Up to Sandy to find bats at deadline
THE NEARLY full house waited patiently Friday night for something to celebrate other than the free Mike Piazza jerseys, but frustration finally surfaced.
Michael Conforto flied out to finish a 1-2-3 seventh inning and boos resonated throughout the ballpark. In the eighth, the Mets received singles from Alejandro De Aza and Curtis Granderson to start the inning, but then went quietly. More boos followed, this time louder.
By the time Conforto was retired in the ninth to complete the Mets’ 6-1 loss to the Rockies, half the seats in Citi Field were empty and the reaction was muted. Apathy had replaced frustration, which is the danger the Mets now face as July heads toward August.
If this season is worth saving — and the fact the Mets still have the best pitching among the NL wild-card contenders suggests it should be — general manager Sandy Alderson needs to deliver a bat or two by Monday’s 4 p.m. non-waiver trade deadline.
It’s impractical to believe another Yoenis Cespedes will arrive at the deadline and start carrying the team, but completing a deal with the Brewers for Jonathan Lucroy would certainly give the Mets something that is desperately needed: a respected bat to help protect Cespedes in the middle of the order.
The Mets and Brewers resumed trade talks in the last two days that revolve around the All-Star catcher. Other teams are interested, but the Mets might be the most desperate and — according to industry sources — believe they are firmly in the mix for Lucroy, who is under club control through 2017.
So Alderson should go for it and improve a position that has been a disappointment for the Mets in recent years, with the exception of the final two months last season, when Travis d’Arnaud was healthy and producing. D’Arnaud hasn’t been that player for the Mets in 2016, ceding playing time recently to journeyman Rene Rivera (who has become a preferred target for Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom).
Manager Terry Collins continues to bite his tongue publicly, refusing to plea for another bat. But with Jose Reyes now possibly headed to the disabled list, where he would join Juan Lagares, and Cespedes playing on a gimpy leg, the Mets need the infusion. The 38 runs the Mets have scored since the AllStar break are the fewest in the majors, making it a small miracle they are only two games behind the Cardinals in the loss column for the NL’s second wild-card spot.
“It’s not like we’re getting our brains beat in,” Collins said after the Mets’ third straight loss. “We just haven’t been able to score, and we’ll get it going.”
The Mets went hitless in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position and watched their pathetic average for the season in such situations dip to .202. Really, how much lower can it go?
Conforto, who walked twice, figures to get the bulk of the playing time in center field with Lagares possibly finished for the season. It is the opportunity Conforto has wanted since returning from his three-week demotion to Triple-A Las Vegas.
“Coming back I was excited, because it was right about the time I came up last year,” Conforto said. “And I know what I did in the second half of last year and the success that I had and played a role in getting to the playoffs, so it kind of felt similar.
“Obviously you forget about the struggle back in May and June and the demotion and you kind of felt the same coming up, you were going to try to help this team get rolling, so it was sort of a similar feeling. But that is what makes it so exciting and there’s so many games left, there’s time for me to get things rolling and try to help the team out. It’s crunch time, but there’s still a lot of time left.”
It’s because there is time left that Alderson owes it to these fans to improve the lineup. He can start by calling the Brewers and completing a deal for Jonathan Lucroy.