Ike Davis
First pitch is slated for 8:07, which means the game will probably start around 9:00. It doesn’t matter the time because Mets fans have been waiting for that pitch seemingly all their lives. Stepping up to the plate will be Curtis Granderson.
It’s fitting that it’ll be Granderson. Granderson was the first offensive player to sign on. Yes, the Mets had David Wright, but he had not signed his extension yet. We didn’t know if Daniel Murphy would be traded or not. Lucas Duda had not yet wrestled first base away from Ike Davis. Seriously, all we knew at that time was Granderson was going to be the RF for four years.
Granderson was the first offensive player to really sign on for all of this. Except for Wright and Murphy, the team has changed all around him. He has been the Mets regular season MVP. He has been terrific this postseason. This year he’s been everything you could’ve asked him to be.
He’s going to step in the box and kick off the World Series for the Mets. It’s fitting since he was the first position player to sign on for this.
In 2011, the Mets gave Justin Turner his first chance to play in the big leagues. He was the Mets primary second baseman. He played well while hitting .260/.334/.356 with four homeruns and 51 RBIs.
In 2012, Ike Davis would be healthy and the everyday first baseman. Daniel Murphy became the everyday second baseman again pushing Turner to a utility role. He would play in 94 games hitting .269/.319/.392. It was more of the same in 2013 with Turner hitting .280/.319/.385 in 86 games.
Apparently, Turner’s performance wasn’t good enough for the Mets, and he was designated for assignment. It was a surprise to everyone, and it was first guessed by everyone. No one was happy about it, especially not Turner. Rather than just letting him go, they had to leak that Turner didn’t hustle. It was a low class move.
Since that point, Turner has become a much better player. I don’t know if he’s motivated by the Mets slight. I don’t know if it was him coming home. Maybe the Dodgers coaching staff is much better. It could just be that Turner hit his prime. In any event, the Dodgers got a much better player than the one the Mets released.
Since joining the Dodgers, Turner has hit .314/.384/.492. This season, he was their starting third baseman, and he was the third best third baseman in the NL this year (according to WAR). The Mets could’ve used this player the past two years, but Turner was not that player with the Mets. He was a bench player with the Mets. He’s now a terrific player with the Dodgers.
He was a fan favorite with the Mets, and I expect he will be cheered in pregame introductions before Game Three in Citi Field. The Mets and their fans have missed him. They missed the player he was. They could’ve used the player he became. Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to happen in New York.
I’m just glad it happened for him somewhere. I just hope he goes cold for the next three to five games.
After the Marlins beat the Nationals last night, the Mets magic number is finally in single digits. At a minimum, I thought it was nice to be off of 10. However, I saw the choices for 9, and I quickly realized it was going to be difficult to find a player that fits within my parameters.
Many of the players either played well or were on good teams. Many of the players played before I was born. However, I knew there was a player out there. I trusted that I could find someone who wasn’t that good and played on a bad Mets team. I then found my man Craig Brazell:
If you don’t remember him, it’s probably because he only played 24 games with the 2004 Mets, who went 71-91. In these 24 games, he would hit .265/.286/.412. He wouldn’t play in the majors for another three years when he would play five games for the Royals.
It’s a shame because he was an actual major league prospect. He was a Top 10 organizational player seen to have good power and a good glove at firstbase. Unfortunately for him, he was blocked by the Mike Piazza firstbase experiment. The next season, he was blocked by Doug Mientkiewicz (because Carlos Delgado wouldn’t sign with the Mets). After 2005, he was granted free agency, and he left Mets organization.
In some ways, Brazell reminds me of Ike Davis in that they were both good fielding first base prospects with power (Davis was a much better prospect). Unfortunately, neither panned out even if Davis had some early success. However, unlike with Brazell, the Mets had a viable option in their system with Lucas Duda.
That’s what this season has taught us. You need organizational depth. You need it not just to get the players you need at the trade deadline, but also to fill-in spots for your team when there is injury or ineffectiveness. It’s unfortunate when the prospects work out. It’s devastating when there’s no viable alternatives at the ready.
So with that, let’s offer a hat tip to our magic man number nine, Craig Brazell.