It’s Offseason for the Mets

Hamstring tightness. An inconspicuous injury. Usually happens in baseball when a veteran was running a little too hard to beat out an infield single he had no chance to beat out. Defined by me as a one and a half week injury that has a high chance of re-injury with a longer return time.

In this sprint-not-a-marathon of a season, it means an injury that’s going to cost you half of a season and that player will not be 100% for another one and a half weeks. Michael Conforto of the Mets had this injury. The Mets’ offense would have obviously taken a hit in a normal season and no one would even care about this kind of injury, but, this truncated season is over for Conforto and he could’ve been the Metsies’ life support to tap the Mets into the playoffs. But no, his season’s over and the Mets are out of it.

Well, now the Mets have to focus on the offseason. However, the Mets’ GMs are peeing in their pants out of fear of making any moves that are harmless. Something like the Knicks having room for a cornerstone and a good player but chose to sign Taj Gibson and some weird shooting guard and consequently will now blow the draft.

In the New York Post, Joel Sherman wrote a great article, in which he asked NL East execs about who they would take: Pete Alonso or Dominic Smith if they had the choice. Last year, I would have taken Pete Alonso in a heartbeat, I thought of Dominic Smith as a last resort, a chubby power hitter who would hit at most 5 homers per year and can’t do anything else.

But boy did he put in work this offseason. And Dominic showed that work very well. Tied for second in homers on the team, a plus .300 average, most RBIs, and in every category better than Pete Alonso. And more versatile, Pete can only play first, while Dom can play left and first. I love Pete Alonso, but Dom has to be a starter next season. And, if the NL sticks with the DH, which I hope, Dom can play there and the Mets could sign/trade for someone. Pete’s ceiling is higher, and we saw a glimpse of that, with 53 homers in his rookie year, but now, Dom’s floor is a lot higher. Pete’s floor is a .220 average, 15 homers and 70 RBIs – sad.

In general, we had a very underwhelming season, our bullpen was farrrrrr below average, our hitting was great, but it’s like asking a fish to walk – they don’t have legs, so how is it going to walk? Asking our offense to perform, is torture for them.

Pete Alonso and Dom Smith and Conforto aren’t enough, they’re all good, all contending teams have an outstanding hitter, and then Robin to his Batman. The Mets have like drunken Joker’s henchmen. Everyone, the media, is set on getting Trevor Bauer, but I don’t think so. Not so fast, we have a great starting rotation when healthy, DeGrom, Syndergaard, and Stroman fills out our three-headed monster. Focus on our little baby hitters. Amed Rosario is not who we wanted to call up in 2017 – he was supposed to be a defensive wizard with a lot of speed. He was a good defensive player with good speed and no hitting. But, this is just a taste of what it will be in my next blog post: the New York Mets Offseason Aspirations.

Shifting Gears to the NBA

Tyler Herro of the Heat will now be dubbed Tyrone Herro, after he dropped 37 points and was a pest on both sides of the court. He’s a thorn in the side of Celtics, who’s wedged in there well and the Celtics can’t remove him with tweezers. Jimmy Butler has taken a back seat in the Conference Finals and letting his young grasshoppers take the reins. He’s just a pest on defense and a facilitator on offense. Tyler Herro, Goron Dragic (who even though I wouldn't want him on my team because he’s slow and strong {which is bad for point guards, they should be fast and nimble} he is a scoring machine), Bam Adebayo, Jae Crowder, and Duncan Robinson are taking the load here.

Like with my aspirations for the Mets, a lot of good players are just as good as a superstar or two great players. The Celtics are literally supposed to win this, of course, I’m rooting for the Heat, but Jayson Tatum (number one scoring threat), Kemba Walker (top five point guard), Marcus Smart (All-Defensive First Team), Jaylen Brown (can do it all) and Daniel Theis, a diamond in the rough (and is a physical monster).

For the Celtics to stay alive, Brad Stevens needs to take the bull by the horns and rattle the bull. Also, the bench needs to step up, the starters are taking the load too much. Gordon Hayward needs to be a facilitator, wait till next season for the scoring part. Take advantage of your being a potent scorer and pass the ball. Marcus Smart, play more offense. Jaylen Brown, stay the same. Jayson Tatum, score at least 30 points per night and be an offensive initiator, Kemba Walker, do it all, man, there’s nothing you can do less of, keep doing you, to the second power.

Lakers vs. Nuggets tomorrow, plus football.