Oh you know me, I do love being counter-culture….but let’s be fair I did spend July writing about TRADE HIGH. I know the Mets are in a Fake Pennant Race now (only one game below .500) so you will all hate this, but I don’t care so let me all drive you insane. Also I want to say I wasn’t even thinking about this subject until Mickey Callaway brought up Alonso’s slump.
Now the point here isn’t to play HaHa or hope that these guys do poorly. It’s merely another reminder by me that sometimes y’all get a little too excited and start putting people in the hall of Fame before the body of work is complete.
Let’s check Pete Alonso’s stats from after the All Star Game through Saturday night’s games.
20 games. 73 AB. Batting .195. One Ninety Five. 4 HRs (of his 34 Total) and a .658 OPS. He sure is fun to watch….but maybe he isn’t the greatest HR hitter of the past 150 years like we thought and he’s just pretty darn good? (As a comparison, Rockies 1B Daniel Murphy is .364 with 4 HR and a 1.031 OPS in that same period and HE’S A NET NEGATIVE!)
Meanwhile, Jeff McNeil is cruising to the batting title…(or is he, meet Bryan Reynolds)
20 games. 76 AB. Batting .276 with 5 HRs (more than Pete!). – and yet still a snazzy .334 on the season! (Into Sunday’s games…websites update later on.)
Again, not haha, not told ya so….and if the Mets are to get back to .500 we are gonna need these guys. But maybe, just maybe, the right move was to Trade High and not do what Wags did and double down on the Fake Pennant Race. In the end you will have to decide more – me, or the guy that traded the future for Cano and Sugar Diaz.
I’m no GM so I don’t know what two early-career All Stars might have brought back. Crazy, I know…
Monday is a big day for the FPR. The Marlins stroll in which should be easy feeding for the White Hot Mets.