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.

Mets vs. Cubs Prediction

For the first time in nine years, the New York Mets will play for the right to get into the World Series. I needn't remind any of you that the last time didn't go particularly well. The image of Carlos Beltran with the bat on his shoulders taking a called third strike has been seared into our collective consciousness. When you couple that with the epic '07 collapse down the stretch, it has been a long and bitter nine years.

But if Mets' fans were chomping at the bits to get back to the World Series, just imagine what Cubs fans have been going through. The last time their team won a pennant was 1945; the last time it won a championship was 1908. At least Mets' fans can take solace that their team has been to four World Series, winning two of them, all since the end of World War II.

Before I begin my series breakdown, I think it only fair to tip my hat to both Mets' management and its owners. While it pains me to admit it, Fred and Jeff Wilpon deserve some credit for giving the green light to Sandy Alderson to make the moves necessary to bring a division title to New York. And Alderson made the most of the trade deadline, getting Yoenis Cespedes and several other key players.

Those trades, along with an underachieving Washington Nationals team - picked by many as a slam dunk for the division, possibly the league championship - allowed the Mets to take this division. Prior to the trades, the Mets were barely a .500 team.

Now on to the matchups. A look at both teams shows that they are virtually identical in runs scored, home runs and team ERA. What that means is that, barring a miscue, this series should go 6 or 7 games. The Mets' have an edge in position players everywhere, except 1st and 3rd base. And they have a deeper starting rotation than the Cubs. However, the Cubs have without a doubt the best starter in the series in Jake Arrieta. The Mets are going to have to beat him at least once in this series in order to advance.

If there is one Achilles heal for the Mets, it's their bullpen. Put succinctly, it's brutal. How brutal? In game 5 against the Dodgers, Terry Collins was forced to use starter Noah Syndergaard in the 7th inning and needed to have his closer Jeurys Familiar pitch the last two innings for the save. The Mets' starters are going to have to go at least seven or eight innings in their starts. Otherwise, this series could get ugly fast.

And even allowing for that, at some point Collins will have to ask his bullpen to get a few outs. Look for him to lean on 42 year old Bartolo Colon to provide some valuable relief. He doesn't have much of a choice. Tyler Clippard, obtained at the trade deadline as the set-up man for Familia, has been a bust of late.

It comes down to this. If the Mets' bullpen can get a few outs in this series, the Mets will prevail; if, not, the Cubs will advance to the World Series for the first time since 1945. The heart says Mets; the head says Cubs.

Prediction: Mets in 7.

October in May

Well it sure was fun while it lasted, wasn't it? Seriously, it's news these days when the Mets manage to put together back to back wins, let alone sweep the most storied franchise in professional sports. In case you haven't been paying attention, Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum (AKA, the Wilpons, Mutt and Jeff) have pretty much destroyed this team the last few years.

So you can imagine everyone's shock and amazement when the Amazin's did the improbable and took all four games against the Bronx Bombers, the last two coming at Yankee Stadium. Somebody pinch me, I must be dreaming.

Now to be fair, this wasn't your usual Yankee team. No Teixeira, no Jeter, no A-Rod. About the only two regulars in the lineup were Cano and Gardner. By all accounts, this was the weakest hitting team the Yankees have fielded in decades. They were bound to lose a few eventually.

As for the Muts, you know the old saying, on any given day...?  Well, the Mets had four of those in a row.  And, so long as we're being fair to the Yanks, let's just state the obvious: the Mets aren't the worst team in baseball; they just play like it most nights.  Indeed both teams were due for a change in fortunes.  It's just a little odd that the change happened at the exact same time. The Mets looked like champs; the Yanks chumps.

But while Mets' fans celebrated the moment and rightly so, if I were them I wouldn't go making plans for any post-season parties just yet. As we speak, their team is desperately trying to salvage the final game of a 3-game set against the Miami Marlins - truly the worst team in Baseball - after getting pummeled in the first two. So much for a winning streak.

Yeah, it sure was nice to see some wins; it was even nicer to see Yankee fans suffer, if only for a short while. But, like most vacations, there comes a point when you come back home and all you have left are the memories and the pictures.

It's back to business as usual. The Yankees will move on an, in all likelihood, win at least 90 games, which should be enough to capture this division. As for the Flushing faithful. Let's just say that 90 games sounds about right. Unfortunately, those 90 will be in the loss column.