In my last post, I told you it had to get worse before it could get better. Well, its worse. So now it HAS TO get better.
In times of trouble, think outside the box. Be unique; unorthodox, and come up with a solution. In other words, be a Maverick. Sandy Alderson was dubbed the Baseball Maverick in last years’s literary work by Steve Kettmann, Baseball Maverick: How Sandy Alderson Revolutionized Baseball and Revived the Mets. He is now in a spot where he needs to live up to this nomenclature.
Much maligned and mocked after its release in the first half of last year’s baseball season, the book tells the tale of the Mets handing over full autonomy to Sandy Alderson and his formidable brain-trust in 2010 when the organization was bogged down in what seemed to be a perennial dark age. By November, the jokes ceased when the Mets were on the precipice of baseball immortality in the Fall Classic and Sandy was awarded Baseball America’s Executive of the Year award. Always humble, Sandy credited his front office mates John Ricco, J.P. Ricciardi and Paul DePodesta (since departed to Cleveland Browns).
The award was well-deserved. Sandy Alderson pressed all the right buttons, made all the right trades, and pulled out of all the wrong ones in the 11th hour, to inject life into a club that was offensively challenged. Before that, he had to wrestle with the contracts of the likes of Luis Castillo, Oliver Perez, and Jason Bay before flipping Carlos Beltran at the end of a lost season to net Zack Wheeler. He sold high on Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey, to the chagrin of many, to gain a future star in Noah Syndergaard, a highly touted backstop, and a yet to debut corner outfielder in Wuilmer Becerra.
Sandy finds himself pitted against another formidable task just weeks before the All Star Break. He has to improve a club that has been nipped by the injury bug without giving up too much talent that may jeopardize the future. But he must also weigh that same future against the epic collection of starting pitching the organization has at its disposal making modest salaries in the present.
Why is salary important? These pitchers will be hitting arbitration annually and undoubtedly be getting significant raises. To combat that, the Mets are counting on position players like Michael Conforto, the aforementioned Becerra, Amed Rosario, Dominic Smith and Dilson Herrera to rise through the ranks and become dependable, affordable linchpins in the lineup.
So, in other words, he has to improve the club without giving up too much, without breaking up this rotation, being careful to navigate the psyche of veterans like Curtis Granderson and Neil Walker. All while examining inconclusive medical reports of his ailing cleanup hitter Lucas Duda, who is under organizational control through 2019 but battling spinal injuries, and hypothesizing what he can expect out of a fragile and surprisingly slumping Travis d’Arnaud.
If he does so successfully, all while battling a treatable form of cancer by the way, Mets fans may have him canonized in November. Oh yea, and to be successful, he is no longer trying to trump Matt’s Gnats (displaced manager Matt Williams), but Dusty Baker‘s inspired 2016 Nationals who are 6.0 games ahead of the Mets before play Monday.
Those same Nationals, who would most likely be 10 games up if their bullpen was stronger and if anyone besides Daniel Murphy hit in the first two months of the season. The Nationals will clearly improve their bullpen and their lineup will likely improve as well while Murphy will (hopefully) continue to inversely descend back down to earth and play to the back of the baseball card (hitting .238 in June).
Everyone in the visceral black hole of social media, of which I dabble in as little as my self control will allow, wants to place blame. Some call for the head of manager Terry Collins and cite the team’s lackadaisical lapses while being swept by the lowly Atlanta Braves, who are on pace to lose about 120 games.
Some blame players like James Loney, who by the way tied a career high for extra base hits this past Saturday in a loss, Kevin Plawecki, Michael Conforto, Jim Henderson, and Hansel Robles. I could truly blame the fans for actually having any expectations for guys like this. Regardless of who you want to or are entitled to blame, one thing is for sure, things cannot stay the same if the Mets want to compete for a playoff spot.
So Sandy, Maverick, get in the fight. Terry hinted post-game yesterday to some coming changes – a shakeup if you will. Good. Take control and start making executive decisions. No matter how crass they may be, what is right may not always be popular.
Send down Conforto to get him right. It was done, successfully to Travis d’Arnaud two years ago. Bring up Brandon Nimmo to see if it can be a short term stopgap in a corner outfield spot. Explore getting Dilson Herrera in the lineup and shifting the infield around a bit. Be unorthodox and examine every internal option possible as the trade market takes shape.
The team, as is, cannot be successful in its current state as the starting pitching is clearly putting undue pressure on itself because of the anemic offense. Many parallels have been drawn to this offense, last or close to it in most categories, and the likes of the 2015 juggernaut that featured underwhelming sorts like Darrell Ceciliani, Daniel Muno, Ruben Tejada, John Mayberry Jr. and Anthony Recker. Those comparisons are warranted, but may not even be fair as the 2016 group has actually been worse.
The Nationals will improve, so the Mets must evolve; sooner rather than later. Good luck Sandy, you may need it.
