Mike:
I was watching the pre-game Friday night and Bobby Ojeda was talking about Terry Collins. In particular he spoke about how it must be hard for Collins to know what to do with this roster. It is a weird mix of guys like Marlon Byrd, John Buck, and Andrew Brown, who can either help a team now, or never (welcome Rick Ankiel!). And other guys like Lucas Duda, Jordany Valdespin, and Juan Lagares who are major question marks but could perhaps be some part of a longer-term answer. But, yes, who could be very bad in the current term as we find out those answers. Maybe even worse than Marlon Byrd.
Jimmy:
As we know, Marlon Byrd has zero future value to the Mets organization. He’s merely a baseline major league player: he can catch a ball, throw competently, hit a hanger, that’s about it. But relative to what we’ve got, short-term thinking says he has value . . . because he can catch a ball, throw competently, and hit a hanger! That’s an indictment on the crappy job Alderson has done addressing the outfield.
It can’t ALL be about the long-term, can it? There’s no guarantee the future is going to be sunny either, that the Mets are suddenly going to leapfrog over the Phillies, Braves, Nationals, Cardinals, Pirates, Red, Dodgers, Giants, etc.
Don’t you have to try to win now, even just a little bit?
Mike:
It seems so unclear what these guys are trying to accomplish.
Jimmy:
What about our manager in the last season of his contract. He’s being evaluated, supposedly (PSST: the fix is in, folks), by how the team performs this season. How can he be pulling on the same oar?
I believe that Sandy Alderson is a rigid thinker with a military background who is not going to be moved by sentimentality. He’s here to do a job and his job, as I think he perceives it, is to weather the storm, survive three years (at least) of pure hell, and screw the fans in the short-term. He’s brought the small market business model of the A’s and Padres to New York and executed it to perfection. Wallet: closed!
Mike:
It’s all so weird to me. The vibe is we are punting 2013 yet we play Marlon Byrd and sign Rick Ankiel. Look, Kirk might not be the answer but why wouldn’t we have given him 150 at bats to find out? Is it because we are hoping to actually hang around and win in 2013?
Jimmy:
I don’t think you have to give serious major league playing time to know the answers to all these questions. A player shouldn’t make it through the long winnowing process without someone believing he can actually help win games in Flushing. We don’t need another 150 ABs from Kirkkkkk, he isn’t going to transform into a Marvel super hero.
Mike:
Okay, then where is Wheeler? Does anyone in their right mind think he wouldn’t have helped with that effort.
Jimmy:
It’s insane that Wheeler is not here, because it immediately helps the pen, too. In fact, it’s so crazy that you have to try to figure out what the hell they could be thinking. The Matt Harvey model? That’s a smokescreen, IMO. A con. Last year they brought up Harvey too late. Wheeler is ready now. And all I can conclude is that it’s still only about money. Super 2. But why don’t they have a long man yet? Could they worried about McHugh’s Super 2 status as well? Or just . . . dumb?
Mike:
Sandy was asked about Wheeler today on WFAN and said he is not coming anytime soon. And also the following, “He will be promoted when he is ready, and it has nothing to do with Super 2.”
Jimmy:
Sandy is lying.
Mike:
Well I still remember how Dickey wasn’t going to be traded unless we got back a player who would be an “impact player in 2013.” Let me put it more the way Sandy would himself, use a little “Sandy speak.” Sandy has a complicated relationship with honesty.
Jimmy:
I can’t look it up easily now, as I’m in a Hilton in Syracuse (jealous much?), but J.P. Ricciardi had a famous quote when he was caught in a series of lies about B.J. Ryan. He said — and this is an exact quote, folks — “It’s not lies if we know the truth.”
They routinely treat the fans with contempt.
Mike:
I’ve had it with watching shot cases and AAAA guys. If I ran the franchise, other than Wright, there is not a position player over the age of 27 that I would ever start. Isn’t that what rebuilding is? Since Alderson came in I’ve never felt like he has committed to rebuild. We stay in a constant state of limbo. Don’t we want to find out what we have definitively, so we can get on with the building part?
Jimmy:
Outside of Duda, we don’t have anybody. Not with the Mets, not in AAA or AA. Bringing up Lagares? Was he seriously on anybody’s radar as a potential player this Spring? Did Sandy ever mention him as a possible answer? Of course not, because he’s not the answer to any meaningful question. Andrew Brown? So these guys mashed in Las Vegas, because that’s what guys do in the PCL. It’s not real. Look, any one of them could be useful 5th outfielders: Baxter, too. That’s not nothing, but it doesn’t win many games.
Mike:
The lack of trying to push forward goes beyond the major league team. Hansel Robles was 22 years old last year, pitching in Brooklyn. Then we added him to our 40-man roster, a sign that we think Robles could be considered major league ready by other organizations. Where is he now? St. Lucie. Robles, a prospect we are using up 40-man space for, is on pace to make the majors at age 26.
We get updates about how Kevin Plawecki is tearing it up with the Sand Gnats. That’s low A folks. Plawecki was drafted out of college, he played at Purdue. He is already 22 years-old. Basically up to now (he was in Brooklyn last year!) he hasn’t played a game yet since we drafted him that pushed him as hard as he was pushed in college ball before he was drafted. That’s called wasting time, the Mets have no more idea today than when they drafted Kevin as to whether he will be a player. I try to find the logic, I really do.
Jimmy:
I read a defense of this just yesterday. He was placed in Brooklyn because he was drafted out of college, so the short-season league made some sense. Then moved up one level to the Sand Gnats because it was the next jump and he didn’t exactly tear it up with the Cyclones. I don’t have a big problem today if they move him to St. Lucie immediately, like right now. The larger point is that we haven’t yet learned anything about him. He’s mashing at Low-A? He’s a college graduate, 2nd round pick. Big deal.
Mike:
What Plawecki is doing right now is the equivalent of a Dad in the driveway, blocking his five-year-old sons shots. I wonder how Plawecki feels about it, I would be ticked.
Jimmy:
Maybe he’s not ready yet! Ha. Look at Valdespin. They never wanted him here, it wasn’t “the plan.” They never wanted him to hit well in Spring Training. Remember, Collins told us that Jordany was strictly an infielder. Then they reluctantly gave him some time in the outfield. Fresh off the WBC, he forced his way onto the team. Collins still doesn’t want him. And I get that: the attitude, but mostly, the glove. It’s not there, I’ve seen too many bad routes already. The arm is weak. Why don’t they just send Jordany down to AAA, let him hang with Wally, build some stats, then get flipped in a deal if possible? Question: Would any quality club want this guy? I don’t see why a good team would bother.
Mike:
Well, one thing though, Sandy already began a massive marketing campaign today, uttering what is sure to be the team’s new catchphrase,
“I’m not sure things can devolve any further.”
Want to bet?
