Mets: Hey Sandy, How About Putting a Charge in That Lineup

You don’t realize how poor the New York Mets are as a hitting team until you look at the numbers. Their anemic lineup needs improvement – now!

Personally, I’m not a fan of baseball numbers and sabermetrics. I’d rather go with my gut instincts and baseball acumen about teams and players. After all, as Bob Dylan once wrote, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows”.

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Just for kicks though, I did look at the New York Mets’ numbers so far this year. I found that they are a stark reminder of the need for general manager Sandy Alderson to make some moves, now, to strengthen his anemic lineup.

The best pitching in the world, the Mets remain towards the top in all of this category, will still continue to lose games 4-3 and 3-1 while the team remains stagnant in the standings.

Arguably, the most important offensive stat for a team is runs scored. You can cover up a lot of pitching deficiencies if you score a ton of runs (see Boston). In this category,  only the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves have scored fewer runs than the Mets.

And we all know that you can’t score runs if you strike out too much and don’t reach base. Again, the Mets show up woefully in these categories appearing 24th out of 30 teams in on-base percentage (.309) with the 11th most strikeouts in the league. Plus, as of this past Sunday, they have the fewest hits of any team.

The Met bats are anemic and the numbers prove it. Alderson needs to fix it – now!

We could go on and on with this, but let’s not belabor the point, which is the Mets’ need to add a couple of bonafide major-league hitters to their lineup. It’s August, and there are only sixty games left in the season.

Last year, Alderson pretty much saved the Mets season by acquiring Yeonis Cespedes in a last-minute deal with the Detroit Tigers at the deadline. The proverbial lightning in a bottle. Once again, Alderson finds himself in the hot seat. After all, this is his job. He gets paid handsomely to perform, just as his players do.

So, the next obvious question is who?

That’s really the scouts and Alderson’s job, but how about adding some bonafide major-league bats like San Diego Padres player Will Myers who can fill the void at first base until Lucas Duda recovers, if he ever does.

Or, how about the much talked about Jonathan LuCroy who proved to be a hitting machine at the time that the Mets keep hoping that Travis D’Arnaud can stay heathy and learn how to hit in the majors.

Those are just a couple of names up for grabs at the deadline. But, there are some sleepers out there that could also help the Mets. Denard Span is having an off year with the Giants, but he’s a career .285 hitter with some pop. Plus, someone’s got to take Ryan Braun off the hapless Milwaukee Brewers’ hands.

Here’s the next question. Who do you give up to get what you want?

For the Mets, that probably means delving into their farm system because that’s the whole point of the transaction. The Mets don’t have much on their current roster who can be trade bait.

Maybe, Wilmer Flores would be a nice fit for a team where he could play every day. Or, maybe Curtis Granderson would make a nice fit for a team, especially if the Mets are willing to eat a portion of his salary.

But, that’s not my job – nor is it yours as a Mets fan. You target a play and make it happen to strengthen your team. It’s called the art of the deal.

Met fans can only sit back and wait. But, the clock is ticking. It’s your move, Sandy.