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JerryShoe · 08-31-2023, 09:13 PM

1965 Mets

The Plan
I could squeeze one more year of contention before having to retool with youth if former 1950 Phillie “Whiz Kids” Roberts and Simmons don’t turn into the “Wheeze Kids” and erstwhile Eisenhower era stalwarts Banks and Virdon act accordingly. The lineup is strong, leading off with surprise Christopher and Hunt, with Roseboro-Allen-Hickman a high-quality heart of the order and ending with Banks, Howser and Virdon. The defense is mostly good, the only weak spots being the left side with Allen and Christopher. The rotation could use some help, hopefully in the form of Culp’s and Don Cardwell’s recoveries or rookie Dennis Ribant but the bullpen should compensate. With Kranepool (traded after not meeting minimum playing time) and Kanehl (retired) gone, the bench is a bit weak. The best of the rest of the rookie crop is Ron Swoboda.

What Happened to the Plan
The end of spring training found an excess of players, so to limit the number of releases I opted to make multi-player deals and ended up trading Davenport, Henry, Ribant, Stephenson and Valentine along with newcomers for workhorse pitchers Jim "Mudcat" Grant, Ken Johnson and Ron Kline and benchwarmers Dick Brown and Bob Johnson. The year started at well, going 9-7 in April which was good for third place and only a game out of first. Podres (2.33), Simmons (1.88) and even emergency starter Bell (1.98) were able to overcome the unexpected inadequacy of ace Jackson (4.20) and the relief crew (3.58). Dick Allen .407/.484/.556 again was the mainstay of the offense but the 1-2-3 in front of him all had OBs under .300 as Banks hit .159/.197/.206 with no HRs in back. Christopher needed to be replaced with Howser leading off. Things went worse in May as the formerly strong bullpen needed overhauling. Brewer went to the IL, Hamilton, McGraw and Miller were optioned, needing Podres to move from the rotation and Cardwell, Culp, Grant and Kline were promoted. The lineup also needed revamping, with former leadoff Christopher banished to the bench for Swododa, Hickman moving up to #3 and Banks down to #6, behind Virdon. Once Bernie Allen came off IL another roster logjam was created, so he, Goosen, Hamilton and Johnson went to Baltimore for Jim Gentile (as a LH PH and platoon with poorly performing Banks) and utility infielders Jerry Adair, and Eddie Brinkman. With the Mets at 25-34, Hunt got hurt and Adair took over. When things looked no better on July 1 (34-44 and 7th), it was time to shed salary and move on with youth. I thanked Howser, Podres, Roberts, Simmons and Virdon for their services and sent them to Pittsburgh for Ken McMullen and minor leaguer hurlers Steve Blass and Bill Singer. The Pirate AI GM gave me a hard time sending me McMullen, instead insisting on me taking Brooks Robinson! In good conscience, I went with McM, with an eye for him to take over the far turn next year with Allen going across the diamond to first base. The Pirates were in second place, 1½ out, so we’ll see how this trade helped them. Giusti and Brinkman now moved up to the big club took almost 20% off the books. The Mets made a move and on August 1 were 50-56 and only 4½ from fifth when things bottomed out.

The Results
If not for last season’s unexpected success, I would view this year as a respectable building one, what with not “clinching” a losing record and the second division until game #158, but, well…1965 was a disappointment after ’64: 76-86 and sixth place. The only Met on the leaderboards was Dick Allen’s top OB (.394). He did hit .306, but his 14 homers fell way short of his potential. Most of the better performers (pitchers Craig, Podres and Simmons had ERAs of 3.07, 3.48 and 3.18, Virdon hit .281, Howser’s 10 steals led the crew) were the old-timers I was worried about, but most found their way into the agate type of “transactions/traded” after Banks, Christopher, Hickman and Hunt endured disastrous seasons. Jackson (3.29) was again the staff ace, backed by comebackers Culp and Guisti after their midseason callups and installations into the rotation.

LF Christopher.. 236
2B Hunt..............244/.348/.309
CF Hickman.......216, 11 HRs
3B Allen.............also .444 SA
1B Banks...........239, 9 HRs, 52 RBI
RF Swoboda......219, 15 HRs
C Roseboro.......222
SS Wine............244, good defense
Also seeing playing time were Gentile (led team with 16 HRs, 20 overall) and McMullen (.288 in NY, .292 overall) after their acquisitions but Shannon's poor performance (.187) was a letdown. Adair hit .234 while filling in for Hunt.

S1 Jackson.......also 13 Wins
S2 Culp.............3.29
S3 Guisti...........3.54
S4 Cardwell......3.79
Grant, Roberts and Simmons were also in the rotation before and after their trades.

RP Craig.............also led team with 9 Saves
RP Miller.............2.83
RP Worthington..3.09, 7 Saves

Cleveland ended Minnesota’s 3-year AL stranglehold won the Championship over San Francisco, who continued theirs in the NL. The Pirates did finish second, but the ex-Mets should have been utilized better and could have overcome the Giants. As for the Awards, although Mays won the NL MVP as he actually did, John “Honey” Romano took the AL honors instead of Zoilo Versalles (no votes, although his OOTP stats of .265,13 HRs and 35 SBs were sorta close to his real ones of .273, 19.27).
Romano was one of the junior circuit’s better receivers in the 60’s and did have an actual 1965 of 2.7 WAR/20 Win Shares, but really, now. Although real Cy Young winner Koufax had a good OOTP log of 19-10, 2.34 and 316 strikeouts, he lost out to Bob Veale in the NL while “Sudden Sam” McDowell (actually the best pitcher in his league as per WAR and WS) took the then non-existent AL trophy. Jim Lefebvre and Curt Blefary took rookie honors as they historically did.

The 1966 Mets in a few weeks...

08-31-2023, 09:13 PM	#5
JerryShoe Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2021 Posts: 122	1965 Mets The Plan I could squeeze one more year of contention before having to retool with youth if former 1950 Phillie “Whiz Kids” Roberts and Simmons don’t turn into the “Wheeze Kids” and erstwhile Eisenhower era stalwarts Banks and Virdon act accordingly. The lineup is strong, leading off with surprise Christopher and Hunt, with Roseboro-Allen-Hickman a high-quality heart of the order and ending with Banks, Howser and Virdon. The defense is mostly good, the only weak spots being the left side with Allen and Christopher. The rotation could use some help, hopefully in the form of Culp’s and Don Cardwell’s recoveries or rookie Dennis Ribant but the bullpen should compensate. With Kranepool (traded after not meeting minimum playing time) and Kanehl (retired) gone, the bench is a bit weak. The best of the rest of the rookie crop is Ron Swoboda. What Happened to the Plan The end of spring training found an excess of players, so to limit the number of releases I opted to make multi-player deals and ended up trading Davenport, Henry, Ribant, Stephenson and Valentine along with newcomers for workhorse pitchers Jim "Mudcat" Grant, Ken Johnson and Ron Kline and benchwarmers Dick Brown and Bob Johnson. The year started at well, going 9-7 in April which was good for third place and only a game out of first. Podres (2.33), Simmons (1.88) and even emergency starter Bell (1.98) were able to overcome the unexpected inadequacy of ace Jackson (4.20) and the relief crew (3.58). Dick Allen .407/.484/.556 again was the mainstay of the offense but the 1-2-3 in front of him all had OBs under .300 as Banks hit .159/.197/.206 with no HRs in back. Christopher needed to be replaced with Howser leading off. Things went worse in May as the formerly strong bullpen needed overhauling. Brewer went to the IL, Hamilton, McGraw and Miller were optioned, needing Podres to move from the rotation and Cardwell, Culp, Grant and Kline were promoted. The lineup also needed revamping, with former leadoff Christopher banished to the bench for Swododa, Hickman moving up to #3 and Banks down to #6, behind Virdon. Once Bernie Allen came off IL another roster logjam was created, so he, Goosen, Hamilton and Johnson went to Baltimore for Jim Gentile (as a LH PH and platoon with poorly performing Banks) and utility infielders Jerry Adair, and Eddie Brinkman. With the Mets at 25-34, Hunt got hurt and Adair took over. When things looked no better on July 1 (34-44 and 7th), it was time to shed salary and move on with youth. I thanked Howser, Podres, Roberts, Simmons and Virdon for their services and sent them to Pittsburgh for Ken McMullen and minor leaguer hurlers Steve Blass and Bill Singer. The Pirate AI GM gave me a hard time sending me McMullen, instead insisting on me taking Brooks Robinson! In good conscience, I went with McM, with an eye for him to take over the far turn next year with Allen going across the diamond to first base. The Pirates were in second place, 1½ out, so we’ll see how this trade helped them. Giusti and Brinkman now moved up to the big club took almost 20% off the books. The Mets made a move and on August 1 were 50-56 and only 4½ from fifth when things bottomed out. The Results If not for last season’s unexpected success, I would view this year as a respectable building one, what with not “clinching” a losing record and the second division until game #158, but, well…1965 was a disappointment after ’64: 76-86 and sixth place. The only Met on the leaderboards was Dick Allen’s top OB (.394). He did hit .306, but his 14 homers fell way short of his potential. Most of the better performers (pitchers Craig, Podres and Simmons had ERAs of 3.07, 3.48 and 3.18, Virdon hit .281, Howser’s 10 steals led the crew) were the old-timers I was worried about, but most found their way into the agate type of “transactions/traded” after Banks, Christopher, Hickman and Hunt endured disastrous seasons. Jackson (3.29) was again the staff ace, backed by comebackers Culp and Guisti after their midseason callups and installations into the rotation. LF Christopher.. 236 2B Hunt..............244/.348/.309 CF Hickman.......216, 11 HRs 3B Allen.............also .444 SA 1B Banks...........239, 9 HRs, 52 RBI RF Swoboda......219, 15 HRs C Roseboro.......222 SS Wine............244, good defense Also seeing playing time were Gentile (led team with 16 HRs, 20 overall) and McMullen (.288 in NY, .292 overall) after their acquisitions but Shannon's poor performance (.187) was a letdown. Adair hit .234 while filling in for Hunt. S1 Jackson.......also 13 Wins S2 Culp.............3.29 S3 Guisti...........3.54 S4 Cardwell......3.79 Grant, Roberts and Simmons were also in the rotation before and after their trades. RP Craig.............also led team with 9 Saves RP Miller.............2.83 RP Worthington..3.09, 7 Saves Cleveland ended Minnesota’s 3-year AL stranglehold won the Championship over San Francisco, who continued theirs in the NL. The Pirates did finish second, but the ex-Mets should have been utilized better and could have overcome the Giants. As for the Awards, although Mays won the NL MVP as he actually did, John “Honey” Romano took the AL honors instead of Zoilo Versalles (no votes, although his OOTP stats of .265,13 HRs and 35 SBs were sorta close to his real ones of .273, 19.27). Romano was one of the junior circuit’s better receivers in the 60’s and did have an actual 1965 of 2.7 WAR/20 Win Shares, but really, now. Although real Cy Young winner Koufax had a good OOTP log of 19-10, 2.34 and 316 strikeouts, he lost out to Bob Veale in the NL while “Sudden Sam” McDowell (actually the best pitcher in his league as per WAR and WS) took the then non-existent AL trophy. Jim Lefebvre and Curt Blefary took rookie honors as they historically did. The 1966 Mets in a few weeks...