Asinine Daily News Mid-Season Mets Report Card

Like many readers, I am a big fan of those report cards in which a letter grade is given for each player. I do a full season report card after every season. Many news outlets also do mid-season grading, which the Daily News did on Friday. Andy Martino handed out the grades, and it made me wonder if Martino has even watched a Mets game this season. I don’t think I’ve ever read a worse assessment.

First off, he gave Ike Davis and Daniel Murphy the same grade — C. How can a player hitting .201, who was hitting below the Mendoza line for most of the season, get the same grade as someone hitting .295? Martino writes that a “deep slump” reduced Murphy’s grade. But what about Davis’s even deeper slump? He said he graded Davis “on a curve” because he missed most of last year and has Valley Fever. Nonsense.

He gave Andres Torres an “incomplete” because he missed time with injuries. Yes, he did miss the first month of the season, but he has played 59 games. Josh Thole has missed time with an injury and played in 56 games and he got a grade. Just a cop out by Martino, who for some reason wanted to “save Torres from a very low grade.”

Somehow Martino forgot that a fellow named Kirk Nieuwenhuis has played for the Mets the entire season. He did not get a grade at all, yet Scott Hairston did and Nieuwenhuis has played in more games than Hairston.

Frank Francisco gets a B? Martino called his 4.97 ERA “somewhat deceptive.” No, that is his record. That’s like saying “if you take away his bad games, he’s been good.” Obviously, Francisco has had some good outings, but overall he’s been very shaky and deserves a far lower grade.

Really just an awful, baffling article by Andy Martino.