NO GRIT, OR MUCH ELSE
A-Rod takes cuts at Mets over Turner, Murph
In a way it sounded like Alex Rodriguez was merely rubbing salt in an old wound, talking about how much the Mets miss Daniel Murphy, and Justin Turner too, while doing TV commentary on Saturday’s game with the Dodgers. Except A-Rod made specific points on the subject that made me wonder if he’d picked up a vibe, or even an informed opinion, during his two days around the Mets, which would lead him to conclude they’re lacking championship qualities even when healthy.
That is, do they have enough grit? Enough glue guys, if you will?
Certainly the season has become an embarrassment, as they’ve lost seven of their last eight games, including three straight to the Dodgers by the combined score of 21-4. And they managed one hit on Sunday night in an 8-0 loss. It can’t be all about the injuries. Still, it could be that A-Rod was simply heaping praise on the two players as part of a discussion about how, in today’s high-strikeout game, the best teams are still the ones that put the ball in play the most.
“You look at a player like Justin Turner,’’ ARod said. “He’s one of the rare guys, DiMaggio-like, who walks more than he strikes out. Daniel Murphy is another guy, he hits the ball with power but puts the ball in play.
“These are guys like Paul O’Neill and Bernie Williams; without those guys it’s simple: I don’t care what the sabermetrics guys say, you cannot win without them.”
It was a good point and that alone would have been enough to make Mets fans angry all over again about the Sandy Alderson regime letting each player walk — Turner before he became a star, Murphy after he carried the Mets to the World Series with his spectacular performance in the 2015 postseason.
But then A-Rod twisted the knife a bit, whether that was his intention or not. Of the Mets he said:
“Here’s what they miss most: They miss Daniel Murphy’s intensity. He is fierce, he doesn’t throw at-bats away, he doesn’t give a pitch away. Again, what Paul O’Neill did for the Yankees in the late ’90s.
“I just have so much respect and admiration for Justin Turner and Daniel Murphy: two guys around the age of 30 to be smart enough to reconfigure their whole swing. It’s one of the most difficult things to do.
“Justin Turner has gone from a punch-andjudy hitter to a world-class MVP player, and Daniel Murphy has become Babe Ruth over there with the Nationals.”
Finally, speaking of Murphy, A-Rod re-emphasized his point:
“The ability to play in New York and that intensity he brings every day, that’s something that is greatly missed here with the Mets.”
It’s not like A-Rod has been around the Mets a lot this season. And the storyline around their disappointing season is that they’ve been crippled by injuries and let down by pitching that hasn’t come close to living up to expectations.
Yet the ex-Yankee slugger hammered home the intensity issue. So on Sunday I asked hitting coach Kevin Long, who coached A-Rod in the same capacity while working in the Bronx, about the comments.
“Anybody would miss Daniel Murphy,’’ Long said. “He doesn’t give away at-bats or even pitches. He does bring those intangibles and he’s a great hitter.
“But that’s not a reflection on the guys here. These guys have performed this year. Look at the numbers and you see the OPS is up for most of them.”
It’s true that offense hasn’t really been the problem this season. As of Sunday the Mets ranked seventh in the National League in runs scored, and that’s with minimal contribution from Yoenis Cespedes, who missed six weeks due to a hamstring injury and hasn’t hit much since then.
It’s also worth remembering that without Murphy last season this same group of Mets fought back from a wave of injuries and made a stirring late-season run to earn a wild-card spot.
As for this season, Terry Collins on Sunday made the case that his team continues to play hard, even as a lost season becomes more and more of a reality.
“Make no mistake about it,” he said. “No matter what happens on a nightly basis, these guys are not gonna lay down That’s not in their genes.”
So make of A-Rod’s comments what you will. But at the very least they were a reminder that Alderson’s legacy as Mets GM is far from defined.
Yes, he built a winner — with much help from players already in the organization — that reached the World Series, but major changes are at hand, with so many players
headed for free agency. And the plan going forward can’t simply be relying on a return to health from the ballyhooed starting pitching, which isn’t so ballyhooed anymore beyond Jacob deGrom and presumably a healthy Noah Syndergaard. The Dodgers and Nationals both have bludgeoned the Mets this season, making the talent gap in position-player stars quite obvious. Just as obviously it doesn’t do much good to re-hash the mistakes made regarding Turner and Murphy. But I did find it intriguing that Long said Sunday he told Mets executives after the 2015 season that he thought Murphy’s postseason performance was more than a crazy-hot streak. “I thought he could sustain it,’’ Long said. “He’d been working on (his new, more power-oriented approach) since June that year and I thought he’d turned the corner.” Obviously Alderson and his lieutenants didn’t believe it, at least not enough to offer a multi-year contract. However, you always have to remember that had the Mets signed Murphy that winter, they almost surely would not have been in play for Cespedes, even as the slugger essentially fell in their lap late that off-season.
Of course, it’s fair these days to wonder if they would have been better off building around Murphy, as for the second straight year he puts up monster numbers for the Nationals. In other words, maybe ARod has a point.