Hmm, is that how you spell Milestone Achieved? It looks a little funny, but there’s no wavy red line under it, so I guess it must be correct.
As you may have heard [1], Tuesday’s night game — played in whatever suburb of Dallas that’s considered to be in whatever that park that looks perfectly new but is soon to be replaced is called — was the 2,000th in a row we’ve chronicled here at Faith and Fear since the winter day we decided to celebrate the inauguration of the Carlos Beltran [2] era by exchanging our thoughts about the Mets in a public forum instead of in extremely long emails.
Whether or not you’re talking baseball, milestones are rarely particularly interesting in themselves — the significance is in what’s come before, not what’s occurred in the moment. There are exceptions — Derek Jeter [3] comes immediately and apologetically to mind — but most 3,000th hits are singles necessitating a pause in run-of-the-mill games, most 300th wins are corralled by bullpens while everyone waits impatiently, and lots of playoff spots are secured on the road before a few temporarily nomadic loyalists amid indifferent home crowds.
So no, we didn’t get a second no-hitter, four home runs from an unlikely source [4], or anything like that. We didn’t even get Gary Cohen — though vacation play-by-play guy Scott Braun’s only sin was being unfamiliar, which is more about us than his work alongside Ron Darling [5].
What we did get was an all-too-typical 2017 Mets loss: more hitting than you might expect, bafflingly horrific starting pitching, inadequate defense and an extra twist of the knife in case you’d forgotten what an utter drag this season has been.
Jacob deGrom [6] was terrible again, offered a consoling arm after his removal by Terry Collins [7] and later insisting to reporters that he feels fine and doesn’t know what’s wrong other than location and pitches doing nothing, which is more than enough to ensure a bad day. The defense behind him was execrable in ways big and small, with Met fielders just missing converting some difficult plays and quietly botching some not-so-difficult ones. The bats put up big numbers in the box score, but left a bushel of runners in scoring position. Of course there was a ferocious ninth-inning attempt at a comeback that got you a bit excited despite knowing better. And of course that comeback fizzled, with a game-ending double play coming as a petty, mean-spirited coup de grace [8].
What’s to be done with this team as we ponder recaps 2,001 and up?
Sports Illustrated’s Jay Jaffe recently looked at the Mets as one of the teams that has to decide whether or not to sell [9], and noted that a Mets sale could net a pretty good return: Jay Bruce [10], Lucas Duda [11], Neil Walker [12] and Addison Reed [13] are all pending free agents who would be among the best options at their positions for playoff-hunting clubs, while Asdrubal Cabrera [14] is signed through next year and could be moveable. Hell, someone might be even persuaded to take a flier on a couple of months of Curtis Granderson [15] and/or Jose Reyes [16].
Surveying that list, my reaction is: Goodness, trade as many of them as you can. Bruce, Duda, Walker and Reed might net a couple of actual prospects, or at least some interesting lottery tickets. Both Amed Rosario and Dom Smith look ready to try their hand at the big leagues, and are a week or so away from escaping Super 2 status. Rosario would immediately help the Mets’ infield defense, taking some of the pressure off the pitchers. Once Yoenis Cespedes [17] returns — as stubborn hope insists he will — the Mets will be back to trying to solve a corner-outfield logjam.
Most significantly, a summer sale wouldn’t be a long-term rebuild but a short-term reload. Even without factoring in returns on trades or potential winter acquisitions, Rosario and Smith would join a lineup that would still feature Cespedes, Michael Conforto [18] and Wilmer Flores [19] (who’s somehow still only 25). They’d get more time to find their big-league footing without being treated as saviors. And you’d be returning all the starting pitchers, with fingers crossed for better health and luck.
I’d be intrigued by that team for the rest of 2017. I’d be eager to see what they could accomplish in 2018. Maybe they could even help the Mets attain milestones instead of millstones.