The Mets are the second in runs scored in the majors, so Conforto was living on borrowed time? He’s benched, and now he’s really “up” to bat…
Mets manager Luis Rojas has probably lived with Michael Conforto‘s frustrating season more than anyone.
At times, he may have been scouring MLB stats to find a player who is more messed up than his All-Star right fielder, so he could tell Conforto, “Hang in there, you are not alone.”
But as the 2021 season progressed, in between a six-week loss due to injury, Michael Conforto has been pronounced by the Mets as DOA due to mental fatigue.
The Mets won’t say it because that’s treading on thin waters in baseball circles, but Michael Conforto needs complete rest away from Citi Field and any other ballpark in the major leagues.
The numbers tell the story, and it hurts to cite them, but you can see for yourself in his splits as put together by Baseball-Reference.
No team, including the Mets, can live with that production from a number three batter in their lineup, a spot typically reserved for the best pure hitter on a team, for long – and so the Mets have benched him for an indeterminate length of time.
Today’s New York Post has a feature story. They write that Michael Conforto has been “sent to study hall and given homework” to correct himself before he is worthy of repositioning himself in the Mets lineup.
How cruel is that, except there are writers who enjoy kicking a player when he is down.
Did you ever feel, in a job you’ve had for a while, you needed to get away, and if you could, you did just that, taking two or three “mental health” days while telling the boss you’ve come down with a “bad cold”?
I have, but living in a fishbowl, Michael Conforto can’t.
In place of that, however, instead of the Mets telling Conforto to take time off to “work on his swing” as the Post story says, how about Steve Cohen interfering with sending Conforto on an all-expense paid three day trip to (name an island) with his longtime girlfriend Cabernet Burns, who is set to be his wife?
Okay, that’s extreme, and it would definitely raise a few eyebrows in the Mets clubhouse and around the league – but that should be the idea, and none of this should be considered “homework” BS.
Mets: Between A Rock And A Hard Place
Now look, we know the Mets are dealing with a player who is in his walk-year before Scott Boras takes him in as one of the lead outfield players into the Class of 2022 free agents.
And we also know that according to Spotrac, Michael Conforto is pegged to earn an average yearly salary of $24.5 million, whether or not he signs with the Mets.
And while nearly all of us would die for that opportunity, we don’t know and can’t imagine what the player is going through and undertaking, with his future set before him – good or bad.
If it plays out that Conforto is unable to contribute to a Mets season that could go into the books along with 1969 and 1986 as one of those having a parade down the Canyon Of Heroes in Manhattan, then we will have witnessed an equally extraordinary event in Mets history.
When we last put Michael Conforto under a microscope, it was only a week ago, and it was interesting to learn from the reader’s comments that many Mets fans have given up on him, feeling he is overrated and seeing no reason why the team should even care if he left.
But that isn’t really the point.
The real question is what Conforto is thinking and does he see 2022 as a means of escape from the glare of New York, and he would be happier to sign in a more laid-back city like San Diego or Minneapolis?
Or, is he the Michael Conforto who told MLB’s Anthony DiCommo in September 2020 that “Of course. I love it here (the Mets). This is everything I know.?”
Mets And Conforto: A Time To Rest, A Time To Heal
We don’t know these things, and surely with Boras as his agent, the Mets will be met with a huge investment to make if they do indeed decide to pursue their home-grown outfielder in the 2022 free agency sweepstakes.
All that can be safely and logically said today, though, is the Mets did the only thing they could do when faced with a player, who could have been named Luis Guillorme, J.D. Davis, or even Pete Alonso in another time.
It’s baseball, and it sucks at times.
But teams like the Mets make these decisions, but they always leave the door open for a player, especially one born and bred in their system, to make a statement saying, “I belong here, I want to be here, now do what you need to do to keep me here.
And for the Mets, it might not be as simple as the offense, as this video displays Michael Conforto’s talent when play9ng the outfield….”
Still, baseball is a game ruled by numbers, and for Michael Conforto, he’s the only one in charge of putting them up (there)…
Here’s What Readers Are Saying…
Jim Russell Conforto has been a great Met. He came up hitting homers to left and left-center. Someone got him “pull happy”. He HAS to go back to that “all fields” swing. McNeil also went there, but his recent surge is due to spraying the ball around again
Paul Henry Looks like that Conforto extension money is headed for Baez
Keith Stanzel Second? U mean lowest (runs scored)? Sondra Schulein Allen Edit the post 
I’m ashamed to…Dan Sheehan I don’t know. Others are telling me not…who cares – it sucks.
Cj Cullen Good thing he didn’t sign with them he is done
Barry Weyandt How was he benched …he sat 7 innings vs a leftie…and pinch-hit….he needs to sit vs lefties period…but they should give him an entire weekend off
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
