1. In today’s Post, I wrote this column about how the Mets mismanaged Ike Davis so far this season. I am regularly staggered by how the Mets think out and then execute their plans; how almost nothing they attempt to execute goes smoothly and flawlessly. And this does matter. You keep making mistakes and running a less-than-professional operation and it detracts from your product, little by little.
And I think that is problematic for the 2010 Mets. Because this Mets team has assets, but not enough to overcome the chronic, shabby implementation of strategy.
This team should not be a sub-.500 club. They have talent and they have talent coming. They will get plenty from Jason Bay and Jose Reyes before the season is complete. Jon Niese is developing into a competent back-of-the-rotation starter and Mike Pelfrey is hinting at being a real No. 2 starter. Ike Davis will be better than the Mike Jacobs/Fernando Tatis platoon, and while growing pains are coming, he has the skills to provide some impact this season.
But the front office was ridiculous to trade for Gary Matthews and Jerry Manuel has been more ridiculous to play him with any regularity. Angel Pagan has flaws, but he is way more talented than Matthews. With Carlos Beltran out, the Mets should be finding out all they can about Pagan: Can he grow into a starting center fielder? Can he be a very valuable fourth outfielder on a contender? Is he someone who the Mets should build up to trade? The theory is that Matthews was being played as a showcase to trade. But why? He is nearly impossible to deal and if he is traded you are going to get even less than Brian Stokes in return.
And, again, the Mets need to get Jenrry Mejia to the minors to stretch out as a starter. When Mejia was used for two innings last night, I thought that the Mets might have been beginning the process of stretching him out. But, alas, Manuel told me after the game that it was merely a strategy to continue to rest other elements of the bullpen in the aftermath of Saturday’s 20-inning game in St. Louis.
Are the 2010 Mets contenders? I don’t know. But I don’t think it is farfetched, and if they could ever get Daniel Murphy onto their bench to lengthen their depth and Beltran back in center field, they could have a much more complete roster. But the Mets, as an organization, really have to get better at thinking through their issues. There is not enough talent here to overcome the missteps of ownership and the front office.
2. The first game I saw the Mets play in spring training, I noticed that David Wright was in a more exaggerated crouch than I had ever seen with him before. After the game, when I asked about it, Wright said he did not think so. But I continue to think he is much lower.
Now, it also seems to me he is taking the kind of all-out, tomahawk swing that you will see from Dustin Pedroia. But Pedroia has the amazing ability to take a mighty hack more familiar to slow-pitch softball and somehow still limit his strikeouts. Wright is walking plenty and has shown an uptick in power; and having strong on-base skills and power are the two most important elements at the plate. But, unlike Pedroia, Wright cannot negate strikeouts with this stance/swing, and I also think he is going to be very challenged to hit his normal .300.
Over the first four seasons of his career, Wright had an offensive skill set akin to a slightly more patient Matt Holliday or a slightly less powerful Alex Rodriguez – a nice combo of patience, power, average and speed. But he is verging toward becoming a speedier, less powerful version of Adam Dunn: Think lower batting average, but high walk and strikeout totals.
3. The Mets and Cubs were very similar last year: They were ranked 1-2 in NL payroll, and pretty much finished that way in the disappointment department, as well. They had overpaid, under-performing, mismatched, heavily-injured rosters.
A few scouts I had spoken to told me nothing much had changed with the Cubs this year, and Chicago played down to those low expectations last night when I saw the Cubs in person for the first time in 2010. They seem to have little energy. They continue to lean too heavily right-handed. Their defense is suspect.
And even on a night when he produced two hits, Alfonso Soriano looked like a shell of his former self. Yankee fans are familiar with him turning a triple into a double by jogging out of the box, as he did last night. But what would shock them is the lack of electricity in Soriano’s legs. He has become a station-to-station runner. Plus his always bad defense in left field is verging toward the Hundley-esque.
Including this year the Cubs still owe Soriano $90 million for five seasons in one of the most ill-conceived contracts in major league history. I do not see how this version of Soriano stays on an NL roster (or perhaps any roster) for the full duration of that pact.
