17
2012
These Mets Won’t Get It Done
An article by 
It’s all fun and games until the Mets find themselves a half a dozen games back in the division and fading. That’s certainly how it feels today as the Mets limp into DC with their season on the ropes. With six games against the NL East leading Washington Nationals over the next nine days, the Mets have to opportunity to claw their way back into the fight for the division, however it may be time to set our sights exclusively on the wild card. With 73 games to go that statement may seem unfair, but Mets fans may soon be faced with the reality that this current group of guys, despite their inspiring first half, simply don’t have what it takes this year. They need help..a lot of it..and fast!
Bear in mind as you read on that this isn’t a panic post. The sky isn’t falling after a three game sweep at the hands of the second place Atlanta Braves and despite the fact that the Mets haven’t exited the all-star break on the tear everyone had hoped, this isn’t meant to be the season’s eulogy. These are simply facts…
Entering the season the team’s starting rotation was their biggest question mark. For most of spring training the organization didn’t even posses five healthy major league ready starters. Fast forward three months and the situation looks eerily familiar. I don’t think anyone could envision the loss of Dillon Gee would loom so large, but the facts remain that the Mets only have three quality starters remaining and their first half heros, Dickey and Santana have been shaky at best lately. Chris Young can’t be trusted to pitch past the third inning and the Mets appear set to rush promising prospect, Matt Harvey, to the majors this weekend. While I fully believe that Dickey, Santana and Niese can lead the way, its unreasonable to expect much from the oft injured Chris Young and unfair to expect anything but mediocrity from Harvey as he settles in. Simply put, the Mets best asset for the first half of the season is now in flux, and that could spell disaster for the remainder of the 2012 campaign.
Now for some news everyone is well aware of, the organization’s attempt to renovate the bullpen for this season has failed miserably. While Frank Francisco and Tim Byrdak have been adequate, there is virtually no one else who can be trusted to give a quality outing. The remaining guys appear to be incapable of putting together a scoreless inning with regularity, and should the bullpen be responsible for more than an inning or two, the game just feels lost. The recent arrival of Josh Edgin has been a nice bump, but what the pen really needs is an overhaul, something which is nearly impossible to complete mid-season. Still, the Mets most glaring weakness must be addressed if the team is to remain in the hunt much longer. Worst in the big leagues thus far, they are exclusively responsible for the team being only three games over .500 at this point.
This is the point where we turn it over to the man with the plan. Its the plan which concerns me to be honest. Not in the sense that I think Sandy’s master plan is corrupt. I question his willingness to deviate from that plan. You see the Mets weren’t supposed to be this good, this quickly. The goal was to have this roster come together and be competitive next year at the earliest. As a result, not all the pieces are in place and it may be those pieces, the Jenrry Mejias and Matt Den Dekkers of the world, that have to be sacrificed if Sandy is to add the pieces necessary to keep this year’s team in contention. I’m not so sure he’s willing to risk the future for the present, which may implore him to make several uninspiring low risk, low reward acquisitions that may not be enough push things where they need to go.
How would you approach it? Its fun to play the fan, but if you truly ask yourself if this roster has the makeup of a world series team, what do you come up with? If I ask myself that question, I have to conclude that without multiple impact moves prior to the trade deadline, I see the Mets struggling to remain above .500. As the arms tire in the summer heat, the staff’s problems will go from bad to worse and the team will be forced to lean on its offense of youngsters who may too tire down the stretch. If Sandy does make the moves, if he sacrifices the future and compromises his master plan, will it be enough? Is a playoff birth alone enough to justify such a decision or will the Mets have to win in October as well? Its that uncertainty that I think ultimately forces Sandy to stay the course. The team isn’t one player away from greatness, they’re probably not three players away and ultimately, unfortunately they won’t get it done.
Follow me on Twitter at @RobPatterson83
About the Author: Rob Patterson
Ultimately, I owe nearly thirty years of Mets related torture to my mother, who is the reason I became a fan. I was too young to remember the 86 run, but hope to see one I'll be able to recall much sooner than later. I enjoy writing about the team and welcome your feedback on my posts. Oh..and I am not with 28!
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Here’s what I think… I think since the All-Star break, we as fans have had nothing but bad news.
Dickey doesn’t start, Gee’s terrible injury, then a 3 game sweep in Atlanta.
A week prior everybody (including me) was high as a kite as the Mets beat Papelbon.
This team has overcome adversity every time it faced a tough challenged. They can compete with the likes of Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Dodgers, Cardinals for 1 of 2 playoff spots.
but the very good starting pitching was always a constant. Without that same production, the Mets won’t even finish over .500…
Yup, and there is not a trade Sandy can make that will make a damn bit of difference if that doesn’t happen. So if the Mets players want help they need to push through this and force a decision. If not then making some faulty panic move could be very costly.
I agree.
This team lives or dies with the following players:
Dickey, Santana, Wright, Davis, Bullpen.
If those 5 guys fail, you aren’t replacing them…you can get another bullpen arm sure, but if the rest flop then it doesn’t matter.
I still think the Mets should look to add to their bullpen and buy an expiring contract like K-Rod, regardless just as a measure of good faith, while also removing our worst reliever.
I also think they should look to trade Ramirez for a similar guy that is having a down year and hope that a change of scenery helps. pitchers switching from the AL to NL has often shown to be very effective…
Again, have you seen Ramirez’s numbers since his DL stint? He already has his total ERA under 4.00 and has given up a BA under .200.
I think any moves Sandy does make need to be for the future. By that, I mean the players need to be controllable for more than just this year. Picking up Street would provide a boost the BP this year, but for the next as well. Going after an Upton (which ain’t happening, as you are looking at a Harvey, Familia, Flores + another type package) would be for the future.
If a rental player was needed, then that trade should be clearing out the players that don’t factor into the long term plans and who are clogging up the 40 man roster. Murphy, Kapt K, some of the others in AAA on the roster. They need to do 2 or 3 for 1 type deals. Probably takes more than that to get a Quentin type, but if that deal could be made, I would do that. The OF is a mess, there are no decent RH batters other than Wright and Hairston… Quentin should net you a compensation pick should he leave. I think that it makes sense for this year and maybe going forward. Maybe he re-signs. Who knows.
As much as it pains me to say it, because I really do love the 2012 edition of the Mets, I don’t think this team has what it takes to make a serious run at anything in September/October. Sure, Sandy could make a few moves and bring in some guys before the deadline that would temporarily give the team a spark, but in the grand scheme of things I think that we the fans should be happy with the results we’ve gotten in 2012 (standing above the Phillies certainly helps) and look to the future, because this team can be pretty darn good the next few years once the pieces come together.
no, he should make some moves for that spark (keeping team afloat), as long as they are primarily salary dumps and/or clearing out the backlog of guys they won’t be able to keep on the 40 man anyway.
Seriously, considering the 5 man rotation coming out of spring training – Johan/Dicky/Pelfrey/Niese/Gee…….who had Pelfrey going down early for the year which Gee second after the first half? I know I certainly didn’t.
*with Gee second
I really hope Sandy looks at the team and makes a smart trade for the future. Between Valdespin, Kirk, Murphy, Duda, Ike, Havens, Den Dekker you have a disproportionate amount of LH hitters.
Take for example Kirk and Havens/Murphy and package them for a prospect in the high minors who is (1) athletic (2) young and (3) ready to make his MLB debut within a year. I don’t have any particular player in mind, nor am I talking about a big time prospect, but a RH hitting OF in AA/AAA on the cusp of making his MLB debut that you can add to the core here.
Murphy to Angels for Peter Bourjos is my choice. We get a CF with Gold Glove potential and put Valdespin at 2nd. Angels use Murphy at 3rd or DH
Per MLBTR, “The Angels have told some teams that Peter Bourjos is unavailable and offered the outfielder to other teams for relief help, Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com reports (on Twitter). The fleet-footed 25-year-old has a .237/.293/.348 batting line and won’t be arbitration eligible until after the 2013 season.”
I’m not thinking Murph for Bourjos gets it done. I do like Bourjos, but the package would need to be much more attractive than that.
I’d probably do that in a heartbeat.
The problem is, why would the Angels do it?
Where does Murphy play for them?
Kendrick plays 2B, Morales or Pujols are your DH…
Also, I don’t see Murphy as much of a relief pitcher.
eww. Peter Bourjos sucks. Torres can suck and play good defense without losing anything.
And Valdespin has a lot of growing yet to do before he can be an everyday player, never mind an infielder where he makes me nervous defensively.
Ceet, Bourjos has the same if not slightly better fielding percentage than Torres, is only 25, only makes under half a million, and is controllable up to 2017. If you could get him for a Murph + 1-2 others (no clue what it would actually take), I can’t see where that would be a bad thing at all.
trading a good player for a bad one because he’s cheaper? bleh. fielding percentage is a very very very poor way to measure defense anyway (And I know Pete has been somewhat of an UZR darling too)
but he can’t hit. If you’re really determined to get Jordany out there, the Mets are better with him in center and Murphy at second than Bourjos and Valdespin at second.
Thank you all for your input. I think I would still do it. Last year he hit .271 with 72 runs scored and 22 SB’s. This year he can’t get into lineup because of two guys named Trout and Trumble.
Ummm, Let’s Go METS!????? Amazing, i Predicted this team to lose 93 games… Yet i got more optimism than a lot of the people in this blog…
Hey Alex, it’s been a long time and these mets are exactly the same as the mets back in metsblog times jajaja
I don’t understand the “this good this quickly” statement. It’s not like this team is doing much better than what they did at this point last year. The only reason the Mets are in better shape this year is because of the extra Wild Card and the fact the the Madoff thing is settled.
The reason why they finished with a bad record is because Sandy trading away Beltran and K-Rod because he needed to cut costs. But if those moves weren’t made, the team could have finished a few games over five hundred, which is what they are projecting to finish this year.
Yeah, we feel better because they started off hot instead of really bad and Wright, Dickey and Santana have done great…while last year it was Reyes and Beltran doing great and we know that both players were on their way out the door.
The reason not to feel optimistic this year is because: It’ll be very hard if not impossible for Santana, RAD and Wright to keep up playing they way they have…plus the players who have struggle have not shown signs of have a big 2nd half and there is nothing that makes me believe that Alderson is going to add a difference maker.
Everyone repeat after me….
I AM IN CONTROL OF MY EMOTIONS!
I AM IN CONTROL OF MY EMOTIONS!
I AM IN CONTROL OF MY EMOTIONS!
I AM IN CONTROL OF MY EMOTIONS!
I AM IN CONTROL OF MY EMOTIONS!
They take two out of three or even sweep the Nats you’ll all be back to talking about who to get in trade for Harvey and Wheeler because we are just that close to winning something and the future be damned!
They are in this race until they are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs!
Anyone who says otherwise is just looking for an excuse to give up and go back to the old 3 or 4 year rebuild plan they all thought was so smart and genius back when we should have been making deals to ensure this team that was poised to be competitive could have went and got the help to avoid these feelings your having right now!
And as I said around this time last year…
The last thing I want to do is take the advice of a defeatist Quitter!
FYI Robert don’t take what I said there personally…It’s meant for the masses not meant for you specifically.
I’m just tired of the hypochondriac Bi-Polar reactions that change from series to series regarding these Mets.