When I pointed out that the Mets are 22nd in pitching with a 4.74 ERA, Mets owner Steve Cohen — taking time out of the trading day for his other job, no less — had a response ready.
Cohen texted, “[Luis] Guillorme has pitched well.”
It’s nice that Cohen keeps his sense of humor through this awful start for the Mets, who have been arguably even worse than the at times hard-to-watch Yankees. Injuries are a story for both local teams, but there’s no excuse when you’ve spent a combined $800-million-plus in total, taxes included. There may be no crying in baseball, but it’s surely warranted here at present.
The Mets are a game under .500 while the Yankees are two games over after their 7-2 victory in The Bronx over the hapless A’s, who currently care only about moving out of Oakland. I’m not drawing any grand conclusions over smacking around the A’s, although the A’s do have one — and only one — thing in common with the Yankees; you guessed it, both are in last place.
If things don’t turn around in earnest, this could be one long, expensive summer around here. This was supposed to be a special season with baseball’s two best-paid teams in town. But as we know by now, almost nothing is guaranteed in baseball, only the contracts.
It’s a positive sign that at least on the surface — I am not privy to the internal meetings unfortunately — Cohen understands the rhythms of a long season and seems unfazed by the sort of start no one predicted after he ran the tab to a record $377M, plus $109 million in tax. He’s allegedly a tough, hard-charging boss, but publicly he remains a pussycat.
“This is a good team that is underperforming right now. It’s unlikely to keep underperforming,” Cohen said.
“While it doesn’t feel good when the team goes through a stretch like this, I believe that as our pitching improves our record will get better. We need more length out of our starters.”
I tried to give equal time to Hal Steinbrenner, but it’s probably easier to reach the president. Anyway, Steinbrenner’s team at least entered Monday on the correct side of .500 and he’s spending close to a couple hundred million less. Steinbrenner is in for $295 million, plus another $30 million or so in tax.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman also had nothing to add Monday, though he recently declared the Yankees to be a “championship-caliber operation.” It’s hard to doubt him on that point after a generation of winning records, and nearly that many postseason appearances. Yet, it’s slightly alarming that nearly everyone he acquires lately winds up on the injured list.
Injuries seem up all over baseball, but the Mets and Yankees have been slammed harder than most — though at last things are starting to feel better for our locals. The Hall of Fame bound Mets co-ace Justin Verlander just got back, and Yankees superstar Aaron Judge says he’s returning Tuesday, so normal may be just around the corner.
Yet, alarm is not entirely unwarranted. Mets position players are relatively healthy yet they stand 18th in OPS at .708 and tied for 20th in runs scored per game at 4.28. The so-named Bronx Bombers are even more anemic: heading into Monday, they were 24th in OPS at .684 and 24th in runs per game at exactly 4.
While the area’s winter teams surprised us by going five for five in playoff berths, our boys of summer may be going the other way. At present they certainly look like something short of sure thing.
One thing in the Mets’ favor is that there seem to be only five other National League clubs that look like playoff teams on paper — the Braves, Phillies, Dodgers, Padres and whoever lucks out and wins the NL Central.
The Yankees probably have the tougher task. And it’s a close call but their play has been more impressive so far considering they have been missing so many of their sluggers in addition to two of their top four starters — Luis Severino and Carlos Rodon.
Severino could be back in a couple of weeks, and while there’s no timetable yet on Rodon, he was expected to receive a cortisone shot Tuesday and they say it’s not as bad as it sounded when he used the word “chronic” to describe his back situation (that wasn’t a medical diagnosis, they insist, just him feeling frustrated at that moment).
Their rather puny hitting stats can be chalked up to missing key guys for long stretches. The return of MVP and captain Judge is huge; they feel like about half a team without him.
One Yankee declared that when they are whole, “We are going to be legit.”
Top Yankees honchos weren’t talking Monday. But at the moment, and maybe it’s just because the MVP is coming back, things seem ever so slightly more secure in The Bronx. That’s how I’d judge it, anyway.