Ok. It’s been a week. Let’s talk about The New York Mets deadline.
The Mets have thrown in the towel for the 2023 season and possibly even the 2024 season. Throwing in the towel on this season and trading away any player who is not under contract next year was a good idea. Max Scherzer has been nothing but a disappointment since joining The Mets. Yes, he had good numbers last year. He also missed nearly two months due to injury and completely shit the bed in the games we needed him to show up in. Landing Acuna for him was incredible. Steve Cohen is now using his money to buy a farm system.
People were upset we didn’t get more for Tommy Pham. We got a young kid who won’t be MLB ready for 4 or 5 years and may never have a meaningful at-bat for The New York Mets. But guess what? Tommy Pham was never going to have another meaningful at-bat for The Mets either. So what is the issue?
Now that you know that I was on board with trading away a bunch of guys – I want to talk about what I think the mistakes were. First, prospects are not sure things. It is very unlikely all of these guys ever play for The Mets. Max Scherzer said he was told 2024 would be viewed as a “transitional year”. Is that true? No idea. But I am leaning towards yes with trading away Justin Verlander. We have a good core and if we could add a couple arms and have young guys step up next year, we could go for it next year. Without Verlander that vision is much more difficult. I get that we got two very good prospects, Brett Baty was one of our top prospects for years – look how that turned out. In my opinion the Mets should have given next year a solid shot and if we were in this spot, they could’ve moved Verlander at that time.
The other mistake was simply pulling the trigger on a David Robertson deal too early. I think they could’ve gotten more if they waited a couple more days. But I will not cry over spilled milk. They can still bring Roberston back in the off season. Having him, Raley and Diaz would be a solid bullpen. The rotation will be pretty shaky.
That brings me to, “Where does this leave The Mets for next year?” Leaves them with 1 solid starter. The rotation currently looks like Senga-Quintana-Peterson-Megil- than probably a prospect, maybe Vasil? What they do this off-season with that rotation will tell us what their plan is for next year. They will make a call on Ohtani, but after the fire sale and him not wanting to come to the east coast, it is going to be very difficult to pitch him this year. But with absolutely no pitching depth, they are going to have to get creative. I don’t expect and big name position players to come in, they are going to pass the torch to their young guys coming up and lean on them to take over spots. They will probably add some outfield depth – hopefully a lefty power bat that isn’t Daniel Vogelbach. Maybe Acuna can earn a roster spot next year.
Anyway, as much as this sucks. It is overall good and my only complaint is next year likely will be a year where we aren’t very competitive.
A Fan With A Mic 