The Mets stay hot in the “sometimes the best deals are the one’s you don’t make” category.
In failing to reach a deal with Ben Zobrist — who opted for the bespectacled weirdness of Joe Maddon over the inscrutable gremlinese of Terry Collins — a chain of events was set in motion that resulted in Jon Niese getting shipped to Pittsburgh for Neil Walker. Neil for Niese not only effectively upends a common “I before E” mnemonic, it fills the Mets’ second base opening with a guy who has a higher OPS+ than Murphy since 2011 (113 to 111), who has averaged 15.5 home runs a season since 2010, who has a .769 OPS, who is a markedly superior fielder, who doesn’t block Dilson Herrera (unless we want him to via QO), and whose name hasn’t become synonymous with a particular variety of late inning brain-cramp … Win
We also lose Jonathan Niese, who is not only known for mysteriously misplacing the feel of his best pitch and for his patented 6th inning slushies, but for doing stuff like swinging away when he should bunt and responding to his elderly manager’s objections with comments like “f@$# you, take me out.” He’s also yelled at his rookie catcher for “poor pitch calling” after getting lit up, which honestly would be hard to believe if it weren’t for the video. I mean the guy clearly crossed the line from hotheadedness to douche-baggery with that one. Niese is so uptight he hasn’t passed gas since a bullpen session in May of 2011. Adding insult to injury, Niese takes a parting shot at the Mets’ defense after they carry him to the World Series? I won’t miss him much … Win-Win.
Furthermore, this deal means the Mets are spared from four years of Ben Zobrist who is going to be so done by the end of his contract we’d be calling him Ben Zo-brisket. As good a player as he’s been, the Cubs will not be getting Zobrist circa 2011 or his +5 WAR — which we haven’t seen since his Tampa Bay days. By the end of his contract the Ben-Zocaine would need to be shipped in bulk. I’m convinced the signing is a function of teams continuing to fail in adjusting for the absence of more potent age-defying tonics and liniments. It is what it is, youth is wasted on the young, who continue to be better at hitting baseballs … Win-Win-Win.
This very same deal set off yet another tangent of events sending Starlin Castro to the Yankees in a strange “make space for the Zobrist” move, with Adam Warren and a PTBNL going to the Cubs. Warren is a nice piece, but he’s 28, he doesn’t really address Chicago’s not quite good enough front line pitching, and he has never pitched more than 131 innings. Castro on the other hand may just outproduce Zobrist if he reverts to his .753 OPS 2012 self, which he stands a decent chance of doing since he is almost a decade younger than Zobrist. Ten years — that’s roughly equivalent to a 4th grader for those of you needing a visual. So, thank you Yankees.
You get the sense with Theo Epstein that there’s some overkill here in his pursuit of Zobrist when his whole approach has been to draft strong up-the-middle guys. Perhaps it’s an effort to allay his discomfiture over being blasted spectacularly out of the playoffs by a Mets star-destroyer with four very big ion cannons. Epstein’s fellas didn’t fare well in this face-off of philosophies pitting Sandy’s power-pitching against Theo’s position prospects … So Theo goes after a guy with a big top of the order on-base presence after watching him make contact against the very pitchers who struck his Cubs out in droves, and a guy with a 3.39 ERA from the AL East, oh and John Lackey … This may seem like a nifty haul but could just as easily end up an average down-slope utility guy a spot starter with a straight fastball, and … John Lackey.
The Mets? The Mets still have their fearsome foursome with their fifth gun due back around mid-season, and they get Neil Walker who spits in the face of your “i before e” and who is the sort of versatile bat that can conceivably hit almost anywhere in the order. A former first round pick who improves the Mets defense and who doesn’t miss a step on offense? Who comes from one of the best teams in Baseball and who is known for his positive clubhouse presence? What’s not to like? The only real drawback to not signing Zobrist may be losing out on his versatility when it comes to covering third base, but a little (Twitter) bird tells me the Mets may have already addressed that very concern in one Asdrubal Cabrera. Frankly I am stunned that the Mets were able to get Walker for the same Jonathan Niese they couldn’t unload in virtually any scenario not too long ago. I guess there are some perks to winning the National League Championship after all.
