After the systematic detonation of his record $343 million boondoggle at the trade deadline, Mets owner Steve Cohen cautioned the Citi Field faithful not to expect much in 2024.
But despite being stripped of his top two starters, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, along with his closer David Robertson, and continuing without the services of Starling Marte, Buck Showalter has somehow managed to keep the Mets competitive in what amounts to be garbage time for them this season. Part of the reason for that has been the emergence of DJ Stewart and Ronny Mauricio — and along with the expected arrival of top prospects Luisangel Acuna, Drew Gilbert and Christian Scott at some point next season, the near Met future could be a lot brighter than it appeared a month ago.
We talked to a small cadre of scouts and people intimately familiar with the Mets’ minor league system about this group and while their appraisals varied, their one consensus was that Showalter will have considerably more depth to manage with next year. For one thing, they all agreed, the multi-talented Acuna — who hit two homers in a game last Wednesday for AA Binghamton, one of them a 426-foot eye-popping upper deck bomb that just missed clearing the stadium roof — is going to be the Mets second baseman at some point next year, very possibly from the get-go. Assuming so, what would that do for Mauricio, whom Showalter has mostly been playing at second in his late-season big league cameo, and Jeff McNeil, who can play almost anywhere but has mostly been at second?
One theory being espoused has Mauricio playing third and McNeil shuffling between second, left field, right field and DH on an everyday basis. But then what about Brett Baty? So far, Mets GM Billy Eppler has been adamant about not moving Baty off third base despite his struggles defensively there. Baty’s defense has been better since he was recalled from the minors, but now it’s his offense (.212 in 372 plate appearances in the majors as of Saturday) that’s come into question.
One thing about Mauricio: He’s not going to win a Gold Glove no matter where you play him, but the guy is a genuine power and speed threat (.292/23 HR/24 SB at AA Syracuse this year). He’s also a genuine airhead who’s forgotten how many outs there were at least twice in games since his recall, and throughout his career has had a habit of being annoyingly lackadaisical on the basepaths. Those sins won’t stand with Showalter, and if Mauricio hopes to make his considerable talents part of the Mets future he’s going to have to quickly adapt to having his head in the game — all the time, every day.
The consensus on Stewart is that after languishing nine years in the Oriole system, he might finally have found himself, with 10 homers and 21 RBI in 40 games for the Mets following his recall from Syracuse, July 4. However, there are red flags everywhere with him. “Is Stewart real?” was the question I asked and these were the answers I got: “After being the Orioles’ first-round draft pick out of Florida (25th overall in 2015), and never living up to it, I think maybe he’s been humbled,” said one. “His power is legit and he’s got good plate discipline. Not great defensively, but not a liability either. I see him as Buck’s primary lefthanded DH next year.” But said another: “I would counsel Buck not to count on this guy.” He’s a bit overweight, not in the best of shape, and is prone to those soft tissue injuries. (In fact, Stewart has spent 278 days on the injured list in his career and just last week had to sit out three games with an oblique strain.)
While it would appear the Mets will have nice surplus of productive position players next year, the one big determining factor as to whether they can compete for a postseason berth is the depth of their pitching. Given Eppler’s track record of success in Japan, they have to be among the favorites to land the pre-eminent Japanese free agent righthander Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Beyond that they are probably going to need rotation reinforcements from within. But scouts are not particularly high on any of the Mets top pitching prospects — the one exception being the 6-4 righthander Christian Scott, a fifth-round draft pick out of Florida in 2021 whose numbers at AA Binghamton (72 strikeouts, 8 walks, 41 hits, 0.83 WHIP in 11 starts) have been off the charts. “He’s the best they’ve got,” said one scout. “Plus fastball, slider and change. Mid-’90s fastball and slider. Smart kid with real good command. If he doesn’t get hurt, he could be there next year.” (That’s the one concern. Scott was sidelined earlier this year with an ulnar collateral nerve issue.)
IT’S A MADD, MADD WORLD
What in the world has happened in Texas where the Rangers, who were in first place in the AL West from Opening Day until August 26, are in a catastrophic freefall? Suddenly, everything that could go wrong for the Rangers has, and Hall-of-Fame bound manager Bruce Bochy may be wishing he’d stayed retired. Things started to go south for the Rangers on July 18 when their ace Nathan Eovaldi went down with a forearm injury that sidelined him for seven weeks. Since then, the Rangers’ pitching has been universally awful. Max Scherzer, who came over from the Mets for their top prospect Luisangel Acuna, has been of little help and was bombed for three homers and four runs in 1 1/3 innings in his most important start of the year last week against the Astros, who hammered Texas pitchers for 16 homers in a three-game sweep. There is no one in the bullpen (ranked 25th in baseball with a 4.86 ERA), Bochy can count on. On August 6, third baseman Josh Jung, the front runner for AL Rookie of the Year, was hit by a pitch that broke his thumb and has not yet returned, and now the Rangers’ best player, Adolis Garcia, the AL RBI leader, is sidelined indefinitely with a patella strain in his knee. Incredibly, the Rangers, who for 4 1/3 months looked like one of the best teams in baseball, are now probably not going to make the playoffs. … For 28 years Jeffrey Loria was one of the most controversial owners in all of baseball, leaving hundreds of thousands of alienated fans and city officials in his wake after his departures from Montreal and Miami, but now he’s taken the opportunity to tell his side of the story in his recently published memoir “From the Front Row — Reflections of a Major League Baseball Owner and Modern Art “(Post Hill Press). Baseball fans and historians can skip the first half of the book, which is all about Loria’s career as one of the country’s pre-eminent modern art dealers. The second half, however, details Loria’s often tempestuous 28-year run as the last owner of the Expos (before they were sold to Major League Baseball) and then the Marlins that included a world championship over the Yankees in 2003. Some highlights: His frustration with his penurious Canadian partners with the and the great satisfaction he felt when they lost the RICO suit they’d filed against him on every single count; his heartbreak when Marlins ace Jose Fernandez was killed in a boating accident in 2016 and how he almost sold the team because of it; his later regret at having fired Joe Girardi as Marlins manager in 2006 (the year he was NL Manager of the Year) over what he now says was an unfortunate misunderstanding. A native New Yorker who grew up with Mel Allen, in his chapter on broadcasters, Loria has high praise Michael Kay, John Sterling, Suzyn Waldman, David Cone and Paul O’Neill. It’s a terrific read and he even wrote it himself — without the help of any of the baseball scribes who routinely skewered him.
Bill Madden
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