Jared Porter’s not screwing around. Today he swung a deal bringing Cleveland Indians’ stars Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco to Flushing, giving the tribe last year’s shortstop platoon (the disappointing Amed Rosario and the undisappointing Andres Gimenez– together, just they were just pointing) and two minor leaguers: Pitcher Josh Wolf and young outfielder Eliajah Isaiah Greene.
This is an obvious talent injection helped along by Steve Cohen’s gigantic wallet and may accompany a contract extension for Lindor, a gold-glove-winning, switch-hitting, 30-plus home-run-slugging shortstop who’s still just a youngun at 26. And Carrasco, presuming he’s recovered from his own health scares, is a fine addition to the rotation at a fair price.
I wanted very much for Rosario to succeed (and a few times, it looked like he might) but even a good Rosario wouldn’t be in Lindor’s class as a hitter or a fielder.
Gimenez in the meantime had a magical arrival and looks to be a useful little player but (and I could be wrong here) I also got the feeling he was something of a souped-up Ruben Tejada who played about as good in a few months last season as he ever might.
So scratch No. 1s and 60 off your pre-preseason roster and pencil in 12 and 59 for the new guys. The former, Lindor’s digits in Cleveland, belonged most recently to Eduardo Nunez whom I’ve almost already forgotten was a Met and almost always incorrectly refer to as “Edwin Nunez”; 59 belonged to recently re-upped pitching instructor Jeremy Accordo, whom I predict here will slide into the No. 60 shirt that Gimenez should never have been wearing in the first place.
You may have seen in the meantime the Mets replaced Tony DeFrancesco with our our friend Tony Tarasco as a first base coach. Tarasco we last saw getting Grant Roberts high in 2002, wearing No. 40.
Take Juan Lagares as one example. As we know, the erstwhile Met, until not long ago the most tenured figure on the club, was issued the humiliating No. 87 and appeared as a pinch runner. His 12? That belongs to Eduardo Nunez, whom I’ve forgotten was/is a Met, just another disabled one for the moment. They tried to right this injustice a day later by issuing Lagares the freed-up 15 most recently belonging to released Brian Dozier and his .133 batting average, only to release Lagares once Andres Gimenez and Michael Wacha and David Peterson and Jake Marisnick returned.
Guys are coming and going every day: third- and fourth-string catchers like Ali Sanchez and Patrick Mazeika, resplendent in Nos. 70 and 76– along with 87, a first-ever issue for an active Met. Walker Lockett up and back. Drew Smith. Corey Oswalt. It’s all a big free-for-all. Joining soon, maybe today, perhaps tomorrow, is the Cuban outfielder Guillermo Heredia, picked up from Pittsburgh. The Mets list his assignment (temporarily, I hope) as 00. Heredia bats right and throws left, a perfect sort of oddball for this whacky year.
Above all, it’s hard to tell what the heck is going on with the team in general. The lineup can hit but can’t score, the bullpen is full of good arms that are unreliable and nobody knows who’s starting. Gsellman and Lugo both are in the rotation. Matz is in the bullpen, or something like it. McNeil’s head is up his ass. Alonso looks horrible except when he doesn’t. Dom Smith is an MVP candidate. Opponents you expect to be formidable, like the Red Sox and Yankees and Nationals, aren’t, and it’s still a monumental struggle. The Marlins outhustle you. You’re just a couple game out of first and would make the playoffs if they began today but have played most of the year like shit.