No Offense, Mets Lose in 20
Well, at least this year’s tease only lasted a week. In a season that could end up being historically bad, the Mets played one of their longest games ever Saturday and along the way also set a team record for men left on base.
The team’s struggles, especially on offense, should come as no surprise to anyone that followed their travails this past winter. it was apparent before Spring Training that this year’s Mets would be a bad and boring team, about which much would need to change before they can even think about contending again.
All of Metdom held its collective breath yesterday when Matt Harvey left with a back injury. Matt says it is nothing serious, but I won’t believe that until I see him make his next scheduled start.
Shaun Marcum threw what probably will be the best non-Matt Harvey performance by a Met pitcher this year. His 0-7 record aside, Marcum could help many contenders down the stretch. Maybe a package of Marcum and a few other useful pieces like Brandon Lyon and John Buck could land the Mets a….OK I will stop now.
By the way, Bobby Parnell has looked really good lately. This is what we have been waiting for since his 2008 debut. Parnell’s is a good cautionary tale about how long it takes sometimes (most times?) for young players to mature. After some inconsistent results and a few trips back to AAA, Parnell is showing signs of being a long-term solution at closer. Despite what else happens this year, this is an important revelation for the Mets. Considering the poor ROI on the huge investments they’ve made on the last two closers, an important piece for the future could be in place and at a great price. A few other sites have suggested that Bobby could be on the trading block. Unless Boston offers Bogarts and Bradley or Texas offers Olt and Profar, I would hold on to Parnell.
I think it’s time you wrote an article explaining THE PLAN to your readers. While most of us have been confused for the last seven weeks about the Mets strategy, and some people said that there wasn’t one, they just don’t UNDERSTAND. You see, the Mets are telling us that they have all this money to spend next winter, and I believe them! They are going to sign some big names and they cannot make the same mistake twice!
Therefore, if some young kid hits a three run homer to win a game in the ninth inning, he sits for the next four games!!! If some other kid starts bunting for base hits and starts building some excitement on the basepaths and maybe hits a few game winning homeruns, he sits til he learns his lesson! Players like Ike Davis see THE PLAN and contribute to it, so we take care of those guys – for as long as we can without a police action brought on by fans. You see Dan, that first round pick MUST BE PROTECTED and there can be no chances taken! That way, when the Mets finally spend money, some measly wins will not interfere with having a secure pick. Once we reasonably secure a protected pick, we will trade for a hitter, hire a real manager, and sign a few helpful players.
Players like Duda are perfect for THE PLAN, so keep him in there. No rest. Davis: keep him in there. Hudgens: We love you!!
I actually do have a half finished piece on this, I think the plan has very little to do with winning baseball games. It is probably time to finish it.
BTW, here’s my plan. Don’t give any money to the Wilpons until they sell the team or start acting like they want to win. Hit ’em where it hurts, in the wallet, it’s the ONLY thing they understand. See Madoff, Bernard.