The Mets are “nowhere near done” according to a NY Post article this week. Let’s hope the unnamed source who provided that juicy quote knows what they’re talking about. Despite recently learning that Mets ownership would change for the better, that we’d save millions on Yoenis Cespedes‘ contract, and that our division rivals have been stockpiling free agent talent, the Mets seem to be punting on the off-season, at least so far.
The Mets clearly have a nice core of talent. How else do you explain just missing the playoffs last year despite a terrible bullpen, porous defense and a tough division? With even an average bullpen, the Mets would have won more than 90 games last year and made the playoffs. The roster needs heading into this offseason included a center fielder, a strong backup catcher, and rotation depth. But more important than all those needs combined was revamping a bullpen that sabotaged our 2019 season.
So far, we resigned Brad Brach, who is, at best, a serviceable one-inning arm to occasionally get you through the 7th inning. We also brought in, on a minors deal, the former Yankee lefty Chasen Shreve, who hasn’t been good in several years. These two will compete with maybe a healthy Drew Smith, maybe Michael Wacha (if he and the other five starters are all healthy and don’t get traded) and all the same awful arms from last year for the backend spots. You know the names – Jacob Rhame, Tyler Bashlor, Daniel Zamora, Paul Sewald, et al. But it’s not the backend that needs help.
Sure, we can hope the 2020 baseballs have raised seems again and our new pitching coach. Jeremy Heffner will notice fixable mechanical flaws so that Edwin Diaz, Jeurys Familia and Robert Gsellman can all rediscover their sliders, control and confidence. We can also hope that Seth Lugo‘s arm stays intact and that Justin Wilson can survive the abuse of being the only lefty in the bullpen. Or, here’s an idea, we could sign a few legitimate arms to bolster the team’s glaring weakness so we can compete in 2020.
This year’s free agent class may not have included any of the top closers in baseball, but it featured plenty of arms that could have helped us upgrade our relief corps. The division rival Braves pounced quickly, locking up two of the best ones in Will Smith and Chris Martin. Drew Pomeranz, Blake Treinen, Joe Smith, Sergio Romo, Darren O’Day, Jake Diekman and others have since signed on with teams not playing in Queens. There are still a few good ones left – Dellin Betances, Will Harris, Daniel Hudson, Steve Cishek, Collin McHugh, and several others – but at this point it’s like trying to do all your Christmas shopping this weekend. The shelves are getting bare and there will be stiff competition for those last few toys.
This holiday season, when one of your relatives boasts of the Yankees getting an ace or the Phillies stealing our starting pitcher or the Braves gobbling up all the good relievers, remind them – we got fourth place locked up, and nobody can take that away from us – not you and not the Marlins.
Takeaways
1. The Mets are ignoring their biggest need and seemingly sitting out the off-season
2. Brodie Van Wagenen has money to spend, we think.
3. There are still a few good bullpen arms available, but not for long.
The Nats had a similar season to the Mets in 2019…caught fire and rode Magic all the Way. They’ve lost their best player. They have a thin bench.
The Phils have done a very nice job with adding Wheeler and Didi…a strong return by Cutch would be huge. Lots to prove as far as the pitching
The Braves?…wow young Talent…do they pay Donaldson??? They’ve lost 175 Innings…or maybe he was a hole in the rotation. The Braves have innings to Fill
The Met’s should keep lots of Dry Powder for Spring thru Mid Season Trades. I don’t think there’s much separating the NL East Teams going into January. Lowrie and Ces represent tremendous Upside, even as guys who aren’t in “Plans” for 2020. Healthy, they may be great trade stock for a post winter trade or prospect gather….. or they could be Mets contributors.
You cannot solve a team in Hot Stove. The Mets are in very solid position and should be in No Hurry. The Market and their Roster situation will develop in their favor.
It always scares me when I agree with Eraff.
One thing that we don’t consider when it comes to the Braves is that they exceeded their Pythagorean Win total by six games, which is pretty big. The Rockies finished six games over Pythagoras in 2018. Last year their actual win total exactly matched Pythagoras. In 2017, no team finished six games over. The Royals were 8 games over and in 2018 they finished four games worse than their Pythagorean record. In 2016, the Yankees finished 5 games over Pythagoras. In 2017, they were nine games worse than Pythagoras.
I’m going to basically agree with Eraff as well. As a Met fan, it is right to be concerned given what they have done vs the NL East, but this is clearly a view of “so far”. The key at this point is being “well-positioned”. There is essentially nothing they can do this offseason that would jettison them to NL East favorites in a division with the defending World Series Champs as well as a two-time division champ loaded with young talent. But, they have hung close, still have room to improve, and haven’t made any glaring mistakes yet. I will remain both skeptical but cautiously optimistic at the same time. With the Cespedes wildcard, I’d still prefer more pitching over more hitting, but every net improvement counts.
Matt, you may right, you may not be. As biased Mets fans, we hope that we can catch a few breaks This year, but the mid August sweeps in New York by the Braves and the Cubs still sting. At a time when the Mets were rolling, these two teams came into the Mets’ house, stole their food and their women and the Mets didn’t even say a word.
When the Braves play the Mets, I always seem to feel Albies’ and Acuna’s energy level seemingly overpowering us. Whether a steal or a blast, they always seem to be a thorn. The Nationals have Trea Turner. Can Rosario be that? Will they let him or keep batting him eighth?
Part of the Mets problem is the politics of the Front Office and the Coupons, such as the Cano bats 3rd BS. You don’t think that costs a few wins too? Then there’s Callaway: nice guy, not ready. Is Beltran?
Our shortstop
HR R RBI BA OBP SB
15 75 72 .287 .323 19
Another shortstop
32 101 74 .284 .335 22
and our guy batted 8th.
The other guys isn’t worth trading for. I like what we already have.
I’m a big proponent of fluid lineups. Set the order based on who is hot/cold as well as who’s pitching against us. Smart managers make adjustments to maximize talent.