Howie Rose joined BT & Sal every week down the stretch and through the Mets’ playoff run, and now that said run is over, so, too, is Howie’s time with the show – and as he joined the guys Wednesday to put a bow on the Mets’ season, one topic was the standout: even if it didn’t end the way we wanted, why can we believe this season was the start of something special, and not a flash in the pan?
“I think because of the synergism that exists between ownership, the front office, manager, and coaches, all the way down to the players in the dugout,” Howie said. “I'm not saying that they're going to be interchangeable, because there is going to be change, but I would submit that the owner/GM/manager triumvirate has a better cooperative relationship than any of those three positions simultaneously that I've seen in all my years covering the Mets. They’re pulling in the same direction. they're all extremely bright and good at what they do, and I would look at those three as the biggest reason why.”
Of course, that all comes down to the players, and there is some work to do there.
“I don’t think it's any more complicated really than just having better players,” Rose said. “I think they need to stretch out their starting pitching, as most teams seem to these days; ideally, with a healthy Senga, they'd like to go with six, but we're talking about a lot of age in that starting rotation as it concluded this season. Generally, they needs to be a little deeper and younger in the starting rotation.”
And with so many free agents, it’s conceivable that next year’s opening day 26 looks a lot different than the one that lose Game 6 to the Dodgers.
“I don’t think that’s inconceivable at all,” Rose said, before laying out some possibilities for guys including the big one: “As far as Alonso goes, that's the big question right now. I think what happened in the postseason with Pete probably improved his chances in my evaluation of coming back to where maybe I'd make it a drop more than 50/50, whereas, say, going into September, I wouldn't have given much chance at all that Pete would be back.”
Wait, what?
“The reason for that is, and I don't quite understand why, but all of the recent behavior has been to sort of devalue first baseman from what they were,” Rose said. “You look at Pete, he will be 30 years old by the time a new contract kicks in, and with all of the biomechanical and analytic metrics that are out there that can best inform what a player is gonna look like in year two, or four or six of a long-term deal, taking all of that into consideration. I don’t know, even now with a good postseason, that the Mets have an appetite for a six or seven-year deal for that player. Maybe they could offer him a shorter-term deal at big money with some opt-outs, but I don’t know.”
Take a listen to Howie’s entire visit above, as he goes into thoughts on how offseason philosophies may change, what free agency may look like, and more!