The Queens is burning

If you are a Mets fan—put the panic button down. Don’t panic. Even with the Cespedes injury, even with Mickey Callaway on the hot seat, and the vets on the team not playing to the level that they are capable of—there is still time to right the ship.

Cespedes’ ludicrous injury on his ranch may be something out of a Sunday morning cartoon, and the ownership, front office, and coaching staff might all be certifiable buffoons, but it doesn’t matter. The team that is being put on the field daily is too talented not to win games.

Don’t concern yourself with what is going on in the Bronx, because quite frankly even the people in the Bronx don’t know how the hell the Yankees are pulling off this run with $80 Million plus on the shelf. The Yankees run is almost as ludicrous as determining whether or not Cespedes fractured his ankle with help from a horse or if it just happened by his own accord.   

The bottom line is this, with a 6-1 come from behind win tonight against Washington, the Mets are five games out and two and a half out of the second Wildcard spot. The season is not over by any means. Yes, I’m saying that including the annual May reminder that this franchise is a four story dumpster with flames eternally engulfing it at all times, there is still time for this to work itself out. I predicted at the beginning of the season that the Mets would be a top 10 team in all of baseball and a borderline playoff team. I believed in the moves that Brodie Van Wagenen made and was a stern backer of the Diaz-Cano trade (and still am).

Cano is batting .244 with three homers and 13 RBI’s. His OPS is .666 with an OPS+ of 85 and an OBP of .291—aka he is not having a traditional “Robinson Cano season” so far no matter if you look at his slash line traditionally or analytically. By now Cano if he were his usual self would be smashing doubles the opposite way and his sweet swing would be sounding more like a saxophone in a jazz band and less like the untuned guitar in a death metal band that it is right now. Cano was pulled again from tonight’s game and after a weekend where he showcased his no hustle mantra Mets fans are wanting to ship him back to Seattle along with the rest of their faulty Amazon orders.

Cano has only had 168 at-bats and for goodness shake it’s only the end of May. Let the weather warm up, let him get used going home in Queens instead of the Bronx, everything will work out with him… at least for this season. With that, Cano is at the stage of his career where he can mentor young players like Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, and Amed Rosario. Todd Frazier is also at that stage and can take a similar role to the one he played in the Bronx during the 2017 season. Frazier isn’t batting his weight with an average scrapping barely over the Mendoza line at .206, but the veteran leadership he brings to the table cannot be measured by a batting average. Let Frazier do what he must to get to the playoffs and the Wilpons will be reaping the benefits in October. Overall this team is too talented for baseball instincts to not take over and turn the summer days into a meaningful playoff push.

As for that playoff push, here is where Mets fans can have some anxiety about the teams’ immediate future. The NL East is a one team race, it’s the end of May and it’s over. Philadelphia will be the hardest team to catch in any division due to their sheer amount of crazy perfection. From the everyday lineup, to bullpen, to their wicked puppet master (Gabe Kapler) pulling all the right strings analytically—this is the model everyone should build around in 2019. The Mets are just not talented enough to top the Phillies—and there is not one move at the deadline that will change that fact. The Phillies are the perfect amount of analytics, guts, and talent to win in today’s game. Philly might not win the World Series or come close for that matter, but their construction of their team is the apex of what a franchise should try to do moving forward. Even the rulebook rippers down in Tampa Bay cannot duplicate the masterpiece of a baseball team that the Phillies have. So, Mets fans, stop trying to convince yourselves it’s a two team race in the NL East. This is the AL East from last year just a bit less impressive in the wins and loss columns. The race is miles apart and the best chance that the Mets have is hosting the Wild Card game at Citi Field. Even though the Mets, Braves, or hell the Nationals (if they can figure out their putrid bullpen) can have a share of the NL East crown for a while, when the dust settles in October, the Phillies will have a commanding lead in the NL East.

What the Mets have lacked so far this year is consistency, that is heir apparent in each of the losing streaks that have made this season such a roller coaster ride. All that needs to happen is for good deGrom and Syndergaard starts to sync up with the days the offense decides to hit the cover off the ball. The bullpen hasn’t been a problem, aside from the Familia albatross, a once dyer hole is perhaps the only constant on the team. Look, the Mets face the same problem all teams in the game face, consistency. It’s the fundamental problem of the sport, consistency replaces perfection in the baseball dictionary, so again I say put the panic button down and sit back in the recliner and watch baseball. Take advice from Aaron Rodgers and repeat after me, R-E-L-A-X, relax!