Mike Francesa does not have time for the palace intrigue surrounding this disastrous Mets season. The WFAN legend believes the focus should be on how the bad days may keep rolling on well into next year.
“With where it is right now, how are you going to build this into a team that can be competitive next year? It will take a miracle,” Francesa said on his latest BetRivers podcast. “You’re going to have to have free agents flock here, and you’re going to have to rebuild an entire starting rotation and half a bullpen. You think you’re going to do that in one year?”
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It will be a colossal task, even with owner Steve Cohen’s checkbook. And, to be fair, the Mets have already signaled as much. Francesa said the pitching is a particular issue after Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander were sold off at the trade deadline earlier in August.
“They don’t have anybody in the organization that can pitch,” he said. “They have to import all these pitchers, and that’s almost impossible to do. I don’t care how much money you have at your disposal. You can’t build a pitching staff for money. It doesn’t work. No one is going give you their pitchers. You might get one, you might get two, you’re not going to get enough. And they don’t have any arms in the minor leagues.”
Francesa added he can see both sides to the debate on whether manager Buck Showalter should return in 2024. But, “if Buck comes back, that’s not the issue,” he said. “That’s not the problem. If you give Buck players, he’ll win. He won 101 games last year. And he lost in the playoffs because his star pitchers (Jacob deGrom and Scherzer) stunk.”
But t least the 2022 and ’23 teams had star pitchers, albeit disappointing ones.
“I don’t see how they’re going to be good next year,” Francesa said. “That’s the headline. This year is gone.”
James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @jameskratch.
