By Yours Truly
https://throneberryfields.blogspot.com/2018/07/degrom-and-thor-for-mess-remodel.html
deGrom (left) with Syndergaard---the Mets
would control the non-waiver starting pitcher
market if they smarten up, gaze upon the
reset button they need to hit badly, and
make this pair available . . .Last year, Michael Conforto was the Mets' lone All-Star. This year, to nobody's surprise, it's Jacob deGrom. He's the best pitcher in the National League this season. He leads the Show in earned run average; he's number one in the league in win probability added, wins above replacement level, fielding-independent pitching, and ERA+.
The only reason deGrom doesn't have fourteen wins and counting at this writing is that he pitches for a team who couldn't find a run in a ten-year-old pair of pantyhose. And, when he leaves a game, the bullpen can't stop runs even if you give almost each member a case of Kaeopectate.
And, if the Mets aren't just lost but buried alive, deGrom would be just about the only stud starter on the non-waiver trade deadline block. Meaning the Mets could not just raid but absolutely strip a trading partner's prime prospects if they want deGrom for a run or two at the postseason roses.
deGrom is under team control for all intent and purpose through 2021; he doesn't become even arbitration-eligible until 2019. He's hitting his peak production and likely to stay there for at least another two or three seasons if he stays healthy. Anyone who says there aren't teams in contention or on the threshold of it licking their chops awaiting the moment the Mets come calling to deal is fooling him or herself.
There's no other ace anywhere near being a trade candidate at this writing. So what are the Mets waiting for? Engraved invitations? A rich principality somewhere in the south Pacific?
The Giants will laugh their fool heads off at anyone calling about Madison Bumgarner. The Dodgers still being in the National League West running want Clayton Kershaw for the ride and beyond. The Astros will make the Giants seem like humourless grouses if anyone taps on their shoulders asking about Justin Verlander. A phone call to the Nationals about Max Scherzer or even Stephen Strasburg will get you a reply of
who is
this fool and how much loco weed does he put into his
feed every morning? Anyone casting eyes upon the Phillies' Aaron Nola is liable to get a little sand thrown into them. Ask the Red Sox about Chris Sale and the answer will be no sale with more than a few curses thrown in between the two words. You'd better have a small army behind you to beat back the ack-ack the Indians are liable to throw if you're calling about Corey Kluber or Trevor Bauer.
And there's a certain team in the South Bronx who's looking for starting pitching, possibly in the worst way possible. They won't be alone among the contenders, either.
In other words, the Mets could absolutely control the starter market this non-waiver trade deadline with deGrom alone. They'd be the non-waiver deadline starter market with deGrom alone, never mind adding Noah Syndergaard to the tiller. Three stud prospects each and maybe a major league-ready stud-to-be should be the minimum packaging the Mets can get for this pair.
And if the Mets absolutely need to hit the reset button, they can manage with Steven Matz and Zach Wheeler up top of the rotation and keeping Seth Lugo in the bullpen.
But these are still the Mets. General manager Sandy Alderson has pulled himself away to re-battle recurring cancer. The rest of the front office needs someone, anyone, to take a ball peen hammer to their heads and give them the word at least twice a day.
There are prospects out there for the plucking, and you've got at least one and possibly two young men who could bring you back enough of those prospects to make the button hit the right ignition.
They need something. Almost anything. The team in Met uniforms who got pasted 9-0 by the Rays Sunday didn't even look like a Class AA team. The defenders worked like they were signing the surrender papers, the hitters swung like they thought the cardboard tubes holding rolls of Reynolds Wrap could work as bona fide bats, two rookie starters resembled batting practise pitchers, and two shutdown innings by two bullpen bulls couldn't atone for six walks and four earned runs handed the Rays by two other bulls.
The once-formidable collection of Mets regulars has been banged up, beaten down, or seen their futures showing the end coming nigh. Other than Brandon Nimmo, the aforesaid Conforto (if he can find a track to consistency and keep his train on it), and Amed Rosario (if he can remember what made him a stud infield prospect and bring it back), there's not a lot down the depth chart to step in beside them.
That slurping sound you hear is the Phillies coming to town for a Monday doubleheader in which they won't have to face deGrom or the rehabbing Syndergaard but do get to throw two of their young stud starters---Nola in the nightcap and Zach Eflin in the opener---at the Mess.
No Met fan wants to think of a future without deGrom and Syndergaard, both of whom figured big in their 2015 run to the World Series and pitched like the studs they are in that Series. (Who can forget Syndergaard starting Game Three by dropping Alcides Escobar on his rump roast, en route the only Met win of the set, after Escobar spend the first couple of games overcrowding the plate and looking like he'd set up a lounger with cocktails in the batter's box?)
But no Met fan wants to think this is the future, either. It's rare enough when a team gets to dictate the market for stud starters at the non-waiver deadline and think about beginning not just a reset but a remake. The time for the Mets to stop seizing opportunities to miss opportunities just might be now.
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