Suffering from a neck injury that had Chris Taylor slogging through an 8-for-72 slump, the Dodgers utility player extraordinaire was the unlikely hero to end the National League Wild Card playoff game with a two-run walkoff blast into the Hollywood night. Hollywood is where fairy tales are created and the St. Louis Cardinals saw their fairy tale run end, by a shot into the night, resulting in a 3-1 loss to the SoCal colossus that is the Los Angeles Dodgers.
When I watch Chris Taylor, I see a ballplayer. Emphasis on ballplayer. Taylor plays all over the field. This year he has played right field, center field, left field, shortstop, third base, second base, and played in the All-Star game at Coors Field.
The 31-year-old Taylor will be a free agent whenever the Dodgers’ playoff run ends, which leads me to this pitch for Mets owner Steve Cohen and Mets President Sandy Alderson:
Whatever the hell you do this offseason, make a strong play for the 2017 NLCS MVP. That’s right, I want Chris Taylor on the New York Mets. The Mets need to change the makeup of their roster and Taylor would bring professionalism, a knowledge of what it takes to win, and a collection of gloves that allows him to play all over the diamond like a modern day Bert Campaneris.
If Michael Conforto exits the Mets for a Scott Boras money run, which he should, because he had a 2021 season that was absolute crap and any big time money offered to him should be gratefully accepted. To replace Conforto, the Mets search should consist of contacting Taylor’s agent. The Mets need to move on from Conforto, who simply cannot hit lefties. Against southpaws in 2021, Conforto had 146 plate appearances, 22 singles, 19 walks, 2 doubles, 1 home run, 9 RBI, and 37 punch outs.
If Earl Weaver or Billy Martin had been managing the 2021 Mets, Conforto would have been consistently benched against lefties and known as a platoon player. For most of the season, Conforto was slightly north of the Mendoza line and did not hit his first home run off a lefty until the month of September. But we live in 2021, the Mets seemingly had no one to platoon with Conforto (Dom Smith crushed lefties in 2021.), and we had to watch Conforto submit this slash line: .232/.344/.729
Has this become more a piece on why I believe the Mets should move on from Conforto and less of a piece regarding the merits of Chris Taylor? It appears so.
toughdsheridan 