THE BIGGEST LOSER
Amid injuries and inaction at deadline, Collins all but set up to take the fall
It’s going to take a few weeks before we can determine who the real winners were at the trading deadline — Yankees GM Brian Cashman, Dodgers GM Andrew Friedman and Nationals GM Mike Rizzo certainly moved boldly in making the necessary changes to address their teams’ needs, but as Cardinals ace Joaquin Andujar always reminded us: “Youneverknow.”
What is not in question is who the biggest losers were, as they would be Houston GM Jeff Luhnow and Terry Collins.
Luhnow’s inaction has been much criticized, no more so than by Astros ace Dallas Keuchel’s expressed discontent with his GM’s failure to make any deals, especially for much-needed late-inning bullpen help. “I’m not going to lie,” said Keuchel, “Disappointment is a little bit of an understatement. I feel like a bunch of teams really bolstered their rosters for the long haul and for a huge playoff push and us just kind of staying put was really disappointing to myself.”
Time will tell if the Astros have enough to continue their regular-season dominance through the playoffs, but at least Luhnow will still be around to go at it again after the season. The same can’t be said for poor Collins.
In his case there was nothing he COULD do, other than to watch helplessly at the deadline as GM Sandy Alderson conducted a sell-off of spare parts from the Mets’ lost season. This wasn’t the way Collins envisioned July into August playing out back in Port St. Lucie in the spring.
Back then, it was World Series or bust, with the young power-arm rotation, their Tommy John surgeries all in the rearview mirror, making them the prohibitive favorites, along with the Nationals, to rule the NL East. We’ll never know what Collins was really thinking back in the spring amid all the optimism brimming for his team, but I suspect, as an old school baseball man, he could see that a delicate power-arm rotation, blended with well-below average defense up the middle and a thin bullpen was a flawed recipe.
Not that it matters to Collins, who understands it is he who likely will be the fall guy for this disaster of a Met season, but the Mets are going to be facing these same issues this winter. Some of them are fixable: Establishing Amed Rosario at shortstop is a start and most scouts think Gavin Cecchini, the long developing 2012 No. 1 draft pick, will be just fine (if not with much flare) at second base. Replacing Travis d’Arnaud at catcher — something the Mets absolutely have to do — won’t be quite so seamless, however.
They don’t have a whole lot to trade for a frontline catcher, which is why they really need to consider going after Jonathan Lucroy, despite his subpar season, in the free-agent market. It is the belief of scouts that the heat in Texas and putting added pressure on himself to have a good season in his walk-year were the primary factors in Lucroy’s offensive decline this year. But his defense behind the plate and his clubhouse leadership have not been affected and, on a threeyear deal, he would be the perfect “plug” until the Mets’ top catching prospect, Tomas Nido, is ready in 2019. Just an aside here: There may also be some defensive issues at first base next year with much-touted Dominic Smith. Everyone loves Smith’s sweet swing, but scouts don’t love his work ethic. “He’s fat and he’s lazy,” is how one scout put it to me not so delicately. “Somebody really needs to get to this kid. He’s gonna hit, mostly line drives, in the big leagues, but he’s out of shape, he doesn’t hustle and he doesn’t seem to want to work on all the things he needs to do in the field.”
A little late, Alderson seemed to recognize the Mets’ bullpen deficiencies at the deadline, trading for Marlins closer AJ Ramos and bringing back four other minor league relievers, Stephen Nogosek, Jamie Callahan, Gerson Bautista and Drew Smith in separate deals for Addison Reed and Lucas Duda. None of the minor leaguers have particularly impressive dossiers, and Ramos has been a high-wire act closer, but in all that quantity Alderson can only hope some surprise quality will emerge next year.
But really, when it comes to the Mets, no matter how many upgrades they may make in the field and the bullpen, their fortunes are still going to ride on the health of their rotation — and Yoenis Cespedes — Nand that is extremely problematic. obody knows if Matt Harvey’s shoulder is going to hold up to the point he again becomes a dominant No. 1. Nobody knows if Noah Syndergaard’s lat injury is just a temporary setback or a precursor to more injuries after all that bulking up. Nobody knows if Zack Wheeler will ever maintain the necessary stamina to be a starter or if he needs to go to the bullpen. Nobody knows if Steven Matz can ever stay healthy for a full season and demonstrate consistent dominance instead of brief flashes. And nobody knows if Cespedes is forever going to have a hammy ready to pop.
The one consolation for Collins is he won’t have to endure another season of all those ticking time bombs.