Here We Go Again

I had some actual work to do today, so I'm a little late to the party.  I did a little Mets reading at lunch, and I've been stewing on one piece of it ever since: Joel Sherman's latest contribution to the tried and true "you Mets fans will regret trading this prospect" genre that has been feeding tedious stories in NY newspapers for decades.

His name might be Scott Kazmir or Michael Fulmer or Syd Finch for all it's worth.  The name doesn't matter; the story is always the same. You're endlessly updated on the progress of said prospect as long as he's doing well, and they can beat you over the head with it.  Should he falter, they'll just quietly move on.

The language is always the same, too.  The article linked above even links to a previous Sherman article from February titled: "Mets’ nightmare Jarred Kelenic scenario is becoming reality."  Not going to bother to link to that one.  It's always about nightmares and being haunted by the one that got away.

To be clear, I thought the trade that sent Kelenic and Justin Dunn to the Mariners for Cano and Diaz was an absolutely horrible baseball trade.  To give up good prospects for a 36-year-old second baseman coming off a steroid suspension and a closer who had one good year under his belt told me that Brodie was in over his head as a GM.  I would have thought taking on Cano was stupid if the Mets only gave up one of those two guys.  It would have made more sense for an AL club who could transition him to DH.

As for Kelenic, even if you were going to trade him for a win-now player, a real GM would have held onto him for longer and let his value build.

And finally, for the Stroman deal, it was actually a solid baseball trade that I could defend. Kind of difficult to anticipate a pandemic canceling a baseball season a year off.

But still, Kelenic is gone, and I've moved on.  I'm actually grateful that most of the Mets coverage is behind paywalls, so I don't have to read more of this crap.  Sherman is a better writer than most of those guys, but going into that sweet, sweet well for this tired old chestnut is more than any of them can resist.  Mostly I blame myself for reading that crap when I could tell by the title exactly what was coming.

I hope Jarred Kelenic developing into a good major league ballplayer is the worst thing that happens to any of us because, frankly, I can think of much worse crap that can happen in my life.  Stay well, everyone.


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