Scherz and Jeers

 The good news? At age 37, future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer is looking pretty damn good out of camp for the Mets, and might be the staff ace for a rotation that will include Taijuan Walker, Carlos Carrasco and Chris Bassitt. 

The bad news? For at least a few months, that rotation will not include actual staff ace Jacob deGrom. Once again, the man who throws harder than anyone has screwed up his shoulder and has to miss time. Who could have predicted that throwing really hard every damn game will lead to injuries? It's almost like the guys that go all 32 games with great seasons of hard throwing action get injured the following season. Like there's some kind of...CONNECTION there.

And here is where I see a problem with how the Mets think. The Mets, as they are right now, are fine. They will be going with a rotation of Scherzer-Bassitt-Walker-Carrasco-either David Peterson or Tylor Megill. That's fine. Peterson and Megill don't have to be incredible as a fifth starter, they just have to hold the line. But perhaps the realization that, for the first time since 2012, no one from the 2015 rotation of DeGrom-Syndergaard-Harvey-Wheeler-Matz will be starting games for the Mets this year has sent the GM into overdrive, and apparently there's been inklings that the Mets are trying to do business with the Padres, and trying to get Eric Hosmer, Emilio Pagan and Chris Paddack from them in exchange for Dominic Smith. 

The problem, of course, is that the Mets need to do this.

They need to fill a fifth starter ship for a month, maybe two months. They have two perfectly workable starters that can fill this role- they are also young, and could use this room to blossom into the players they could be, a concept that certainly helped Zack Wheeler, Steven Matz and oh yeah JACOB DEGROM. Why plug Chris Paddack, who has been chasing the dragon that was his 2019 season, into a rotation that was already going towards youth naturally. And, more infuriatingly, why take on Eric Hosmer's contract when you can get the same player in Dominic Smith for much less? 

The Mets need to trust themselves, and trust their roster depth. They want to be the alpha of the NL East, spend money and build their teams like that. The problem is it hasn't worked in the last few seasons, and that the teams that have won the NL East recently have been the ones that haven't spent much money at all, like the Nationals and the Braves. So why want to bring in more preexisting pieces from other teams the second that one star, out of, if you were to believe the Mets, many stars, gets injured? Why be so fragile on the success of deGrom when you have Pete Alonso, Starling Marte, Brandon Nimmo, and geeIdunno MAX SCHERZER??? I understand that Jacob deGrom is the best pitcher in baseball, but if you are admitting that your team cannot last without getting players from another team to replace him, you're admitting defeat. In April. 

The Mets could very well do all of this and still finish in third as the spoiler for the umpteenth year. They need to convince the league they are for real without genuflecting and carrying all of this potential energy that never pays off. Maybe this is the season they win the division? Maybe the Phillies, Marlins or Braves have it this year.

What will help, though, is if Max Scherzer has another nice season, even with 38 around the corner. That alone will be a good sign.

Update, not even an hour later: ….fuck’s sake…

Coming Tomorrow- He's big, he's strong, he hits home runs, and his team is once again burning up Spring Training.