Top Banner Ads
|
In 2018 Matt Harvey was asked to go to the Minor Leagues and get himself right. He refused. He was stubborn. He thought he was too much a star to be treated with such disrespect. You can’t try to “fix” yourself on the Major League level in the midst of a pennant race.
During the San Diego Padres series, Mark Vientos let loose with his first grand slam home run of the season. He also let loose his frustration about his playing time, or lack there of, and said that it is “difficult to improve" when you are not playing on a consistent basis.
OK so maybe it’s time for the New York Mets to call on all the young kids and put them in the lineup every game and see where they take us. Because other than Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, and Juan Soto, there is nobody else on this team that is worth guaranteeing a spot anyway. The rest of the brood ain’t doing anything so you might as well let the kids sink or swim because nobody else is doing the job, at least on a consistent basis, that’s for damn sure.
The Yankees are known during their most recent dynasty for having their “Core Four” which included Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettitte. (Personally, I would have included Bernie Williams rather than Pettitte but that’s just me.) The New York Mets could, potentially, have their own Core Four featuring Francisco Alvarez, Mark Vientos, Brett Baty, and Ronny Mauricio. (Luis Acuna doesn’t count because he was acquired in a trade.) But the jury is still out on that and maybe it’s way too early to tell?
The Yankees young group really made an immediate impact and helped the team regain its prominence after years of languishing with no real direction. And now the Mets seem to be emerging from a similar lack of direction and trying to build a strong organization from within. The young players whom the Mets are counting on have given glimmers of hope but just don’t seem to be able to have consistent success on the Major League level.
The New York Mets top prospects, while given a chance at the Major League level in 2022, will all begin 2023 down on the farm…well…not farm…Syracuse. Francisco Alvarez, Mark Vientos, and Brett Baty, have all been optioned, as was Ronny Mauricio, who has yet to make his MLB debut.
And this is where the difference is between the Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets. A year ago, while the Mets were riding high, sitting atop the NL East, the Braves were reloading. During the 2022 season, the Braves promoted Michael Harris, Vaughn Grissom, Bryce Elder, Dylan Lee, and Spencer Strider, all of whom performed well enough to make everyone forget that Ronald Acuna, Jr. was out for an extended period of time.
The Mets, on the other hand, brought up Baty, Vientos, and Alvarez and none of them showed that they actually belonged. And now, while the Braves are readying themselves with their young talent, the Mets young talent is elsewhere.
Alan Karmin is an award-winning journalist and author. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and spent most of his life growing up in the New Jersey suburbs. Alan's family were avid Brooklyn Dodgers fans and when the Dodgers moved west, the Mets became the team to root for. The Mets have always been a true focal point, Alan even wrote a term paper in high school to analyze what was wrong with the Mets. While at the University of Miami, Alan honed his craft covering the, gulp, Yankees during spring trainings in Fort Lauderdale for a local NBC affiliate, as well as the Associated Press and UPI. He broadcasted baseball games for the University of Miami, and spring training games for the Baltimore Orioles and Montreal Expos. New York Mets Mania is a forum for Alan to write about his favorite team and for baseball fans to chime in and provide their thoughts and ideas about New York's Amazin' Mets.
