Mets Searching foe some hope
SEATTLE — The Excuse Train ran out of town for the Mets on Sunday at Safeco Field. In many ways.
Amed Rosario should be a Met by Tuesday in Colorado after Jose Reyes was drilled on the left arm by a 95-mph pitch from the Mariners’ James Paxton in the fifth inning of the Mets 9-1 loss.
Reyes was in serious pain and had to leave the game. Xrays were negative and Reyes said he does not know if he will be able to play Tuesday.
It was that kind of dreary day for the Mets.
After yet another Sunday loss, Jay Bruce said he planned to go fly-fishing on the Mets off day Monday, but stay well within cell phone range on Trade Deadline Day.
For Bruce’s sake, here’s hoping he gets a few bites. Same goes for the Mets on the outfielder. Bruce desperately wants to play meaningful games and that is not happening with the Mets. This comment tells you how disappointing this season has become for him. “Coming in here at the beginning of spring training, I thought we were a World Series contender,’’ Bruce said. “The team has to figure out how they want to approach the future.’’ Indeed. The Mets should look different come Tuesday. Rosario should be at shortstop and Dominic Smith should be on his way up soon, unless general manager Sandy Alderson stubbornly clings to current players.
The loss dropped the Mets to 48-55 and although it is convenient to blame it all on the pitching injuries, the reason for this team’s failure goes much deeper than a torn lat by Noah Syndergaard and the other pitching woes.
The Mets need to get more athletic, better defensively and rely less on Alderson’s Holy Grail, the home-run ball.
Bruce owns 27 home runs, 72 RBIs and a .263 average, but Alderson has not been able to find a trade worth making. The Royals landed Melky Cabrera from the White Sox on Sunday, so clearly there was an outfield market. Bruce also has shown he could play first base.
Alderson will be 70 years old next season. He is thinking in the here and now, not gathering lots of prospects. The players he has now will be a year older, too.
For a team that is out of the race, out of hope, there is nothing sadder than the trade deadline. While contending teams stock up, failed teams watch talent walk out the door. That will be the case when Addison Reed is traded. He has filled in admirably as a closer for Jeurys Familia. He has 19 saves and ranks fifth in the majors with four saves of four or more outs.
Reed has taken everything in stride and is wearing a smile around the clubhouse, knowing he is destined to be in the race, probably with the Red Sox.
For the veterans, this is now going-through-the-motions time, another reason why it is good to bring up a couple of youngsters. The Mets could have used some of that energy earlier, but Alderson didn’t see it that way. He stuck with his veteran players and now has a team looking for the escape hatch.
You can throw all the data out there you want, but it all comes down to your wonlost record.
This game was over in the first inning after Nelson Cruz crushed a 444-foot three-run home run into the upper deck in left off Seth Lugo. Leonys Martin added a high drive homer to right in the second. Lugo has been trying to pitch through an elbow injury. With Paxton on the mound the Mets had no chance.
This game also featured Yoenis Cespedes losing Ben Gamel’s high fly to left in the sun, turning an out into a triple and soon another run.
This has been a tough year for Cespedes too and earlier on this trip he told me he is totally revamping his workout routine, which at least offers some hope for the future that he will be healthier and have less leg issues.
Some hope. Not much of that going around with the Mets.