is not an exact science. Most defensive metrics have him from about average to slightly below average.
His numbers are a bit inflated because he sits against the majority of lefties, but the good thing is that >80% of the starters in the game are righties. Still, a 1.000 OPS over a month is impressive no matter how you slice it.
I’ll do another public service announcement while i’m at it.
Since leaving the friendly confines of Colorado and Yankee Stadium, Curtis Granderson has also been an OBP machine.
In 36 games, .267/.409/.448. 33/29 k/bb. However, he hasn’t really done what we signed him to do-hit HRs ; he has just 4 during this hot stretch.
He also got over the .230 mark after the game in Miami, which is impressive as his BA was as low as .141 on May 1st.
Season stats up to .234/.358/.399
not as far off as you think on the HR thing.
4 HR/36 games … add just one, and its pretty much on pace for 23 HR.
Fans should be frigging giddy as hell to get a 20ish HRs and an 800+ OPS from that signing.
You should be really giddy if he gets that at this point in the season because odds are against him from getting either.
In order to get an 800 OPS he would have to sustain his 850 OPS for another 300 PA.
He’s hit 3 HR’s in 6 games at friendly Coors and Yankee stadium. We don’t go back to either this year. In 66 other games, he’s hits just 6 HR’s, a pace of under 15. One could also argue that when you’re hot, you need to be hitting above your projection averages in order to hit your projection averages. But i actually prefer he not hit HR’s so i don’t consider this a huge loss. He should really start considering stealing a few more bases though.
His historically bad start really killed his chances of having nice final stats this year.
every at bat counts – I’ve said that.
OTOH, I don’t really count the first month in CitiBlue. Using my “which of these things is not like the others” … his numbers since May 1 look almost exactly like the better part of his career.
Granderson will likely have over 2200 plate appearances as a Met. I’d say the likelihood of those first 100 having a substantial effect on his numbers are nil.
Likewise since April, he’s averaging 1 HR in 20 AB. Those are almost *exactly* his 2006-2012 numbers. Does he hit more in better HR parks?
Well, I remember Tony Gwynn saying on days when you already have 2 hits its a lot easier to get to 3 hits. Its really the same thing. Professional hitters realize the totality of their environment.
I like what Duda has done so far. His OPS+ is 129 (Davis’s is 109) and his dWAR is -0.4 (Davis’s is -0.9). And Duda is picking it up, as you point out.
Good move by the Mets, with Blake Taylor a good arm.