An MMO Fan Shot by JE

Following the disappointing 2018 season, the Wilpons were faced with a crucial decision. They had parted ways with Sandy Alderson as GM after several disappointing seasons, and the team was riddled with several mediocre to poor players.

The Mets were blessed with several young starters and a few young hitters, but most of the team was weak. They had just finished their last two seasons below .500 and they needed a new GM. Should they take an established general  manager like Chaim Bloom who had been with Tampa Bay for over a decade, or go in another direction?

I had previously written a Fan Shot entitled “The Mets Should Blow It All Up” where I advocated a complete rebuild. In summary, the team had poor hitting, poor defense and a terrible bullpen. We also had a poor farm system. While this would have set the team back for a couple of years, the team could be in much better shape for the future.

Instead, the Mets went in a completely different direction. They brought in a bunch of mediocre to poor free agents and further depleted our farm system.

Somehow, a sports agent named Brodie Van Wagenen managed to convince the Wilpons of two things. The first was that he could succeed where Sandy failed, despite the fact that he had zero experience in baseball operations. The second was that he convinced the Wilpons that the Mets could contend immediately.

To me, this made little sense. The team had many holes and the Wilpons were maintaining a median market payroll. They had another issue as well. For the 2019 season, the Mets still had Yoenis Cespedes and David Wright on the payroll for $44 million dollars, which is a substantial amount of almost dead money.

Additionally, while most teams in baseball were trying to get younger, Van Wagenen had other ideas and took the team entirely in another direction. What BVW attempted to do went against all conventional baseball wisdom. He opted instead to sacrifice the future for the present.

That might have made some sense if the Mets were only 1-2 players away, but the Mets had several enormous holes.

Thus far, the results have not been encouraging. And after being swept this weekend by the worst team in baseball, the Miami Marlins, the Mets are now 20-25. We have a run differential of -23.

Almost every move that BVW has made has backfired. Robinson Cano (a BVW client) looks old and slow, and he frequently doesn’t even leave the batter’s box. Ditto for Wilson Ramos.

Van Wagenen decided to trade three minor leaguers for Keon Broxton, and he’s already gone. So is Travis d’Arnaud.

Justin Wilson and Jeurys Familia have also been disappointing, while Jed Lowrie has yet to play a single game. Edwin Diaz does have 10 saves, but he has also lost a couple of games.

Meanwhile, our pitching depth is once again awful. The guys coming in to replace any of our starters are all pretty much scrubs like Wilmer Font, Drew Gagnon and Chris Flexen.

We are locked into Cano for five years. If this year is any indication, this contract is going to be a huge albatross.

The truth is, there is not much that can be done at this point. There is no indication that the Mets are going to spend much more on payroll, and there is very little left to trade for any significant upgrades. I also doubt there is anyone in the Mets system who could be an impact player right now.

Contending teams realize that trying to build teams through free agency alone today is almost impossible. What you really need to do is to build it through good young players.  This is the strategy that has been followed by the Cubs, Astros, Yankees, Dodgers, etc. Unfortunately, the Mets have not. Unfortunately, the Mets continue to employ the same failed strategies that have doomed the team before. Some things never change.

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This Fan Shot was contributed by MMO community member and die-hard Mets fan JE. Have something you want to say about the Mets? Send your article to [email protected] or use this Contact Form. Or ask us about becoming a regular contributor.