The Mets split a doubleheader yesterday. Winning one game and losing the other.
The numbers told a larger story though. By losing the first game, the Mets officially recorded their 5th straight losing season. Now the Mets sit with 82 losses. Being very honest with ourselves, for the last two weeks, it looked like the Mets would need a miracle to prevent a losing season. There is some psychological impact reaching to .500, but that might be overrated. Lets take a look back down memory lane to see how with a good dose of cognitive dissonance we handled losing seasons:
2009: Injuries. It was the injuries. 2010: Hey it was pretty close. Just some injuries
2011: Well we traded Beltran. Made that streak rides out if we do better.
2012: A lot of money is coming off the books! And some prospects! Things are looking up.
Where does that leave us this year? When I look at my optimism, especially regarding prospects, I realize that between 2008-2012, I was really deluding myself. What we have now, in 2013, is the real deal in prospects. Yes we are having issues with health (Matt Harvey), but with Wheeler and Syndegaard, Montero and a few others in the system there seems to be both high talent and a wealth of talent. A lot of the position players, outside of d’Arnaud, are a couple of years away but at the same time filled with hope.
For the first time in a while, it feels like we are going into the offseason with precise goals for upgrading, not just a general “we need to get the best person out there in half of the positions.”
What I’m rambling to is an idea that maybe this time, the offseason is a little more clear and that we have lost enough recently to build a system that over the next 3-4 years could pump out a variety of good players at a multitude of positions.
Recently, there has been a discussion about whether the Mets should be welcoming losing to get under the 10th pick for a first round pick protection next year. If you remember, the Mets who had the 10th worst record in baseball last year, lost their pick protection because another team failed to draft their player the previous year. The Mets look like they will have a protected pick this year but they are one hot streak away from losing their protection. I’ve been struggling with this thought this past month. I want to see the Mets win, but at this point, with a losing season guaranteed there isn’t much to gain by a hot streak.
I haven’t made up mind about this yet, have you?
