50NO TIME FOR RESET
With solid pitching foundation, Mets should give it 1 more year
So here are the Mets, in the (literally) last place they could ever have imagined they’d be at the start of the second half of the season, and the question they are asking themselves is: Do we need to do a re-set here? Certainly that’s what Jacob deGrom’s agent Brodie Van Wagenen would like to see, beginning with his client.
Tempting as that might be – trade deGrom for a parcel of highly rated prospects – it would be tantamount to Mets ownership coming to the painful conclusion this present Mets team really is as bad as it’s played and there is no hope of it getting better any time soon. Problem is, we’re talking about New York here. Re-sets are easy if you’re in Tampa Bay or San Diego (where they seemingly do them every year) but fans in New York do not want to hear, ‘bear with us and catch us in 2022.’ ”
And besides, the Mets have some $84 million invested in unmovable contracts in Yoenis Cespedes and Jay Bruce for the next two seasons. So whether they like it or not, the time is not right.
Which means maybe the best thing the Mets can do right now is to do nothing. Or next to nothing.
Assuming the gradual returns to form by Zack Wheeler and Steven Matz are lasting, and Noah Syndegaard follows suit, the Mets again have the makings of a strong rotation behind deGrom, and in an era when quality starting pitching is at a premium, that alone should keep them competitive. It is the offense, where the Mets currently rank 28th in the majors in runs and 26th in OPS, that needs to be addressed. If this – injured and unproductive – is what Cespedes and Bruce really are now, then, yes, pitching alone cannot carry them to the postseason. Either way, they’re stuck with them for two more years, for better or worse. Getting Juan Lagares back next year will enable them to get Cespedes more time at first base to save his legs.
I realize we’re talking a lot of ifs here – is there anyone who teach Michael Conforto how to hit again? – but, given the money they owe Cespedes and Bruce, don’t the Mets owe it to themselves to give it one more year with their young pitchers? They can go ahead and trade Astrubel Cabrera and Jeurys Famlia, but they can’t expect to get much back for either one of those guys. And even if they do, they should be aggressive (if not excessive) players in next winter’s free agent market for a catcher and bullpen help.
Maybe these Mets really are this bad, but it’s hard to
draw that conclusion when their two biggest hitters have been out of the lineup for most of the season.
The last time the Mets traded a franchise ace pitcher – Tom Seaver in 1977 – they got four semi-established players back for him, none of whom had any measureable impact at Shea Stadium, and it touched off seven consecutive losing seasons, the lowest era in their history. It is always dangerous trading franchise players in their prime – the White Sox thought they’d gotten a haul in top prospects Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech from the Red Sox for Chris Sale but both have so far been underwhelming in their development, and the re-set on the south side of Chicago is beginning to feel interminable.
That’s why the Wilpons – especially if they decide to bring in a new general manager – ought to hold off on theirs at least until next year, and I don’t mean until the trading deadline. If, say, on May 15 Cespedes is hurt again, Bruce is showing no signs of regaining his 30homer form, Conforto is striking out appreciably more than he’s getting on base and the team is again mired at the bottom of the division with the Marlins, deGrom’s value will still be as high as it is today.
You only trade a franchise player in his prime like deGrom when you are absolutely convinced the team around him has no chance of winning for the foreseeable future. Brody Van Wegenen happens to think that time is now for the Mets. The Wilpons cannot be blamed if they respectfully disagree.