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Are They Habituated Yet?

Edgy MD Apr 11 2019 09:39 AM

How long into a season does it take for a new Met to appear in his new Met uniform, and you think, "Yeah, that guy is totally a Met"? In a year of big turnover, like this one, I can be slower to adapt. Ramos totally feels like a Met, in part, I guess, because so many veteran catchers rotate around the league that they're good at adapting, happy to be where they are, insinuated into the staff and into my subconscious, and I get used to adapting to them. But Diaz, he totally looks like an alien. I still feel a little suspicious about Canó, and I'm not sure that's going to abide any time soon. Davis has had a Met moment and I'm still not 100% there on him. In part, his discomfort on defense has me a little uncomfortable seeing him represent himself as a Met. Like a spy in an American army uniform, trying to act all American and cool as he puts mayonnaise on a hot dog. I think Alonso is probably close to being recognizably Metly, if not completely there. Part of the benefit of coming up with a team (at least in Habituation Quotient terms) is how easy you are with guys in the dugout, even guys like Smith who are competing for you with playing time, because you've played with many of them in the minors and in previous camps. I remember seeing HoJo on opening day in 1985 and thinking, "Who's that weirdo?" I adapted soon enough, but others — Neil Walker, for instance — never stopped looking foreign in a Mets uniform. It's almost like a body-swapping suspense movie. He's playing the position, he's swinging the bat well, he's got the hat, and his stats are going into the record books. All evidence suggests he's a Met, but the dog won't stop barking.

Johnny Lunchbucket Apr 11 2019 10:01 AM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

Wilson Ramos = definitely not a Met Diaz = kind of a Met Cano = Sadly looking like a Met "type" (rapidly aging veteran asked to do too much) JD Davis = not yet

Edgy MD Apr 11 2019 10:18 AM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

Canó has Yankee history and PED history working to keep him under suspicion, but also that Samuel/Baerga/Alomar association of veteran All-Star second baseman coming on board to do big things that will never happen. He needs to break that mold.

Chad ochoseis Apr 11 2019 10:30 AM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

I've completely assimilated JD Davis and Keon Broxton, because they were never really big names anyplace else. Pete Alonso is still Peter and still a hot prospect. Canó is a Yankee who is wearing blue and orange for some weird reason (unlike Granderson, who was a Met the day he showed up in Queens). There are no middle relievers on the team yet. Drew Wilson? Justin Peterson? Vaguely familiar names. I think they're in Binghamton.

Edgy MD Apr 11 2019 10:43 AM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

It's funny. Granderson was coming directly from the Yankees AND would start his Met career in a terrible slump, and yet, sure, he was a perfectly familiar and relatable figure from day one.

A Boy Named Seo Apr 11 2019 10:49 AM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

I feel like Granderson wasn't as beloved out of the gates. He certainly earned his belovedness in time. Agreed w/ Ocho on Davis and Broxton. Edwin Diaz will "become a Met" after the first big save he blows.

TransMonk Apr 11 2019 11:19 AM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

I see 28, I think Murphy not Davis (in fact, I see "Davis" and I still think 29). I see 40, I think Colon not Ramos. I'm used to Alonso, Broxton and Cano. Diaz is recognizable to me based on his role, but I don't think I could pick him out of a lineup in street clothes.

Edgy MD Apr 11 2019 11:28 AM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

I'm used to the Mets' Dominican closers — children of Benitez all — as being broad across the middle, with big football necks. Diaz seems sly and slender, like a secondbaseman. He seems less like a warrior and more like a thief. Less like a soldier and more like a spy. Less Colossus and more Nightcrawler.

G-Fafif Apr 11 2019 11:46 AM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

The strangeness is always striking, especially in Spring. I thought this crew would take longer to morph into Mets, but they felt mostly acclimated by the Home Opener. The occasional anecdote about Cano mentoring a teammate, like urging Broxton to just look for a base hit when he batted with the game tied in the eighth last Saturday, helps me forget his dubious background. Then again, I always find it a little unsettling that the Mets are almost always (even during the reign of Captain Wright) looking to a newly acquired veteran for leadership, as if there was no fiber to this team before. Maybe it's a sign the writers get bored talking to the same guys that they seem to make a beeline to whoever's new. Nice current SI article about the friendship between Smith and Alonso that includes a dinner out with the two first basemen along with Davis and McNeil. They are referred to as the Mets' "young core," which I found jarring as it didn't include Conforto, Nimmo and Rosario, who were perhaps too established to qualify for this classification. Except for Smith, I knew either nothing or next to nothing about any of them a year ago and now I'm like, "ooh, these guys went out for steak together in Miami." Funny how quickly we care. Neil Walker's most Metsian moment to me was his greeting Itzhak Perlman before the violinist played the national anthem at Citi Field in 2016 (captured in American Masters). What a mensch, I thought, after the fact. Otherwise, he seemed to on a semester abroad from Pittsburgh.

dgwphotography Apr 11 2019 11:52 AM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

To me, Ramos is a Met, mainly because he's not d'Arnaud. Cano is not yet a Met - I still expect to hear a John Sterling forced-pun whenever he does something positive Alonso is a Met, but I'm waiting for his bubble to burst, because we're not allowed to have nice things. Still getting used to Diaz. As Seo said, he has to blow a big save before he can become a Met. Speaking of d'Arnaud, I can't help but think that it's not a coincidence that deGrom's streak accured while d'Arnaud was on the DL/IL, and ended as soon as he was off of it.

Johnny Lunchbucket Apr 11 2019 12:06 PM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

Edgy MD wrote: I'm used to the Mets' Dominican closers — children of Benitez all — as being broad across the middle, with big football necks. Diaz seems sly and slender, like a secondbaseman. He seems less like a warrior and more like a thief. Less like a soldier and more like a spy. Less Colossus and more Nightcrawler. I think Diaz might be from Puerto Rico

Edgy MD Apr 11 2019 12:18 PM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

Makes sense, and demonstrates what a dumbass racist I am.

Lefty Specialist Apr 11 2019 01:22 PM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

Ramos has hit his way into Metliness. Cano will have to do a lot of good things in a Met uniform. Could take most of the year, if ever. Alonso already has a nickname: Polar Bear. So he's Metly. Davis, not there yet and he may be going to Syracuse if Frazier and Lowrie ever get back. Broxton's a minor part so he needs a major moment, like a walkoff, pinch-hit HR. Diaz is getting there. He too needs a major moment, like a 5-out save with a 1-run lead against the Phillies.

seawolf17 Apr 11 2019 02:13 PM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

Alonso is the only one who's definitely already A MET. If they released Davis or Broxton right now, I'd accuse Greg of making them up in two years, although I have very high expectations/hopes for Davis. I will continue to conflate Wilson Ramos with Jesus Flores for at least another couple of weeks. Cano is still inextricably MFY-linked. Maybe by summer. I honestly haven't actually seen Diaz pitch in a game yet, so the jury's still out on him for me.

Johnny Lunchbucket Apr 11 2019 03:39 PM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

So far he looks like a typical closer. Great looking stuff, shaky when not handled with utmost care for situation and conditions, bends but doesn't break

G-Fafif Apr 11 2019 03:54 PM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

If they released Davis or Broxton right now, I'd accuse Greg of making them up in two years, although I have very high expectations/hopes for Davis. I can't quite get the hang of "J.D. Davis" is my mind. Sometimes he's "J.P. Davis," though really I keep wanting to call him "Wade Davis," not for the closer who helped destroy our 2015 World Series dreams but for the hard-throwing but ultimately ineffective reliever we had for a moment in 2002, though that was Kane Davis. a pitcher I'd barely thought of these past 17 years...and he's not even the most recent or resonant Davis to have played for the Mets. Also, I was deep into a Friday Night Lights rewatch when we acquired J.D. Davis, so for a while I instinctively referred to him as "J.D. McCoy," the quarterback prodigy whose a-hole father forced out Coach Taylor and brought in Wade Aikmen, which probably explains the Wade part. I'm surprised Keith hasn't yet referred to J.D. as a juvenile delinquent. Would seem to be right up his contemporary frame of reference alley. (I also linguistically conflate Yoenis Cespedes with Orlando Cepeda, though not so much lately as there hasn't been reason to type either this season.)

Benjamin Grimm Apr 11 2019 04:05 PM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

I keep thinking he's J.D. Drew.

Edgy MD Apr 11 2019 04:14 PM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

And I keep thinking he's Jefferson Davis Hogg.

Johnny Lunchbucket Apr 11 2019 06:05 PM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

I conflate him with Jody Davis

Edgy MD Apr 30 2019 10:47 AM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

How is it that Robinson Canó had seven straight hits over the weekend and I was still rooting for his turn to not come around in the batting order? I felt a deeper connection with Roger Cedeño. With Ricky Trlicek or Brent Gaff. The guy clearly still has some virtues, but nothing I'm empathizing with, let alone bonding with, at all. Let's say I'm in the lobby of a building, perhaps even a skyscraper, and I'm waiting for an elevator, and suddenly three doors open at once. In one elevator stands Robinson Canó in a business suit. In the second is a similarly dressed Shingo Takatsu. In the third is a business-formal Garry Templeton. What I'm saying is that Canó's elevator would be my third choice. And I'm not even certain Takatsu speaks English. Canó's not habituated. It's been rough going with him and me. Does that make me a bad fan?

G-Fafif Apr 30 2019 11:56 AM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

If Templeton's lift is kept waitin', it ain't elevatin'.

Edgy MD Jun 13 2019 09:36 PM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

Díaz. Is he pitching awfully because I still see him as alien? Or do I still see him as an alien because he's pitching awfully? Whichever it is, the dog won't stop barking.

Lefty Specialist Jun 14 2019 06:28 AM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

He's become a habituated Met, as adept as all the others at irritating the hell out of me.

dgwphotography Jun 14 2019 06:53 AM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

Lefty Specialist wrote: He's become a habituated Met, as adept as all the others at irritating the hell out of me. This. He's become the most Metly of Mets.

Edgy MD Jun 14 2019 07:04 AM Re: Are They Habituated Yet?

Sheesh.