A POBO, a manager, and a billionaire owner walk into a baseball stadium; it sounds like the start of a joke. With the way the New York Mets have played lately, no one is laughing.
Wins have been impossible to come by for more than a week, leaving the fans on repeat for some of the same demands from the shot-callers at the top. David Stearns, Carlos Mendoza, and Steve Cohen each have the ability to make some decisions to change the fate of the team. This is one each should make.
David Stearns needs to call up one of the kids
Nolan McLean or Brandon Sproat? Choose your fighter. Fans will be satisfied with either. And if it goes awry, try the other. The demand of fans to see one of these highly-touted prospects in the majors has been going on for months. It has gotten exhausting to repeat the same points. When your starting pitchers have struggled so badly and you have two guys excelling in the minors, the only logical thing to do is give one an opportunity.
Carlos Mendoza needs move Jeff McNeil into the top part of the lineup
Jeff McNeil is quietly having a productive stretch for the Mets. He’s batting .294 with a .333 OBP in August, not getting a whole lot of opportunities to contribute to the run-scoring. He has scored 3 runs and driven in 2 others. His .258 batting average in the second half isn’t fantastic but it’s better than any of the members of the Fab Four, Brandon Nimmo leading the way with only a .205 batting average post All-Star Break. McNeil has shifted through the lineup in multiple spots this year and with a .333 batting average against lefties, it’s time to lean into those reverse splits. He has yet to hit higher than fifth in the order this year. It might be time to try this one out.
Steve Cohen needs to pay Frankie Montas the rest of his contract to play elsewhere
We were all in agreement that a two-year deal with Frankie Montas felt wrong in the offseason. We’ve been proven correct. Nothing about what Montas did last year suggested he was a change of scenery guy the Mets could masterfully craft into an ace again. Believing they could indeed have the same success with him that they had with Sean Manaea last year and to a lesser extent Luis Severino, the Mets bought some damaged goods, giving them a new worst contract on the books. Although the responsibility falls on Stearns, it’s Cohen who’ll see the remainder of Montas’ contract charged to his credit card. Hopefully it has a good rewards system.
