For the second consecutive season, New York Mets’ fans end the season with a sour taste in their mouth.
After Noah Syndergaard’s brilliant start, Jeurys Familia let down New York Mets‘ fans yet again by giving up a 3-run home run to Conor Gillaspie. This was Familia’s fourth career postseason blown save.
Of course, one will naturally expect their favorite team to win it all, but let’s face it, this Mets team was not very good.
They had the heart, they had the talent, but the injuries took a toll that couldn’t be overcome. With the pitching staff, along with other key players rested and healthy, the Mets will be poised to reenter the pennant race next year.
Injuries, however, are not the only reason the Mets are going to the golf course so early.
There are changes that need to be made to this team, in many different aspects; coaching, personal, philosophically, financially and the list goes on and on.
If the Mets’ Front Office is serious about making it back to the World Series, and finish what they started last season, these changes will happen this winter.
5. Open The Wallets
Face it, the Wilpons are cheap. This season New York finally made a big move in the offseason, retaining Yoenis Cespedes on a three-year, $75 million contract but they can’t hope a player like Cespedes will fall into their laps again.
The Mets need to come out of the gates aggressive, looking to get in on big free agents, opposed to waiting for the other teams’ scraps to fall off the table.
If the Wilpons’ want their fans to think the Mets are worth buying a season ticket plan for, they must make a splash.
If the Wilpons’ choose to continue being cheap, as they have appeared ever since their involvement in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme, well, most of these ideas to improve the team are irrelevant.
Is that because these ideas are unrealistic, or because the Wilpons have yet to adapt to the age of baseball where you need to spend something, to get something? There’s a reason why the Oakland A’s have one World Series victory from 1977-2016 and the New York Yankees have seven.
4.Bring In Another Option At Closer
Jeurys Familia isn’t as dominant a closer as you think. In 77.2 innings during 2016, he walked 31 batters, contributing to a 1.21 WHIP.
The righty, who was borderline unhittable a year ago, also had a 2.55 ERA to tag along with five blown saves, adding to the 10 he had blown the two seasons prior.
In his postseason career, Familia has proceeded to blow four of his nine save opportunities, including the in the 2016 NL Wild Card Game, and three times in the 2015 World Series.
By no means are these bad numbers, but are they good enough to guarantee Familia’s spot in the bullpen next season? With Kenley Jansen, Mark Melancon, Aroldis Chapman and potentially Wade Davis all being free agents this offseason, why not explore an addition?
One of these premiere late innings relievers could not only provide a more stable closer, but create one of the most dominant bullpens in baseball.
Addison Reed, and Familia, paired up with one of these marquee free-agents, would create a three-headed monster that rivals the bullpen of the 2015 Royals or the 2016 New York Yankees.
If you have more lockdown options in the pen, it will allow the starters to not have to work as deep into games, which could be especially helpful considering five of the Mets starters will be returning from an injury or surgery.
3. Trade Curtis Granderson or Jay Bruce
The Mets lineup for 2017 as it stands is extremely unbalanced. It contains Michael Conforto, Jay Bruce, Curtis Granderson, and Lucas Duda, all of whom are left-handed sluggers.
Why on Earth would the Mets carry this many left handed, all or nothing bats?
What the organization must do is move one of these guys, in order to move towards away from their all or nothing approach at the plate.
Conforto obviously doesn’t make sense, as he is by far the youngest, has the most potential, and the longest team control.
Duda isn’t going anywhere, with his salary unlikely to rise much through arbitration after spending most of the year on the DL. Duda will be in his contract year, so one could expect a breakout campaign.
If the Mets were to let Duda go it would be difficult to replace him without spending more money, considering New York’s in-house options are not even close to his level.
Domonic Smith doesn’t project to be ready at the beginning of next year, so it is very unlikely he would be an option.
It doesn’t seem like it would be hard for the Mets Front Office to sign off on a deal moving on from Bruce. If they could at least recoup a prospect similar to Dilson Herrera, there could be a chance they jump on the offer.
Like Duda, however, Bruce is also in his contract year, and even though he struggled with the Mets to finish this year, his experience in the Big Apple paired with contract status could lead to another big year.
Granderson is the most obvious candidate to be moved. The 37-year old is in the final year of his contract with the team. The Mets would miss him as a role-model for young players, but if someone would take on his $15-million contract, it might be hard to pass.
2. Upgrade At Catcher
Let’s be frank, Travis d’Arnaud stunk this season. Known for his power, he mightily disappointed with just four home runs and seven doubles, to make up a .323 slugging percentage in 251 at-bats.
To put that in perspective, Noah Syndergaard had three doubles and three home runs with a .397 slugging percentage in 58 at-bats.
d’Arnaud’s defense couldn’t even make up for his struggles at the dish, as his poor arm lost him playing time to Rene Rivera.
d’Arnaud also had another lengthy DL stint to begin the season, and only played in 75 games.
His poor health record along with a subpar season has many wanting the Mets to move on, and they aren’t wrong.
This free agent class has plenty of suitable catchers for the backstop-less Mets, with Matt Wieters and Wilson Ramos as the headliners.
Adding Ramos would be sweet revenge for New York, who lost their second baseman, Daniel Murphy, to Washington last off-season. If Ramos could even just go off versus the Nats, it’d be a win for the Mets.
The only problem; Ramos just tore his ACL. With a typical six-to-nine month recovery, there is a good chance that Ramos wouldn’t be ready for the start of the season. It seems unlikely the Mets would have taken on another injury burden player, considering they have plenty to deal with already.
The other intriguing option is Matt Wieters. Wieters only played 101 games between 2014 and 2015 while recovering from Tommy John surgery (no, it is not only for pitchers). Wieters provides solid defense, and a solid bat, with 17 home runs and a .711 OPS last season, a down year.
Last offseason Wieters accepted the Orioles qualifying offer, probably thinking it is the best he would do coming off elbow surgery. Should they offer him one again, it’s possible he accepts, based on his production this season.
But at 31 he could look for more long-term security, even at a discounted price. If the price is right, look for the Mets to swoop in on the veteran catcher.
1. Keep Cespedes and Walker
It’s pretty clear that Cespedes and Neil Walker need to be here for the long haul. They provide the middle of the Mets lineup with two huge threats, that will make even Madison Bumgarner a little scared.
Now, how would one expect this team to do better without them?
The evolution of life takes steps forward, not backward. When you run a race, you don’t turn around half way through. So why should a baseball team be built this way?
You can’t honestly expect a team to improve if your strip it of its core. It’s like taking away a person’s teeth and asking them to chew. It won’t happen.
If New York adds Matt Wieters, if they add Kenley Jansen, it won’t matter if the core of their offense is playing in Anaheim. The Mets can not take two steps back when they need to be making two steps forward.
If they do let Cespedes and Walker walk, a trip to the Wild Card Game will not even seem plausible. As we saw versus the Giants, it doesn’t matter how good your pitcher is, if you can’t score, you will not win.