The New York Mets could have easily torn things down this season, flipping every expiring contract and player of value for a treasure trove of prospects. They did not take that route, choosing instead to hold onto most of their assets and keeping their talented group of starting pitchers intact.
The Mets are 40-34 since the beginning of July, have seen dramatic increases in play from their young positional core players (Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo, Amed Rosario, etc), and saw their starting rotation take consistent leaps forward — some more than others, but all encouraging just the same.
As of Saturday morning, the Mets’ starting pitchers rank fourth in the National League with their 3.68 earned-run average and second in WHIP (1.20).
The combination of Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler, Steven Matz, and the second-half resurgence of Jason Vargas has given Mets fans great hope that this will be a catalytic facet in turning this organization around.
Mets assistant general manager John Ricco spoke to Mike Puma of the New York Post about the situation and expressed almost an air of justification for deciding to stand pat for the most part — and rightfully so.
“I think there was some discussion around midseason that the way we were built was not a viable model,” he said. “I kind of disagreed with it because I thought building around pitching is generally a tried-and-true method of winning, but I did think there were some questions.”
“If anything, the last few months have shown that maybe we have to reconsider and […] tweak from the position player side a little more — whatever that means more depth, younger, more athletic […]”
To this writer, it feels like some of those positional spots are doing just fine.
Conforto leads all of baseball in extra-base hits in September (14), Nimmo ranks second in the NL with his 148 wRC+, Rosario is slashing .307/.335/.455 since August 1, Jeff McNeil is hitting .337/.391/.500 since making his debut on July 24 and the often-vilified Jay Bruce is at .253/.344/.532 since returning from the disabled list on August 24.
Ricco, as well as many others within and outside of the organization, came to realize that there is an extremely exciting group of players assembled here in Queens. With the right additions, this could be a contending ballclub in 2019. Again, from Ricco to Puma.
“Since we have stabilized things, this model of running a pretty good starter out there every night, with a decent offense, you can win. We have shown that since the beginning of July”
Back-end bullpen help should be at the top of the Mets’ wish list come this winter. A top-tier catcher has been mentioned by some as an option (Yasmani Grandal‘s and Wilson Ramos‘ names have been tossed around), but the group of Kevin Plawecki, Tomas Nido, and Travis d’Arnaud could be a less expensive, just as efficient option. Competition breeds excellence, right?
Whichever way the Mets’ front office decides to interpret the 2018 team’s respectable finish, there is ample evidence to support the notion that this team is only a few pieces away. Let’s just hope these performances over the last couple of months weren’t simply a mirage and this young Mets core can continue to make strides.
