Yesterday, Ty Kelly in threw his hat into the ring to succeed Mickey Callaway as the manger of the New York Mets. We knew it was tongue-in-cheek because he followed that up by saying if he didn’t get the job he would like to open a food truck named Sweet Potato Ty’s in Queens. Even if it was tongue-in-cheek, perhaps the Mets should consider Kelly for a position with the organization.
At the moment, there is a vacancy for the Brooklyn Cyclones manager job with Edgardo Alfonzo not being retained by the organization. Given Kelly’s background, you can see why he would be an asset as a minor league coach or manager in Brooklyn or in any of the Mets other affiliates.
Kelly was the 13th round draft pick of the Baltimore Orioles in the 2009 draft. He’s spend seven years in the minors playing for five different organizations before finally getting his call-up with the New York Mets. He’d have a good year as a utility player for the Mets, and he would get a pinch hit single in the Wild Card Game off of Madison Bumgarner.
In addition to his play with the Mets, he would play for Team Israel. In the World Baseball Classic, Israel would not only win the qualifying rounds, but they would also win Pool A before losing in the second round. Even after retiring from professional baseball, Kelly would continue playing for Israel, and with him on the team, Israel would qualify for the 2020 Olympics.
If nothing else, Kelly’s tale is one of perseverance. That could be a big asset when dealing with prospects. After all, there is really no one better to speak to prospects about the trials and tribulations and the roller coaster that is a minor league career. Perhaps no one knows better how to get everything out of your talent to get to the Major League level.
On that front, Kelly once said to Mathew Brownstein of MMO, ” I think we should be evolving and growing as players and gaining from our experiences and everything. I’ve kind of looked at my career through just trying to gain every year, and to add more to my game.”
Really, no one knows more about the trials and tribulations of a player. He is someone who can relate to players, tell them what they need to do, and he is a great communicator. That’s exactly what you would want in a minor league manager.
You could also argue these are attributes which could be of an asset to the Mets Major League coaching staff. Certainly, when you have players like Luis Guillorme going up and down all year or players like Jeff McNeil or J.D. Davis, who have to learn multiple positions on the fly, Kelly’s experience having to do that is an asset.
Overall, Kelly is someone who is a communicator and who perseveres. While he has a number of interests, he obviously has a love of baseball. He is an intelligent person and player. Through it all, you see the qualities you would want as a coach in either the Major or minor leagues. Should Kelly have any interest, this is something the Mets should investigate.
In some ways, the careers of David Wright and Ryan Zimmerman are intertwined. It’s been that way since they were teenagers playing for the same AAU team in the Chesapeake Valley.
Both would be first round draft picks of their respective National League East franchises. They’d become cornerstone Gold Glove winning All-Star third basemen.
The comparisons would go further as both hit the first ever homer for their team in the their new ballparks. We’d also see both players become increasingly injury prone, and in 2016, it looked like the end.
Zimmerman would finally get healthy (relatively speaking), and he’d have a bit of a renaissance starting in 2017. As for Wright, aside from two games at the end of the 2018 season, he was done after the 2016 season.
That made the 2015 postseason Wright’s final hurrah. He’d had a big Game 1 of the NLDS against the Dodgers. That, along with Jacob deGrom‘s dominance, set the tone for a series the Mets would win in five winning the clincher at Dodger Stadium.
The Mets followed this by sweeping the Cardinals in the NLCS thereby allowing Wright to have his first and only shot at a World Series. The fates, and his manager, would conspire against him, but he’d still have a moment of glory:
Zimmerman’s postseason path has been eerily similar. The Nationals beat the Dodgers in five games in the NLDS winning the fifth game at Dodger Stadium. They’d then sweep an NL Central team (Cardinals) to win the pennant. Finally, Zimmerman would hit his own World Series homer:
"And it is … GONE! GOODBYE!
BANG, ZOOM! GOES THE Z-MAN!"#WorldSeries // #STAYINTHEFIGHT pic.twitter.com/uZQxoPHrda
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) October 23, 2019
Unfortunately, while the respective careers of Wright and Zimmerman have mirrored each other, there has been some separation beyond Zimmerman being able to continue his career.
The Lerners are all-in in getting a ring. That led to Zimmerman having more postseason shots than Wright. We’d also see Zimmerman’s team not waste a huge game from a young star (Juan Soto) like the Mets did (Michael Conforto).
Finally, tonight, Sean Doolittle did what Jeurys Familia couldn’t do. He saved Game 1 on the road giving the Nationals the lead in the series the Mets never had in 2015.
In the end, that’s what hurts most about Wright’s career. He never got the chances he deserved, and as a result, his career ended without a ring. We shall soon see if that’s the case with Zimmerman.
A World Series match-up between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros is just about the last thing anyone inside the State of New York wanted to see. Aside from Mets fans wanting to be in that Wild Card Game, they also didn’t want to see a divisional rival in the World Series. As for the Yankees, for the second time in three years, they were beaten by the Astros in the ALCS.
Aside from New York, there are plenty of other fan bases who did not want to see this World Series. However, if you are baseball fan, you could not ask for a better World Series. Just look at those pitching match-ups in the first three games:
Game 1: Max Scherzer v. Gerrit Cole
Game 2: Stephen Strasburg v. Justin Verlander
Game 3: Zack Greinke v. Patrick Corbin
Looking at those pitchers, Scherzer, Verlander, and Greinke look to be future Hall of Famers. Strasburg is a former first overall pick, who if you include this year’s likely results, is a three time top 10 Cy Young finalist. With the way he has pitched the last four years, who knows where his career will go.
The same can be said for Cole, who is arguably the best of this group right now. With respect to Cole and Strasburg, both pitchers are set to cash in big in free agency, but first comes their attempts at World Series glory.
As if the pitching wasn’t enough, there are players like Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Anthony Rendon, Juan Soto, George Springer, and more. There’s absolutely great starting pitching, and there are great position players. With both teams weakness being the bullpen, we could see some absolutely exciting finishes to what could very well be a seven game series and a great one at that.
Hopefully, this is the type of series which can get fans to forget a lot. That includes Ryan Zimmerman and Kurt Suzuki completing a nightmare inning against Paul Sewald, Luis Avilan, and Edwin Diaz. Soto’s bases clearing single off Josh Hader. Rendon and Soto homering off of Clayton Kershaw followed by a Howie Kendrick grand slam.
There’s Cole shutting down the Rays in Game 5. Cole would also shut down the Yankees, and he would have been looming in Game 7 if not for Altuve ending the Yankees season a half inning after DJ LeMahieu had seemed to save it.
Like most teams who made it to the World Series, they left plenty of teams and fans in their wake. For the fans, you could understand their being despondent and not wanting to watch anymore baseball. To the extent they’re able to get over it, they should really tune into this World Series because if you are a diehard baseball fan, this is exactly the type of World Series match-up you dream of seeing.
Given the Mets and Nationals play in the same division, you could understand the impulse for the fans to root for the Astros in the World Series. Recent events may want Mets fans to reconsider that position.
In an article written by Stephanie Apstein of Sports Illustrated, we learned after the ALCS Astros Assistant General Manager Brandon Taubman got aggressive with female reporters:
And in the center of the room, assistant general manager Brandon Taubman turned to a group of three female reporters, including one wearing a purple domestic-violence awareness bracelet, and yelled, half a dozen times, “Thank God we got Osuna! I’m so f—— glad we got Osuna!”
To put it into perspective, this was said after Robert Osuna blew the save by allowing a game tying two run homer to DJ LeMahieu in the top of the ninth. This is the same Osuna who has a 5.27 postseason ERA with the Astros.
To put it another way, at a time where you’d expect the front office to celebrate George Springer, their 2011 first round pick who got the rally started, or Jose Altuve, a player they signed as a teenager for just a $15,000 signing bonus, who hit the pennant winning homer, they opted to celebrate the guy who blew the save.
The article noted these reporters were not speaking with Taubman, and no one was talking to or about Osuna. Of course, when the topic of Taubman’s behavior arose, the Astros declined to make him available to Apstein, and they declined comment.
That was they declined comment until the article was published. At that point, they opted to attack the reporter’s credibility:
The Astros just released the following statement. pic.twitter.com/KnA6kQt0hq
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) October 22, 2019
It’s odd they would do that after a no comment. It’s almost as odd as the Astros going out and acquiring Osuna after they had implemented a zero tolerance policy where it came to domestic violence.
Issuing a statement after the fact leaves the impression the Astros aren’t being as truthful about the incident much like how their zero tolerance policy wasn’t exactly written in stone.
Further showing the Astros aren’t being forthright or truthful are the accounts from other reporters substantiating Apstein’s article based on both her integrity and their own observation of the incident.
https://twitter.com/hunteratkins35/status/1186474194772598784?s=21
I know @stephapstein, and saying she would fabricate a story is misleading and completely irresponsible. https://t.co/Noo7hhjyCW
— James Wagner (@ByJamesWagner) October 22, 2019
By the way, this isn’t just some rogue front office executive. There’s a quote from Alex Bregman offered in support of Osuna.
Overall, there remains likeable players on this Astros team. That includes Justin Verlander who has been outspoken on this issue. On that note, he didn’t exactly condemn Osuna or the trade to obtain him last year.
Taking it all into account, it’s very difficult to root for this Astros team considering not just their support, but their belligerence when it comes to those who commit vile acts of domestic violence. Taking that into account, perhaps we should all be rooting for the Nationals.
On July 20, 2018, Yoenis Cespedes serves as the Mets DH in a game against the Yankees. Despite not having played in a Major League game in over two months, he homered.
Roughly two weeks later, Cespedes underwent the first of two surgeries required to not just remove calcifications, but to also save his career.
This was a surgery necessary because he was in so much pain/discomfort he actually had to alter the way he ran in order to play. In essence, Cespedes did what he could do to keep playing even if it arguably led to other injuries.
Seeing what he went through just to play, you could not question his heart, drive, or commitment. That is unless you work for SNY, which is owned by the Wilpons.
Carlos Beltran has been a mentor to many challenging players over the years, and one person who knows him well suggests he’s the guy to motivate the quixotic Yoenis Cespedes from the ranch to the batters box
— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) October 19, 2019
Imagine covering Cespedes and learning of all he went through and still finding a way to say the Mets need to hire Carlos Beltran to motivate Cespedes to play baseball again.
It’s purposely oblivious to overlook Cespedes’ double heel injury and his subsequent broken ankle to say the needed motivation to play the game. After all, it’s not like we have seen Cespedes play through excruciating pain and just find ways to get onto the field.
No, his only problem was motivation.
Andy Martino just called a player who needed double heel surgery and suffered a broken ankle lazy. A Hispanic player at that. Given what he just said, it’s surprising he didn’t go further by invoking other negative stereotypes.
What Andy Martino said about Yoenis Cespedes was wrong. Plain wrong. And he owes Cespedes an apology.
According to Baseball America, Major League Baseball is considering eliminating 25 percent of Minor League baseball for a number of reasons including the need to pay players a living wage. Part of that is the elimination of stateside short season minor league baseball.
For the Mets, that means no Kingsport Mets or Brooklyn Cyclones. With respect to the Cyclones, there are kinks which could be worked out allowing the Mets to keep them as an affiliate in some fashion.
But Kingsport, they’d be as good as gone.
Instead, they could be a part of a “Dream League.” That would be a league of now unaffiliated teams who catch undrafted college players. That’s a fairly steep drop in cache for affiliates like Kingsport.
For example, in 2018 Kingsport had significant prospects like Jarred Kelenic, Ronny Mauricio, Simeon Woods Richardson, and Mark Vientos. This year, Francisco Alvarez and Brett Baty played for Kingsport. That’s a reason to not just go to the ballpark but to also follow the team.
Then again, just having a team in Kingsport, TN is reason to follow the team.
The Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves are nearly five hours away. The Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals are over six hours away. Those are the closest options meaning if you want to see a baseball game live your best bet is the Kingsport Mets.
The question is whether Kingsport can continue operations without an affiliation with the Mets and having a roster of players like T.J. Rivera at the point in Rivera’s career where he was a complete nobody with little to no chance of making it to the majors.
Remember, Kingsport needs a new park. While the Mets would help now, that won’t happen if Kingsport is not part of their system two or three years from now.
Where does that leave Kingsport? Well, it likely leaves them on the brink. They need a new ballpark, and with them needing to help pay player salaries in the new “Dream League,” you wonder just how much longer they can continue operations.
If they’re gone, the State of Tennessee has one fewer professional baseball team. The City of Kingsport loses baseball period. That’s a missed opportunity to grow the game in what is mostly football country.
Really, when you look at things, Baseball is the only league without a Major League team in that state. To that end, you’d wonder why baseball would not want to try to find a way to keep fans engaged in that region as much as they possibly can to grow the game.
In the end, this is about punishing players for not being able to afford living off wages below the poverty line. In doing that, Major League Baseball is going to cut its nose off to spite its face.
Edgardo Alfonzo is one of the greatest Mets to ever wear the uniform. In fact, according to WAR, he’s the eighth best Met ever putting him ahead of beloved Mets like Keith Hernandez and Mike Piazza.
Even if you don’t subscribe to WAR, it’s hard to argue he’s the best second baseman in team history, and he’s one of the most beloved players to ever don a Mets uniform. That includes both fans and fellow players. We all loved and respected him.
T.J. Quinn of ESPN would note that saying Alfonzo “was practically a coach while he played, he was so respected by other players. ” They all believed he would one day manage, and starting in 2017, he would.
While things did not go well in his first year as a manager, Alfonzo did guide the Cyclones to consecutive seasons with a winning record. That included the Cyclones winning their first ever outright New-York Penn League title this year.
With the Mets having fired Mickey Callaway, you could make the argument Alfonzo should’ve been considered as a replacement. Alfonzo wouldn’t even get an interview. In fact, he’s out of a job all together.
As reported by Mike Puma of the New York Post, the reason provided was Brodie Van Wagenen wanted to hire his own guy to manage the Cyclones.
Did you ever think you’d see the day where the Mets said Alfonzo wasn’t one of their guys?
It’s embarrassing, and it gets worse when you consider it’s coming from the guy who gutted the farm system and brought in his old clients for a third place finish. Under Van Wagenen, the Mets are saying Robinson Cano and Jed Lowrie are their guys, but Alfonzo isn’t.
Now, the Mets are saying the only manager in their organization who went to the playoffs, let alone won a championship, isn’t one of their guys. The best second baseman in their history isn’t one of their guys. A person who has been a Met since he’s been 17 years old isn’t one of their guys.
Not only is this insulting, but it’s embarrassing for this organization. Alfonzo, the players, and the fans deserved better. That does double when you consider all the times the Wilpons interceded for Terry Collins.
Overall, there’s been nothing from the organization. Not a press release thanking him. As usual, both the Wilpons and Van Wagenen are ducking the media to avoid answering for their decision.
This is not how you treat an all-time great Met. It gets worse when you consider Alfonzo STILL isn’t in the Mets Hall of Fame. Top to bottom, the Mets organization should be ashamed of themselves.
Edgardo Alfonzo deserves much better than this.
The Mets have interviewed Carlos Beltran and Tim Bogar for their manager job. If either one gets the job, they will become the 10th former Mets player to manage the team. Can you name the nine who have done it? Good luck!
Gil Hodges Yogi Berra Roy McMillan Joe Torre Bud Harrelson Mike Cubbage Dallas Green Bobby Valentine Willie Randolph