This is for the best. That the Mets are the worst.
I know that is not what Met fans want to hear, especially the few thousand who showed at Citi Field last night to endure chilly rain and distance from their TV for Knicks-Celtics. This is not what they want to hear in April, a time when hope is still supposed to be abundant.
But if the Mets are truly awful — and that is what it sure looks like — then it is best if the
organization is not distracted by fake contention.
It is best that the Mets’ front office instead wholly focuses on the main objective of this season: Which is to hang a shingle as soon as possible, visible to all of baseball, that it is open for business; that the Mets will seize the first strong opportunity to trade a Beltran or K-Rod for prospects and/or money saved to direct toward the draft or international signings or next year’s payroll.
Because cleaning house is
what will help speed the process toward the Mets’ next good team and away from this unacceptable lot.
“Our team has not played well in any aspect.” That is what Sandy Alderson said before
last night’s game, before the
clubs with the worst records in
the NL played.
The Astros then went out and had two runners thrown out at third, one at home, twice failed to successfully put down sacrifice bunts and committed an error. And they won easily, 6-1.
If this isn’t rock bottom — poor baseball played in front of empty seats — then the Mets are pretty darn close. Last night began a six-game homestand against the other two NL last-place clubs, Houston and Arizona, and if the Mets cannot show some life here, what encourages anybody about the next five months?
Alderson insisted before the game that he is not ready to orchestrate a fire sale. But what can he say? No use waving a white flag when the true trading season does not begin until — at the earliest — shortly after Memorial Day. Right now, for example, teams such as the Cardinals and White Sox, with division-title aspirations, are struggling with their closer. Yet there are no indications they are ready to budge — or budget — for K-Rod.
But when the time comes, the Mets would be better served being 10 under and ready to capitalize on what may be a small window to deal a player with a big contract such as Beltran or K-Rod. If they are near even the wild card, then an already disillusioned fan base would feel even more betrayed, especially if the Mets do what is proper and check out the market for everyone, which includes not just Jose Reyes, but David Wright, too.
There should be no sacred cows with this kind of awfulness over a sustained period.
“In my position, there is constant tension between the short- and long-range priorities,” Alderson said.
Those who know Alderson say that, regardless of the record, he will have a cold detachment and make decisions that best honor his long-term strategies without regard to the sympathies of fans or media. For now, though, he insists he is about winning in 2011, saying that “nothing redeeming comes from having a losing record.”
To that end, the Mets yesterday removed Brad Emaus from the roster in favor or Justin Turner, which immediately entered the conversation for the most innocuous transaction in baseball history. It probably will have the same impact on the Mets as changing the brand of bubble gum available in the dugout.
But when your options are limited and your situation already is dire, you do what you can. Thus, one-tenth of the way through the season, the Mets excised a player they decided could not be their second baseman of the future and replaced him with, well, someone who they know could not be their second baseman of the future. Because they think Turner might add a little spark since at least he was hitting at Triple-A.
The Mets are hungry enough for a jolt that they might activate Jason Bay from the DL today, a day earlier than planned, because he got four hits in a minor-league game last night.
It all feels like grasping for a 5-12 team. That is the worst record in the NL. Yet that is probably for the best.