Please use this thread throughout the week to discuss any Mets-specific topic you wish.

From a recent Tim Britton article over at The Athletic:

One of the disappointing aspects of this season for New York is that some of its attempted strides in player development have been stunted by big-league needs. Zack Scott was hired as an assistant GM with an eye toward overhauling how the Mets develop players; instead, he’s been the acting GM since late January. Hugh Quattlebaum was supposed to be the director of hitting, implementing an organization-wide approach at the plate; instead, he’s been the major-league hitting coach since early May. His assistant is Kevin Howard, who was hired to be the farm director.

Generally, I’m pro-Sandy Alderson. But one of my criticisms of him going back many years now is that when Plan A falls through, that Plan B generally isn’t that good. Completely with the benefit of hindsight, wouldn’t it have been better to keep those three guys in the role they were hired for and move Alderson to GM and keep Chili Davis and Tom Slater in their roles, even if the latter three were all essentially lame duck guys?

Again, it’s easy to say now because the moves they made didn’t really work. It just seems they’ve lost a year of development because of short-sighted moves like this.

Is it fair to Scott now to hire someone as GM and push him back to overseeing development? The Mets ran into trouble this past offseason because so many of the people they targeted to be GM either didn’t want to uproot their family or they were prohibited by their current teams from moving on. If the Mets hire someone to replace Scott — does this make him someone who leaps to the top of GM wish lists for other clubs? If so, do the Mets let him leave?

If Howard was farm director – would the Kumar Rocker clusterf#$k have happened that torpedoed the 2021 Draft?

Unfortunately, there are more questions than answers here.

8 comments on “Wednesday catch-all thread (8/25/21)

  • Wobbit

    I’m all for a total rebuild. We have only a few solid pieces, and many needing to upgrade:
    Alonso: the face of the franchise and a legit star… best years still ahead of him.
    Lindor: good or not good enough, stuck with him.
    Nimmo: starting to peak in his career.
    McCann: 4 year contract… good enough to wait for Alvarez.
    JD Smith: test the waters for a trade, otherwise an adequate DH.

    But:
    Dom Smith: a ML player for sure… more valuable to some other team. But DH affords more flexibility with Pete at 1B.
    McNeil: I’m pulling the plug. If he re-blossoms on some other team, good for him.
    Conforto: played his way to oblivion. Wish him well.
    Cano: never again.

    Pitching:
    Keep them all… Cohen can afford it. (Keep Jeremy Hefner).
    FAs will get less money this year in general. Baseball attendance way down.

  • Name

    I know it’s a little early to do a post-mortem, but looking back i would pinpoint the turning point of the season to be the Pirates game right before the all star game that Diaz blew. Everything just felt downhill after that.

    • Metsense

      The hitting is atrocious this year. In 2020 it was very good. They shouldn’t have fired Davis.
      Alderson/Scott obtained the depth on the roster that made the Mets a first-place team 2/3 of the year despite the injuries.
      Alderson/Scott are responsible for the trading deadline and the draft.
      With Cohen’s money it can be fixed but the spending should be done buy a new dynamic president of baseball operations.

  • TJ

    I agree with Name that, despite tremendous disappointment and under-achievement (again!), it is still too early to do a post-mortem. There is still a possibility, however diminished, that the Mets take advantage of a soft bunch of games coming up and close the gap. That would at least provide some entertainment/excitement for a month or so.

    I also agree with Chris F in that Pythagoras was no dummy, and that despite what may occur over the next 37 games, that run differential is a big problem and a big problem going forward into 2022 and beyond. Not only is it run differential, it is in the sheer number of non-competitive offensive innings. Not only is it brutal to watch, it places undo stress on the pitching…the Met staff has to lead the league in high stress innings…Megill was already stressed out of his mind at 3-0 last night.

    Pitching is always the priority, but this team’s hitting is woeful and just cannot be written off. The first competition is the Braves, who are elite with the sticks even without Acuna. When healthy, they are a top 5 team still on the rise…these guys lose in the playoffs (growing pains?) but win every year. For 2022, the Met brass needs to build a 10-15 rank offense to compete, be it through additions, subtractions, philosophical changes, and/or a combination of all above.

  • Woodrow

    So do we sell low on McNeil and Smith and let Conforto walk?McNeil and Dom aren’t going to bring much back after this season. JD will bring back even less. Bite the bullet,keep them and hope they bounce back? I say keep an open mind on Vientos and Baty. They might be two good bats for 3B and LF. I can see McNeil and Smith being traded and then McNeil leading his league in hitting and Smith hitting 20 homers and being a leader on a contending team!

    • Mike W

      McNeill has trended down for the last few years and Dom is subpar. Look at what they contributed to the team this year. They stunk. Need to be replaced.

      Ok, time to sign free agents.

      Schwarber LF
      Castellanos RF
      Bryant 3B
      Syndergaard SP (QO)
      Scherzer

      Go big or go home. Stevie is going to go big and blow past the cap.

      • Woodrow

        Lindor? Sometimes $ don’t buy happiness.

  • Woodrow

    Good idea,put Lindor back in the TWO spot, the most important spot in a batting order according to most analytics. Remember,back when Cano stayed in the three spot despite hitting near the Mendoza Line?

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