20/20 Hindsight: Mets Split Subway Affair
The Subway Series is over, and the big moments remaining in the Mets season appear to be over as well:
1. Mets fans who cheered Brodie Van Wagenen and chanted his name for attending a game he committed to attend deserve this season.
2. It’s funny, Mets fans will boo Robinson Cano when he’s 400 feet away, but they won’t when Van Wagenen is there.
3. It was sold as getting Zack Wheeler an extra start, and perhaps it was, but it’s certainly suspect Van Wagenen switched the pitchers so he wouldn’t have to sit out there for a Jason Vargas start.
4. On Vargas, the nonsense calling him an ace needs to stop. First, the Mets still have Jacob deGrom. Second, he’s failed to go five innings in 42.3% of his starts. Finally, he has just three quality starts in 14 starts (21.4%).
5. This is the time of the year Wheeler gets going. He limited the Yankees to two earned on one walk and five hits over 6.1 innings while striking out eight.
6. Over Wheeler’s last three starts, he has three quality starts and a 1.86 ERA. The team who gets him at the trade deadline is going to be very happy.
7. Wheeler was a bit snake bit by bad defense. J.D. Davis doesn’t have the range or instincts for LF as evidenced by balls dropping in front of him and his throwing to the wrong base. Also, Wilson Ramos has to look the runner back.
8. Honestly, no one could have predicted the Ramos signing going this poorly. Not only is he experiencing a power outage, but we also see deGrom and now Noah Syndergaard wanting to pitch to Tomas Nido.
9. While you couldn’t have imagined things going that poorly, many did say the Mets needed to go the extra mile for Yasmani Grandal, a catcher who just so happens to be the best in the game right now.
10. Seeing Gio Urshela make three great plays in the field, you’re reminded that defense actually matters. As Mark DeRosa pointed out it’s something the Mets have ignored for far too long.
11. Just like when they activated Yoenis Cespedes to DH last year, it was just predictable the team would activate all of their relievers before the Subway Series.
12. Wilmer Font getting knocked around a bit putting the game out of reach is a reminder the bullpen is/was an arm or two short even when everyone is healthy.
13. That arm can’t be Steven Matz. As previously noted, the Mets don’t have anywhere near the organizational depth or financial wherewithal to make him a reliever
14. All players have slumps, but some, like Michael Conforto, are treated more harshly by fans than others. Then, when he delivers a go-ahead double, everyone remembers how great he is.
15. There is way too much talent for the Mets to have the second worst record in the NL, but they do thanks to an incompetent GM who was cheered.
16. Say all you want about the Knicks whiffing on Durant and calling off a meeting with Kawhi. Dolan is still not a worse owner than the Wilpons. Not even close.
17. It’s going to be fun to see the Pete Alonso in the Home Run Derby.
18. Despite Adeiny Hechavarria batting just .223./.255/.394, the Mets still let Dilson Herrera opt out of his deal even if Herrera would’ve been a better bench and pinch hitting option.
19. Eduardo Perez‘s idea to have all MLB starters wear 45 on July 5th because that was the day Tyler Skaggs was supposed to pitch was an inspired one. Hopefully, MLB takes his suggestion.
20. Have a healthy and safe Fourth of July.
“1. Mets fans who cheered Brodie Van Wagenen and chanted his name for attending a game he committed to attend deserve this season.”
— Let’s just say I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that the Mets had seeded the area around Wags with employees and sycophants. Other than that, fans are as bad as tweens when it comes to falling for smooth talk coming from a $300 haircut.
“8. Honestly, no one could have predicted the Ramos signing going this poorly…..”
— Well, he’s playing close to projection. Even guys like Jay Jaffe had the Ramos signing only adding about 1 win to the 2019 Mets (before the absurd Plawecki deal, which knocked a lot of the small projected improvement off of that).
What the Mets have perpetrated by playing Ramos in 76 of their first 87 games is remove just about every bit of possible upside from his season–exhausted old players tend not to thrive when used like this. Through the first 1/4 of the season the Mets had him on pace to play more than Johnny Bench in his prime years, and Ramos almost completely collapsed. Even now, after backing off a little, they still have Ramos on pace to play 142 games, more than he’s ever played before, and even though Ramos has never been older and his injury history has never been longer.
Even though they appear happy to wreck his career, the Mets have gotten incredibly lucky by Ramos remaining a little productive. It’s easy to forget he was just replacement level in 2017, and as a consequence Ramos only projected to reach only about 1.5 bWAR or 1.3 fWAR in 2019. (He’s currently on pace for about 1.7 bWAR or 0.6 fWAR.) A win or win and a half was all we could reasonably expect from a 31 year old catcher who had contributed 0 WAR in the season ending 15 months before his signing. That’s why signing Grandal for about 8m more than Ramos got per season mattered. (It’s also interesting to think that the George Steinbrenner Yankees might have signed Ramos… to be Grandal’s backup.)
I understand your point on Ramos, and it is well taken. What we didn’t expect was no one wanting to throw to him.
Agreed. He seemed to be a pitcher’s catcher, one who stated he was eager to work with the Mets’ staff specifically.
Mets not getting Grandal might’ve been the difference this year.
2. Maybe NY fans are astute are the the fans that know that Brodie is an extension of ownership and the team’s bad karma?
3. ESPN really showcased the Mets beautifully, did they not?
4. If I GMed a contender, needed a fifth starter or spot one/long reliever, Vargas on rebound, walk year?
I would be jumping to get him… if not teach every pitcher on staff the facet of just tossing at the lower corners or below or every pitch!!!!! A lost art with the Mets? A taught art that never sunk in? A physically incapable staff to realize even watching so many of Alonso’s recent strike outs were EXACTLY made by Vargas type pitches!!! WORKD series pitchers almost never throw ball down the middle, or close to it!!
5. Wheeler is player journey that makes baseball great.. he has worked so hard for so many lean years… is the guy 31 yet? The guy is a model citizen and a MONSTER of a role model… obviously Jeff Wilpon is jealous of what clearly he is not and Jeff can not project and see people being self aware, always looking into the mirror and asking others how they can be better year after year… Wheeler has that and will have a much higher upside than Noah… a more humble person to boot!!
6. They trade him… forget 2020… you do not just magically replace the guy… FORGET 2020!!!!!!!!!!!
7. The Mets have the second worst record in the NL, until they score like a team late in games…use speed every chance … this is garbage time!!! …
8. If Travis was injury prone at best, Plawecki suited to back up in Toronto and Miami, Wilpon’s are poor – this was a good signing for Travis was on a very very very short leash…
9. Boston, NYY, LAD would never offer Grandal 4/$72…? What is his clutch, leverage stats on competitive competition and playoffs and World Series…?
10. Some teams just churn out players… the Mets overall plan has never done that since Cashen.
12. Wilmer Font threw at a player’s head? Put him on waivers, guaranteed one taker…. the Mets?
13. If he ain’t a starter, low WAR in five years what difference does anything else mean on a lost year for the organization (so far). Yet he might grow more focused in relief to return better as a starter?
14. That double was off a gimme pitch… watching the game, really?
15. No, there is not a pedigree of recent high WAR above other .500 clubs. Who of their youngsters have been on a championship of any kind?
16. No star would come to the Knicks alone, after they correctly said no waiting for Durant until the 2021 playoffs knowing that the Lakers would be monsters w vets running to sign with them next year, realizing not only did they not get Williamson, never wanted Irving, did not have a core rotation yet … they made, in my view the perfect moves… one three deal with Randle and five one year commitments to five bodies, one Taj Gibson I used to love seeing him the paint…
17. One for the ages!!!
18. Dilson’s MLB credentials?
19. Yes, very thoughtful
20. Wishing you peace