30
2011
Five Quick Fixes The Mets Need To Make NOW
An article by 
We can cry all we want about the latest two losses or we can be proactive and learn from them. I would rather take the high road and implement a few improvements rather than sitting back and pointing fingers and looking for blame. Here are a few fixes that need to be implemented with due haste.
1. David Wright Out As #3 Hitter - Yes it’s hard to fathom and it may come as a big shock to some of you, but at some point you have to ask yourself what your priorities are; winning or keeping up appearances? Wright has failed to deliver while batting in a key position in the lineup and being afforded the best protection the team has hitting behind him. He has always been a worse hitter in the later innings throughout his career and it’s tough to mount any late inning comebacks when your #3 hitter is at his worst rather than his best. He has shrunk under pressure on countless occasions and it’s time to see what someone else can do in his stead.
2. Move Up Ike Davis – It might be too early for this, but it’s worth the gamble to try and find out. So far Ike has performed at an MVP level while being protected by the likes of Jason Pridie, Brad Emaus and Willie Harris. Time to see what he can do with Beltran or Bay hitting behind him. I suggest a 3-4-5-6 that looks like this against RHP: Ike Davis, Carlos Beltran, Jason Bay, David Wright, and this configuration against LHP: Carlos Beltran, David Wright, Ike Davis, Jason Bay.
3. Farm Out Mike Pelfrey – I mentioned it in my previous post, and the more I think about it the better the idea sounds to me. It may be our one last chance to try and salvage what could still be a good major league career. Pelfrey was rushed to the majors to begin with and was never afforded the care and nurturing one would expect a first round pick to get. He was forced into developing his skills at the major league level and has been unmercifully punished for it by NL East foes who relish the chance to face him. Send him down for a month and get him back on track before his entire career becomes derailed.
4. Get Gee Into The Rotation – Yes, he was rocked hard last night as Ryan Howard’s grand gesture would attest, but one could hardly fault him for trying to do something he had never done before which is to work out of the bullpen. He was setup to fail. Give him a shot at redemption in the rotation where quite frankly he should have been all along. We didn’t need to sign Capuano as a fifth starter, we already had one in Dillon Gee as last September showed.
5. Cut Hairston When Pagan Comes Back – Hairston has already left a bad taste in my mouth and all the spitting in the world cant get rid of it. When Angel Pagan is activated from the DL, keep Jason Pridie as your Endy-Chavez-Type fourth outfielder, and kick Scott Hairston to the curb. We already knew Pride was one of the best defensive outfielders in the system, but we’ve now learned he has surprising pop in his bat like Endy did.
Those five fixes should be no-brainers for the brain-trust running the Mets right now and hopefully they can move swiftly on them and not waste anymore time.
There will be more changes along the way – good teams adjust all season long and no team ever finishes the season with the same group they started with.
One more thing…
Looking down the road, it’s clear that the Mets second base situation is as muddy as it ever was last season. The front office should be on a mission looking for a viable solution until this issue is resolved. Daniel Murphy is a tremendous talent but ill suited for everyday second base duty. Minor league options are few and still years away. If we could simply put second base in more capable hands and use Murphy off the bench in a super-utility role it significantly upgrades what is now a terrible bench. Fix second base and do it now while there’s still a chance for this team to play meaningful baseball.
We still have PLENTY of baseball season left folks. Make adjustments along the way and strive for improvement at every junction. The old adage of “Rome wasn’t built in a day” applies. Don’t throw away this season. Continue to test all options and don’t be afraid to give a younger talent an opportunity to show he belongs. Try and compete and play to win, but also try new things and evaluate along the way so you set yourself up for a brighter tomorrow.
I hate when I hear fans simplify this season as either a rebuilding year or a playoff driven year. Why cant we be both? At the same time?
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 28 | .600 | - |
| Nationals | 34 | 35 | .493 | 7.5 |
| Phillies | 34 | 37 | .479 | 8.5 |
| Mets | 25 | 40 | .385 | 14.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 47 | .319 | 19.5 |
Last updated: 06/18/2013
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I guess you have to define what rebuild means to each individual. To me allowing players the time to grow and develop down in the minors rather than bringing them up now to try and win only because there is no better MLB alternative is a sign of rebuilding to me at least.
Not having what some describe as a fire-sale and trading away a Wright or Reyes for example is a sign of trying to compete for the playoffs in my opinion.
I may be wrong but i see both being attempted a rebuilding year and a playoff driven year as much as can be expected all things considered.
Wright is far from perfect but still the best player qualified to be our three hitter. You have no idea what you’re talking about.
What have you been watching the last few years, it certainly hasn’t been Mets games. Unbelievable blind statements like this still have incredible shock value to me.
Joe D is 100% correct and I’ve been saying it for a couple weeks already – David Wright I think is more suited hitting 6th, less pressure, less spotlight – i think he would do well there. The guy has proven to be unreliable in big spots his entire career. Don’t know what the hell you’re watching.
Beltran or Davis for 3 spot. And YES i want to make these moves with the intent of WINNING now. This team is good enough, just have to get more pitching.
Bayonne, you’re 100% correct, of course, obviously it’s pitching; perhaps the single biggest flaw in the Wilpon game plan; supplementing servicable pitching ewith a stadium insted of upgraded personnel. too bad they forgot dstadiums aren’t portable.
I also want to address JoeD’s lineup suggestions as I believe his shoews a specific flaw in not considering the similarity of hitters Bay & Wright are as ultimate streakers. Torrid HOT; or ICEBERG cold, little bewtween I’ve a concern for those cold spells having 2 such outs adjacent in the order and belive however, a lineup contructed as;
REYES
MURPHY
BELTRAN
DAVIS
WRIGHT
PAGAN
BAY
THOLE
P
Just might be the LONGEST against both L & RHPing esp should Pagan return to form upon his return. This returns both Beltran & Wright to their most familiar #3 & $5 slots, respectively, where they’ve experienced success in the past. One of my only alterations may be batting Paulino behind Wright Vs. LHPing & if Pagan HAS bounced out of his slump moving him into #2 hole with Murph sliding down to #7. Just asuggestion; however, this team has yet to show me the stablized wherewithall to warrant set spots for situations. The entire lineup seems streaky; but that may be a result of 2 such important contributors as Bay & Wright defining that claasification.
Au contraire. Finally someone talking about clutch hitting. Wright has been found wanting. Pops
No, YOU have no idea what you’re talking about. Wright is still the best player qualified to be our #3 hitter? Are you on crack? You do know Wright is hitting .238 in one of the most important spots in the lineup, right? That is UNACCEPTABLE for someone in that spot. I’ve said this for weeks (along with Mets Maniac): If anyone is best qualified right now to hit 3rd, it’s Ike Davis. The man who’s currently hitting 114 points HIGHER than Wright. If you really want this team to win, please stop giving Wright special treatment.
While I agree that Scott Hairston is awful I really don’t see that Willie Harris is any better. Once Hairston is gone – or perhaps even before that – I’d like to see Willie shown the door.
Regarding Wright I agree his slump has gone on for far too long and it needs to be addressed. Wright either needs a day off or moved in the lineup to help him get his swing back cause over the last 13 games Wright is hitting .163/BA (8 Hits 49 At Bats). Far worse that what Wright was hitting over his 1st 13 games which was .308/BA (16 Hits 52 At Bats).
OK Joe, here we go:
1. Leave David Wright alone – he’s been here a long time and can rest on his laurels so to speak. Sure he has his ups and downs, but look what the Cashman big mouth has done to Derek across town. Let these superstars play – believe me, they know themselves better than we do.
2. Ike is new here and is making his way around the place. So far, so good, let’s move him up – I remember his first day here – he walked out to first base and played the game properly. This guy is a gift from heaven for our team.
3. Feel free to throw out Mike Pelfrey, not just mess around with him – he’s had his share of ‘chances’ but is not cooperative at all and wants to be babied. Send him elsewhere.
4. Send Gee into the bullpen for a couple of tries – if that fails, let him replace Pelfrey.
5. Bring out the Welcome Mat for Pagan and hope he is here to use it — soon.
PS. Put PA Dickey in charge of the team meetings – he’s got the makings of a real leader here.
Wright is too streaky for a 3 hitter. I leave Ike where he is, he is comfortable and developing his hitting. He has made some necessary changes. I would not thrust him into the 3 spot now. I might move Wright to 5. It really isn’t a question of protection for Wright. He showed excellent plate discipline as a rookie. He got the pitches he wanted to hit by showing patience. now he looks confused a good deal of the time. His hot and cold hitting is not conducive to batting third. I would let Bay bat cleanup for now. Mets do not have a cleanup hitter, frankly. Closest thing is probably Beltran three years ago, but you cannot bat Bay third either.
I truly believe Ike Davis has the potential to be an awesome 4 hitter. Lets put him there and Beltran in the 3 hole. Wright should be batting 5th (this is where he had some of his best seasons as a Met). Anyone else rather have Nick Evans in left field instead of Bay, Hairston, or Harris?
again, clutch hitting is random, forget about it.
Martin, don’t wake up the sleepers who don’t want to be disturbed. The “Do Not Disturb” sign is on their doors.
Joe stole my thunder on the David Wright thing as I was planning a more extensive post about this issue. But there is absolutely no doubt that David is NOT a three-hole hitter and has really never been ideal for that spot. His best spot should be in the five hole. The problem with the Mets has been that aside from Carlos Delgado, they haven’t had a good fit for the clean-up spot in years. Beltran is also miscast in the cleanup spot right now.
The lineup could be one of two scenarios:
1. Reyes
2. Pagan
3. Beltran
4. Bay
5. Wright
6. Davis
7. Murphy
8. Thole
1. Reyes
2. Beltran
3. Davis
4. Bay
5. Wright
6. Pagan
7. Murphy
8. Thole
or possibly
1. Reyes
2. Wright
3. Beltran
4. Bay
5. Davis
6. Pagan
7. Murphy
8. Thole
Let’s do it.
REALLY like the 2nd one!
Something went wrong at some point with Wrights approach to hitting. He used to hit line drives in the right field gap all the time. No more! When the pressures on late in games Wright gets an apple so big in his throat its surprising he doesn’t choke to death at home plate. I want to love him as a Met fan but he is a choker. He cannot handle pressure. I thing there is a 25& chance that Sandy will trade him for other talent. It would shake up the fan base but thats what the Mets need.
Davis was awful today, particularly fouling out with one out and a man on third. Hold up the accolades for a while. Pops
You don’t judge a player based on one day jerkwad.
I love David Wright but I have to admit it may be time for a change. If batting 5th or 6th would take the pressure off David, then I am all for it. Especially If Ike Davis continues to hit in the 3 spot. I know I might be crazy but I ok with giving Daniel Murphy more time at second base.He is a clutch hitter and a good bat. We can take him out in late innings for a defensive replacement. Especially if we have the lead. Yes we need more pitching except for the Phillies who dosen’t. If we can find some so be it. I do think this team can compete. They better, they owe Met Fans at least that. Give us a season that we want to remember. If there are empty seats at Citi-Field then lower ticket prices please. Its hard to watch a team that chokes every year. The Mets invented the most crazy ways to lose. They lead the League in this catagory. Just ask any long suffering Met Fan. Someone has got to light a fire under these guys. They have got to start to hate losing. It can be done. Please please please stop choking in Atlanta!!! Go Mets I’m crazy but I still love my team. John King
Wright has been bad overall this yr. But he hasn’t really even been that “unclutch”.
He’s hitting .280 with RISP and .273 in “close and late” situations. Your dealing with small sample sizes in virtually every split type stat at this point in the season, and one hit can drastically alter the results of the stats, but Wright hasn’t been killing the team in the clutch. And its not like he’s living a village on the basepaths and nobody else on the team is getting chances to drive in runs. Beltran and Davis have just as many AB with RISP as Wright….so the chances have been there for everyone to drive in runs regardless of where they hit.
I am not against shaking up the lineup, but I think people way overrate the importance of lineup order. I don’t think jumbling up a few of the guys in the middle of the order is going to make much of a difference
Why drop Harriston when you can just drop Harris who sucks. Also Wright is the best hitter on the team why drop him all the way to 6th in the line-up against RHP. Also sending Pelfrey to the minor league will not fix him. He was rushed up but already been in the majors for a couple of years. Pelfrey is just not an ace. At best Pelfrey is a number 4 or 5 and that is all he will be. I agree start Gee and get rid of Pelfrey or Capuano. Mets SP just stinks.
Why not dump Harris AND Hairston, cause they BOTH suck? Thanks Sandy.
I agree with every single thing in this post except the words concerning Murphy. No major league ready guy is a plus fielder, so put the guy with the plus bat in the lineup EVERYDAY! I hate platoons. You’re either a regular or a bench guy. But otherwise, this is a great post. Wright and his 200 strikeout pace should be no higher than 4th in the lineup. I’d bat him 6th with Beltran Ike and Bay in front of him. I’d keep Murph in the 2 until Pagan regains his stroke. Then they can flip flop. Gee should get Pelfrey’s spot while he takes a sabbatical at Buffalo. Promote Misch or whomever. But it’s horrifying that we’re stunting Gee’s development.
Our bench is putrid, but Harris seems slightly more versatile and an overall better ball player so Hairston should be gone first. But here’s a question- where is Nick Evans?? A bench of Hu, Paulino, Pridie, Harris and Evans gives a much better balance of power and positional coverage. But most of all it would have more young guys trying to prove themselves and not over the hill vets that are just collecting a check. Seems like the Mets learned very lil from last year.
Dude, check your facts. If you were to look at Evans’ stats at Buffalo this year you would see that he is lost at the plate. He can’t seem to hit righties, which is rather important. I like the guy too but can we at least wait until he discovers how to hit again before bringing him to the Mets?
The facts I checked day that losing teams don’t need veteran flotsam and jetsam. Play the youth, let’s them get big league experience. We’re not winning with vets. I’d rather see some young energy.
I think Harris will be released before Hairston for two reasons: 1) Harris and Pridie are both lefties bats with similar skillsets. 2) As awful as Hairston has been this year, he has a better career track record than Willie Harris and has more potential to get past his current slump. Willie Harris’ offensive numbers thus far are pretty much on par with his career stats while his defense has not been stellar.
I can’t say I agree with a single thing you wrote here. Most of them would have no effect on the team whatsoever, the others would harm the team. Calling them “no-brainers” is just idiotic and condescending- you thought of these half-brained cockeyed alterations, so they must be the obvious thing to do? Not so much.
1. Wright’s not clutch/Change the batting order- Advanced metrics have shown fairly conclusively that: a. Clutch is random, hitters will hit at about the same rate in any given situation given enough plate appearances; and b. Batting orders have little to no effect on results. Net effect- none.
2. Move up Ike- Even if we ignore the unabashed hypocrisy- that batting 3rd is a negative with pressure for Wright but a positive with protection for Ike, and that Wright is now some form of protection when just moments ago with fix #1 he was a replacement-level 6 hitter- we still deal with the fact that batting order has no effect. Net effect- at best nothing, at worst puts more pressure on Ike ruining him.
3. Sending down Pelfrey- Because the one thing a pitcher with obvious confidence issues needs is a demotion. Net effect- ruins the best homegrown pitcher since ??? and destroying any trade value he may have.
4. Put Gee in the Rotation- That’s fine, assuming you disagree with everything statistics have shown. Gee is a borderline 5th starter for a reason- he’s not good. He’s gotten lucky. Pulling out a pitcher who has shown legitimate potential for one who has shown his peak isn’t an improvement. He’s at best 75% as good as Pelfrey. Net effect- 75% of 20% of games= loss of 8 games.
5. Cut Hairston when Pagan comes back- Well when Pagan comes back and the Mets actually have Bay-Pagan-Beltran for longer than 1 game, how relevent will the 5th outfielder really be? Net effect- none.
So your five “no-brainer” fixes would cost the Mets 8 games, Mike Pelfrey/whatever they might get for Pelfrey in a trade, and potentially Ike Davis, and gain them nothing. Sounds great!
Oh and then there’s the clincher- “Fix second base and do it now while there’s still a chance for this team to play meaningful baseball.”
I can see it now. Alderson calls Ricco, Ricciardi, and DePodesta into his office- “Guys, I just read online, here’s an idea. Let’s try to fix second base! Let’s just do it now! Let’s fix it!” HOW?!?!?!? This isn’t a video game. You can’t just “create-a-player” because you don’t have one. If there was a solution, don’t you think someone would’ve done it?
This is the only well thought out comment here.
Far too much knee-jerk reaction with little analysis elsewhere. The next no-brainer will be trade Jose Reyes for a bag of chips because his hair is distracting. Also, we should immediately cut Carlos Beltran because his attitude harms the team. Finally, let’s sign Jason Bay for 4 more years since we’re 6-3 since his return.
Don’t get me wrong – there are things to fix, but I’ll leave it to Sandy, et al. rather than all of us who are letting the pain of a 3 game losing streak and 11-16 get us emotional. (note – were this still the Omar / Tony regime, this group would have better ideas than the FO).
Lol at that post being well thought out. Simple fact. Since Dillon Gee was called last year he’s been the best starter we have. Sad but true. No reason at all we should be stunting his development in the pen. Cuz that worked great for Mejia last year.
One thing about the “Simple fact” that Gee has “been the best starter we have.” It would be a fascinating fact, if it held any truth. His peripheral stats aren’t particularly good, of his 7 starts 3 have come against the horrendous Diamondbacks, Pirates, and Nationals. He’s nice organizational depth and a decent 5th starter, and nothing more. I would tend to guess he would not hold a rotation spot on 20-25 teams. Just this season alone he has a worse ERA than Niese or Dickey, worse K/BB than Capuano, worse WHIP than Young, worse HR/9 than Pelfrey. So yea, I thought this out.
I agree that Wright should be taken out of the #3 spot and drop him to #5 or #6 and have either Ike or Beltran bat #3. I also agree with sending Pelfrey to the minors and having a different pitching coach work with him and could possibly tweak his sinker or fastball because I really don’t trust Warthen. Reference to cutting Hairston when Pagan gets back I don’t see that happening just because they still need a righty bat in the bench. I would cut Harris and keep Pridie then if Hairston continues his struggles I would cut him and bring up Nick Evan.My lineup would be:
1 Reyes
2.Pagan
3. Ike
4. Beltran
5. Bay or Wright
6. Wright or Bay
7. Murphy
8. Thole
9. Pitcher
All of the above makes some sense, but to me the biggest problem has yet to be addressed.
Why in the world is Hu still on the roster ??? He serves no practical purpose other than
the occasional pinch runner. We don’t have to take up a roster spot with a guy that can’t
hit worth a damn . He should be replaced with someone that can hit at least .200, preferably
with a little pop in his bat. Is it so hard to find a suitable replacement ??????