A Not-So-Subliminal Message To the (Sign Kendrys Morales) New York Mets

I am blessed in one regard. Every time I write something worthwhile in my blog and give my wife or my friends a sneak preview, they tell me what an amazing writer I am. Believe me, the compliments are much appreciated. They often wonder why I don’t write for a living. This is where I run into problems.

For starters, how does one find a suitable outlet for a rant disguised as an “article”, written by a “professional writer”? How does one get paid for writing? A while back, I wrote the occasional sports “ranticle” (if you will) for Bleacher Report. Of course, I wasn’t paid for my contributions, but I received plenty of exposure. Some of it was positive, like Kendrys Morales’ offensive prowess.

Another issue was the quantity of my submissions. The main reason why I’ve never pursued a career in writing is because I can’t just write for the sake of writing. If nothing motivates me to the point of putting fingers to keyboard, what do I do? I didn’t want the quality of my work to suffer because I was reaching for something to say instead of letting it come to me. That’s primarily why I decided to stop contributing to Bleacher Report. Plus, If I want to talk about college football and decide midway through to go off on a tangent about why the Mets should sign Kendrys Morales, I can do that without some random reader complaining about a so-called professional scribe not staying on-point.

I envy people like Keith Olbermann who can find a topic of the day, formulate a credible essay to read on air for at least five minutes a night, and do it five days a week. This is assuming that Keith himself writes his own material. I want to believe he does, but you never know. Jimmy Fallon has comedy writers. Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell have script writers. Who’s to say that Mr. Olbermann doesn’t have “drama writers”?

Kendrys Morales has an agent. The Mets should call him.

I suppose I could try a weekly column of sorts. What if I wait for Sunday, and the topic I want to cover is newsworthy on the previous Tuesday? By the time I put fingers to keyboard, it’s old news and nobody cares anymore.

Then again, who is my audience? You are. If you’re reading this very post, you obviously care about what I have to say, no matter when it is said….

It’s settled. I make no promises, but going forward, I will attempt to make the Mets sign Kendrys Morales. Better yet, I will post at least one ranticle per week on Sundays, to keep up with my writing.

For now, I leave you with a bit of Mets stuff... Why not try Wilmer Flores at short? So what if he doesn’t have the range? This is an organization that stuck Kevin Mitchell and Howard Johnson at shortstop the year they won it all. Davey Johnson pulled them late in games for defense. Why not give Flores his three at-bats and then pull him for Omar Quintanilla?

First base. This should be the easiest spot to fill. If a guy can hit, and he can catch a ball, he can play first. Find a guy who can hit a ton and give him a first baseman’s glove. Heck, pull HIM late in games for defense, too. If it’s not Ike or Duda or Brandon Allen, find someone else.

Sign Kendrys Morales. To hell with the draft picks. I’m going to tell you all the biggest fallacy since Santa Claus and The Tooth Fairy. Here it is…. Draft picks are a valuable commodity.

Here’s the truth. For every Matt Harvey, there are 100 other pitchers who were once deemed great prospects. Jon Niese was the 209th overall pick in 2005. Dillon Gee was drafted in the 21st Round. Zack Wheeler was never even drafted by the Mets, and Bartolo Colon was never drafted, period. Draft picks are nothing more than lottery tickets. The chances of cashing one in are almost as astronomical as catching David Wright’s 500th home run. Yes, he may never hit 500 homers. That’s the point! To hell with the picks. Sign Kendrys Morales.

From the home office in North Bellmore, here are Baseball America’s Top Ten Mets prospects for 2006. Are you ready? Here we go…

1. Lastings Milledge, of
2. Yusmeiro Petit, rhp
3. Gaby Hernandez, rhp
4. Mike Jacobs, c/1b
5. Philip Humber, rhp
6. Carlos Gomez, of
7. Fernando Martinez, of
8. Anderson Hernandez, ss/2b
9. Brian Bannister, rhp
10. Alay Soler, rhp

And now, their respective statuses for 2014:

1) Japan
2) fringe MLB pitcher
3) Atlantic League
4) minor leaguer
5) good MLB pitcher
6) good MLB outfielder
7) free agent (Biogenesis suspension last year)
8) Japan
9) retired
10) retired

Sign Kendrys Morales!

There you have it. Eight years ago, the number one source for baseball scouting and analysis pegged those players as the best in the Mets minor league system. Three of them are current major league players. Their combined major league accomplishments: one perfect game (Humber), one All-Star appearance (Gomez), one Gold Glove (Gomez).

I could never pull off this ranticle on Bleacher Report. I’ll see you on Sunday.

(p.s. SIGN KENDRYS MORALES!!)