Mr. Praline: ‘E’s not pinin’! ‘E’s passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! ‘E’s expired and gone to meet ‘is maker! ‘E’s a stiff! Bereft of life, ‘e rests in peace! If you hadn’t nailed ‘im to the perch ‘e’d be pushing up the daisies! ‘Is metabolic processes are now ‘istory! ‘E’s off the twig! ‘E’s kicked the bucket, ‘e’s shuffled off ‘is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisible!! This is an ex-parrot!!!
In a way, it was hard not to think of Monty Pythons’ dead parrot sketch when it comes to my favorite player, David Wright, and the reaction of Mets’ personnel to the latest news. Pay no attention to Lenny Dykstra or Don Mattingly because another week of rest and he’ll be ready to resume baseball activities.
To be fair, spinal stenosis is not a one diagnosis fits all disease. Just because it ended Dyskstra’s career does not mean it’ll do the same thing to Wright. It’s entirely possible that extended rest will be the cure and Wright will be back after the All-Star break. It just feels like the medical staff is reverting back to pre-Sandy Alderson days, where nothing is ever serious until the player has been gone for months.
We should be getting Carlos Delgado back annnny day now.
Meanwhile, it’s okay for fans to be hysterical and depressed now over the latest Wright news. But Alderson and his staff have to come up with a plan of what to do in both the short-term and long-term if Wright is not coming back.
MetsBlog announced that with Eric Campbell – Wright’s current replacement – in an 0-19 slump, that the Mets would bench him and play Ruben Tejada at third base. Earlier this season, Tejada made his first-ever start at third and played pretty well, making a couple of nice plays in the field. And Tejada homered Saturday, so why not get him in there again?
In the short-term, playing Tejada is likely the most-reasonable option the team has. Campbell has yet to display the ability to perform well for more than a week at a time, Daniel Muno looked overmatched in his brief callup earlier this season, Matt Reynolds has a .755 OPS in Las Vegas, where the team as a whole has an .835 mark. And that includes pitchers.
But why on earth would you play Tejada at third base? That is, unless you subscribe to the theory that anytime you can play three guys out of position on the infield, you’ve got to do it. Wouldn’t a more pitcher-friendly alignment be Wilmer Flores at 2B, Tejada at SS and Daniel Murphy at 3B? Is Flores’ confidence so low that he’ll view any move off SS as a threat?
Flores doesn’t have much of a major league track record to examine. But it may be worth noting that at his limited time at 2B, he has an .868 OPS with 10 extra-base hits in 72 PA. Compare that to his .641 OPS while playing SS. It may not mean anything. But it’s certainly not a ringing endorsement to play him at SS when the team could easily make a spot available for him at 2B.
Murphy came up as a third baseman and while he’s no threat to win the Gold Glove Award at the position, he’s better suited to play the hot corner than he is to play in the middle infield. If nothing else, at least he’s supposed to charge bunts while playing third. And while perhaps falling in the category of damning with faint praise, Tejada is the best shortstop on the roster.
It seems clear to me that this is the best short-term option. And it gives the Mets a chance to see that if in a worst-case scenario where Wright’s career is over that Murphy can be his replacement.
It’s no fun to consider such a thing. The dream has always been for Wright to finish his career with the Mets like John Elway in Denver, with a couple of championships at the end of the road as a reward for all he did for the franchise earlier in his career. Shoot, I’m still clinging to that vision.
But at the very least, Alderson has to consider life for the Mets without Wright.
Murphy got off to a horrible start this year and for the season, he has a .690 OPS, a mark which can only be described as un-Murphy like. But in his last 26 games, he has a .333/.373/.469 slash mark. That might be a little above where we would expect him to be but certainly that is closer to his expected output than what he did the first three weeks of the season.
Right now, 22 third basemen in the game qualify for the FanGraphs leaderboards. In the middle of the pack is Pablo Sandoval and his .753 OPS, which ranks 11. You may have heard that Sandoval signed a big free agent contract in the offseason. Yes, Sandoval is underperforming. Still the point is that it’s not going to be easy to bring in a guy to give league offense at the position and the Mets have one sitting under their nose. Or two, considering that Dilson Herrera should be back at some point to play second and Flores could slide over and play third.
The Mets should use this period while Wright is going to be out to play someone at the position who could be his eventual replacement, should that need exist for next season. Flores would definitely be cheaper in 2016. Murphy likely would be better.
There’s just no way to justify playing Tejada at third base. And for his sake, this shouldn’t be a one-game spot start and then back to the bench. Campbell has a lifetime .655 OPS (and sinking) in the majors and it’s painful to watch him throw across the diamond. Tejada has a lifetime .645 OPS and is the team’s best shortstop. Let him play that position until/unless the club pulls the trigger on a deal for a better option.
And give Flores or Murphy a tryout at third for the remainder of time that Wright is shelved.
Absolutely 100% spot on.
How about a worse case scenario. Wright is out until August. I understand Alderson is biding his time in the hopes Wright comes back sooner than later. But will he do a knee-jerk reaction if Wright is out for 2 more additional months? If he doesn’t do something another lost season. How is it that the Cardinals can overcome the lost of their ace Wainwright but the Met’s fall to pieces after losing their leader?
Because there is no leader on the Mets. Even Wright was only now trying to be that because Cuddyer is around to help. The worse thing is that this team is waiting for others to come via health or trade to save it; they feel sorry for themselves. It’s a pathetic state of mind.
+1 Gus. Starts with ownership and trickles down. Very contagious. Just like good hitting!
Thank you Brian, I agree 100 percent. As for Flores confidence at short, it is clear it is already at zero percent, which is a positive as it shows he is not delusional. He knows what everyone except Sandy and Terry know.
He can’t play the position.
For all the bashing about how terrible the defense is, they don’t rate that badly on any of the defensive metrics. Maybe the majority of the teams has crappy fielding these days and our standards are too high…
UZR : 1.2 UZR, 14th/30
Rtot : -2, 15th/30
Rdrs: 8, 10th/30
Not sure they are terribly reliable at this point, but it is something to look at.
Short term – bring up herrera to play second and move Murph to 3rd.
Long term – trade deGrom for Castro and Murph for Aoki. Move Flores to 3rd.
Castro is not a better defender than Flores is.
Castro is not a better defender than Flores? are you kidding? Have you watched Flores play SS this year? Remember when the goal was that Flores could play SS like Peralta? Did you watch any of the Cards/Mets games? Peralta was a ML shortstop. Flores, unfortunately, is not.
Advanced numbers do not lie.
Castro has a career -30 DRS (-4 in 2015). -16.6 UZR (-2.1 this season). Has exactly 1 season where those were in the positive (2012).
I watch plenty of games. Everyone thinks Castro is a great defender, but he really is no better than Flores.
Russell is the best SS on that team, but they keep rolling him out at 2nd to keep Castro’s trade value high.
Have to disagree. Castro while flighty has clearly more range than Wilmer and probably a better arm. Castro is definitely the better fielder.
And as for Brian’s article I totally agree that you should never have Tejada in the lineup if he’s not playing SS.
I’d be more worried about winning games than bruising Flores’ ego.
Herrera is o n the DL
You guys make me laugh. You blow hot and cold based soley on what happened that day. I realize overreaction is the life blood of most blog sights. What the Mets need is increased offensive production, no matter where it comes from. Tejada or Campbell at third? It doesn’t make much difference.
Eric, Campbell had solid spring, terrible time in NY, hit over .400 at AAA and has come back and been awful again. I just don’t know if he is the answer, in spite of the small sample.
I don’t think Eric Campbell is a Major League Player. He can’t field; a liability anywhere on the field. And the bat is not that good.
If Japan calls, he should go for it.
My dad has lumbar spinal stenosis, so I’ve gotten to see a bit of it first hand. In his case the pain is real, persistent, and chronic. It has limited his life for sure, and one of the big things outwardly we see is his dramatic slowing down. In Wrights case, it’s hard to believe that His diagnosis will magically heal after another week…has had this for a long time now. There is a surgical procedure that has 70+% success for essentially curing stenosis, but in my dads case it didn’t work. The surgery is quick as is the rehab. However, I think it’s safe to plan to not have Wright until August or September, if at all this year. Alderson would be silly to wait this out. It’s pretty sad, or maybe ironic, that the only person with everyday potential for the infield is Duda. What a difference a year makes. It also will drive up his negotiating value. Without Duda, we might already be behind the Braves.
Chris, that is sad to hear, but sobering. I wonder if the Mets insurance covers his contract, or if that means legal wars and legal fees that make it prohibitive to fight….
How about…
Call up Matt Reynolds and put Wilmer back at his natural position (?) of third base?
Murph back at 2nd.
I do not know if Reynolds is a solid enough defender at SS, but this is time to find out.
I think that David’s historical numbers declination point to possible retirement. Back issues are chronic and difficult to overcome. We now need to think about life after David. I hope I am wrong.
Brian,
“Game Chatter” might have a bit more “chatter” and quite a bit more “game” after this article!
It was a good read.
You make too much sense and if the Mets didn’t have an imbecile as the manager, it would make sense to him too. But as a Mets fan, I have been beaten into submission and thereby cannot expect anything from this team except failure.
The Mets GM must act — boldly, decisively, intelligently.
I’m not optimistic.