Palladino: Second-Half Game Plans For Yankees, Mets
By Ernie Palladino
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As the Yankees and Mets begin the second half of their seasons, neither team sits in optimal position to make a postseason run.
While it's entirely possible that things can turn around starting with this weekend's respective matchups against the Red Sox and Phillies, it won't happen unless Joe Girardi and Terry Collins get a lot of work done between now and October.
Some jobs are bigger than others. So here's a quick rundown of some of the major projects the managers need to undertake to avoid a premature start to their offseasons.
Girardi's first goal is to get comfortably above that .500 mark. The Yanks did a good job getting there at the break with a two-game winning streak. But let's face it. They still sit in fourth place in their division, 5½ games behind current wild-card leaders Boston and Toronto, and 7½ off Baltimore's division lead.
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Six teams stand in their way of the second wild card.
Not good.
They earned the first wild card last year with 87 wins, which is totally doable this time around if they can put together a couple of healthy winning streaks. But that aged lineup has to get more than All-Star Carlos Beltran and the surging Didi Gregorious.
Mark Teixeira strikes out too much, and Alex Rodriguez isn't doing anybody any good sitting on the bench. But with younger folks such as Rob Refsnyder fighting for regular time and Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner finally showing signs of life, a surge or two would not be out the question.
It's also pretty clear that Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia and Michael Pineda are going to have to carry the pitching. Not that they're not capable, but it would help if they got a little help in the second half from youngsters such as Chad Green or Luis Cessa, who are back in Triple-A Scranton at the moment.
It's all a matter of getting consistent, a quality the 2016 Yankees sorely lacked in the first half.
The Mets' job is pretty simple -- stay whole.
If Collins has any luck left in his baseball lifetime, the first half will signal the end of the endless, maddening march to the trainer. And luck is what it will take, since mere mortals like Collins can't really control the creation of bone spurs like the ones nagging Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz or the cracking of backbones that has left Lucas Duda on the shelf since May.
The good news is that Duda could return in August, around the time the Mets anticipate the re-emergence of Zack Wheeler from Tommy John rehab. And if Michael Conforto can rediscover in Triple-A Las Vegas the batting stroke that made him such a weapon in the magical 2015 playoff push, a lineup already improved with Jose Reyes could become that much stronger.
Add to that the distinct possibility that NL East leader Washington could pull another second-half fold and that the Mets' final 74 games are packed with 42 contests against theoretical softies such as the Phillies, Twins, Braves and Yanks, and they can certainly surge through the six-game gap separating the Nationals from the Mets and Marlins.
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But they have to stay healthy. Another injury or two will certainly torpedo even their wild-card hopes.
Imagine losing Yoenis Cespedes for an extended period.
Disaster.
Collins' roster has flirted with that all season. The Mets have compensated well enough, especially with the acquisitions of Kelly Johnson, James Loney and Reyes.
But now it needs to stop.
If it doesn't, Collins will be helpless to stop the fall.
Given their current situations, the second half is going to be interesting for both teams.
Follow Ernie on Twitter at @ErniePalladino
