According to recent reports, for some unfathomable reason, the Mets appear to be pushing to trade Noah Syndergaard. They are looking to trade him despite his trade value being at its proverbial nadir, and they are looking to trade him despite saying they are looking to contend in 2020.
To put it in perspective, Syndergaard is currently 20th in the majors in FIP. That is despite his struggles with the new ball and pitching to Wilson Ramos. We also know he is pitching in front of a National League worst defense. That is why we see the disparity between his 4.33 ERA and his being top 20 in the league in Fielding Independent Pitching.
Ultimately, despite the advanced metrics some like to ignore, it is eminently fair to say this is the worst year of Syndergaard’s career. His stats across the board are at their career worsts. That said, with his stuff and his FIP he remains one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. That is why with him on the trade block we are seeing smart organizations like the Astros, Padres, Twins, and Yankees make a push to get him.
When you are positioned as a team with a player like Syndergaard everyone wants, shouldn’t you at least be questioning why am I looking to trade him to another team? Based upon the trades you have executed this past year which have blown up in your face, at what point do you stop and admit you don’t know more than everyone else? More than any of that, if everyone sees Syndergaard as a piece which puts them over the top, why don’t you see him the same way?
Better put, why aren’t the Mets looking to sign an ace level pitcher with two years of control to a contract extension?
Remember, this is the lowest Syndergaard’s value has ever been, and it is likely this is the lowest it will ever be. After this season, we should reasonably expect the 27 year old to be entering his prime years and take off. We should once again see the pitcher who was one of the best pitchers in baseball in 2016 and has been a big game pitcher.
Remember, Syndergaard is one of the few pitchers in baseball right now able to go toe-to-toe with Madison Bumgarner in a big game. He has a 2.42 postseason ERA with a 12.5 K/9. You build around this player. But the Mets aren’t.
They’re going to look to trade him while selling everyone on getting a haul of players/prospects in return while they sign Zack Wheeler to an extension. Wheeler is a good pitcher in his own right who would be worthwhile extending at the right cost. However, in no way do you look to extend the 29 year old player who his three years older over the 26 year old ace you don’t have to trade.
No, if you are the Mets, you should be looking to extend both players now. You have the opportunity to construct the extensions to best fit your window of contending. We all laugh at the Nationals contract situation, but they have been over .500 and contending for nearly a decade now. Their deferral plan allowed them to go through a Bryce Harper/Ryan Zimmerman core to Juan Soto/Victor Robles core seemlessly.
If the Mets knew what they were doing, and they really operated like a New York franchise, they would be extending Syndergaard and Wheeler. The fact that they’re not speaks volumes as to how poorly this franchise is operated and just how much Major League Baseball needs to intevene.
Steven Matz has been removed from the rotation this year. Coming out of the break, he pitched better, but realistically speaking, no one could have expected to see what he did tonight.
Matz would not allow a hit until a Melky Cabrera one out ground rule double with one out in the fourth. Just like he did when Todd Frazier had a second inning homer, he deftly worked around it.
The Pirates would not get another hit until Jacob Stallings leadoff double in the sixth. This would quickly become a dicey situation. After the opposing pitcher Trevor Williams struck out trying to get down the sacrifice, Kevin Newman would single. Fortunately, Stallings would not get a good read on the ball. Instead of having an opportunity to score, he’d go to third.
Stallings stayed there after Matz induced the inning ending 5-4-3 double play. At that point, it was 0-0 with Williams matching zeroes. Finally, with one out in the sixth, Michael Conforto broke through:
.@mconforto8, a man of the people. ? pic.twitter.com/8hiRtO5mkg
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 28, 2019
Later that inning, J.D. Davis contributed a two run homer giving the Mets a 3-0. That lead gave Mickey Callaway the leeway to allow Matz to go the distance for the first time in his career.
Matz probably had his best slider in a few years, and he was spotting his change-up well. With the way he had it all working, he entered the ninth allowing just four hits and no walks with six strikeouts.
A Newman single to start the ninth got Edwin Diaz up. While it was good to see him up after getting hit on the foot the other day, it was even better that he wasn’t needed.
On pitch 99, Matz got Josh Bell to ground out to short to end the game. With that, not only did Matz have his first complete game, he would also have a Maddux. He’d strike out seven in his complete game shut out.
This is as good as the Mets have looked all year. With Matz throwing Madduxes out there, we can dream a little of what could be . . . at least for a night.
Game Notes: Dominic Smith was placed on the IL with a broken foot. He was replaced on the roster by Aaron Altherr.
This past week I appeared on the Simply Amazin’ podcast to discuss a number of issues facing the Mets right now.
During the podcast I mentioned Anthony Kay, Ali Sanchez, Vince Coleman, Mackey Sasser, T.J. Rivera, Noah Syndergaard, David Peterson, Edwin Diaz, Robinson Cano, Jeff McNeil, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, Amed Rosario, Ryley Gilliam, Steve Villines, Andres Gimenez, Juan Centeno, and others.
Please click the link and listen.
After coming here in the Carlos Beltran trade, which was arguably the first significant move in a rebuild which culminated in the 2015 pennant, after the Tommy John surgery and set back, after Carlos Gomez‘s hips negated a trade, and after all the drama with necessarily comes with being a member of the New York Mets, Zack Wheeler took the mound for what could be the last time as a member of the team.
With his free agency looming and the Mets being sellers, Wheeler may soon be gone. If he does go, he’s going out a winner.
Coming off the IL, Wheeler had a pitch count. Through the first five, he was terrific. That’s been par for the course for Wheeler during the second half of the season. Up until that fifth, he allowed just one earned off three consecutive second inning singles.
In the fifth, Wheeler tired. After he allowed a two run homer to Adam Frazier, the Mets lead narrowed to 4-3. Mickey Callaway gave him a little rope, but he eventually had to get Wheeler. He would depart the mound to a well deserved standing ovation:
Zack Wheeler with a solid outing in his return from the IL ?
The fans at Citi Field show him some love as he leaves the field ??? pic.twitter.com/lNEppP9DTo
— SNY (@SNYtv) July 27, 2019
He’d also depart a winner because the Mets offense hit the long ball, and the bullpen continued their best stretch of the season.
Jeff McNeil gave the Mets the lead with a three run homer in the third which just cleared the right field wall. Todd Frazier hit a solo shit in the fifth, and Wilson Ramos and Pete Alonso hit solo shots in the sixth. That accounted for the Mets six runs.
From the bullpen front, Luis Avilan continued his strong stretch getting Wheeler out of his sixth inning jam. With Edwin Diaz getting hit on the foot yesterday, it was Robert Gsellman and Justin Wilson setting up for Seth Lugo who recorded his first save of the year and fourth of his career.
Overall, however, tonight was about Wheeler. He earned his 40th win as a Met. Who knows which uniform he’ll be wearing for his 41st win.
Game Notes: Amed Rosario made his first error since June 28. Alonso misplayed his throw going into foul territory and losing his glove trying to get the ball. Later in the game, Alonso dropped a foul pop up.
The Mets took two out of three against the Padres. It is something which should have further propelled them into the Wild Card race. However, after losing three out of four to the Giants, it matters little. Of course, with all things Mets right now, it’s the off the field stuff which really matters.
1. Take all the pitchers across Major League history. I may just take Jacob deGrom in a daytime start over all of them.
2. In 2020, deGrom and Noah Syndergaard should be the best 1-2 punch in baseball, but they won’t be because the Mets are grossly incompetent, and they will look to trade Syndergaard for well under value. What’s humorous about that is the smartest teams in baseball are lining up begging the Mets to be stupid and trade him.
3. The amount of Mets fans who are happy to see Syndergaard traded and can’t recognize the greatness of a top 20 FIP pitcher in a down year is bizarre. Hopefully, these people enjoy watching Walker Lockett pitch every fifth day next year.
4. After the fiasco of trading Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn to the Mariners, you would think the Mets would refrain from making bold moves with young talent. But no, they’re going to do something stupid again.
5. Speaking of that trade, Robinson Cano had a three home run game snapping a 3-for-21 stretch. After the game, he would go 1-for-5. These good moments are fleeting.
6. This is a New York baseball franchise, and they are talking about Syndergaard and Zack Wheeler as an either/or proposition and not a as locking up both to win now and in the future. It is emabarassing Major League Baseball allows this to continue especially with the Wilpons pocketing the insurance proceeds from Yoenis Cespedes and David Wright and leveraging the Mets/SNY to keep themselves personally solvent and invest in the Overwatch League.
7. Dominic Smith had a very bad day in left field during Syndergaard’s start. That’s two poor days in the past week. The only conclusion we should draw from this was he’s inexperienced and the Mets decision not to give him time to prepare to be the left fielder during the offseason, Spring Training, and during the regular season was myopic and stupid.
8. No one knows yet if Smith can be capable in left field, but what we have learned with him is we should never count him out.
9. Another point here is the Mets should stick with Smith for the rest of the year as there are no other options on the roster at least until Brandon Nimmo returns. Of course, that assumes he can return at some point this year. Considering his injury and how poorly the Mets handled it, that’s not a safe assumption.
10. Pete Alonso has had a difficult time after the All-Star Break hitting just .125/.333/.350. He’s falling into the same bad habits pulling the ball and striking out which led to his not getting called up at the end of last year. His defense is also slipping of late.
11. It is way too soon to be concerned about Alonso. After all, he followed a bad May with a great June. On the front, we should only caution we do not know where he true talent level lies at the Major League level or what type of player he will be with teams making adjustments pitching to him.
12. The only untouchable players in trades should be deGrom, Syndergaard, and Jeff McNeil. They are the only three players without a suitable replacement for what they do, and the Mets depth chart does not allow them to easily replace them on the roster.
13. With every passing day, the thing which becomes most clear is the Mets need a center fielder. Looking forward, there isn’t going to be one on the free agent market, so before people go up in arms about being willing to trade Alonso, they should first ask themselves the following questions: (1) How do you propose you get a center fielder? (2) Is this team better as is, or would they be better with Smith at first and really good center fielder?
14. Alonso needs to pick it up because he is in danger of getting passed in the Rookie of the Year competition. Recently, Fernando Tatis Jr. has narrowed the WAR gap, and he is surging.
15. Why are the Mets surprised on the lack of interest in Todd Frazier? In addition to him struggling in July, the teams in contention are fairly set at third, and we know the Mets don’t eat money to help facilitate deals or to get better returns.
16. Somewhere M. Donald Grant is laughing while watching Brodie Van Wagenen and Jeff Wilpon make a mockery of this proud franchise. Seriously, this combination may be worse than Grant, and Grant is the person who facilitated the Tom Seaver trade and the Midnight Massacre.
17. Michael Conforto has arguably been the Mets best hitter in the second half which should come as no surprise as he’s a very good hitter. Mets fans really don’t appreciate just how good a player he is.
18. Even with Juan Lagares going 2-for-4 yesterday, he looks done as a baseball player. If so, that’s a sad end to not just an exciting player to watch, but a real hard worker who busted it everyday. Hopefully, this is a one year blip, and he lands on his feet somewhere next year.
19. The Mets have a very talented young core with no hope of winning this year and really the next few years. This is the worst place to be a franchise, and it is a terrible spot to be in as a fan. Again, the Wilpons are incompetent owners, and they put an agent in charge instead of Chaim Bloom. I really don’t know what fans did to deserve this level of incompetence.
20. It’s funny how the Mets are now considering trading Edwin Diaz. Doing so would be to hit the reset button on a terrible trade. An even better idea would be to hit the reset button on a terrible hire and replace Van Wagenen with a capable General Manager.
With the Mets talking about letting the same GM who thought it was a bright idea to trade Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn for Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz trade Noah Syndergaard at the trade deadline, now is a good time to revisit the Midnight Massacre. Do you remember the players the Mets acquired that day? Good luck!
Tom Seaver Dave Kingman Pat Zachry Steve Henderson Doug Flynn Bobby Valentine Joel Youngblood Mike Phillips Dan Norman Paul Siebert
Jacob deGrom is a great pitcher, perhaps the best there is in all of baseball. When he pitches during the day, there isn’t anyone better. It’s only slightly hyperbole to say you’d take deGrom in the daytime over pitchers like Tom Seaver, Pedro Martinez, or Christy Mathewson.
Today, deGrom pitched like daytime deGrom allowing just four hits over seven scoreless innings while walking one and striking out nine. Really, he was just toying with the Padres.
⚠️ Caution ⚠️
Batter's box may be slippery when de? is on the mound. pic.twitter.com/kvSMNSjgnZ
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 25, 2019
No Padre would reach third. His season ERA is down to 2.86, and he’s pitching like a guy who is getting momentum towards real Cy Young considerations
In what was a pleasant surprise, he’d get some help. Juan Lagares was able to recover from misreading an Eric Hosmer sixth inning liner to catch the ball and keep the Padres off the board. We’d also see a terrific defensive play from an improving Amed Rosario:
.@Amed_Rosario having himself a day with the glove. ??? pic.twitter.com/jH9w80Xjzw
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 25, 2019
More than that, deGrom would get some rare run support with the Mets jumping all over Eric Lauer in a four run first which was capped off by a Todd Frazier two RBI double and a Michael Conforto RBI single against the shift.
After that Conforto RBI single, the Mets stranded 14 runners on base. That included not scoring runners from scoring position in the second, third, sixth, seventh, and eighth. In the latter two, the Mets left the bases loaded.
Those four runs held up because deGrom was brilliant, Seth Lugo was Seth Lugo, and Luis Avilan pitched a scoreless ninth.
Originally, it was Edwin Diaz in the ninth, but he was hit hard by a Manny Machado liner, and as a result, the Mets played it safe and lifted him from the game.
If the Mets took care of business in San Francisco, there would be real room for excitement in taking two of three from the Padres. Instead, we can just marvel at deGrom’s greatness.
Game Notes: Pete Alonso is struggling out of the break hitting .125. This will certainly cue the Home Run Derby curse takes.
Last night, Dominic Smith had two errors in the third inning which led to what would prove to be the Padres game winning rally. Later in the game, Smith would have a misplay which would not be charged as an error. When you add in his letting a ball drop with Amed Rosario running towards him, a play which happened to both of them last year, Smith has not been good in left field recently.
As a result, Mets fans have begun again talking about how he is not a left fielder and that the team needs to trade him this offseason. The calls to get him out of the outfield and off the team are partially the result of Smith having a down July hitting just .170/.188/.340 albeit with a .171 BABIP.
Calls to remove him from the outfield and to get Smith off the team are a complete and utter overreaction to a rough stretch, and they need to stop. In fact, with all Smith has gone through in his career to get to this point, you would think at some point Mets fans would give him a break and just believe in him.
No, Smith has not been good in the field. However, even with those struggles, he is just a -2 DRS, and he is a week removed from being a 1 DRS. He also only has 307.0 Major League innings in the outfield and just 837.0 innings as a professional. Of note, Smith has never had an offseason or Spring Training to really work on the position. Because of the way the Mets are perpetually run, it has always been on the fly.
The point being here is no one can really tell you if Smith is really capable of being an everyday left fielder or not. It remains very possible he isn’t. It also remains possible he could be. After all, even when accounting for his poor play, he is still not a butcher out there. Certainly not anywhere near the level Todd Hundley, Daniel Murphy, and Lucas Duda were before him.
We should also note even with this recent cold streak, Smith is still hitting .283/.358/.514 (132 wRC+) on the season. That makes him the Mets third best hitter this year. If he had enough plate appearances to qualify, that would be enough to rank as the 27th best hitting outfielder in the majors. Put another way, he has the bat to play out there. The question is if he can play well enough defensively.
The answer to that question is we don’t know yet. As noted he has well less than a full season’s worth of experience in the outfield over the course of his entire professional career. It is possible with a full offseason and Spring Training to prepare he would be adequate to good out there. Maybe he will never be, but we should never make snap judgments about his ability.
After all, when Smith struggled over parts of his first two Major League seasons, people made snap judgments he was never going to be any good. With him getting his sleep apnea treated and having real time to put in the work this offseason, he has proven everyone wrong. For those who doubt him, they should allow Smith to prove them wrong again.
What can you say about this team anymore?
Dominic Smith really struggled in the field. He made two errors in the third, one fielding and one throwing, leading to an unearned run. He had a misplay later in the game, but it was effectively over by then.
Robinson Cano followed his three home run game with an 0-for-4. But hey, he had an RBI groundout, so he’s still back. Right?
Noah Syndergaard was good, but he was abandoned by the defense and the offense. He should have pulled out a win, but he took the loss after allowing three earned over seven. Of course, he didn’t help by walking five.
Jeurys Familia blew up in the eighth and couldn’t keep it close.
Michael Conforto was the only Met with a two hit game. He drove in the first run and scored the other. He’d also failed to drive home a run with the bases loaded in the seventh.
Of course, that led to fans criticizing him. They also demanded the Smith outfield “experiment” end. This is all complete overreaction to struggles from very talented players. It’s also bizarre there is a call for less Smith and more J.D. Davis and Juan Lagares.
You could call tonight’s 7-2 loss a missed opportunity, but who are we kidding? We’ve seen a facsimile of this game several times this year. We’ll see it a dozen or so more times. This was just a microcosm why the Mets have been a bad team.
Game Notes: This was the four year anniversary of Conforto’s MLB debut and the one year anniversary of Jeff McNeil‘s.
When it comes to the New York Mets ownership under the Wilpons, one thing which becomes increasingly clear is just how little they think of their fanbase. When Citi Field was built, it was an over-the-top tribute to the Brooklyn Dodgers with very little honoring the history of the New York Mets.
The exterior of the ballpark was an homage to Ebbets Field. There was the Jackie Robinson Rotunda but nothing honoring Tom Seaver or other Mets greats. The Mets Hall of Fame was nowhere to be seen. They actually removed Dwight Gooden‘s signature from the wall and invented a lie that there would soon be an autographed wall with signatures from Mets greats. There were also many obstructed views. On that front, the Mets made matters worse:
View from upper deck in right at @CitiField behind new fowl pole ad. ??♂️ #Mets pic.twitter.com/tZBmipgxvX
— Neil Best (@sportswatch) July 23, 2019
Looking at the image, aside from home plate, first base, and a good portion of right field, what you cannot see is the new advertisements added to the foul poles at Citi Field. Here’s another image to show the new minor league park like advertisements the ballpark now has:
Foul poles at Citi Field. #Mets pic.twitter.com/SrL6dCFG1y
— Neil Best (@sportswatch) July 23, 2019
Now, there are many reasons why people would be justifiably angry with these advertisements in the ballpark. On that front, it is beyond amusing to consider one of the reasons purportedly offered for the Mets not wanting to keep Daniel Murphy was his comments on this topic. Perhaps if he offered back part of his contract to advertise on the foul poles, the Mets would have won the 2016 World Series.
Social issues aside, there are other reasons to be annoyed with this. First and foremost, there are now obstructed view seats in the ballpark where there weren’t previously. This means if you bought a ticket for full price to sit in those two areas, you know have an obstructed view seat. Of course, if you go to the Mets website, it should be noted these seats are not designated as obstructed view nor are they discounted to reflect their new status.
After all, if that was done, this could not be as effective a money grab as the Wilpons wanted this to be.
Another factor not discussed is the orange foul poles were uniquely Mets. They are the only team in baseball with foul poles which were not yellow. Even with all the Brooklyn Dodger nonsense around Citi Field, the Wilpons actually kept the orange foul poles keeping something uniquely Mets in their new home. To some Mets fans, those foul poles are iconic. Now? Well, their effect is as obstructed as the views which are now being blocked.
These foul poles are another cash grab much like putting an Amway office in Citi Field was. Like that Amway office, this is another way the Mets have actively tried to make themselves a joke at the promise of another dollar. Already, people are rushing to make the joke that neither Chick-fil-A or the Mets work on Sunday. While the Mets go out of their way to make themselves a laughingstock, sorry more of a laughingstock, like the David Wright and Yoenis Cespedes insurance proceeds, this is another buck which the Wilpons will pocket and not reinvest in the team.
Overall, the Chick-fil-A foul poles represent everything wrong with the Mets under the Wilpons stewardship, so in the end, the new foul poles are perhaps more fitting that originally contemplated.