Home » Mets 2014 Games » Prisoners to "Potential?"
7
April 5, 2014 Mets 2014 Games Dan Capwell

Prisoners to “Potential?”

Nice win last night. An encouraging outing by Jenrry Mejia and Lucas Duda hits two homers. Duda’s heroics coming the day after he was named the starting first baseman.

Maybe it’s age, but the cynic in me wonders what both of these players will do for an encore. Is this the beginning of a solid, 25-start season for Mejia, or will he once more land on the DL with yet another arm ailment? Does Duda continue to hit for power and maintain a high OBP, or was last night an alluring flash in the pan, with his two homers representing about 40% of the round trippers he will hit between now and mid-May?

Jeff Wilpon aside, this is the crux of the Mets’ problems: they don’t seem to be able to effectively gauge what they have in the players on their roster. As one of the posters on this site pointed out recently, the Mets get greedy with players they think they can get big time production from at a low cost. When that goes south, there is no backup plan. Example A is Ike Davis. It is painfully apparent that they have overvalued Ike, letting a 32 home run season and a few acrobatic catches cloud their judgement as to his true worth as a player. Daniel Murphy, Ruben Tejada and Bobby Parnell are also good examples of this, flashes here and there but no consistent performance. Couple this with critical flaws in each player’s game and you get what we are most likely in store for this year: another losing season.

I favor backing up the truck and getting rid of any player not named Wright or Harvey. Instead, I think they will peddle the Fool’s Gold that was last evening as a sure sign that a turnaround is underway.

A Mets fan since 1971, Dan spent many summer nights of his childhood watching the Mets on WOR Channel Nine, which his Allentown, PA cable company carried. Dan was present at Game 7 of the 1986 World Series and the Todd Pratt Walkoff Game in 1999. He is also the proud owner of two Shea Stadium seats. Professionally, Dan is a Marketing Manager in the Bulk Materials Handling industry. He lives in Bethlehem PA with his wife and son, neither of whom fully get his obsession with the Mets.
Related Articles
  1. TexasGusCC April 5, 2014 at 9:47 am
    Dan, if you don’t judge a player by what he has done, how would you judge him? While Davis is not a perennial 32 HR hitter, he has it on his résumé. Honestly, I would just keep him as insurance than just get rid of him. That money is nothing anyway, and I never understood how Davis was never made an outfielder because he used to be at Arizona State as well as a pitcher that threw 94mph. Rather than change his position, change someone’s that never played there?

    As far as backing up the truck, this team needs a leadoff hitter, a change in hitting philosophy, and a shortstop. That’s it. no team has or needs all-stars at every position. Wanted Jose Abreu, but, unless another difference maker is available… Although difficult to find, if the Mets can get a Segura or Andrus at SS, you have:

    SS
    Murphy
    Wright
    Granderson
    Young
    Duda/Davis/Satin
    TDA
    Lagares
    Pitcher

    That’s a nice lineup, with pretty good defense in most positions and a good starting rotation. Even the bullpen is not atrocious, just the lefties in it.

    • Joe Janish April 5, 2014 at 1:09 pm
      Yeah, that’s it. Easy-peasy.

      So, where will the Mets find a shortstop, leadoff hitter, and new hitting philosophy? And how will they acquire these assets?

      I disagree re: the bullpen and the defense — the former is atrocious and the latter is adequate at best. And the starting rotation will lose at least 2 or 3 to injury by midseason. Niese, for sure, will be out for significant time with his shoulder and elbow issues, and I’m not ready to count on Mejia to be healthy through more than 10 starts.

      This ship is sinking fast.

      • TexasGusCC April 6, 2014 at 12:23 am
        It’s not my job to look, but seek and ye shall find. The Cubs have a plethora of young SS: Castro, Baez, and Almazera. The Rangers have Sardinas. There are enough out there.

        The hitting philosophy has hamstrung the younger hitters and many young hitters on the team have regressed in the past few years as their aggressive nature has been taken away. What are athletes always told? Stay aggressive! Well, they are being stripped if that.

  2. Dan42 April 5, 2014 at 10:15 am
    I’d put Davis in Reno, if he can rake there another team could bite and turn him into something useful, rather than redundant mediocrity.
  3. Dan B April 5, 2014 at 10:50 am
    Your “Jeff Wilpons aside” comment reminds me of the “aside that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play” line. But if the Mets do load up the truck and clean house, aren’t you afraid of the players that a Jeff Wilpons management team would bring in? After all insanity is repeating the action and expecting different results.
  4. Vilos April 5, 2014 at 3:19 pm
    Its a good question: do the Mets have the ability to judge their own talent. Duda and Davis are great examples. They were drafted by the Mets and have been in yheir organization for a couple of years. Why havent they figured it out already who should play and who they should get rid of.
    To be fair, from what Ive read at different sites, nobody seems to be sure who to keep. Of course, blogs just go by stats, while the Mets live with these guys, so they should have a at least a head start.
    Another question that comes to my mind is, how many teams are there that really excel in talent evaluation? The Cards, the As and the Rays, before it was the Twin. Thats not too many. The Mets have traditionaly been good with pitchers.
    The followup question would be, what would those teams have done. Would the Cards have dumped them both as some suggest the Mets should do? I hate the idea of letting them go and have them become stars on another team, or trading them for peanuts with the same results. The Nolan Ryan trade or Ken Singleton come to mind.
    In the end, is this a Mets problem or this part of a baseball/sport problem?
  5. meticated April 6, 2014 at 1:57 am
    The Wilpons are content to stand pat…Harvey might have forced their hand but now they get a pass. .they can circle the wagons one more time and stave of the creditors, whilst giving their beyond the normal devoted fans who cannot fathom a year without a home team, just enough crumbs to be led back to their clutches…they spent nothing this off season beyond what came off the books…this is last year, and the year before leftovers reheated…”next year will be the one is the mantra for sale…the farm is ripening, be patient…stay loyal”…This is a bad movie… I want off this mobius strip of a nightmare…win or lose let’s see some honesty and sincerity!!