Reese Kaplan - Guess What?

It’s only been one series and certainly too soon to make any long term prognostications or proclamations on early returns, but as we’ve been saying for months now, play the damned kids already!  And guess what?  Four games against the Phillies resulted in three victories (4 if the bullpen hadn’t imploded under the weight of Terry Collins’ questionable managerial skills). 

Thus far Matt den Dekker seems to have picked right up where he left off while leading the league in hitting for the Las Vegas 51s.  He seems to have shortened his stroke and is more confident at the plate, looking to drive the ball rather than the all-or-nothing swing for the fences.  His defense is fun to watch, too.

Wilmer Flores has started four straight games and it didn’t cause Terry’s head to explode.  While his hitting has not been that great yet, he has turned in a .238 line with 2 RBIs – already superior to what his predecessor delivered (though it was a limbo-bar low standard to beat).  He’s had one questionable play in the field that led to a run, so we’re looking at how many does he create vs. how many does he allow?  He’ll have to start hitting more to justify his status as a batter.

Tonight we get the second glimpse of Rafael Montero.  The man with the impeccable control and the silky smooth delivery was pretty awful his first time around.  Not coincidentally he went down with an injury almost immediately upon his return to AAA, so perhaps what we saw the first time around was a result of him altering his motion to compensate for the pain.  It’s unfortunate, of course, that he’s getting this chance at the expense of Jacob de Grom who helped more so than anyone else fill the void created by 2014’s lack of Harvey Days. 

Travis d’Arnaud is making the most of his second time around, having raised his batting average from an earlier season nadir of .180 (that’s Anthony Recker territory) to a current .226.  In order to get that 46 point jump in batting average he’s hit a solid .271 with 6 HRs and 20 RBIs since his late June return to the lineup. 

Juan Lagares has similarly been solid.  For the season he’s hitting .283 but people are coming to the ballpark to see what he does with his glove and his arm more so than his capable bat.  Hopefully the days of Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Rick Ankiel, Collin Cowgill, Andres Torres et al are but a distant, painful memory.

While not exactly a kid, Lucas Duda has been a force in the lineup.  Had he hit lefties since the beginning of the year and not missed ABs to the likes of Ike Davis and Josh Satin he’d be a lock for 30 HRs and 90 RBIs – numbers we’d gladly take year in and year out.  A lot of us got this decision wrong and bemoaned the fact it was Davis who was given a one-way ticket to drown his sorrows in Iron City beer.  Even now, many felt Davis was dispatched not because they had faith in Lucas Duda, but because his paycheck was bigger and his return on the trade market was likely bigger.  Sometimes you just get lucky.

The bullpen (rough week notwithstanding) has been incredible.  Take a look at the numbers posted by Jenrry Mejia, Jeurys Familia, Vic Black and Josh Edgin.  The WORST one is Mejia with an ERA still under 4, a number many Mets teams of the recent past would have celebrated as “solid”.  Edgin recently ran off a string of 4 straight strikeouts which explains his miniscule 1.64 ERA.  Remember, he’s the first cut the Mets made in Spring Training.  Also remember that Bobby Parnell is coming back next year, too. That’s five flamethrowers all under 30 years of age.  In addition you have had some fine seasons from the minors, including Chase Bradford, Jack Leathersich and Cody Satterwhite. 

The starting pitching has also been pretty remarkable with every one of the five regular starters under 4 with Bartolo Colon leading the team in victories with 11.  When you bear in mind that reinforcements named Harvey, Montero, Noah Syndergaard, Matthew Bowman, Steve Matz and others are on the way, you have to feel pretty good about the future.  Here only big Bart is over 30 (well, way over!) 

Surprisingly, the two more-or-less sure things going into this season were the established veteran sluggers David Wright and Curtis Granderson.  Neither is living up to expectations and for the most part are flying under the radar given the issues with lineup choices prior to this past weekend, in-game moves and, dare I say it, optimism about the future.  Still, it’s interesting to see that it was Granderson and not Colon who was first put on revocable waivers.  It’s a routine procedure and doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but perhaps they are gauging if there is any interest in the $60 million man’s contract.  (Ummm…that would be a resounding “No!”…almost as loud as the one for the balance of the $140 million man’s obligation). 

There’s no telling if Matt den Dekker, Wilmer Flores or minor leaguers such as Matt Reynolds, Danny Muño or Dilson Herrera are answers to the team’s problems.  However, if they’re stuck with the two big contracts it seems possible to address the primary holes at LF and SS via trade if the in-house options are not deemed sufficient.  Hopefully the days of playing the Bobby Abreus and Ruben Tejadas of this world are long gone. 

Speaking of long gone, does Terry Collins deserve to come back and see if he can push players to the contention in 2015?  The Mets have a well-earned reputation for being, uh, frugal and the man is under contract for next year, but they’ve eaten much bigger contracts for players such as Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, Jason Bay and Chris Young.  Who’s to say if they felt someone was better suited to filling out the lineup card and pushing the in-game buttons that they might not do the same with the manager?  If so, who would you like to see leading the team?  The pro-Terry argument has always been that he hasn’t had the cards to play to make the team into winners.  The anti-Terry arguments are many, including the fact that if he can get them to play in the first half, why do they always collapse in the second?  There are the ponderous lineup decisions, the infatuation with proven mediocre veterans and his penchant for burning out the bullpen.  Well, you get the idea.  I’m interested in particular to hear from the Pro-Terry crowd (assuming there is one).