There’s an old saying that even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. If you’ve never heard that one before, it means that you can be incompetent and sometimes be right just by chance. If only that idiom applied to the Mets. With trades and such, they’ve had to promote a bunch of Quad-A types and play them since the trade deadline. You’d think that one of them would put up a few good PAs just by luck. But you’d be wrong. Here’s what those players have done in August:
Danny Mendick – 16 PA, .688 OPS
DJ Stewart – 16 PA, .683 OPS
Abraham Almonte – 7 PA, .619 OPS
Rafael Ortega – 27 PA, .499 OPS
Jonathan Arauz – 14 PA, .368 OPS
Mark Vientos – 31 PA, .329 OPS
For the record, they’ve all been better than Brett Baty (.217) and Starling Marte (.000) but that’s certainly a case of damning with faint praise. Still, you’d think that among six guys with PA ranging from 7-31 that one of them would have a .700 OPS just by chance. And not that a .700 OPS is all that special – it’s not even a 100 OPS+.
Either three or four of these guys are in the lineup every night, which helps explain how in a period where both Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor are surging – and Jeff McNeil is showing signs of life – that the Mets have scored just 31 runs in nine games. And that’s with an 11-run outburst in one night. So, in eight games this month, the Mets have combined for 20 runs.
It’s tough to watch.
In a way, it’s not much different from the results from the option relievers. Although the hitting scrubs were forced into action while the relief scrubs were a plan from before the season started. Here are the option relievers that were signed/traded for before Opening Day and how they’ve performed this season with the Mets:
Jeff Brigham – 29.2 IP, 5.16 ERA
John Curtiss – 19.2 IP, 4.58 ERA
Jimmy Yacabonis – 10 IP, 8.10 ERA
Dennis Santana – 8.2 IP, 6.23 ERA
Denyi Reyes – 7.1 IP, 6.14 ERA
Edwin Uceta – 3.0 IP, 0.00 ERA
T.J. McFarland – 1.2 IP, 5.40 ERA
There were other relievers with options acquired before the season – Sam Coonrod, Elieser Hernandez, Stephen Ridings – who’ve yet to pitch a game for the Mets because of injuries. Maybe they were the stars of this plan. And Uceta is injured, too, which is why he has just three innings to his name. Still, that qualifies him for the blind nut – if you absolutely had to give one out.
The average MLB reliever has a 4.13 ERA this season. So, the five option relievers acquired for this plan who’ve thrown at least 5 IP – none has risen to the level of average. And that doesn’t even include the Tommy Hunters and Stephen Nogoseks who were already in the system but were part of the plan on Opening Day.
And it hasn’t been much better with guys acquired after Opening Day, either. Dominic Leone (4.40) and Trevor Gott (4.50) look good by comparison but are still below average. Reed Garrett (7.71) and Phil Bickford (12.46) fit right in.
The under-performance by the majority of the Mets’ lineup, along with pitching injuries and sub-par performances by the depth starters, are the main reasons for the Mets’ disappointing season. But it sure would be nice if a scrub stepped forward and gave the team an unexpected boost. Alas, there were no nuts accumulated this way.
What about everyone’s favorite kicking post, Tommy Pham? Surely he was the blind squirrel that found a barrel-full of nuts?
The Mets got lucky with Pham.
But in the blind squirrel category of the six hitters and first seven pitchers I mentioned, the highest-paid one was Danny Mendick at $1 million. Pham signed for a base of $6 million, so he’s not really comparable.
And for a final kick in the pants, while looking up how much the Mets signed Pham for, I found news that reminded me that the guy they cut to make room for him on the 40-man was Tayler Saucedo, who was supposed to be one of the option relievers. Saucedo signed with the Mariners and in 34.2 IP, has a 2.08 ERA.
part of the blind squirrel adage is based on a high sample number. Perhaps the n is insufficient in this. For example, Jeff McNeil can be banked on for a 4-3 ground out over 100s of PA, and then accidentally barrels one up and gets a HR. Thats an aweful lot of bad for the sheer moment of good.
This season has to rank among the top 5 bottom 5 Mets seasons ever….maybe even top 3 bottom. This article supplies the proof. Between money, injuries, underperformance, wow.
Interesting idea.
What’s the first year that would qualify as a disappointment? Maybe 1968? Metsense, what do you think? Certainly 1970. Maybe every year from 1970-1977 except ’73.
Then there’s the early 90s – Worst Team Money Can Buy era
2001
2017 & 2018
Does 2021 make the list?
The triple A reliever with options plan sounded idiotic even before Diaz went down. Not finding a #5 hitter in the off-season was another questionable non move. Finally Monday morning quarterbacking going with so many older and/or injury prone starters sure blew up in their faces. They’re not a very good team and even after getting all the prospects the farm system doesn’t look too good.
We really can’t be surprised. To start the year, the Mets put the same team on the field including not ponying up for a DH with Vogelbach. Look at the bullpen. The names you spit out in this post, makes your head spin. It is Fred Sanford driving up in his old truck with a bunch of junk relievers. Take out your star reliever who was a team leader, have your two aces show their age and what do you get? You get 2023.
This off season, they need to rebuild the bullpen and sign a couple of good starters and by all means get a good DH. They don’t have to go overboard in spending money. Maybe a couple of youngsters like Acuna and Tidwell come up next season and show us something.
I have no problem if the Mets see 2024 as a transition year as long as they make some smart move improvements. I don’t want to see the hacks that are on the field now.
Amen, Mike!