Disgruntled Mets Fan

The heart of the New York Mets’ dilemma is the struggle between how the Mets should plan and build their team. Through 2006, Omar Minaya had done a good job retooling the team, adding some great talent through trading and free agency and surrounding that talent with bright young studs and wily veterans. The process Omar used in his early years with the Mets worked well and nearly paid off in 2006.

But after 2006, Minaya and the Mets have managed the team as if they are still a game from the World Series. Some say that this couldn’t be further from the truth and the Mets need to rebuild and stockpile young talent for the future. Some think the Mets can be contenders in 2010. I’m not going to absolutely pass judgment in one way or another.

The fact of the matter is that the organization has been put in a very tough spot. After 2006 everyone thought we could win again. But three years later, more and more fans are calling for a rebuilding process despite not much changing with the team in the past three years. What should be done? I don’t believe that the Mets are a game from the World Series, still. But I do believe that while they are top-heavy, they can be playoff contenders. They aren’t championship contenders yet. But with Santana, K-Rod, Wright, Reyes, and Beltran, they are on their way with a great core. I still feel that the Mets can build to win now. But I’m not sure if it’s the right thing. Their system is very dry. Perhaps they can find a way to compromise between both routes.

The 800 pound gorilla that lives over the Triborough Bridge (I’ll never call it the RFK Bridge), the World Champion New York Yankees, are a team to be reckoned with. A team that redefines what “Championship Caliber” means.

Three superstars in the infield alone that will be sure to steal away MVP voting from each other for years to come, a strong top half of the rotation that showed it can dominate in the post season, and the best closer of all time.

All the talk around the Mets blogosphere saying what the Mets should or shouldn’t do makes me crazy. What the Mets should be doing is figuring out a way they can beat the Yankees. If they field a team that can beat the Yankees, then they should be able to beat anyone that the National League teams can put on the field.

How can they beat the Yankees?

Step 1: Sign John Lackey

The only thing Lackey will cost the team is money. All indications suggest that the team is willing to spend the money necessary to get a guy like Lackey. I hope they pull through. He would legitimize the top of the rotation, and will be a key part in the three-headed monster staff that my plan will build.

Step 2: Trade for Roy Halladay

Sure, Halladay wants to sign an extension before being traded. Sure, it’s going to cost someone a lot of money to get him.

The other sure thing about Halladay is that he’ll be worth the money. (See Johan Santana & CC Sabathia).

Some may think that trading away your farm system for a guy like Halladay is a foolish move, but I call those people fools. I pointed out a while back that farm system prospects aren’t always what they were cracked up to be.

I’m aware of the kind of money it would take to put a pitching staff like this together, but anyone should be aware of how historically good the top of the rotation could be.

I also like the idea of Mike Pelfrey, John Maine, and Oliver Perez competing for the bottom two spots in the rotation. I don’t think I’m the only one that realizes that’s where these pitchers really belong.

Step 3: Sign a Cheap Power Bat for Left Field

All the talk has been about Jason Bay and Matt Holliday. While I believe either would provide an infusion of life to the middle of the line up, I feel like the money it would cost to get them should be spent on pitching.

I’d love to see Xavier Nady make a return to the Mets. He’s only 31. He can hit for power, which he showed in 2008 when he hit 25 home runs and drove in 97 RBI. He’s a right-handed hitter that hits right-handed pitching well. He’s got a career .270 average against them, and a .308 average against lefties.

Sure, he’s coming off a season-ending injury that allowed him to only play in seven games last season, but I think he’s worth another look.

Step 4: Leave Luis Alone!

Luis Castillo, dropped fly ball and all, was one of the few bright spots for the Mets in 2009.

He worked hard in the off season to get in shape, and was able to keep healthy all season. Sure his range has diminished at second base, but he proved he was willing to try and earn his paycheck.

Plus, having Jose Reyes in the lineup ahead of him and David Wright in the lineup behind him will lead to more success. How could it not?

Step 5: Daniel Murphy, Starting First Baseman

Call me crazy…Maybe I got a heavier dose of the Daniel Murphy Kool-Aid, but I believe in him.

Maybe it’s the fact that he looks a lot like Don Mattingly in the box. I think with a full season working at first base, and the confidence that goes along with being the starting EVERY DAY first baseman will allow him to develop into the hitter we all think he can be.

He’s a No. 7 hitter, behind Reyes, Castillo, Wright, Beltran, Nady, and Francoeur, and having a No. 7 hitter that has a smooth swing and good power to the gaps is not the worst situation to be in.

I’m a big believer that the Mets don’t need to spend money to add power at first base because I hope having Reyes and Beltran back, and Wright hopefully returning the home run to his repertoire, will be more than enough. Especially with the dream pitching staff I listed above.

Now…

I’m not saying any of this will be easy or cheap. Steps one and two could conceivably cost over $40 million a year to do so.  But spending that kind of money can be effective .

From fellow Mets blogger Shannon of Mets Police:

I invite you to take part in my unofficial survey of regular fans. I
will post one fan response per day. Maybe we can change the world.
Please keep a positive tone and use nice language.

1. When did you start following the Mets?

I was raised a Mets fan by a sports-freak dad. I would say 1999 was when I first became a fan-attending the Benny Agbayani walk-off homer game against the Giants. I didn’t really become a true diehard until 2005.

2. What is your favorite Mets memory?

Watching, from my seats in the top deck in foul territory in LF, Endy Chavez’s catch in game 7 of the NLCS.

3. What is your worst Mets memory or experience?

Joint-watching Beltran strike out looking in game 7 of the 2006 NLCS, and watching Castillo drop the pop-up at Yankee Stadium.

4. If you could change one off-field thing about the franchise what
would it be?

They would know what they were doing…it seems like having them make the right move on the first try is like pulling teeth.

5. If you owned the team starting tomorrow, what is the first thing
you would change?

That’s a separate post, because there are so many. First thing, honestly? I would add $70 million in payroll.

Your thoughts?

A great deal has already come to light in the week-plus since the World Series ended. The Mets are already actively involved in many Hot Stove dealings, and I’m going to give both the facts we know now and some early theories about what the Mets might do, going by position.

Catcher

The Mets have been linked to three catchers so far this offseason: Bengie Molina, Rod Barajas, and Chris Snyder. Each have various benefits: Molina has proven power and is a good defensive catcher; Barajas is excellent defensively and can hit for a bit of power; Chris Snyder is young and has some pop in his bat. Snyder would be acquired through trade, whereas the others would be free agents. Barajas is by far the cheapest option, as Molina will probably command around $8 million for one or two years and Snyder has around $12 million left. Snyder seems to make the most sense for the Mets, but the word is the D-Backs demand a major-league arm in exchange. All the Mets really have to offer through this type of trade would be Castillo, so it seems the Mets will probably end up with Molina (more likely) or Barajas.

First Base

At this point in time, the Mets seem very committed to having Daniel Murphy be their every-day first baseman for 2010. However, they are exploring options in the market as well. They have been linked, along with the Red Sox, to Adrian Gonzalez. However, he will cost a fortune, and would require gutting the farm system, since he is both so good and so cheap for the 2 years he has left under team control. The Mets have also been linked to Adam LaRoche and Carlos Beltran has lobbied management to consider taking back Carlos Delgado.

I think the most sensible move would be to re-acquire Fernando Tatis. He showed in 2008 that he could hit for an extended period of time and even had a solid second half of 2009. He could be part of a platoon with Murphy as well as play anywhere on the field if necessary.

Second Base

The Mets seem like they really want do-overs from last offseason. Thus, they are trying hard to move Luis Castillo. Today, it was posed that they could trade him to the Dodgers for Juan Pierre. However, that would require the Mets taking on a worse contract than Castillo’s. In any event, the Mets seem particularly interested in Orlando Hudson. Brandon Phillips may also be available in the trade market and is a player who I love and would love to see in a Mets uniform. The Mets also have much interest in signing Chone Figgins and playing him at second. Figgins, though, hasn’t played second in several years, and is a more proven third baseman. The Mets would do better to stay away from him and the sum of money he will command (around 5 years/$10 million per)

I get the feeling, though, that Hudson will be playing second for the Mets next year, and Castillo will be playing somewhere else. Who that is I can’t tell you, though.

Outfield

Their seems to be a split within the team on Matt Holliday. Omar Minaya is said to want him, but many in management are not sure he commands the salary that Scott Boras has suggested he does. Many think he will be overpaid due to this extremely weak free agent class. The Mets have also been linked to Carl Crawford, but for some reason I don’t see him leaving Tampa this offseason.

I think Matt Holliday will be playing left for the Mets in 2010. Their only competition seems to be the Cardinals, and the Mets will win a bidding war with them.

Starting Pitching

The word is that the Mets are very interested in Joel Piniero and want a “do-over” on Randy Wolf. Both could command $8-10 million per year for one to three years. The Mets could probably sign one of these and another cheap starter.

Or…they could trade for Roy Halladay. It’s being reported that the Mets will certainly be involved in some way; however, Jon Heyman has said that while the Mets have the talent to trade for Halladay, it would clean out their system. It would also be tough trying to extend him, as they would have around $45 million tied up in two pitchers. However, I think getting Halladay and signing him to a 4-year, $85 million extension (maybe 5/$105) is something the Mets should investigate, because having two top-five arms in baseball at the top of the rotation gives you a really strong front and basically prohibits prolonged losing streaks.

The bullpen hasn’t been discussed yet; though I don’t see J.J. Putz coming back.

It’s a little early to see any bearing on what the Mets might end up doing with pitching, though, because their are more solutions than with the position players.

September wasn’t as bad as August in terms of entertainment. Any expectations of reasonably-close-to-major-league-level play from the Mets were gone…so with no expectations, one could actually watch games and be entertained by some wins, especially considering we would be seeing candidates for the 2010 support cast, which clearly needs to be shored up.

The Mets started the month by dropping a series in Colorado. However, this series featured the return of David Wright (Somewhat of a relief, since we’ve all seen what concussions can do to a player—give our regards to Ryan Church) and the short life of the Great Gazoo helmet (ah…what memories). Then, the Mets headed back home to complete the World Series of underachievers against the Chicago Cubs. They won the series, which featured great starts from both Nelson Figueroa (7 IP, 10 K’s) and Bobby Parnell (7 scoreless, fighting for his rotation spot), finishing up a split of the season series between disappointments (hmm, fitting…no winner among losers).

The disappointments continued as the Mets lost nine of their next ten, including being shutdown in one of the most memorable efforts of Pedro Martinez’s already esteemed career, and seeing Bobby Parnell suffer his final failure of 2009 as a starter. But that one win was a great game, and in a vacuum, one of the best the Mets played all year-a 10-9 defeat of the Phils that featured 5 hits to start the game (including a Beltran bomb), Mike Pelfrey turning a 4-0 lead into an 8-4 deficit, but a nice comeback by the Mets in the final few innings, on the strength of two late 2-run bombs by David Wright, one giving the Mets the lead in the final inning. It was closed out courtesy of K-Rod, who, by the way, didn’t give up a run to the Phillies all year.

The Mets trumped the Nationals in two of three before being swept by the Braves, then beating the Marlins in two of three (including a nice comeback win in the ninth off Leo Nunez, and a complete-game shutout by Pat Misch of the anniversary of Johan’s memorable shutout on the penultimate day of 2008). But the Mets hit a new low when they were swept by the lowly Nationals, a sweep that was ended on the SECOND walk-off grand slam yielded by Frankie Rodriguez on the year. The end was near as September came to a close.

If someone who missed the whole 2009 season started by looking at the Mets’ October results, they might have assumed the Amazin’s had a good year. However, in the words of Gary Cohen, “At the end of a lost season, a happy bedtime story,” is what this series was. The Mets swept the Astros, allowing just two runs as they closed Citi Field’s inaugural season. John Maine finished up his troubled 2009 campaign with seven solid against the ‘Stros, Pat Misch continued to assert himself as a potential fifth starter, as did Nelson Figueroa, who shut out the Astros to end the year.

There’s great irony in what happened on the final day of the season, in the two complete-game shutouts the Mets got this year…in everything. Nothing seemed to go off without a hitch. It’s one of the most anomalous baseball seasons ever, in which over half of the team’s roster spent time injured, several other players on the rosters were, to a given extent, disappointments, and where the Mets found new ways to lose on a weekly basis.

How did this team manage to lose games? Walk-off walks. Balks. Walk-off errors. Missing bases. Committing countless errors. Running themselves out of inning, after inning, after inning. Stranding countless runners on base. Managing to be one of the worst offensive teams despite the highest batting average in the Senior Circuit. Wild pitches. TWO walk-off grand slams. Thank God it’s over. Maybe we won’t be tortured like this next year…one can only hope.

The Mets started a pattern following the break, that they didn’t stray much from often—losing games early in series and salvaging games either pitched by their best pitcher or mailed in by their opponents.

They dropped three out of four to the Braves coming off the break, winning only a contest on a Saturday pitched by Santana (who, after that start, rattled off 15 straight scoreless innings), and then dropped two of three to the Nats on the road.

They got on their last little “run” of the season following the Nationals series. They had a nice series win in Houston, although in that series Johan Santana got shelled in his start. After winning two of three at Minute Maid, the Mets came back home and dominated the Rockies. They won an exciting contest in the first game of the series that featured a pinch-hit grand slam by Fernando Tatis, and lost the back end of a day-night doubleheader to just miss a four-game sweep. The Mets then prepared to host Arizona to wrap up July.

Although the Mets lost their series in Arizona, they again got late-game heroics on a top-of-the-ninth grand slam by Angel Pagan, keeping some fans (including this writer) hooked.

Following a split of a short set against St. Louis at home, the Mets set out for cavernous Petco Park to continue their trend of losing to bad teams. They dropped two of three to the Padres, the first loss of the series being a particularly memorable one. Francisco Rodriguez, who had been pitching very sparingly, entered the ninth with a one-run lead and walked the leadoff batter. He then gave up a double on which the tying run scored (on review, the runner was clearly out). Following two more runners reaching base, Rodriguez surrendered the first grand slam of his career to light-hitting Everth Cabrera.

The Mets avoided a four-game sweep by getting eight strong from Johan Santana and winning the final contest 5-1. They then were bested by Arizona in a three game set. (I’m sorry if I’m beginning to bore you, but there was nothing fun about August. Even the wins weren’t entertaining, and they lost often and to bad teams).

They didn’t win a series in this month, and the amount of games they played in the month that I actually didn’t feel like I wasted my time watching could be counted on one hand.

After that San Diego series, it was more of the same: losing two of three to Arizona. Splitting four with the Giants, a series which featured David Wright going down at the hands of a Matt Cain fastball to the cranium. A dropped three-game series to Atlanta. Losing three of four to the Phillies (although, that one win was a nice game pitched by Big Pelf). The month ended with series losses to the Marlins and Cubs.

This section of the season was definitely the least enjoyable for the Mets. Aside from a one-week span where they won five of seven from two teams better than them (Rox and Astros) the games they played were not interesting or enjoyable, not just from the standpoint of a Mets fan, but for any baseball fan.

The Mets played awful baseball. They allowed the wheels to fall off and ran the bases incredibly poorly, pitched terribly, and continued to get bad news off the field. This run from the All-Star break to the end of August featured the Tony Bernazard scandal (not getting into it), the Santana injury that had been postulated for months, Wright’s injury, the failure of Bobby Parnell’s conversion to a starter, continued struggles by Daniel Murphy, and the Frankie Rodriguez saga where he never pitched and stunk when he did because of his lack of use.

There’s nothing to take from these months. If you’re still reading, God bless you, you’re as big a fan as me. And stay tuned, because next comes the finish to the season and grades, and then my plan for going forward.