LAS VEGAS — Maybe the problem isn’t that the Mets deploy their Triple-A affiliate some 2,500 miles away from their home base. Maybe they should just take the major league franchise out of Citi Field, plant it in Las Vegas and watch their shoddy lineup transform magically into the 1927 Yankees redux.
This is how the Mets’ weekend goodwill mission to Sin City began on Saturday: Eric Young Jr. base hit to right field, Juan Lagares double off the wall in left-center field, David Wright double off the wall in right-center, Curtis Granderson pop out to third base, Andrew Brown double high off the wall, again in right center.
They led the Cubs, 3-0, before the enthusiastic crowd — yeah, believe it or not, a full house here at Cashman Field — could get settled, and they wound up prevailing, 9-4.
The flip side, of course, comes when the other team gets its turn at bat, and the Las Vegas 51s won’t be so lucky as to have Bartolo Colon on the mound every day. So on this break from the Florida grind, as they enjoyed the desert air and entertained local sponsors, Mets officials worked overtime to spin their odd relationship with this place — the place where they’ll be grooming Noah Syndergaard, among others, for the big leagues — as a good thing.
“It’s a change in circumstances, which has caused them to have to adapt a little bit,” Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said. “I think any time you have to adapt, it’ll make them better at adapting in the future.”
Added manager Terry Collins: “There’s some bandboxes in the big leagues. They’ve got to learn how to make pitches. It doesn’t hurt them. I spent 12 years in this league. They’ve just got to go pitch.”
The style of play can be challenging, yet that in itself hardly seems reason to throw a fit. Last year, in the Pacific Coast League (where Collins spent six years playing for the Dodgers’ Albuquerque affiliate and another six managing there), the 51s ranked first with 828 runs scored and 12th in runs allowed with 728, a tribute to their pitching depth. Alderson pointed out that when a prospect like Rafael Montero performs well here — he put up a 3.05 ERA in 88 ²/₃ innings last year — it “underscores the confidence we have in his ability to pitch at the major league level.”
Said Wally Backman, who will return this season as the Las Vegas manager: “We convinced our pitchers last year to attack the strike zone. Because a walk is two runs, is the way we looked at it. Solo homers don’t hurt you here.”
The brutal summer heat makes it difficult to maintain the infield grass, allowing many grounders to skip through, although Alderson expressed hope a new, improved groundskeeper would help on that front.
No, if there’s any reason to wonder what the heck the Mets are doing with their top minor league club out here, it’s the geography of it. The idea that, when a player gets hurt in New York, his replacement resides more than halfway across the country.
“Travel is a little more difficult,” Alderson conceded. “The nice thing about Las Vegas is there are a lot of direct flights.” The time difference also creates more agita, as the Mets will summon a player before a 51s game even begins, thereby leaving Backman short-handed.
Of course, the Mets find themselves here only because they lost at minor league affiliate musical chairs.
Their previous partner, Buffalo, dumped them for the Blue Jays. They couldn’t find anywhere closer. Their two-year agreement wraps up this year, so the Mets surely will try to bring their Triple-A outpost closer to home.
“We’ll just have to see how things develop,” Alderson said. “Let’s face it, we didn’t anticipate being here last year. So the last thing I’m going to do us speculate about next year.”
For now, they’ll put a smile on this eyebrow-raiser and hope it toughens up the likes of Syndergaard, rather than wearing them down.