Is Carlos Mendoza the Next Willie Randolph or Davey Johnson?

In the end, and for reasons we will likely never fully know, Craig Counsell, the man everyone assumed would be the next manager of the New York Mets, opted not to take the job and instead signed with the Chicago Cubs. Was it the money? Perhaps. Or maybe it was something else. What we do know is that Counsell never gave the Mets a chance to match the Cubs offer. So with Counsell gone, Steve Cohen and David Stearns chose Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza as their next skipper.

Almost immediately, the "Who the fuck is Carlos Mendoza?" contingent chimed in with their nickel's worth of "expertise," with several radio talk-show hosts proclaiming they were done with the Mets. One of those talk-show hosts, by the way, was the shit head who hung up on Carl Banks the other week, so take that with a rather large grain of salt.

As far as Mendoza is concerned, he is pretty much an unknown commodity. According to Wikipedia - yes, I had to go there - he spent 13 seasons in the minor leagues. In 2011, he was hired by the Yankees to manage their Gulf Coast League team, and in 2017, he was promoted to the big club where he's been the bench coach since 2020. Apart from a rave review he got from Aaron Boone, it's anybody's guess how he will perform in the Mets dugout.

In fact, Mendoza's hiring is eerily familiar to the Willie Randolph hiring in October of 2004. Like Mendoza, Randolph was a Yankees bench coach with no big-league managerial experience. In fact, the only difference between both men is that Randolph had a distinguished career as an all-star second baseman with the Bronx Bombers that included two World Series rings: 1977 and 1978.

While the Mets won the National League East in 2006 with Randolph at the helm, they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS; and then in '07, suffered one of the worst late-season collapses in team history, finishing 5-12 down the stretch and blowing a seven game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies. Randolph's lack of experience was cited as the reason for both failures. He would eventually be fired the following season after the Mets got off to a slow start.

The question for the Mets right now is are they repeating the same mistake they made 19 years ago by going with someone with no big-league managerial experience? The hope is that Mendoza won't be the next Willie Randolph, but the fact is nobody can know for sure. Davey Johnson, if you recall, had no big-league managerial experience either when he was chosen by Frank Cashen to manage the Mets in 1984, and we all know how that turned out. Two division titles and a World Series championship later, the hire is generally considered to be among the best in franchise history.

We also have to keep in mind that Stearns was hired by Cohen because of his expertise in building an organization. Even though the Milwaukee Brewers never won the World Series during his tenure there, he was nonetheless responsible for their ascendancy into playoff contenders. We need to give him the benefit of the doubt here regarding Mendoza, inasmuch as we don't know how the interview went. For all we know, Mendoza hit it out of the park. Take it from a former sales manager who was responsible for hiring and firing, you can never underestimate the importance of a face to face meeting. 

Bottom line, the Mets have their manager in place for the 2024 season. Now they have to fill in their roster. That task will fall exclusively to Stearns now that Billy Eppler is no longer the GM.

But that's another story altogether. 

David Stearns' To-Do List

Well, it's over.

The season from hell that started with such high expectations finally came to a merciless end Sunday in typical fashion: with a failure to get a timely hit and an overtaxed bullpen imploding. A team that won 101 games last year and went to the playoffs, limped to the finish line with a measly 75 wins this year. Disappointing doesn't begin to describe it.

And now with the formal introduction of David Stearns as President of Baseball Operations, the Mets most consequential offseason in over a decade begins. Stearns comes with an impressive resume. In his eight years running the Milwaukee Brewers, they made the postseason five times including this year. He will have his work cut out for him here.

At the risk of being presumptuous, I've whittled Stearns' to-do list down to a precious five.

The Manager: The news that Buck Showalter would not be returning next season should come as no surprise to anyone who was paying attention. While Buck was certainly not to blame for the injuries to Edwin Diaz and Starling Marte, or the less than stellar performance of Max Scherzer, some of his moves this season were puzzling, to say the least.

One game in particular stands out. It was against the Rockies in Colorado in late May when the Mets were still in contention. Buck elected to start Marte in centerfield even though he hadn't played there in two years and he was clearly hobbled by a nagging groin injury. When he was unable to catch up to a line drive in the bottom of the 4th inning, three runs scored. The following inning Buck allowed Stephen Nogosek to get smacked around with no one warming up in the bullpen. The Rockies scored five runs in that inning and went on to win 11-10.

Now that Buck is gone, Stearns and G.M. Billy Eppler will be tasked with finding a replacement who can effectively and more consistently manage this team. The obvious choice is Craig Counsell who has piloted the Brewers since 2015, when he replaced Ron Roenicke. In 2018, he took the Brewers to the NLCS, where they lost to the Dodgers in seven games. He has a record of 707-625, and the fact that he worked for Stearns should give him a leg up on the competition.

Pete Alonso: Stearns made it clear in his press conference that he has no intentions of trading the first baseman during the offseason, saying "I expect Pete to be the opening day first baseman." That is certainly welcomed news for a fanbase that hasn't had much to cheer about lately. And by lately, I mean eight years.

But saying you're not going to trade Alonso is one thing; actually signing him to a long-term deal that will keep him in Flushing is quite another. While no one knows exactly where the negotiations left off between Steve Cohen and Alonso's agent, we can assume the sticking point was term. Alonso would obviously like a long-term contract; the Mets would probably prefer a shorter term.

Given that Cohen was willing to give Carlos Correa $315 million over 12 years, it's going to be pretty difficult playing hard ball with a homegrown guy who, as I pointed out in August, might well finish his career with 700 plus home runs. If I had to guess, I'd say both sides settle on 9 years and $300 million. That would put Alonso just behind Francisco Lindor's $34 million annual salary.

The Starting Rotation: The "dynamic duo" of Scherzer and Justin Verlander - at $43 million a piece - was a case study in how not to build a starting rotation. The former never fully recovered from a torn oblique he suffered last season; the latter missed the first month of this season. Eppler was able to get the return he did because Cohen was willing to eat more than $80 million in salary owed both pitchers. It's fair to say the owner would prefer not to do that again.

The Mets have shown interest in Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Japanese ace scouts think could be better than Kodai Senga, who turned out to be one of the best pitchers in baseball this season. A starting rotation featuring these two pitchers would be a formidable one-two punch.

But even with Yamamoto and Senga, the Mets still have questions. Like who's going to be the third, fourth and fifth starter? Tylor Megill had a good second half, so perhaps he could compete for the third or fourth spot. Beyond that it's anyone's guess what Stearns will do.

The Bullpen: It cannot be overstated what losing Diaz for the season did to a bullpen that was already thin to begin with. Getting him back next season will be a huge relief, no pun intended.

But like the starting rotation, the pen has plenty of holes that Stearns will have to fill. Does he bring back David Robertson as a setup man? Does he trade for Diaz's younger brother Alexis, who had 37 saves for the Cincinnati Reds this season and is arbitration eligible, to give the Mets a dual closer threat?

The Kids: One of the few bright spots this season has been the emergence of catcher Francisco Alvarez as a genuine talent behind the plate and the development of infielders Brett Baty, Mark Vientos and Ronny Mauricio. Alvarez looks like the real deal. The rookie hit 25 homers and drove in 63 runs. But while the infielders showed promise, they are still works in progress. Stearns may elect to keep all three or he could dangle one or more as trade bait if he believes he can get a proven outfielder, infielder or pitcher in return.

The good news is the Mets finally have their front office in place. Now it's up to them to build a championship team.

Why Cohen Must Lock Up Alonso

Over their 62 year history, the New York Mets have had their fair share of home run hitters. Darryl Strawberry (252), David Wright (242) and Mike Piazza (220) lead the pack. Over a 16-year career that began with the L.A. Dodgers, Piazza had a grand total of 427 homers. Carlos Beltran, who's 7th on the team list with 149, smacked 435 in his career.

Pete Alonso has a chance to eclipse them all. In just five seasons as a Met - one of which was limited to 57 games due to Covid-19 - the Polar Bear, as he is affectionally referred to by the Flushing Faithful, has hit 181 dingers. According to Baseball Reference, in a pro-rated 162-game schedule, Alonso is averaging 46 HRs and 119 RBIs. To put that in perspective, Aaron Judge, who led the major leagues with 62 home runs last season, is averaging 49 HRs and 111 RBIs.

Now before everyone has a cow, I am not suggesting that Alonso is Judge. Judge is a lifetime .284 hitter, while Alonso is a lifetime .255 hitter. But based on what each brings to their respective teams, a case can be made that Alonso is just as valuable to the Mets as Judge is to the Yankees. When his career is over, Alonso could well wind up with 700 or more home runs. And that's Babe Ruth territory, folks, cow or no cow.

That is why it is imperative Steve Cohen lock up his slugging first baseman as soon as possible. Reports that the Mets were quietly taking feelers on Alonso prior to the trade deadline is an indication that they are skeptical they can re-sign him before he hits free agency after the 2024 season. If that is true then Mets fans have a right to be concerned. Because if Cohen was willing to fork over $315 million to Carlos Correa - who at present is hitting .227 with a paltry 14 home runs for the Minnesota Twins - then how in God's name has he not opened up his check book for a home-grown talent who over the last five years has hit more home runs than any other player in the majors, including Judge?

It is unfathomable that someone as wealthy and as savvy as Cohen could have allowed this matter to fester as long as it has, especially given some of the contracts he has dolled out. Whatever else you may think of Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, neither were as valuable to this team as Alonso has been since his arrival in 2019. Letting him walk - or worse trading him - would be the dumbest thing this franchise has done, and that includes the infamous Seaver trade in 1977. By the time M. Donald Grant sent Tom Terrific packing to the Cincinnati Reds, the Mets were already a last-place team going nowhere. Cohen is on record as saying he wants to win not one, but multiple World Series. Having a player on the roster who averages 46 home runs a season would make that a whole lot easier. 

Maybe all this is just posturing on Cohen's part. Maybe the feelers he was getting for Alonso was his way of gauging how big a contract he would have to come to the table with. Or maybe he still has his sights set on landing Shohei Ohtani over the winter. Assuming he can convince the Angels phenom to move to the east coast, the asking price for his services will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $600 to $700 million over 10 years. In the unlikely event he becomes a Met in '24, Alonso's days in Flushing are numbered. Not even Cohen would pony up that much money on two players.

But let's just say for the sake of argument that Ohtani prefers to stay on the west coast. The Dodgers or the San Francisco Giants would be the logical destinations. How either of them make it work financially is their own concern. But more importantly, by freeing up the $60 to $70 million Ohtani would command annually, Cohen would have the resources necessary to not only re-sign Alonso, but rebuild the starting rotation and bullpen. As much as I'd like to see Ohtani in a Mets uniform, I'd much rather see another World Series in my lifetime.

If I were a betting man, I'd lay odds Cohen feels the same way. That's why in the end, I believe he and Alonso's agent will come to an agreement on a long-term deal that keeps the Polar Bear in Flushing for the duration of his career. Think $325 - $350 million over 9 years.

Yes, that's a ton of money. But it's worth it, given what Alonso brings to the table.

Reality Hits Home in Flushing

In February of 2018, then New York Rangers' GM Jeff Gorton sent out a letter to the fanbase informing them that the current core had gone as far as it could go and that the team was going to be sellers at the trade deadline. True to his word, the Blueshirts had a selloff that would make Charlie Finley proud.

But while Gorton may have turned over the roster, he didn't tear it down all the way to the wall studs and floor joist the way some GMs do. He kept some players around like Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Ryan Strome, Pavel Buchnevich, and Henrik Lundqvist. The following year he traded for Jacob Trouba and Adam Fox, and in the offseason he signed Artemi Planarian. In short, by opting to do a retool instead of a classic rebuild, Gorton shortened the period of time the Rangers missed the playoffs by as much as two years.

GM Billy Eppler did not send a letter to the fanbase indicating the Mets were going to be sellers at this year's trade deadline. He didn't need to. It was obvious to all but the most incurable optimists that the Amazins were not a playoff team, especially after a brutal 7-19 June. The only question was how big of a selloff were we going to see?

Like Gorton five years earlier, Eppler did not gut the team. Indeed, of the five players the Mets shipped out, three were free agents after this season, one was a free agent after '24 and another had an option for '25. If anything, the Mets are in better shape now than the Rangers were after their selloff in '18.

Not that you'd be able to convince the Flushing Faithful of that. To listen to some of them, you'd think Eppler broke up the 1927 Yankees. Whatever your feelings about Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, David Robertson, Mark Canha and Tommy Pham, they were not Waite Hoyt, Herb Pennock, Wilcy Moore, Tony Lazzeri and Bob Meusel. Anymore than Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor are Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. 

Far from being a contender, the Mets were a flawed team the moment they left Port St. Lucie in March. Their pitching was inconsistent, as was their hitting and defense. At no point during the season did they give any indication they were capable of going on a sustained run. Just the opposite, in fact. Games they found a way to win last year, they lost this year. The resiliency that defined them all throughout 2022, alluded them in '23.

Scherzer, in particular, was never the same pitcher after his oblique injury last year. He was hit hard down the stretch, including a late-season game against the Braves and a game one shellacking against the Padres in the postseason, where he gave up four homers and seven earned runs. This year in 100 innings pitched he's given up 23 home runs, tied for 7th most in the majors. And what does it say about this team when the most consistent hitter in the lineup -  Pham - was brought in to provide depth.

All Eppler did by acknowledging the painful truth was cut his losses. His deadline moves restocked a badly depleted pipeline with some top-level prospects, two of which could conceivably make the team as early as next season. In less than a week, he transformed one of the thinest farm systems in major league baseball into one of the deepest. I've been a critic of Eppler since his arrival from Anaheim two years ago. Suffice to say, he's converted me.

But while Eppler deserves a lot of credit, it was Steve Cohen's checkbook that made it possible for the Mets to wind up with the likes of Luisangel Acuña, Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford. All tolled, Cohen swallowed some $88 million in salary to facilitate the Scherzer and Verlander trades. To paraphrase a line out of the Mel Brooks movie History of the World, Part One, "It's good to be rich."

And it is that very checkbook that makes me think 2024 won't be a lost season for the Mets, regardless of what Eppler may or may not have said to Scherzer. Somehow I can't imagine someone as competitive as Cohen not being active in the free agent market. Yes, it's unlikely that Shohei Ohtani will want to move all the way to the east coast, but that doesn't mean that there won't be other pitchers and / or hitters out there that Cohen will be able to entice with his millions. The allure of playing in New York does have its appeal.

The fact is, pitching aside, the Mets still have a formidable lineup, capable of scoring runs. It is not inconceivable that Alonso, Lindor and Francisco Alvarez could all finish with 30 or more home runs this year. With the return of a healthy Edwin Diaz and a revamped starting rotation, this team could contend for a wild card in 2024. This isn't the NFL or NHL where rebuilds can take years. If Eppler and Cohen play their cards right, Mets fans might have something to cheer about by '25.

The bottom line is Eppler and Cohen did what they had to do. There was no other option. Sometimes, in order to take two steps forward, you have to take one step back. 

Mets Should Be Sellers at the Trade Deadline

In a way it was probably a good thing the Mets dropped their last two games before the All-Star Break. The six-game winning streak they had in which they swept the Arizona Diamondbacks, while clearly the best and most exciting baseball they had played in over a month, masked the underlying problems that have beset them all season long. Despite having the highest payroll in baseball, the Mets are a deeply flawed team that, in retrospect, were never really a playoff contender.

And that is why Steve Cohen needs to cut his losses at the trade deadline instead of throwing more good money after bad. Yes, it'll signal to the fanbase that for all intents and purposes the season is over. But let's be honest for a moment: the season was over after the Mets went 7-19 in June. Even with their mini-win streak in July, the Mets failed to gain any ground in the standings. Fans who are still hopeful don't put their tickets on StubHub for $11.

Let's face it: This isn't 1973, when the Amazins took advantage of a weak National League East to sneak into the playoffs. The Braves, Phillies and Marlins are all having excellent seasons and show no signs of easing up. And even if by some miracle all three manage to collapse, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and Kodai Senga are no Tom Seaver, Jerry Kooseman and Jon Matlack, though Senga certainly has the ability to be a star in this league. And while David Robertson has done a yeoman's job filling in for Edwin Diaz, he's no Tug McGraw either. 

To quote Bill Parcels, you are what your record says you are. And with a record of 42-48, the Mets are a 4th place team, seven games out of a wild card spot with four teams ahead of them. Only an incurable optimist would look at this situation and see a path forward to a postseason berth. 

No, the question isn't whether the Mets should be sellers at the deadline, but to what extent they should clean house. Obviously, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso aren't going anywhere. Neither are Brandon Nimmo, Senga, Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty and Jeff McNeil. The rest, however, should be up for grabs.

But putting up a for sale sign is one thing; getting a buyer is quite another. Ultimately, everything will hinge on how much money Cohen is willing to eat on his higher priced players. At $43 million a piece, Scherzer and Verlander won't have many suitors. Anything less than 50 percent retention will likely be a non-starter, even for teams with deep pockets like the Dodgers and Yankees. 

As for the haul, as the saying goes, beggars can't afford to be choosy. Tommy Pham may fetch a decent return - perhaps a high end prospect - but players like Starling Marte, Mark Canha, Carlos Carrasco and, well, let's face it, most of the rest, will likely be salary dumps, pure and simple. That's what you get for thinking you can buy a World Series. Cohen may fancy himself a modern day George Steinbrenner, sans the impulsiveness and anger issues, but unfortunately for him, while the Boss had Gabe Paul and Gene Michael as GMs, Cohen has Billy Eppler. I've written ad nauseam about Eppler's deficiencies as an executive. Suffice to say, so long as he is in charge of the Mets front office, Cohen can spend a billion dollars and this franchise will still underachieve.

But that's another story for another time. For now, first things first. The Mets need to sell off what they can, and, as their fans have grown accustomed to hearing, come back and try again next season.

What Planet Is Steve Cohen Living On?

Before I go any further, I want to get a couple things straight: 

First, I am grateful that Steve Cohen is the owner of the New York Mets and not Mutt and Jeff, AKA: Fred and Jeff Wilpon. Their stewardship of this franchise, particularly over the last few years, drove it into the proverbial ground. Cohen has, if nothing else, shown a willingness to invest money, much to the delight of millions of beleaguered fans.

Second, I am also grateful that he isn't "impulsive," like a certain ex-Yankees owner was during the 1970s and '80s. Another George Steinbrenner ranting and raving over Twitter, however gratifying that might've been to some, isn't going to solve the myriad problems besetting this team. And let's not kid ourselves: to call this team flawed would be like calling the Titanic leaky.

But as I was listening to Cohen during his press conference on Wednesday, two things immediately struck me: 1. If he truly believes he was "lucky" to have found Billy Eppler, then he isn't the genius we think he is; and 2. If the above is true, Mets fans are fucked for the foreseeable future.

It is incompressible to me how anyone could objectively look at Eppler's track record and consider themselves lucky to have him running the show. In his five years running the Los Angeles Angels, Billy Boy did not have a single winning season, a fact I brought out after the Max Scherzer signing.

His trade deadline moves last season, for the most part, turned out to be busts. Darin Ruf, Tyler Naquin and Mychal Givens contributed virtually nothing to the Mets down the stretch. Meanwhile, J.D. Davis, who was traded for Ruf, is batting .286 with 10 home runs and 44 RBIs for the San Francisco Giants this season. Imagine him playing 3rd base instead of Brett Baty, who, let's admit it, probably needed another year at Syracuse.

But his offseason decisions were even more bewildering. Chris Bassitt, who won 15 games last year for the Amazins, was allowed to walk and is currently 8-5 for the Blue Jays. Taijuan Walker, who went 12-5 last year, is now 9-3 with the Phillies. Meanwhile, their replacements, Tylor Megill (6-4, 5.17) and David Peterson (2-6, 7.00), are stinking up the joint. Between the starters who can't go more than five innings, and the bullpen that can't get crucial outs, the Mets have the 7th worst team ERA in all of baseball. If this is Cohen's idea of being lucky, Miriam Webster needs to redefine the word.

Yes, Cohen is technically correct when he says it's on the players, especially Scherzer, Justin Verlander - who's been a major disappointment this season - and Starling Marte, who twice Thursday night came up with the bases loaded and grounded into an inning-ending double play in the 7th and struck out in the 9th to end the game. But who is responsible for the players that are on the roster? You can't blame the Wilpons for everything, Steve.

But as bad as Eppler has been in the front office, his aren't the only finger prints on this train wreck of a season. Buck Showalter, who in 31 years as a manager has yet to win a playoff series, is doing his best Casey Stengel impersonation in the dugout. His stubbornness with respect to the lineup and his handling of the bullpen have proven costly. Below are just a few of his more puzzling moments.

• Daniel Vogelbach, despite batting .216, is still the preferred DH. 
• Rather than use his closers in back to back games, he sent a middle reliever in to protect a three-run lead in the 8th inning against Philly. The Phillies scored four runs and won the game.
• In a game in Colorado, Showalter started Marte in centerfield, despite Marte not playing there in two years. When he couldn't catch up with a drive to deep left-center in the 4th inning, the Rockies scored three runs. The following inning, he let Stephen Nogosek get pounded for five runs with no one warming up in the bullpen. Colorado held on to win the game 11-10.
• Thursday night, Buck pulled Baty for a pinch hitter against a left-hander, even though Baty has a higher batting average against lefties and had hit a solo home run earlier in the game.

There are more gems out there, but you get the picture. The point is, this hasn't been Buck's finest hour. By covering for him, as Cohen did, he is all but guaranteeing a lost season. Mets fans deserve better than a white wash here. Showalter's performance is fair game, as is Eppler's.

It is entirely possible Cohen knows his GM and manager are not performing up to expectations; he may even have considered firing both, but hesitated because he feared he wouldn't be able to find suitable replacements. It is no secret that Major League Baseball is no fan of the billionaire and his spending sprees. The fact that it has taken him this long to find a president of baseball operations is a case in point.

But even if Cohen's hands are tied, he still could've been more forceful in his critique of his management. Throwing the Wilpon's under the bus and giving the old "we gotta play better" pep talk isn't gonna cut it for a fanbase that hasn't had a championship since 1986. They're not looking for a temper tantrum; just an acknowledgment that this shit show isn't going to be tolerated.

The Mets have the highest payroll in the history of baseball, and while Cohen's pockets are certainly deep enough to cover whatever losses he might sustain, the same can't be said for the thousands of people who game in and game out fork over a hundred bucks or more per ticket to see a team that at the start of the season was projected to make the playoffs, and is now on target to finish 72-90.

Memo To Steve Cohen: Houston We Have A Problem

With one third of the season already in the books, the New York Mets are 27-27, in third place in the National League East, five games behind the first place Atlanta Braves. After going 2-4 on the road against the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies - two teams nobody expected to be contenders  - the Amazins limp home to CitiField to begin a three-game series against another underperforming team, the Philadelphia Phillies, on Tuesday.

I know what you're thinking. $364 million oughta get you more than a .500 record after 54 games. Steve Cohen should get a refund. This was not how the script was written back in April, I can assure you. Yes, there were some concerns going into the season - like the back end of the bullpen - but surely not this many. Apart from Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso - who's on pace to hit 60 home runs this season - and Francisco Alvarez - who smacked his 8th home run of the season Sunday, and is making a case for rookie of the year, there isn't one player on this team that is pulling his weight.

Let's start with the top dogs in order of disappointment. 

Justin Verlander: The ex-Astro and three-time Cy Young award winner was supposed to be the ace of this staff. As of this writing, he is 2-2 with a 4.80 ERA. The only reason he didn't lose his last start was because the Mets bailed him out by scoring six runs. For the $43 million Cohen is paying him, this guy should be much better than he is.

Mark Canha / Tommy Pham: If you combined both these players' stats, you still wouldn't have an everyday left fielder, that's how bad they've been this season. Despite going 3-4 with 4 RBIs Sunday at Colorado, Pham has been, by far, the worst of this uninspiring duo. About the only redeeming quality he has going for him is that he's only costing Cohen $5 million this season, which for baseball players is practically minimum wage these days. It's unfathomable that Billy Eppler couldn't find a legitimate left fielder.

Daniel Vogelbach: Frankly, I'm at a loss to explain how a DH who's batting a paltry .223 with only 2 home runs and 13 RBIs is still in this lineup. The Mets would be better off letting their pitchers hit. Just Imagine what Shohei Ohtani would do in this lineup?

Buck Showalter: While Buck may have been dealt a bad hand courtesy of a putrid bullpen and a starting rotation that has struggled to get out of the 4th inning, he has made some bewildering moves this season. Two of them occurred Sunday. The first was when he elected to start Starling Marte in center field over Nimmo, despite Marte not playing there in two years. It backfired when Marte was unable to catch a line drive to deep left center that led to the Rockies scoring three runs in the bottom of the 4th. He then outdid himself by allowing Stephen Nogosek to get smacked around in the bottom of the 5th without anyone up in the bullpen. The Rockies scored five runs in the inning. That's eight runs in a game the Mets lost 11-10.

Francisco Lindor: Ironically, Lindor is on pace to finish the season with 27 home runs and 117 RBIs. Yet the all-star, gold glove shortstop has been very inconsistent at the plate, batting only .225 with an on-base-percentage of .295 and a team-leading 53 strikeouts. He needs to get back to what he was last season when he batted .270, with an OBP of .339, 26 homers with 107 RBIs. That's the player the Mets were expecting when they signed him to a 10 year $341 million contract.

The Bullpen: Going into the season, the main concern for the Mets was finding someone to replace Edwin Diaz as the closer. While David Robertson has filled in admirably, the rest of this group consists mainly of mop up guys and throwaways from other teams. Another Eppler epic fail.

Max Scherzer: The other $43 million man, Scherzer hasn't been nearly as bad as Verlander, but he's hardly been lights out. The Mets can ill afford to have either of these two starters be anything other than elite.

Tylor Megill: In six starts this season, Megill has gone more than five innings twice. In his last start, he was staked to a 6-2 lead but couldn't hold it. This is Megill's third season with the Mets and he has yet to establish himself as a reliable starter.

The good news is there are 108 games left in the season. No team wins the pennant in May. As bad as the Mets have played, they're only one game out of a wild card spot. The infusion of talent from Syracuse is already making a difference. Brett Baty has supplanted Eduardo Escobar at 3rd base, Alvarez is now the everyday catcher, and Mark Vientos is finally getting a shot at DH.

But it's going to take more than a just few kids to turn things around. The Mets need length out of their starters. They're 13-0 when they go at least six innings. 13 games out of 54 is not gonna cut it. No team can win putting that kind of strain on its bullpen, especially this team with this bullpen.

Both Eppler and Showalter need to step it up, as well. The former needs to fix this bullpen and the latter needs to stop being so stubborn with the lineup. If a player isn't performing up to expectations, he needs to be benched in favor of a player with the hot hand. The Rangers fired Gerard Gallant for basically doing the same thing Buck has been doing all season long. And while Cohen is a patient man, there's a limit to his patience, especially when he's dropping $364 million.

Bottom line: it's still early, but early has a nasty habit of getting late pretty quick.

Play Ball!

Even if you don't think baseball is America's national pastime, you gotta admit there is something special about the start of the season that brings out the optimist in all of us.

Unless you're a Mets fan. For the Flushing faithful, optimism, to paraphrase the late, great John Prine, is a word we seldom use. That's because the boys in the blue and orange, with a few noteworthy exceptions, typically crush our hopes by mid June.

That is until last year. In 2022, the Mets were one of the best teams in all of baseball. And had it not been for a rough patch in September, where they lost some games they probably should've won, they would've run away with the National League East.

As a team, the Mets were second in batting average at .259; sixth in RBIs with 735; seventh in ERA at 3.57; second in fewest errors committed with 67; and tied for third with the Atlanta Braves with 101 wins.

Individually, Pete Alonso tied Mike Trout of the L.A. Angels for third in HRs with 40, and tied Joe Judge of the Yankees for most RBIs with 131; Jeff McNeil led the majors with a .326 batting average; and Buck Showalter was named NL manager of the year.

But as they used to say in Manhattan years ago, that and a subway token will get you a ride on the 7th Avenue Express. 2023 is a brand new year, with brand new expectations. And as good as the Mets were last season, none of that will matter in the slightest if they struggle out of the gate this season.

So how good is this team? Losing Edwin Diaz is huge, I won't lie. Next to Alonso and Francisco Lindor, Diaz was the most valuable Met last year. He was about as automatic as they come among closers. His 32 saves and 1.31 ERA will be next to impossible to replace. Look for Jeremy Hefner to lean on David Robertson, who had 20 saves and a 2.70 ERA last year for the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies, to pick up some of the slack. If he isn't up to the task, the Mets might have to look outside the organization. 

As for the starters, Jose Quintana being out until mid July shouldn't be that big of a deal. That's because starting pitching is one of the few areas on this club that has enough depth to withstand an injury. David Peterson can hold down the fort until Quintana returns. With Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander - Jacob deGrom's replacement - Kodai Senga - signed during the offseason - and Carlos Carrasco, the Mets have arguably the best - if somewhat top heavy - rotation in the National League.

If there is any concern - other than the bullpen - it is the bottom half of the batting order. Brandon Nimmo, Starling Marte, Lindor, Alonso and McNeil form one of the better 1 thru 5's in baseball. It's 6 thru 9 that's the problem. Daniel Vogelbach is an adequate DH who can't hit lefties. Mark Canha is a good left fielder who had an inconsistent year at the plate. And while Eduardo Escobar is a solid third baseman who hit .321 over his last 30 games, there's no guarantee he can replicate that over a full season.

Now you know why Steve Cohen wanted Carlos Correa. His .291 batting average and 22 homers would've made this lineup a lot more potent, as well as solidified the infield. When the deal to sign him fell through, Billy Eppler was never able to locate that extra bat. That failure could prove costly.

The Mets may have the highest payroll in the major leagues at $340 million, but what most people don't understand is that a good chuck of that payroll went to re-sign players who otherwise might've left or to sign players that replaced the ones who did. The fact is, even before the Diaz injury, this team, on paper, was only marginally better than last year's wild card team. With Diaz out for the season, there's no telling where they may finish.

The optimist in me would like to think they'll find a way; the realist in me has been burned too many times.

Prediction: 90-72, good for third place in the NL East, and the third wild card.

The Skinny on Carlos Correa

"We were unable to reach an agreement. We wish Carlos all the best."

Well, it was nice while it lasted. 

Just over two and a half weeks after the New York Mets announced they had signed Carlos Correa to a 12 year, $315 million deal, and roughly two weeks after it was learned they had issues with his medicals, the Minnesota Twins swooped in and signed him to a 6 year, $200 million deal.

The Mets are now the second team to express concerns over the long-term durability of Correa. Only days before the Mets announced their deal, the San Francisco Giants walked away from a 13 year, $350 million deal.

Let's get one thing straight. The idea that Steve Cohen got outbid by the Twins is absurd. If you look at the offer the Mets made, they were willing to guarantee the first six years, which comes to $157.5 million. Assuming Correa passed his yearly physicals, which would've commenced in year seven, they were willing to guarantee the remaining six years for another $157.5 million. The Twins offer was $200 million over six years, with another $70 million spread out over four years, again based on him passing yearly physicals.

The difference comes out to $45 million. So basically, Correa took less term and less overall money to get more upfront money, which tells you both he and his agent Scott Boras knew that his surgically repaired ankle might not hold up the entire 12 years. Why else would they leave that much money on the table?

So why wouldn't Cohen just swallow hard and match the Twins offer? Why should he? Think about it. His overall offer was higher. All Correa had to do was submit to yearly physicals in years seven thru twelve to get his money. The fact that he balked tells you everything you need to know. If there was no problem with the ankle, then there shouldn't have been any problem taking the Mets offer.

But let's for the moment give Correa the benefit of the doubt. Let's say that he felt indignant about having to subject himself to yearly physicals and decided to grab the more lucrative upfront offer. $42.5 million over six years is a shit load of money. Properly invested, it could set Correa up for life, even if he never plays another inning after the six years are up.

If that was Boras's thinking, however, it was pretty short sighted, in my opinion. The fact is even with Correa in their lineup, the Twins went 78-84. Without Correa in their lineup, the Mets went 101-61 and made the playoffs. With Cohen willing to spend whatever it takes to win, Correa would've been far better off playing in New York than in Minnesota. Not to mention Correa could have made up the difference in salary over the six years in endorsements alone.

This is the problem I have with agents. It's all about the almighty buck with them. They seldom consider a player's career when deciding which team to go with. Mike Trout is a case in point. In 2019, Trout's agent, Craig Landis, negotiated a ten year $426 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels. At the time, it was the largest contract awarded to a professional athlete. Here's the problem. The Angels are one of the worst teams in baseball. They have not had a winning season since 2015, and last year finished third in the A.L. West with a 73-89 record. Imagine what a player like Trout (.283, 40, 80) could do on a contender.

As for the Mets, they will now have to look elsewhere for that "one more hitter" to put them over the top. It won't be easy. Some names that have surfaced are Trey Mancini, Adam Duvall and Andrew McCutchen. While all three are free agents and could be signed for considerably less than Correa, none had the kind of year Correa did in 2022. Mancini, in particular, had a disappointing postseason for the Houston Astros.

Then there's Shohei Ohtani. The Angels DH / pitcher will be a free agent next season and Cohen is one of the few owners capable of signing him to a long-term contract. As I wrote last September, Ohtani would instantly become the Mets best player. Even if it meant gutting the farm system, Billy Eppler should do it. Players like him do not grow on trees.

But that's 2024. The Mets still need another bat for the 2023 season. Even with all the money Cohen has committed to this team, they still have basically the same lineup as last year. And that was good enough for second place in the N.L. East and a first round exit in the playoffs. The Phillies are a better team and the Braves are, well, the Braves. 

Translation: the postseason is not a given.

Cohen Made the Correct Call on deGrom

In the end, it didn't come down to the dollars but the term. The Mets had a three-year, $120 million offer on the table to keep Jacob deGrom in Queens. That's $40 million per season. That wasn't good enough. So the two-time Cy Young award winner bolted and signed a five-year, $185 million deal with the Texas Rangers last week. At $37 million per season, deGrom traded $3 million in annual salary for an extra two years of job security.

It was a deal Steve Cohen had no choice but to reject. To commit five years to a pitcher who over the last two seasons started a grand total of 26 games and had only two more innings pitched last season than team closer Edwin Diaz would've been insane. The fact that they were willing to go as high as three years is proof that they were serious about retaining deGrom. 

And while I don't begrudge any professional athlete for getting the most money they can, my gut tells me that this is a move deGrom will come to regret, and probably sooner rather than later. The Rangers were one of the worst teams in baseball last season, and even if the righty regains his Cy Young dominance, the prospects of Texas making the postseason next year or any year in the future are remote at best, especially in a division that already has the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners.

So where does this leave the Mets? Fortunately, we didn't have long to wait for an answer. Monday, they replaced deGrom by signing three-time Cy Young award winner Justin Verlander to a two-year $86.6 million contract. A little more than Cohen probably wanted to fork over, but given the circumstances, necessary. Last season, Verlander went 18-4 with a 1.75 ERA for the World Series winning Astros. In 175 innings pitched, he surrendered only 116 hits while striking out 185.

If there's one concern I have here, it's the age at the top of the starting rotation. Verlander will be 40 by the time he takes the mound for the Amazins next season. When paired with 39 year old Max Scherzer, the Mets will have the oldest one-two punch in the big leagues. And given how Scherzer began to break down near the end of the season, Cohen is taking a huge risk here.

Another concern I have is the amount of money being doled out to Verlander and Scherzer. Last season, the Mets had a MLB high team payroll of $251 million. With the Diaz extension, the possible return of Brandon Nimmo, and new contracts for arbitration eligible Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil, that payroll will likely swell to $280 million, of which Verlander and Scherzer will command $86.6 million. That's a lot of up front Benjamin Franklins for a team that still needs a third starter and has a lack of depth in the bullpen. The reason the Astros won the World Series last season was because they had the best and deepest pen in baseball. If Billy Eppler doesn't address this sore spot, the Mets will go out early again in 2023.

But for now, at least, Cohen did what he had to do. He replaced an ace with an ace, albeit, one who's six years older. And he has shown the Mets faithful that he is no Jeff Wilpon. He's willing to spend whatever it takes to make sure this team is a contender. 

Good for him.

So Much for Control

No, the season did not come to an end Sunday night in Atlanta. The Mets clinched the playoffs two weeks ago in Milwaukee, so there will be at least two postseason games at CitiField after the conclusion of the regular season Wednesday night against the Nationals.

What did come to an end Sunday night is the illusion that this resilient team, which had turned so many heads this season, is a genuine threat to win the World Series.

Let there be no ambiguity about what happened here. The Mets rolled out their top three starters and the Braves treated them like they were rookie league pitchers. Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt collectively surrendered 17 hits and 11 earned runs in 14 and a third innings pitched for a combined 6.91 ERA. For a team built on starting pitching, that's about as ugly as it gets.

And while Seaver, Koosman and Matlock were getting their bells rung by the likes of Dansby Swanson and Matt Olson - both of whom smacked homers in each of the three games - Pete Alonzo and Francisco Lindor were held in check. Neither had so much as a single RBI the entire series.

There are sweeps and then there are beat downs. This was a beat down. The only matchup the Mets won was when Edwin Diaz took the mound in the bottom of the 8th of the third game. He struck one of the two hitters he faced. A small consolation prize in an otherwise abysmal weekend.

So now it's come down to this. If the Mets take two out of three from the Nats they will secure their fourth 100 win season in franchise history. Then they host the San Diego Padres in the Wild Card round starting Friday. 

But before you go reserving your NLDS tickets, it's worth noting that, apart from having home field, there is little evidence that this team is capable of winning a best of three series. Yes, on paper, they should be favorites, but then if paper meant anything at all, the Mets wouldn't have gone a collective 6-8 against the Nats, Marlins, Cubs and A's in September (0-3 against the Cubs). Indeed, the only reason they had a winning record at all last month was because they took six out of seven against the Pirates. And to think, September's schedule was suppose to be a breeze.

Clearly, the loss of Starling Marte took its toll. An already top heavy lineup was made even more so after the right fielder fractured a finger on his right hand September 6. For the last four weeks, Buck Showalter has had to shuffle his hitters around, looking for the right combination, with mixed results. And with Marte doubtful for the playoffs, Buck will have his hands full. The Padres pitching staff may not be able to exploit the advantage; I can assure you the Dodgers staff will.

To some extent, Atlanta might've done the Mets a favor by sweeping them. With the division now gone, Buck is free to set up his pitching rotation the way he wants. deGrom, Scherzer and Bassitt will have a full seven days rest and should be ready to go. The Padres hitters are good but they're not nearly as potent as the Braves. This is the one matchup that actually favors the Mets.

The lion's share of blame for what went wrong must go to Billy Eppler. His trade deadline acquisitions just haven't panned out. Daniel Vogelbach has been ok against righties but dreadful against lefties; Darin Ruff, who was suppose to platoon with Vogelbach, has been an unmitigated disaster; and Tyler Naquin, who was suppose to provide much needed depth in the outfield, of late, has been an automatic out. Had Eppler acquired a legit bat to hit behind Alonso, there's no telling what could've been.

But the lineup wasn't the only area Eppler dropped the ball on. The bullpen, aside from Adam Ottavino and Diaz, has been a sore spot all season long, and yet while the Braves plucked Raisel Iglesias from the Angels, the Mets overpaid to land Mychal Givens. Going into Sunday night's game, Iglesias had a 0.36 ERA as a Brave while Givens had a 5.03 ERA as a Met.

Regardless of what happens over the weekend, Eppler must shore up the bullpen and add a bat. He also has to re-sign Diaz and figure out whether or not to keep deGrom. Both are free agents after the season and will cost an arm and a leg to retain. Steve Cohen will have to pony up some big bucks this winter.

Apologists might argue that going into the 2022 season, most people didn't expect the Mets to be a playoff team, much less a division winner. That may be so, but after leading the Braves most of the year, it will be a bitter pill to swallow if the Braves go on to repeat as champions, especially knowing how well they played against them earlier in the season.

Mets fans are used to being disappointed. This disappointment will sting for a long time.

Mets Have Control of Their Own Destiny

Wednesday night, the New York Mets avoided yet another humiliating loss and pulled out an extra-inning victory over the lowly Miami Marlins at CitiField, thanks to a five-RBI performance by Eduardo Escobar. Coupled with the Washington Nationals extra-inning win over the Atlanta Braves, the Amazins now have a one-game lead in the National League East with six games to go.

Heading into this weekend's three-game series against the Braves in Atlanta, the Mets are in the driver's seat. If they sweep, they clinch the division; if they take two out of three, their magic number would be one; and even if the Braves take two out of three, the Mets, by virtue of a tie-breaker, could still win the division if they sweep the Nationals next week. The only possible way the Mets would lose control of their own destiny is if they themselves got swept. In that event, they would have to sweep the Nats and hope the Marlins do the same to the Braves. Not very likely.

We've been here before. Only a week earlier, the Mets were up two and a half games over the Braves after a 9-2 shellacking of the Oakland A's. All they had to do was sweep that series and take both games against the Marlins and they could've gone into this series needing to win only one game to clinch the division. Then again, if the Mets had swept the Cubs two weeks ago, instead of getting swept, this race would be over by now and Buck Showalter would be setting up his starting rotation for the upcoming NLDS.

But that's water under the bridge. What's done is done. Besides, the Braves have had their own share of missed opportunities in this pennant race. Before they dropped Wednesday night's game to the Nats, they split a four-game series against the struggling Phillies, and a week before that, they lost two out of three to the Giants. Whichever team winds up losing this division will have plenty of time for recriminations during the offseason should it prove costly in the playoffs.

Right now, though, the Mets need to put all that behind them and focus on the series at hand. They have their top three starters going for them. Jacob deGrom has struggled over his last three starts, giving up eleven earned runs in fifteen innings, but dominated the Braves earlier in the season; Max Scherzer has allowed only four hits and one earned run in his last twelve innings; and Chris Bassitt has been the team's most reliable starter all season long. There will be no excuses if the Mets let this opportunity slip through their fingers.

The good news for the Metropolitans is that their offense has come alive of late. Since the Cubs swept them, they've scored four or more runs in eleven of their last twelve games. The other good news is that Edwin Diaz has been lights out all season. If the Mets have a lead going into the ninth inning, they can count on him to seal the deal.

The problem, however, is getting to Diaz. The rest of the relievers, save for Adam Ottavino, have been inconsistent at best. Showalter has done his best trying to navigate through the minefield GM Billy Eppler laid for him. While the Braves fortified their bullpen at the trade deadline, Eppler picked up retread Mychal Givens from the Cubs, who has been a big disappointment. Neither of the starters Showalter has used in middle relief have proven reliable. If deGrom, Scherzer or Bassitt can't go at least six innings, the Mets will be in trouble.

Why is it so important for the Mets to win the division? After all, as the top wildcard, they'd host all three games at CitiField. And based on how the other two wildcard teams are playing, the Mets would be the clear favorites to prevail.

True enough, but winning the division would give them an extra five days off. And that could be critical for Starling Marte. The all-star right fielder suffered a fractured finger on his right hand in a game against the Pirates on September 6 and has been out of the lineup ever since. His absence has forced Showalter to play Tyler Naquin in right. Naquin has been another of Eppler's disappointing trade deadline acquisitions. It's possible Marte might be ready to go by the divisional round. I can't see this team going to the World Series without him.

So, it's come down to this: two of the best teams in baseball battling it out for the National League East division title. It doesn't get any better than that.

Why Aaron Judge Deserves the A.L. MVP

Just so we're clear, Shohei Ohtani is that most unique of baseball players; a gifted power hitter who is also an accomplished pitcher. He won last season's A.L. MVP award and is making a pretty strong case to at least be considered for it again this year. Players like this don't grow on trees. Check out the slash line below:

BA: .271, HRs: 34; RBIs: 89, OPS: .892

W-L: 13-8; ERA: 2.43; IP: 148; SO: 196

Those are pretty good numbers, if I do say so myself, and if Perry Minasian happens to call up Billy Eppler over the winter to inquire if the Mets would be interested in obtaining the 27 year old, anything other than an unqualified "who do I have to kill?" should get Eppler committed to Bellevue indefinitely.

On day one, Ohtani would instantly become the Mets best player. Just imagine a pitching rotation that includes Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom, Chris Bassitt and Ohtani. Then imagine a lineup that consists of Brandon Nimmo, Starling Marte, Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso and Ohtani. The Braves can kiss the N.L. East goodbye for the foreseeable future.

But here's the thing: as good a season as Ohtani is having for the Angels, it doesn't come remotely close to the season Aaron Judge is having for the Yankees. There's no other way around it: Judge is having the kind of season baseball players dream about. You want a slash line? Try this one on for size.

BA: .316 (1st), HRs: 60 (1st), RBIs: 128 (1st), OPS: 1.125 (1st)

The last player to win the triple crown in the American League was Miguel Cabrera for the Tigers in 2012. Before that, it was Carl Yastrzemski for the Red Sox in 1967. As you can see, it doesn't happen very often. Judge would be the first triple crown winner to smack 60 plus home runs. Not even Mickey Mantle and Lou Gehrig did that. He's just one home run away from tying Roger Maris's single season record and two away from breaking it. Thurman Munson, Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield, Don Mattingly, Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, none of them had the kind of year Judge is having. Even when Maris broke the Babe's record in 1961, he still only hit .269.

No, Judge doesn't wear multiple hats like Ohtani, but he personifies in every way imaginable what it means to be a most valuable player. Think about it. If the Angels didn't have Ohtani on their roster, they would still be a lousy ball club. But if the Yankees didn't have Judge on theirs, they wouldn't even be in playoff contention. Just look at the lineup. Yes, it's encouraging that Stanton is finally starting to hit, but throughout this entire season, when his team has needed him most, Judge has come through in the clutch. Last night, he threw out a runner trying to stretch a single into a double. The man does it all. He's the epitome of a five-tool player. I say this as a Mets fan, it has been a joy to watch the professionalism he brings to the game. If Steve Cohen could afford him, he'd be a fixture at CitiField for the next decade.

Look, in any other year, Shohei Ohtani might be a deserving candidate for MVP. Not this year; not with the kind of season Aaron Judge is having. If the term MVP means anything, then the decision should be a no-brainer.

Baseball How It Oughta NOT Be

It's time to face facts. The New York Mets are in a slump; the worst slump they've been in all season. After taking two out of three against the National League best Los Angeles Dodgers at CitiField and entering what many consider to be the easiest September schedule of any team in the division, the Amazins' dropped two out of three to the lowly Washington Nationals.

Only a month ago, the Mets were sitting pretty in the NL East. They had just swept the Cincinnati Reds at home and were 73-39, seven games in front of the Atlanta Braves. Since then, they've gone 12-11 and their lead has been whittled down to a mere one game. While the pitching - particularly the bullpen - has been sporadic, it's the hitting that's been problematic.

Over the last 23 games, the Mets have scored a total of 75 runs, for a 3.2 runs per game average. If you think that's bad, when you subtract the 26 runs they scored in the four-game series against the Phillies in Philadelphia, that average goes down to 2.5 runs per game!

There's plenty of blame to go around. For starters, Pete Alonso continues to be susceptible to pitches out of the strike zone. Since hitting home runs in back to games against the Nats and Braves in early August, he has only three home runs and 15 RBIs in his last 30 games. Over a 162 game schedule that would come out to 16 HRs and 81 RBIs. That simply is not good enough.

Next up, Francisco Lindor. The gold glove shortstop has only one home run and four RBIs in his last 18 games. Lindor, on the whole, has had a solid season. Batting third in the lineup, he's been a productive run producer and he's been solid in the field. But like Alonso, he's picked a particularly bad time to go into a slump.

When your top two run producers are struggling to generate runs, it puts extra pressure on the rest of the lineup. And let's be honest, even with Starling Marte and Jeff McNeil having good seasons, we're not exactly talking about the 1927 Yankees here. The acquisitions by Billy Eppler at the trade deadline are turning into pumpkins. Daniel Vogelbach hasn't driven in a run since he smacked a two-run homer at Yankee Stadium on August 22. That's nine games. Tyler Naquin has only two hits and no RBIs in his last 17 games; and Darin Ruff has two hits and one RBI in his last 13 games. The decision not to go big at the trade deadline is coming back to bite this organization.

Throughout much of this season, the secret to the Mets success was their ability to extend at bats and make opposing pitchers work hard, especially in the first inning. No team in the majors has been better at it. Of late, though, Mets hitters have been anything but patient at the plate, swinging at pitches they have no business swinging at and letting opposing pitchers off the hook. That's led to a lot of three up and three down innings, which has forced Buck Showalter to go to his bullpen earlier than he would like to.

With so much going wrong lately, the news that yesterday's game against the Pirates in Pittsburgh was rained out was probably the best thing that could've happened to this team. And if the weather report for tonight proves accurate, the Mets may have consecutive days off for the first time since the Allstar Break. Hopefully they can put the time to good use.

Regardless of what happens tonight, the Mets must find a way out of this funk and fast. The winner of the the National League East will likely earn a first round bye and a ticket to the divisional round, while the loser will have to take its chances in a best of three wild card round.

Why is that significant? Let's assume that the Mets and Braves are tied for first going into the last three games of the regular season. Buck would undoubtedly be forced to use his top three starters in order to clinch the division. And if it works out, he would then be able to rest Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt and start them in the NLDS. But should the Braves prevail and the Mets wind up as the wild card, Showalter would have a decision to make. Does he start deGrom and Scherzer on short rest or does he go with his fourth and fifth starters? Either way, it's risky. 

That's why it's imperative that the Mets, if they have any hope of advancing deep into the postseason, win the division. Their one lone advantage is their starting rotation, especially the top two, who when they're on, are arguably the best one-two punch in baseball. 

The good news is the Mets are still in first place and between them and the Braves, they have the easier schedule. The bad news is the Braves are clicking on all cylinders while the Mets are sputtering. As of now, if you had to pick a favorite, it would be the Braves.

From this point on, the Mets have to assume their season is on the line, because it is. Alonso and Lindor have to snap out of their funk and start producing. Everything hinges on what those two do. As for Vogelbach, he has to do something other than strike out and ground out, which is what he's been doing a lot of lately. Marte, McNeil and Mark Canha - who's been the most consistent hitter in this lineup - will be just fine. And if Luis Guillorme comes back soon, that will be a tremendous help.

With 27 games left in the regular season, the Mets are 85-50, only 15 wins away from their first 100 win season since 1988. As good as that would be, it still might not be enough to beat out the Braves. 

Did the Mets Just Blow the NL East?

Are the Mets a better team today than they were before the trade deadline? Yes.

Are they as good as they could've been? Unfortunately no.

For the record, the moves Billy Eppler made were all solid pickups. J.D. Davis for Darin Ruf was a no-brainer. Davis has looked lost at the plate all season, while Ruf has been solid against lefties. He will platoon at DH with fellow trade acquisition Daniel Vogelbach, who has a pretty good average against righties. The addition of Mychal Givens to a beleaguered bullpen will come in handy in the dog days of August and September. And Tyler Naquin will provide much needed depth in the outfield. Gone are the days when Dominic Smith (.194) and Travis Jankowski (.164) were the only options available to Buck Showalter off the bench.

But here's the painful truth: Eppler failed to acquire the big bat this team desperately needs. Face it, once you get passed Starling Marte (.300, 11 HRs, 47 RBIs), Francisco Lindor (.261, 19 HRs, 74 RBIs) and Pete Alonso (.276, 27 HRs, 86 RBIs), there isn't one hitter in this lineup who puts the fear of God into an opposing pitcher. Mark Canha is a nice enough player with modest power; Jeff McNeil hits for a higher average but has even less power; and the Ruf / Vogelbach platoon is adequate at best. Luis Guillorme can't hit lefties and Eduardo Escobar can't hit righties. And whoever Showalter puts behind the plate is as close to an automatic out as there is in baseball. 

Look, I get it. The Mets weren't going to gut their farm system just to land Juan Soto. And even if they had been willing, no way the Nationals were going to trade him to a division rival. It's bad enough they have to see Max Scherzer staring back at them from the Mets dugout nineteen times during the season. Imagine the torment Soto could inflict upon them for the next decade and a half.

But even if Soto was nothing more than a pipe dream, it's hard to imagine Eppler couldn't have found someone better than Ruf, Vogelbach or Naquin out there. The Cubs were looking to move both Willson Contreras and Ian Happ. Contreras is a catcher who has 14 homers on the season, and when he's not behind the plate can easily DH, while Happ is a switch-hitter who can play both left field and third base. Who would you rather see batting behind Alonso? Contreras or a platoon of Ruf and Vogelbach?

I know it takes two to tango, and given that the Cubs were unable to find a trade partner for either Contreras or Happ, we can assume that their demands were too high. But for a fanbase that's grown accustomed to the Mets playing second fiddle in this town, it would've been nice to see them go all in, even if Eppler had to overpay. The 64 wins they had going into August represented the most wins the franchise has had at this point in the season since that magical year of 1986. It would be nothing short of gross negligence if this opportunity is wasted.

With the return of Jake deGrom, the Mets have arguably the best starting rotation in all of baseball. But after Edwin Diaz and Adam Ottavino, their bullpen is still too thin. And their lineup, with the exception of the aforementioned Marte, Lindor and Alonso, isn't nearly as potent as the Braves, Dodgers or Padres, who after acquiring Soto, Josh Bell and Brandon Drury are now a legit threat to win the World Series.

Are they good enough to make the postseason? Probably. But their odds of winning the division and avoiding the wildcard round took a serious hit this week.

Memo To Steve Cohen: Get Soto!

Let me first just go on record right now and say that the salaries of major league baseball players these days are completely out of control and insane. There's simply no justification for them. None. Seriously, when a ballplayer who's barely hitting his weight is making $10 to $15 million a year, and a family of four has to scrape together $300 to $400 to watch him play in person, there's something profoundly wrong with America's national pastime.

The sport I grew up loving has been irrevocably harmed over the last couple of decades by greed. The stars always took center stage, but there was at least a grudging acknowledgment that they owed, if not their fame, than certainly their wealth to the patrons who frequented the ballparks or watched them from the comfort of their home. The money didn't grow on trees, that much they knew.

Those days are long gone. Today's professional athletes act as if the money that shows up in their checking accounts comes from some magical printing press. They are oblivious to the long-term consequences their bloated salaries are causing, not just to their own integrity, but to the integrity of the very game itself.

It is a system that is unsustainable, and deep down everyone knows it. Sooner or later, the breaking point will be reached. Fans will simply stop coming out to the ballpark; they won't be able to afford it anymore. The Law of Elasticity will eventually kick in and have the last laugh with these athletes. It is inevitable.

But it will not happen this year, nor is it likely to for several years to come. For the time being, baseball remains a top heavy sport in which the richest franchises have a built-in advantage over their poorer counterparts. Without a salary cap to constrain them, like the NHL, NFL and NBA currently have, baseball owners are ostensibly allowed to spend like drunken sailors on a three-day pass. 

And one of those drunken sailors - Steve Cohen - happens to have the wherewithal to buy his own fleet of ships if he prefers. George Steinbrenner ain't got nothing on this guy. The Mets owner has already gone full bore on contracts for Francisco Lindor and Max Scherzer to the tune of $341 million and $130 million respectively; the former over ten years, the latter over three. And he's made it abundantly clear to his general manager Billy Eppler, that there's more where that came from should the opportunity to improve the roster present itself. Mets fans haven't been this giddy since they heard the Wilpons were selling the team.

That is certainly good news to Juan Soto, currently playing right field for the Washington Nationals. Since the Nats decided to go into full rebuild mode, their home park has resembled a morgue. The 23 year-old phenom has made it abundantly clear he wants out and just rejected a 15-year $440 million offer that was heavily backloaded to stay in Washington. That means he is officially on the trade block.

Let's cut to the chase. There are maybe three or four teams that can afford to sign Soto. The Mets, the Yankees and the Dodgers are the top three, and the Phillies are the fourth, but owner John Middleton may have over-extended himself a bit in Philly. Plus, he's already got plenty of hitting; it's his pitching that sucks. The Dodgers, after pilfering Freddie Freeman from the Atlanta Braves, had to defer $57 million of the $162 million they are paying him over six years. I doubt they have the resources to reel in a fish as big as Soto.

That means it's between the Mets and the Yankees. The Bronx Bombers have for decades been the big spenders in town. While the Metropolitans had to be content to eat chop steak, the Yankees were dining on Filet Mignon. But now, for the first time in their respective histories, it's the National League franchise whose pockets appear to be deeper. Let's not forget that Cohen was willing to write off $45 million of his own money just to rid the team of Robinson Cano's contract. You know any other owners who have that kind of disposable income?

And the Yankees may have a much bigger problem than just Steve Cohen's ego to contend with. Their mega star Aaron Judge rejected a contract offer that would've paid him $30.5 million a year over seven years. He will become a free agent after the season. The bidding for his services will start at $400 million for ten years. And I do mean start. It could go as high as half a billion. With Gerrit Cole and Giancarlo Stanton already making $36 million and $29 million a year respectively, not even George himself would have the stomach to take on another big contract.

Which leaves the Mets in the driver's seat, as it were. All that's needed to bring Soto to Flushing is a) for  Eppler to be willing to part with the top prospects in the system, including Francisco Alvarez, as well as one or two position players on the team, and b) for Cohen to remember to bring his check book with him.

That's it: the richest franchise in baseball with the prospects available to make this a done deal. Cohen would be nuts not to do it. And as for the argument that Soto isn't worth that kind of money, who is? Is Lindor worth $341 million? Is Scherzer worth $130 million? Will Judge be worth $450 million? Don't be ridiculous; no one is worth that kind of money. But like it or not, that is what they are fetching these days.

The truth is if Scott Boras tells Steve Cohen that the price to ensure Juan Soto will be patrolling right field for the Mets for the next 15 years is $500 million, then that's the price. Cohen has the money, he just has to pony it up. Imagine a lineup with Lindor, Soto and Pete Alonso in it, and a pitching rotation with Scherzer and Jacob deGrom at the top.

With the exception of the 1980s, the Mats have played second fiddle to the Yankees. With Steve Cohen at the helm, they finally have a chance to buy the whole fucking orchestra. Excuse me if I don't seem overly concerned about appearances right now.

As for the tab, don't worry about it. Tomorrow will get here soon enough.