Maybe it's not too late

Before you start into today’s scheduled post, can’t help but say “holy cow,” to yesterday’s extra inning explosion by the Mets!!! Okay, now back to the regularly scheduled post.

As a long-time fan of the team from Queens, I am reminded of the Billy Joel song Keeping the Faith. With rare exceptions it is something that we have always had to do with the Metropolitans never having a dominant team for any measurable stretch of time. Perhaps the bigger picture view is that it takes a lot longer to build a significant farm system that then turns into a stronger and annually competitive major league team. Perhaps Steve Cohen overestimated the talent the Mets had when he boldly predicted a championship within 3-5 years. And perhaps, despite our collective anxiety, we also need to take a longer view of David Stearns’s plan to transform the organization into a perennial contender like he did in Milwaukee, even if the Brewers have not yet brought home the trophy.

We often talk about the Baby Mets that include Brett Baty, Mark Vientos and Francisco Alvarez. We hoped that when each of these three came up they would be game changers. And as far as Vientos and Alvarez, their rookie seasons were ones that made us feel great about the farm system and bringing up home grown talent. Then reality set in that baseball is not as easy as it seems and that things change on a dime.

Now in his fifth year, 26-year-old Vientos might have just found his new position at first base. He turned two 3-6-3 double plays over the weekend that were right out of the Keith Hernadez’ playbook. He also has his batting average up to .241, his OPS finally over .700 and 22 RBI in 38 games. Baty, also 26-years-old, may have found a home playing consistently at third base, the spot we expected him to open the season at before acquiring Bo Bichette. Also in his fifth season with the Mets, Baty continues to struggle at the plate although he was six for eighteen in his last five games with a home run and four RBI. The injury to Francisco Lindor has afforded him some consistent play at third base versus moving him between the infield and the outfield.

We won’t even talk about Alvarez, the second coming of often injured Travis d’Arnaud, as he clearly has no ability to staff healthy and on the field. If I were the POBO, I would be looking for a way to move on from him, and the two year extension to Luis Torrens, before the latest injury, was just one step in that direction. Most teams do not lock up a backup catcher so perhaps Stearns is smarter than we think.

What I find interesting is that the three aforementioned players are not even considered the Baby Mets anymore. That designation slides over to Nolan McLean, Carson Benge and AJ Ewing. They have all hit the scene in an exciting way. Not without bumps in the road of course, and I am trying not to have the same expectations going forward as we did when the former Baby Mets exploded on the scene with big rookie seasons.

First 24-year-old McLean. They have only won two of his last five starts, but that was much more on the offense, who only managed to score six runs in those three losses. In his two most recent starts he threw six and seven innings and the sign of a good pitcher is how he worked out of trouble and adapted well into the next inning. Walks have been his biggest bugaboo and he has also managed to hit three batters. His WHIP is a solid .955. Now, with Clay Holmes on the shelf for at least two months, McLean’s contribution to this team is even more critical.

There was a lot of pressure and expectations placed on Carson Benge, whose strong spring training let him break camp with a starting outfield role. Just 23-years-old, Benge had a good opening weekend before pitchers adapted and his bat went so cold that his batting average was lower than my weight. According to Baseball Reference, Benge currently is batting .243, with three HR, six doubles, eight stolen bases and 14 RBI. He has nine hits in the last five games (9 for 23) and has done well from the leadoff spot. He now has two 10^th inning game winning RBI. His 32 strikeouts is a concern but he fanned just three times in the last five games. While his hitting is back on track, his fielding has been well above average with the exception of an easily catchable fly ball that he did not catch. He has a great attitude and a great approach at the plate for a youngster. Hoping that he is a staple in the lineup for years to come.

AJ Ewing is all of 21-years-old and stands all of 5’10” tall. If not for an injury to Luis Robert JR, and Juan Soto missing time, he might still be kicking butt at AAA Syracuse. In his six game career in the big leagues, Ewing is hitting .294, has scored five runs, knocked in three, has two stolen bases and has an OPS of 1.088. Yes, it is a very small sample size but he has seemed to find his place in recent Met rallies and brought some offense to the end of the batting order. It would be interesting to see if Benge and Ewing at the top of the order could be the second coming of Mickey Rivers and Willie Randolph, for us old timers. And yes, there have been a few questionable fielding plays but that comes from being a 21-year-old thrust onto one of sport’s biggest stages.

With Holmes now out for a long stretch, and some thinking he might be done for most of the season, who will be the next rabbit they pull out of their Baby Mets hat? There is talk of Jonah Tong getting a start or more likely seeing Jack Wenniger getting a turn. At AAA Syracuse, Wenninger is currently 3-1, with a 1.51 ERA to go along with 39 strikeouts in 35.2 innings and has only given up one HR. His one big downfall is his 22 walks and averaging nearly six per game generally turns into a disaster. But these days the Mets are catching lightning in a bottle with the kids, so why not see what he can do in Queens?

Another interesting factor, even just at mid-May, is that I believe the Mets have a chance to be both buyers and sellers at the trade deadline. Of course the buying part is predicated on their continued efforts to get to .500 and beyond. With Vientos showing signs of offense and learning more how to play first base I am thinking they could move Polanco, even if they need to eat a lot of salary. When Lindor returns they could then put Bichette at second and leave Baty at third. This then opens the possibility to move Marcus Semien somewhere else. That would get rid of two of David Stearns off season mistakes.

It’s all one game at a time and a Met fan, we all need to just keep the faith.