Mets Might be in the Worst Spot in Baseball Now

The news that broke today that Sandy Alderson will take a leave of absence from his New York Mets General Manager duties is super sad but at the same time, this might have been unavoidable and was maybe only a matter of time.

As we come to the middle of 2018, the deadly disease of cancer has almost affected everyone whether it has been us or someone we know. I don't know Sandy personally, but if I had to place a bet, I think this might be the beginning of the end for the Mets GM.

The 2018 Train wrecked New York Mets as we know them will take a backseat for at least a week. We love something so awesome as baseball suddenly means so little when we hear news like this.

I don't know where the Mets go from hear, they might have the bleakest future in the NL East with a lineup filled with veterans and a starting rotation that is too good to be losing 85+ games and at this point in the year even that might be generous.

Lets face it though, this is a Mets Franchise that has not really been that competitive outside of their five NL Championships. The latest graphs seem to be indicating that the Mets are fading away from their glory year of 2015.

In fact, the Mets are following similar patterns to their 2000 and 2006 runs at a World Series where they quickly fell off a cliff after their window closed.

I'll say this, the Mets window to win a World Series has ended and it most likely ended last year. Noah Syndergaard will never pitch a playoff game for the Mets again and this whole thing needs to be ripped up and reevaluated. Rebuilding, doesn't mean going into a five year dormant period like the Astros did but its going to take a bit of time,

This kills me to say this because my current job is not a great job if watching Mets baseball is my #1 priority. My morning shifts start at 7am Seattle time and my afternoon shifts start at 3pm. I have probably watched about 10 games all year and that bugs me,

I haven't forgotten about the Mets, never will. Our prospects haven't been as good as other teams and we are falling behind. Atlanta looks legit and we are stuck in mediocrity

Suns Get Their Local Star, Could They have Done More?

The Phoenix Suns entered the 2018 draft with the grad prize their for the taking as for the first time in their history, they were drafting #1. The all around consensus was that the Suns were going to be selecting Deandre Ayton the local prodigy with that pick.

Suns fans are have to live Ayton no matter how much they wanted Luka Doncic or Trae Young. Passing on a player like Ayton would curse a teams franchise if he winds up in the Hall Of Fame.  If he's a bust, well at least we can say we made a safe pick.

For one, Doncic and Young both have low floors as well. Doncic has excelled at the European level but sometimes it doesn't translate to North America. Young is great, but defensively he is flawed.

The other three picks irritate me. Mikal Bridges is a good player but the log jam at the three and four spots are triggered again. More importantly, I'm not sure it was that much of an upgrade from Zhaire Smith the Texas Tech explosive sharp shooter to give away Miami's 2021 1st round pick.

With the Suns third pick of the night, they reached out all the way to France to pick Élie Okobo. This pick has me baffled as he becomes the sixth forward to be taken by the Suns since 2014. My pick would have been Jalen Brunson who was on Villanova's National Title winning team this April. Drafting a Point Guard with one of their first three picks was a must for me.

The last pick, is almost a whatever pick. I want to say I'm surprised it was another forward but I'm really not. George King will likely be a G League player next year so its really a pick for the future. Still, not going with a Point Guard was bothersome to me.

Let's predict the Depth Chart for opening night next October.

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
Eric Bledsoe	Devon Booker	Josh Jackson	Marquese Chriss	Deandre Ayton
Tyler Ulis	Troy Daniels	TJ Waren	Dragan Bender	Alex Len

G-League:
Élie Okobo
Mikal Bridges
George King

Now, here's what my roster would have looked like if I was the GM after the Isaiah Thomas deal.

PG	SG	SF	PF	C
De’Aaron Fox	Devon Booker	Zhaire Smith	Marquese Chriss	Deandre Ayton
Jalen Brunson	Buddy Hield	TJ Waren	George King	Alex Len

For me, we have too many forwards with not enough playing time. The winners of the draft were Dallas, Charlotte and Philadelphia.

I give the Suns a C for not filling holes and not being creative enough with their four picks.

It's Time For Benning to Shine

Well, here we go again. The Vancouver Canucks are picking Top 10 in the NHL Draft Friday night but for some reason, this time around it feels different.

For the first time since 2001, the Canucks won't have anyone bailing them out of jail. From 2001-2006, the West Coast Express line and from 2007 to 2018 it was the Sedin line.

Offensive talent such as Bo Horvat, Brock Boesser and Elias Pettersson give this team the hope that the fanbase has despretly prayed about for a long time now. That forward group has a supporting cast of Adam Gaudette, Jake Virtanen and Kole Lind among others.

The strong forward group has most fans and experts believing that the Canucks will be picking a Defenseman come Friday and fortunately, the Canucks will have a number of defenseman to choose from.

Ranking	D-Man
1	Rasmus Dahlin (D)
2	Evan Bouchard (D)
3	Adam Boqvist (D)
4	Noah Dobson (D)
5	Quinton Hughes (D)
6	Adam Ginning (D)
7	Filip Johansson (D)

The Canucks pick seventh, needless to say, that first one on that list won't be around much after the first pick. After that, D-Man two through five right now are tight. 

Theres a few forwards that if they fall down, I would have to consider taking them. However, building a D core is just as important as a forward core. 

This is the full list of Jim Benning's draft picks since he was hired in 2014:

2014 Draft[edit]

Rd #	Pick #	Player	Nat	Pos	Team (League)	Reg GP	Pl GP	Notes
1	6	Jake Virtanen	Canada	RW	Calgary Hitmen (WHL)	138	0
1	24	Jared McCann	Canada	C	Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL)	69	0
2	36	Thatcher Demko	United States	G	Boston College (NCAA D1)	1	0
3	66	Nikita Tryamkin	Russia	D	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg (KHL)	79	0
5	146	Gustav Forsling	Sweden	D	Linkopings HC (SHL)	0	0
6	156	Kyle Pettit	Canada	C	Erie Otters (OHL)	0	0
7	186	Mackenze Stewart	Canada	D	Prince Albert Raiders (WHL)	0	0

2015 Draft[edit]

Rd #	Pick #	Player	Nat	Pos	Team (League)	Reg GP	Pl GP	Notes
1	23	Brock Boeser	United States	RW	Waterloo Black Hawks (USHL)	71	0
3	66	Guillaume Brisebois	Canada	D	Acadie–Bathurst Titan (QMJHL)	0	0
4	114	Dmitri Zhukenov	Russia	C	Avangard Omsk 2 (Russia Jr.)	0	0
5	144	Carl Neill	Canada	D	Sherbrooke Phoenix (QMJHL)	0	0
5	149	Adam Gaudette	United States	C	Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (USHL)	0	0
6	174	Lukas Jasek	Czech Republic	RW	HC Ocelari Trinec (Czech Extraliga)	0	0
7	210	Tate Olson	Canada	D	Prince George Cougars (WHL)	0	0

2016 Draft[edit]

Rd #	Pick #	Player	Nat	Pos	Team (League)	Reg GP	Pl GP	Notes
1	5	Olli Juolevi	Finland	D	London Knights (OHL)	0	0
3	64	William Lockwood	United States	RW	U.S. NTDP (USHL)	0	0
5	140	Cole Candella	Canada	D	Hamilton Bulldogs (OHL)	0	0
6	154	Jakob Stukel	Canada	LW	Calgary Hitmen (WHL)	0	0
7	184	Rodrigo Abols	Latvia	C	Portland Winterhawks (WHL)	0	0
7	194	Brett McKenzie	Canada	C/LW	North Bay Battalion (OHL)	0	0

2017 Draft[edit]

Rd #	Pick #	Player	Nat	Pos	Team (League)	Reg GP	Pl GP	Notes
1	5	Elias Pettersson	Sweden	C	Timra IK (HockeyAllsvenskan)	0	0
2	33	Kole Lind	Canada	RW	Kelowna Rockets (WHL)	0	0
2	55	Jonah Gadjovich	Canada	LW	Owen Sound Attack (OHL)	0	0
3	64	Michael DiPietro	Canada	G	Windsor Spitfires (OHL)	0	0
4	95	Jack Rathbone	United States	D	Harvard University (NCAA)	0	0
5	135	Kristoffer Gunnarsson	Sweden	D	Frolunda HC (SHL)	0	0
6	181	Petrus Palmu	Finland	LW/RW	Owen Sound Attack (OHL)	0	0
7	188	Matthew Brassard	Canada	D	Oshawa Generals (OHL)	0	0

It's been four drafts. His players are slowly coming up. I'm glad Benning is our GM. Picking in the Top 10 next year is likely unavoidable but by 2020, Vancouver should be at least a 500. hockey team.