Today out at Big Shea they are honoring one of the greats. Really, the greatest of the greats–the best homegrown offensive player in team history and a wire-to-wire Met good enough to go to 7 All-Star Games, and win a few Silver Sluggers and Gold Gloves. That distinguishes David Wright from say, the man whose many records he erased, the late Ed Kranepool.
This is a resume of a number-retiree, and what we’ll see today. It’s not what we’d been seeing with the Strawberry, Gooden and even Hernandez retirements, although Keith’s post-playing career as a figure in Mets history is a persuasive extenuating circumstance. And for god sakes, its not Gary Carter, even as they’ve held his number in limbo for more than two decades, presumably waiting for the right moment. Now that they’ve demonstrated 8 is kind of special they lack the courage to go back, which is very Wilpon-y. That they’ll solve the problem by recklessly retiring it is very Cohen-y.
But uni-number retirement shouldn’t be about waiting for the right moment. If there’s a moment to be waited for then that’s not a guy whose number you should be retiring.
The only solution, I’ve come to believe, is to do away with number retirements entirely. It doesn’t do anything that a statue couldn’t do or a well-managed Hall of Fame couldn’t do and it will arrest this urge to cashier perfectly good uniform numbers that’s only going to accelerate as the team attempts sustained success for one of the few times in its history. You can’t look at Francisco Lindor today and not consider him a retiree shoo-in. We’ll have Juan Soto for 15 years or whatever, he’ll take 22 with him when he goes. Even Brandon Nimmo is creeping into immortal territory, Met-wise. deGrom? Dickey? Diaz? It may never end.
Plus, I’ve argued this before, how does not issuing a number honor a guy? You’d do better to remember him through the guys who follow in his path.
I’ll say one more thing, and that’s to honor in proportion to the rest of the retired-numbermen, they must erect a giant statue of him outside the stadium just like they did for Seaver. The True Greats.
I know, Cohen would prefer building a casino there.
*
Congrats to Brooks Raley for making it back from arm surgery and resuming his Mets career in No. 25. Richard Lovelady was DFAed to make room. Bad loss last night; not impressed with Mendy’s handling of bullpenny things this year.
Oil painting above was done by my dad shortly before he passed away.
They should stop with all this randomness and just assign relievers numbers in ascending order starting at say, 50. Had we done so, most recent Met Alex Carillo would be wearing 80 and and not 84, being the 30th guy to make a non-starting appearance in a Mets game this year (if I counted right).
Meantime I neglected to mention the Mets promoted bullpenner Rico Garcia the other day. A native Hawaiian, they were aware enough to assign the guy No. 50, joining Hawaiian-born Met luminaries Sid Fernandez and Benny Agbayani. Other Aloha State Mets (Ron Darling, Carlos Diaz, Jordan Yamamoto and Tyler Yates) went without 50.
Zach Pop has a classic name but between us looked like he didn’t even want to be out there in his lone Met appearance and was waived to make room for Carillo. Should have signed Zach Rock. That guy rocks.
Prepare for reckless speculation from now till July 31 about the Mets’ appetite for starters and relivers, maybe some from here. I’m officially starting the Zac Gallen to the Mets rumor. He wears No. 23!
I kinda liked Dicky Lovelady (57) in his maiden Met appearance–there wasn’t much else to like that night other than another Met debut for Frankie Montas–but Dicky was immediately designated for assignment after that Tuesday Night debacle so that Jonathan Pintaro could his place. I kinda liked Pintaro too even as he couldn’t close the door with a six-run lead he was right there with the rest of the bullpen, walking the first guy he saw. But I liked his wavy blonde hair, his gigantic butt and his short trunk.
Pintaro showed up rocking No. 91, but he’s gone too. In his place is Austin Warren, who I’d already forgotten was here already this year, and briefly conflated with Adam Warren, the former Yankees reliever. This guy’s different somehow. Wears No. 44.
The headliner is Dicky Lovelady (that’s what he prefers to be called) a lefty reliever let loose by Minnesota. He’s apparently here and suiting up in No. 57, most recently belonging to Kevin Herget who was a Met for about 15 minutes in April. Does anyone remember the last Dicky to play for the Mets? That was Dicky Gonzalez (39) 
So this marks Travis’s second stint in orange and blue; he’s since played for Texas, the White Sox and the Rays, who lost him to free agency earlier this month. Jankowski is listed in 21.
Wearing No. 29, batting lefthanded, tall guy with some power–it’s not Ike Davis (or Dave Magadan). It’s Jared Young! A journeyman slugger from Canada, Young suddenly appeared as the regular DH one day and hasn’t stopped playing since (at least against right handers). I will give earwitness testimony that his home run in Citi Field on Tuesday was the loudest shot in an inning full of loud shots. He hits the ball hard.
Elsewhere on the transaction front we’ve seen a shuffling of back-end relief workers. At the moment, Chris Devenski (49) is back up with the Mets and Brandon Waddell (82) is down. Waddell got smacked around by the White Sox the other day but leaves the Mets with a lone lefty in the bullpen. Genesis Cabrera (92) and Jose Azocar (28), cashiered for Waddell and Young, respectively, refused to participate in another go-round in Syracuse and found themselves new employers. Cabrera signed with the Cubs and Azocar is with the Braves.
The next big shakeup for the Mets could come when the pitchers start returning from the disabled list. Paul Blackburn is expected today.
Lacking experienced lefties now that AJ Minter and Danny Young are down for the count, the Mets traded Cahs Considerations to Arizona for Jose Castillo, an experienced lefty reliever.
The most recent round of callups produced the first-ever 82 and 92 in team history. Brandon Waddell, a journeyman lefty showed up on my TV wearing No. 82, the same number he was assigned in spring training as a non-roster invitee. A couple of days later, another NRI lefty, Genesis Cabrera, showed up wearing the 92 he’d worn this spring.
The activity was part of a flurry of moves set into motion when AJ Minter went onto the injured list April 27 and intensified when Danny Young joined him there April 30. To make the Mets whole again they’ve since welcomed and/or sent back Waddell and Cabrara, plus Kevin Herget (57), Jose Urena (54, already a member of the Blue Jays), and Chris Devenski (49). Ty Adcock and Austin Warren were summoned but not used before being sent down. Adcock was assigned the same 52 he had last year; Warren held onto the 44 he had in spring).
Dedneil Nunez (72) returned in the meantime, looking rusty, and starting prospect Blade Tidwell was up and back wearing No. 40
Instead there’s Max Kranick, who if you asked me seemed to a suspect for previous Mets experience but in fact never arrived last year despite all the Sulsers, Jays and Adcocks they ran through here. Kranick wears 32.
I think the word that best describes my mindset about this team is “curious.” It’s not necessarily excited or dreading. I mean they have to go out there and perform and hopefully they are ready, even if they didn’t look like it when I checked in last. It would be interesting had David Stearns communicated his gameplan on Signal with a journalist eavesdropping. But we have to take starting Clay Holmes on Opening Day as a solid move on faith.