Alejandro De Aza Volunteers to Play 1B

Good for De Aza to step up. A few more players need to follow suit and try some new positions. Cespedes in RF, Wright at 1B, Conforto and/or Granderson at 1B, Conforto in RF. 

And how about Walker and eventually d'Arnaud at 3B? Walker has played 3B in the past, so it may be relatively smooth. 

Don't want to see any more games with Reynolds and Campbell at the infield corners! We were a Mayberry Jr, away from the (re)cycle.

Happy Harvey Options

Matt Harvey is discombobulated. Is it physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual? Yes. It's definitely one or more of those things. So what's a team to do? Here are the options, with pros and cons:

DL (cons: he gets upset, he doesn't pitch for the Mets for 15 days, Boras will keep talking. pros: gets time to regroup, gets away from NY media, team can replace him, he doesn't pitch for the Mets for 15 days.)

Skip a start (cons: he gets upset, can't be replaced on roster, someone else has to start, Boras will keep talking. pros: has a little time to regroup, someone else gets to start.)

Send him down: (cons: he gets very upset, he doesn't start for the Mets for at least ten days, Boras will keep talking. pros: he can be replaced, he has time to regroup, he gets away from NY media, someone else gets to start.)

Keep sending him out there, including against the Nationals next week (cons: no one will be able to watch, probably get hammered again, Boras will keep talking. pros: he doesn't get upset until during the game and getting upset causes stress.)

The Mets are considering skipping a start. Not the worst option, but not the best either. He needs a longer break and some mental and physical space, so I would DL him with the dreaded "dead arm."

Winter Meetings

I wish I were at the Winter Meetings in Orlando, Florida, right now. Mostly because it's warmer there, but also because I want to know everything that is going on. This is the time of the baseball year that is the most interesting to me, because I really enjoy the team-building planning process.

Of course, watching the games is great, but as I've gotten older, I have found that I think about being a GM rather than a manager or player. Not much has changed in the personnel department for the Mets, but everything has changed in the front office, and for that I am truly grateful and excited. There are no guarantees in sports, but I trust Sandy Alderson and his staff a lot more than any regime since the Frank Cashen era of the mid-1980s.

2011 will be a year of rebuilding to some degree, but mostly a year of taking stock of the organization from top to bottom. This is something that I have been requesting for a long time, and I finally trust the front office to do it properly.

At first, I was not happy with the selection of Terry Collins, but after seeing him and listening to him, I am more than willing to give him a chance. His job, as I see it, is to change the culture. I'm really glad Wally Backman and Chip Hale are still with the organization, because I expect one of them to be the manager with a few years. Terry Collins taking over now will make the manager's job of the New York Mets a lot easier in the future.

This really is no job for a beginner. Terry Collins sounds like just the drill sergeant the clubhouse needs to get kicked into a higher gear. My hope is that the Mets use this year to rid the clubhouse of all the guys that are not championship caliber, meaning having a winners' mentality.

The Mets of October 2011 will be very different than the current Mets, and I am looking forward to watching the evolution of the team over the next 10 months and beyond. Being a Met fan means having patience and an open mind. Fortunately, my job has provided me with opportunities to learn both on a daily basis.




© Judy Kamilhor 2010