We by now all know about Jerry Blevins and Travis d'Arnaud leaving Sunday's game after being hit by balls projected off of Marlin arms or bats. The end result of this is that the Mets are now without their best lefty specialist for what appears to be close to two months, and their starting Catcher, who'd been off to a blazing hot start offensively and defensively, for probably a month at least.
Figures it would happen against the Mickey Mouse Marlins. These guys routinely find ways to annoy me, and if they can't beat us—and clearly, they can't beat us—their only recourse seems to be to beat us up.
If that wasn't enough, there's now the rumor circulating that their pompous ass of an owner, Jeffrey Loria, is sniffing around the Mets trying to poach Wally Backman to manage the team, as he's apparently grown tired of Mike Redmond. I wouldn't go so far as to blame the Marlins 3-10 start on Redmond. Remember, this is a guy who fired Joe Girardi after he overachieved with a team that had Miguel Cabrera and nobody else in particular and won Manager of the Year. It might be more likely that he overplayed his hand by giving all the money to Giancarlo Stanton and then pinning his hopes on Mat Latos and Dee Gordon, and some other guys that are all style and no substance. So, I guess he figures he'll stick it to the Mets and hire Wally Backman because he figures all the Mets fans want him to be the Manager, so he must be some great hidden secret.
Problem is, Wally Backman is never going to be the Mets manager. And the only people that want him to be the manager are the same misguided Mets fans that seem to think they can fire the owners and stage a hostile takeover of the team. At this point, I'm convinced that Backman is all hype, because if he wasn't, he would have been named the Manager 3 years ago. It's not going to happen. Get over it. Let him go manage the Marlins and go 77-85 for 2 years before Loria guts the team again and fires him.
But, Marlins and their 4 fans aside, let's worry about the Mets here. The pitcher is out, the Catcher is out, and now we get to see what Kevin Plawecki is made of. The #2 prospect in the Mets system, Plawecki is one of those guys that has been around for a while but didn't get much notice because he wasn't named Harvey, Wheeler, Syndergaard, Montero, deGrom or Nimmo. He might actually be better than d'Arnaud, if a little raw, but he's going to be up for the time being, and he's going right into the lineup from what I hear. Also up is Hansel Robles, who I know even less about, and as proof, I assumed the Mets had procured him from the Dodgers. But that's not the case. The Dodgers had a guy named Oscar Robles, and that was a long time ago. Hansel Robles has been in the organization since 2008, but it's taken him a bit of time to find himself, and now he's here. He won't be thrown into the fire quite like Plawecki will, and in fact he may find himself further down the depth chart than, say, Erik Goeddel, but for now, he's here and more power to him.
So, lick their wounds, the Mets will, and now get ready for the Barves to come into town. I'll be in attendance tonight for my 3rd game of the season as the Mets attempt to remain undefeated at home on the season, a major story in and of itself.
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