Addition by Subtraction: Mets or Red Sox Will Benefit Most?
So much baseball stuff on the opening Sunday of the NFL season! I felt overwhelmed by what I saw, what had already happened this season and what the future holds.
Let’s start with my current pet peeve.
Paul Sewald/Luis Avilan
Paul Sewald is and has always been a Triple-A pitcher. No more, no less. A batting practice pitcher. The Mets would do well to pay him his prorated $553,000 the rest of September and convert him to pitching BP or DFA him and hope someone, anyone bites. Sewald is addition by subtraction.
Why Mets’ manager Mickey Calloway keeps bringing him into games the Mets are winning, even by six runs (as he did against Washington in the Mets colossal collapse the other evening) is a mystery. What does Calloway thinks he sees? Certainly not the old Cody Allen.
Sewald primed the pump for the Nationals last week, and on Sunday against the Phillies at Citi Field, once again, Calloway called upon Sewald to pitch the top of the sixth in a 4-4 tie.
First batter, bingo. Double down the left field line. To Calloway’s credit, he only allowed Sewald to throw four pitches, total. But, when he yanked Sewald for Luis Avilan, there was already a runner on third and one out. A runner Avilan would allow to score before he allowed a two-run homer. By the time Sewald and Avilan finished plying their craft, the Mets were trailing 7-4 and would never lead the game again.
For those who’ve already pushed the debacle to the back of their minds, Sewald and Avilan were the potent one-two punch that began the bottom of the ninth against the Nationals. They set the tone. They allowed Washington to believe they could beat the Mets, even six runs down. They served up the tasty fare that Washington chewed up, but out and slammed all over the ballpark. Oh, I shouldn’t forget Edwin Diaz. Thanks, Brodie Van Wagenen.
Anthony Kay/Marcus Stroman/Brodie Van Wagenen
Anthony Kay made his major league debut yesterday and looked good. Too bad he didn’t pitch the sixth inning against Philadelphia. Too bad Brodie Van Wagenen didn’t ship Paul Sewald to Toronto along with the second pitcher the Mets sent over for Marcus Stroman.
As expected (at least here), acquiring Stroman was another waste of resources for a team showing a remarkable lack of championship qualities.
There was NO reason to send any young pitchers packing for a 30-ish starter.
Why?
If the Mets decide to keep Jacob deGrom, Zach Wheeler and Steven Matz as their top three starters, they could pencil in Seth Lugo as their fourth starter and Anthony Kay could have been wedged in as the fifth.
That would assume a trade of Noah Syndergaard during the offseason, perhaps bundling him with Michael Conforto to acquire some serious assets from Houston or the Cubs or some other team (San Diego?). Maybe even a younger frontline starter so the Mets could move Kay or Lugo (or both) to the bullpen.
Let me say it openly (and I am a Mets fan): The Mets are a sub .500 baseball team with paltry resources in the minor leagues being run by dreamers (incompetents) in the front office who believe the Marcus Stromans, Keon Broxtons,and Robinson Canos of the baseball world will make them into the team to beat in the National League East. Wrongheaded addition by subtraction.
That’s what we call delusional thinking.
And in the case of the Mets, members of the media who continue writing stories with headlines like Pete Alonso and Michael Conforto go Quiet when Mets Need them Most or Wasted Weekend Means Mets have No Margin for Error Now are purveyors of false news. The Mets have been history all year. Finito. Not just in the last two weeks.
More appropriate was the headline the other day that shouted: Mets Flop in All Facets in Ugly Loss to Phillies.
That’s a tell-all for the Mets’ dreadful 2019 season.
Pete Alonso is only one winning piece on the Mets’ board. Unless in 2020 he can improve and swat 162 home runs and drive in 350 runs. That could mean a Division championship.
Dave Dombrowski and the 2020 Boston Red Sox
Boston said goodbye to Dave Dombrowski on Sunday night. Perhaps he wore out his welcome because he had bundled too many talented, expensive players under the umbrella of Boston’s 25-man roster. So many big contracts that Boston had the largest payroll in major league baseball in 2019.
And after most of the season, it was clear Boston had underperformed and all that money bought very little baseball capital. This season.
Adding to the insult, Dombrowski signed Chris Sale to a five-year $145 million contract before the beginning of the 2019 season. Two-thirds of the way through the 2019 season, Sale broke down, again. It’s still unclear if Sale will need Tommy John surgery. Worse, Sale’s new contract does not kick in until the 2020 season and runs through 2024.
No doubt management looked askance at the contract and perhaps, in retrospect, asked why pay so much for a pitcher who has consistently broken down the last few seasons?
Adding to all these questions was the coming free agency of Mookie Betts—deciding whether to extend or trade him, deciding how to reconstruct the pitching staff and developing a strategy to reduce payroll without reducing the competitiveness of the team. Firing Dombrowski meant ownership did not want Dombrowski overseeing this process. It remains to be seen who will.
Some Trade Ideas
Imagine Boston does decide to trade Mookie Betts.
Imagine Noah Syndergaard on their starting staff between Chris Sale and David Price? Edwin Diaz in the bullpen. Michael Conforto in right field. Dominic Smith at first base. And perhaps Robinson Cano the new DH, assuming J.D. Martinez opts out of his contract. Can you see it?
Now, imagine Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and a reasonable prospect from the Boston system coming back to the Mets. Or maybe Josh Taylor is that third piece. With Robinson Cano in the deal, do the the Wilpons sign off on such a deal?
The question is would the new Boston GM (and John Henry) pull the trigger on this deal?
The Arizona Diamondbacks could offer Ketel Marte and perhaps even Robbie Ray? The issue for Arizona is that Marte is playing on a team-friendly contract that includes reasonable options for his first two free-agency years, 2023 and 2024. So, Arizona might not want to make this deal. They’re committed to only $18 million over ’23 and ’24 for Marte’s 2019 6.7 WAR and .983 OPS.
But Betts could be an even better all-around player than Marte (even if he will be immediately much more expensive). If the secondary players make sense, might this deal happen?
Even if Betts could be paid $60 million (or more) over 2023 and 2024. So … what does Boston do?
How can they move him and retool on the fly? How much cash would they include in a deal? Or which bad contract would they take back? Robinson Cano?
To achieve a new balance of addition by subtraction, someone will have to read between the lines in Boston. Someone with vision. Dombrowski was always too anxious to trade every prospect for a year or two of an older player.
The key prospect in the Chris Sale trade, Yoan Moncada (2019 WAR OF 3.1 and an OPS of 131), has had a wonderful 2019 and is becoming the player Chicago hoped he would be when they traded Sale, who could be headed for elbow surgery. A few years later, that trade looks less impressive. Even given Boston’s 2018 World Series victory. Throw in Chris Sale’s new five-year contract and it looks worse.
So, between Brodie Van Wagenen and Dave Dombrowski, when decision-makers place all their chips on one big bet, and then double-down, problems usually arise. Its cost Dombrowski. It remains to see whether it will cost Van Wagenen.
It should. Removing him would be addition by subtraction.
