If this our team, what next?

By Ken Dynamo
Posted Thursday, July 31, 2008

By whatever time you read this, the trade deadline is effectively t-minus no hours and not counting. As fellow F.U. prof Jack Flynn pointed out yesterday, the Mets have exhausted their cache of prospects and are most likely going to head in to the home stretch with what they've got now. As much I'd we'd like to fantasize about having Jason Bay in our outfield, the best we're going to do this year is to revel in the shadenfruede of the Braves giving Teixiera away for Casey Kotchman and Class AA right-hander Stephen Marek after previously trading Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Elvis Andrus, Neftali Perez, Beau Jones, and Matt Harrison to get him in the first place.

I just love it when a great Braves plan falls apart completely.

So anyways, if, for better or for worse, WYSIWYG, then the Mets are going to have to improve from within their system. Part of the problem with that approach, however, is that there aren't many players to promote from within, owing to the aforementioned expenditure of such prospects in the previous seasons.

There are a few solid guys and everyone favorite remaining uber-chip, Fernando Martinez, but no one who is expected to make an impact on the Major League level this season. Which pretty much leaves the Mets SOL when it comes time to mount their late season charge into the playoffs. Well, not quite, I would argue.

To start with, there's no reason to panic, even with the team as is. There is a concern that Delgado will once again anger Jobu and fall back out of favor with the baseball gods, and Fernando Tatis' discovery of a personal fountain of youth is most likely a mirage, but the Mets aren't really playing above their heads right now.

Consulting with my handy robotic stat-machines that do indeed, play out all the games in a computer and not on the field, the Mets have either a 60% or 69% chance of making the playoffs. Take it all with as much salt as you like but its encouraging to me, especially when considering the likelihood of the Phillies or Marlins not making any more deals to improve their teams, and thus their own odds of making the playoffs.

There is always room for skepticism, however, and improvement for that matter, so we should still be looking to get better throughout the season. The Mets may have taken off on a perfectly timed winning streak once Jerry Manual took over as manager, but I don't think that means we should settle with the way things have been going. I still think there are a few changes Manual can make with his managing that won't mess up the 'karma' we've got going and help the team pick up an extra win or two that we wouldn't have otherwise gotten.

1) Fire Marlon Anderson. I don't say that to be mean, I have nothing against Mr. Anderson personally. He is a tremendous athlete that has played far better baseball than I can ever imagine doing myself. But for Major League standards, Marlon blows, and is hurting the team every time he gets an at bat. Just about anybody in AAA right now will most likely give the Mets better production and Omar needs to figure away to get one of them on the team to take away Anderson's ABs.

2) Stop bunting. Unless you are the pitcher or are named Endy Chavez, I don't want to see any more Mets bunting. Not even Jose Reyes, who is still too good swinging away to waste trying to leg out a bunt, and especially not Carlos frackin Beltran. I also don't like it when Endy bunts, but I understand he is a defensive replacement thrust into the starting lineup because of injuries and some things can't be helped. Otherwise, NO BUNTING ALLOWED. The sac bunt, with any kind of decent batter up, is almost always a complete waste of time. Plus it is boring, making the sac bunt one of my least favorite sacs of all time, and thats including a whole lot of unsavory sacs, let me tell you.

3) Stop batting awful hitters second in the line up. The only stat that should matter to the guy second in the line up is OBP. Luis Castillo, for as much as I don't like his contract or his negative slugging, is not the worst guy to have batting second. Endy Chavez, with his .314 OBP, is. Again, nothing against Endy, but that is unacceptable. Same with Nick Evans. I know some people like the idea of having a crappy number two hitter who can move runners around the bases, but if this crappy two hole hitter is advancing runners at the expense of an out, he is not helping.

4) Play Ramon Castro most of the time and only play Brian Schneider when the Hippo needs a rest. This really needs no explanation.

5) Bat the pitcher 8th. I know that sounds like a bunch of wacky Tony LaRussa new age baseball mumbo jumbo, but if it's worth a few extra runs, as some research would suggest, I think it's worth a shot. It makes sense when you think that your lead off batter will most likely only lead off an inning once per game, so you may as well try and get more people on base for him for all those other times that he comes up.

These suggestions unfortunately aren't fool proof, and they won't guarantee the Mets win any more game this year or score any more runs then they otherwise would. I am confident, however, that it puts them in a better position to win more games. So while it may not sound like much, even when you add everything up, I think we can all remember from last year how a little bit can go a long way.