Too Many Mets Scarecrows

I just got my call from JCP&L asking me to conserve electricity so, being a good citizen (or a not so bad one), I turned off everything but the fridge and Francesa (necessities are after all necessities) and have my PC running on the battery.

There’s a lot happening in the sports world on which to comment, even if not much of it can be positive. The Mets, fuggedaboudit, they’re getting worse, but at least the NFL lockout looks to be ending and we won’t have to contemplate the angry visage of DeMaurice Smith anymore.

I had thought they’d miss the first four games of the regular season. My thinking had been based upon the knowledge that the owners were insured for the first four weeks. But, what I didn’t realize (and neither did the owners apparently) was that the players were insured too, to about 200 thousand bucks per player.

That latter fact certainly accelerated the pace of negotiations. And this marks the first time in my life ‘ve ever been thankful for the insurance industry.

Now we can all get back to perusing our fantasy football magazines while sprawled on the beach listening to some baseball game. And that’s not all. The delay and shortening of the signing period means that our next few weeks will be chock full of surprises, who’s being signed, let go or just asked to take one for the team…..heh-heh.

Meanwhile, as the July 31st trading deadline approaches, Mets fans can wonder how bad things can really get without K-Rod and now probably Beltran. From the looks of things thus far, they can get pretty bad in a hurry, just from the thought of losing Carlos.

I know I’ve become inured already to the poor play and lack of talent on my favorite team. Looking at the bright side, maybe the Mets will finally do something about these pieces of dead wood that litter the roster.

It’s not even so much the really raw players that exasperate me. It’s the players that have been with the team for a long while now, the Pagans of the world and the Bay’s and the Pelfrey’s that just seem to keep stinking it up.

I had thought that Jason Bay might be coming out of his funk finally after almost two years of playing worse than anyone could ever have imagined. Alas, it was not to be. His big day a couple of weeks ago was just a cruel aberration, just another reminder of how much we’re truly missing while he flounders. I mean, it’s not just the poor performance per se, but the opportunity loss of what the man could be.

The entire Mets season kinda reminds me of the Wizard of Oz. The Wizard would have to be the GM Alderson or Manager Terry Collins. The lion looking for courage could be Jason Bay. The scarecrow looking for a brain would definitely be Angel Pagan. The tin man seeking a heart could be Carlos Beltran, that is, seeking another team to love him.

But the Mets have too many scarecrows. Angel Pagan heads the list of stupid players but there is also Mike Pelfrey and especially Lucas Duda. And that sometime closer Bobby Parnell isn’t the brightest light in the heavens either. Willie Harris and Scott Hairston have all the brains they need to play but just lack any discernible talent.

That being said, any professional baseball team needs at least a bit of production from all 25 players. On the Mets, it’s easier to identify the keepers for next year. It’s a much shorter list. In the outfield there are no keepers unless you count Beltran. I suppose he could return after a brief sojourn with the Phils or Giants or Brewers but I wouldn’t count on it.

The infield could be good though. Ike Davis at first base, Justin Turner at second, Tejada at shortstop (if Jose should go elsewhere) and David Wright at third would certainly be representative of a real live major league team. The starters except for Pelfrey are all pretty good too. The catcher, Josh Thole, has a lot of potential and is good enough to be a regular.

As dealing Jason Bay would be next to impossible without a deep discount of some kind, I look for him to continue playing, at the very least, a very steady left field. Maybe he could be viewed as one of those defensive specialists, who are usually found at shortstop or second base. If Reyes could be retained, a weak-hitting left fielder could be tolerated.

So the Mets need to get rid of the dead men walking. That means Duda and Pelfrey and Pagan have to go. They are symbols of losing baseball. At least Bay is a smart player, good outfielder and good on the basepaths and, presumably, in the clubhouse.

So we need two outfielders. Surely there are two outfielders that can be had on the cheap if necessary, players who would make us forget Angel Pagan, Lucas Duda and the horror of Daniel Murphy out there. Murphy has value though, for sure, as a utility infielder who can spell Wright at third, Davis at first and Turner at second.

A couple of relief pitchers are also needed. Izzy and Beato and even Parnell could be keepers but that’s about all. Of the rest of them, only Tim Byrdak has performed pretty creditably. Surely something could be had in return for Beltran and K-Rod, and maybe even a big guy with some power.

Those are just the obvious moves. If one gets imaginative, it’s conceivable that David Wright could be traded as both Turner and Murphy are capable of playing there, if not providing as much power. But at this point anyway, I’d rather see a couple of good outfielders. Wright is the only player on the roster that could provide any appreciable value in return.

Get rid of all the scarecrows. A wizard could certainly do it.

A Nice Place To Be

Why is this Mets team so hard to root for? Maybe it’s that Atlanta is already about 7 or so ahead of them for the wildcard. Maybe it’s just that Pelfrey’s pitching. Maybe I can’t believe that Daniel friggin’ Murphy had been batting cleanup. And Duda’s playing first base. I know I like some of those other guys, Turner and Tejada and Thole and all those new pitchers who’ve been doing so well.

But when is Reyes coming back?

I’m watching the Mets-Dodgers game, of course, the one that starts at 9 PM Eastern, and it could be worse as they are 3000 miles away. But I do get to watch the Yankees and the Mets this way. So life is good, unless you begin to think that maybe you’re just a little tired of this whole Mets situation…all the uncertainty.

It’s not as if you can even be happy when they win. They’re a .500 team basically. And that’s with Reyes and Beltran and K-Rod. What happens when they hit the dusty trail? What happens if just one of them leaves? I guess that’s what I’m witnessing now, the Mets playing Tejada at short, in a lineup that doesn’t terrify anybody even with Reyes.

And thank God they’re playing the Dodgers tonight, a team that’s not likely to overwhelm anyone, and a team that has its own ownership problems. Ethier’s been pretty quiet but they do have Loney and Kemp, especially Kemp. Their pitching is a little suspect, and overall as a team they’re not scaring anybody, or exciting anybody either, just like the Mets.

When you watch the Yankees, it’s a whole different deal. Usually that consistent winning just aggravates me when it’s the big-spending Bombers from the Bronx. But they just keep winning all the time. If they need somebody to pitch or somebody to hit, they go and get them. Some of them are even easy to root for, players like Granderson and, um, Swisher.

Tonight the Mets heroes have been Beltran and Bay. I guess you could credit Pelfrey too as the Dodgers are still scoreless. But he did pout when Collins took him out of the game. He remimds me more and more of John Maine and what’s he doing now?

This game is finally heating up a little as Beltran and Paulino just managed a couple of singles, there are no outs and I love watching Bay lately when runners are on base. And, whoa!! Bay hits the three-run homer, his second of the day! And he’s not going anywhere. WooHoo!!

Now it’s the rather healthy looking Isringhausen trying to keep this thing rolling along. Izzy hasn’t been super lately but he has had his moments. And Tejada just made a diving stab of a Uribe hard grounder to his left and calmly got the force at second. But Izzy won’t make it easy as he walks some Dodger nobody. But he gets another weak-hitting Dodger, Ellis to fly out to center. And, wadda ya know? Here’s still another weak hitter at the plate. Izzy might get through this day.

And he does. Izzy gets a weak ground ball to end the 8th. The 6-zip lead would seem to be insurmountable. And the Dodgers have no closer either. It seems as if Donnie Baseball has his work cut out for him in La-La land.

Duda just muffed a hard grounder from the Dodgers’ venerable shortstop, Rafael Furcal. But, lo and behold, he then grabs a short-hopper to get the force. All is not lost. Maybe he really can play first. Mets reliever Carrasco now has two outs in the ninth….and now three. The Mets win the game, 6-0. Not too shabby.

So that ends the sports day at 1 o’clock in the morning. Of course, there will be the Mets post-game show but they’ll kill it with commercials. The YES network will be showing a re-play of the Yankees-Indians but, even with Granderson and Cano on my fantasy team, I can’t really see myself doing that.

But the commercials finally end and the show features Jason Bay. Deservedly so. And he’s all humble pie and graciousness. Maybe he’s over his troubles. Maybe he just had a severe case of the first-year with a new club syndrome. Maybe he’ll make this club a little more fun to watch, maybe even a lot more fun.

Maybe I’m just getting carried away. The World Series Champion Giants are next on the schedule as we approach the All-Star break. The Mets will see some better pitching for sure, names like Vogelsong and Lincecum and Cain. Those fellows could definitely screw up your chances for getting wins.

The Mets are 44-42 now and have 2 more with the Dodgers before they even get to the city by the bay. They’ll have to face the Dodgers Kuroda and Kershaw too so, all in all, things don’t look too rosy for our heroes before the break. If they can split the remaining two with the Dodgers and take just one of three from those tough Giants starters, they’ll be 46-45, creditable but not very much in real contention for anything.

What will the Mets do? Re-sign Reyes? Keep Beltran and K-Rod for the rest of the year? I’d love to see it. If the big guys all stay, maybe these upstarts can even make a run for a wildcard. After all, Atlanta isn’t so formidable either, especially if Bay can really keep producing.

Niese, Gee, Dickey, Capuano, Pelfrey. Can these guys keep going out there and giving the Mets a chance to win? I think they can. The relievers haven’t been too shabby either. Maybe they won’t be too hard to watch after all!

Keep the big guns, Sandy. To hell with the prospects. You’ll give Mets fans something to shout about, maybe even a wildcard spot. You have to believe, right? As long as we have Jose and Carlos playing for new contracts, that’s a nice place to be.