Mets, Cespedes, And The Difference Between Being Patient And Being Idle

If you look around the free agent landscape, you will see that most Major League teams have yet to make any significant moves.  Even those who have, like the Cardinals, who have obtained Marcell Ozuna, or the Yankees, who obtained Giancarlo Stanton, are still looking to make additional moves to complete their 2018 rosters.

And there are still plenty of real difference makers on the free agent market.  That goes for all positions.  Really, you could build an All Star roster over the players still available:

With all of these players still available, we have begun to hear from different sources how Sandy Alderson has made yet another master stroke.  He is successfully waiting out the market, and as a result, the Mets are bound to get a bargain in free agency.  For proof, we need not look any further than how Alderson signed Yoenis Cespedes in the offseason after the 2015 pennant.

For those that remember, early in that offseason, the Mets had moved on from Cespedes instead signing Alejandro De Aza to take part in a center field platoon with Juan Lagares.  The plan was to go with Curtis GrandersonMichael Cuddyer, and Michael Conforto in the outfield.  From there, things changed rather dramatically.

First, Cuddyer unexpectedly retired.  Perhaps more unexpected than that was no one wanting to give Cespedes a big contract after his terrific run after his getting traded to the Mets.   Part of that was some questions marks that began with his time in Boston.  Another issue was Cespedes being just one huge free agent in a loaded free agent class that included Chris DavisAlex GordonJason Heyward, Justin Upton, and many more.  The other Major League teams chose the other players.

This had left Cespedes as the last major free agent on the board.  While many credited the Mets with sticking it out and getting Cespedes on what was effectively a one year deal, the truth of the matter the team was lucky.  If the Nationals had not deferred much of the money in the 5 year roughly $100 million contract offer they made to Cespedes, it is likely Cespedes would have joined Daniel Murphy on the Nationals.

However, credit is due to the Alderson taking advantage of the situation and getting his man.

If we are being honest with ourselves, that was a bit of a miracle.  It was not a plan that can be emulated.  That goes double for this offseason with so many teams left looking to make moves this offseason.  There are many teams with more money who are looking to fill the same exact holes the Mets are.  The difference between those teams and the Mets is money.

By many accounts, the Mets only have roughly $10 million to spend this offseason.  That is unless they are able to move a contract like Lagares’.  For what it’s worth, if you are a Major League team looking for a center fielder, Cain, Jarrod DysonAustin JacksonCarlos Gomez, and Jon Jay are still available.  Why would you take on Lagares, when you can just sign one of these free agents?

So no, the Mets are not going to free up payroll.  Ultimately, this does not mean the Mets have been patient this offseason.  Instead, the team is being idle.  The key difference between the two is that when you’re patient you’re waiting for something to happen whereas an idle team moves along the offseason hoping for something to happen.

When you have $10 million to spend, are desperately attempting to attach yourselves to a number of rumors to keep the fans happy, and need to add at least five more key players this offseason to be relevant in 2018, you are idle.

Five Mets Pitchers Who Could Benefit From Callaway And Eiland

With the Mets hiring both Mickey Callaway and Dave Eiland coupled with the team possibly only adding Anthony Swarzak to the pitching staff this offseason, it appears much of the hope for the 2018 Mets are tied to the current Mets pitchers improving.  Fortunately, the team has both the right coaching staff in place as well as a talented group of pitchers who underwhelmed last year.  Here are five different pitchers who may take a step forward next season under Callaway’s and Eiland’s tutelage:

Robert Gsellman

After his 2016 stint in the majors, many believed Gsellman would emerge as one of the front-runners for the Rookie of the Year Award.  Instead, he had about as poor a 2017 season as you could imagine with him being ineffective, suffering an injury, and his being dismissive of Sandy Alderson’s critique of his performance.

Looking over his stats last season, none of his pitchers were really working.  That should come as no surprise when opposing batters hit .280/.345/.462 off of him.  Still, as we saw in 2016, this is a pitcher with talent, and he is now working with a coaching staff that helps get a pitcher maximize his talent.

While much has been discussed about Callaway’s focus on the two seamer, fact is he has also successfully worked with sinkers.  As noted by Let’s Go Tribe, Callaway has gotten his sinker ball pitchers to focus less on pounding the sinker and more in mixing their pitches and throwing a more diverse fastball selection.  From that, we have not only seen Corey Kluber emerge as a perennial Cy Young candidate, but we have also seen pitchers like Trevor Bauer and Carlos Correa maximize their talent.

A similar handling of Gsellman, who threw his fastball and sinker 63% of the time last year, could well yield similar results to those pitchers in Cleveland.

Seth Lugo

One thing that was clear from Lugo last year was he struggles the third time through the lineup.  In his brief Major League career, batters have hit .299/.352/.425 during his third time through the lineup.  In that sense, Lugo is not unique as we have seen that happen to other quality pitchers.

However, if utilized properly, Lugo could very well be a very good Major League pitcher.  All that is needed is someone to be forward thinking in how he is handled.

One example of this is Kyle Hendricks.  He historically struggled the third time through the lineup, so his manager Joe Maddon limited the times Hendricks did this, and the result was Hendricks finishing third in Cy Young voting in 2016.

Another avenue to pursue is to make Lugo a reliever.  We have seen Eiland have success converting starters into relievers with his work with pitchers like Luke Hochevar and Wade Davis.  Also, given Callaway’s influence on how the Indians utlizied Andrew Miller, Lugo could become a real weapon in that bullpen.

Hansel Robles

Robles is prone to stretches of both complete dominance and complete ineptitude.  For example, from Opening Day to May 18th, Robles had made 18 appearances going 4-0 with a 1.42 ERA, 1.053 WHIP, and a 9.5 K/9.  During that stretch, opposing batters hit just .169/.295/.277.   After that, he had a three appearance stretch that saw him give up at least four earned in each appearances leading to his demotion to Triple-A where he continued to struggle.

One of the reasons why we see those stretches of dominance from Robles is his stuff. He throws a mid to high 90s fastball with a good mid 80s slider.  What he needs is to learn how to become more consistent.  That could be accomplished with a more defined role, conservative usage, and really, better coaching.

Josh Smoker

Smoker has great stuff.  He combines a mid to high 90s fastball with a devastating split. It’s a large reason why even when things go wrong, the left-handed pitcher struck out 10.9 batters per nine at the major league level.  Aside from the stuff and the good strikeout rate, there were many problems with Smoker.

Smoker had shoulder issues again, likely related to his being overused, and he struggled with left-handed batters, at least until September.  Perhaps most alarming, and possibly a reason for his struggles, Smoker walked 5.6 batters per nine last year.

At this point in his career, Smoker needs someone who can help him better command his stuff.  With Callaway being an exceptional teacher and proponent of the curveball, he could get Smoker to make that pitch a that could be a weapon against left-handed batters.  If so, Smoker can get back to the point where he was entering the 2017 season – a hard throwing reliever with real upside.

Matt Harvey

Look, 2015 is a long way away, and 2013 is even further away than that.  During the last season, we not only saw Harvey broken down physically (again), but we finally saw some cracks in his self confidence.  This wasn’t the Dark Knight anymore.  This was just plain old Matt Harvey.  And we don’t know if Matt Harvey can be an effective Major League pitcher.

What we do know is that he was completely mishandled from the get-go last year.  By Dan Warthen‘s own admission, Harvey was not going to be 100% until May.  Despite that, Harvey was in the Opening Day rotation, and he pitched and pitched until he could pitch no more.  His results were blamed on poor mechanics.

The truth was the muscles in Harvey’s pitching shoulder had atrophied, and he was suffering a stress reaction.  Fact is, he wasn’t ready to go.  Harvey may very well have pushed to pitch, but the Mets never did stand in the way to protect Matt from himself.  Moreover, they never did fix the mechanical issues all parties purported him to have.

With Eiland, the Mets have a pitching coach whose bread and butter is mechanics.  Both Callaway and Eiland pushed the Mets to keep Harvey rather than trade him because they believed in him.  They believed in him because they see something in him that perhaps no one else sees anymore.  With them in place, there are coaches who believe in his talent and know how to get the most out of it.  Whether that happens remains to be seen.

I’m Why The Wilpons Get Away With This

Like many Mets fans, I was irritated about how last offseason was handled. 

They brought back a team who was not good enough to win the Wild Card Game expecting them to both stay healthy and win a World Series. 

As we know, it all fell apart. That’s what happens when Jacob deGrom and Jerry Blevins were the only two players to last the full season on the roster without hitting the Disabled List. 

The Mets postseason chances ended in injuries culminating in a 70-92 record. 

Even better, Sandy Alderson completely botched the fire sale. The Mets traded Jay Bruce, Lucas DudaCurtis Granderson, Addison Reed, and Neil Walker for a group of Minor League right-handed relieves. Oh, and sweet, sweet salary relief. 

The plan of action would’ve been acceptable had the team opted to reinvest that money in the team. Well, not only did the Mets opt not to reinvest that money, they decided to hold onto more of it. 

That’s right. Despite a good core that includes Noah SyndergaardMichael Conforto, and Amed Rosario, the Mets are refusing to spend what is needed to get this team to .500 let alone the postseason. 

How do I respond to this?


Yup, I got a knit Mets hat for my newborn son. Apparently, despite everything, I want him to be a Mets fan just like my entire family. 

I know why. It’s because if the shared experiences. I want to be able to enjoy the rare times the Mets are relevant with my sons. 

I want to go to games with them and tell them I got to see players like Mike PiazzaDavid Wright, and Carlos Beltran. I want to celebrate the Mets next World Series title with them. 

Hell, I’d love to do that with my Dad as well. However, with the way this team is being operated from a financial and personnel standpoint, it seems like that’s becoming less and less of a possibility. 

Sadly, the Wilpons don’t care about my story or other fans stories. They don’t have to because they’re making money anyway. They don’t have to because fans like me keep coming back for more, and even worse, we begin the process of indoctrinating our children at a young age. 

So yes, I’m to blame why the Wilpons get away with operating the Mets this way. However, only the Wilpons themselves are to blame for choosing to operate the team this way. 

Mets Interested In Having A Great Team

If you’ve been paying attention, the Mets seem to be interested in everyone this offseason. If you take those players they’re interested in, you’d have an amazing roster:

C Travis d’Arnaud

1B Todd Frazier

2B Neil Walker

3B Mike Moustakas

SS Amed Rosario

LF Yoenis Cespedes

CF Lorenzo Cain

RF Michael Conforto

Bench Kevin Plawecki, Asdrubal Cabrera, Wilmer Flores, Juan Lagares, Brandon Nimmo

Rotation: Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler

Bullpen: Jeurys Familia, Anthony Swarzak, AJ Ramos, Jerry Blevins, Hansel Robles, Seth Lugo, Paul Sewald

Sure, we are all disappointed the Mets lost out on that bidding war for Carlos Santana and Bryan Shaw, but this is still a terrific roster that required the Mets to open up their pockets to build. 

Throw in Mickey Callaway and Dave Eiland, and you can believe in that pitching staff. And as we saw in 2015, if the pitching is up to snuff, this team can go to the World Series. 

Wait, you don’t believe any of this is going to happen?

Trivia Friday – Players Mets Signed In 2017

If you think the Mets were inactive last year, well, you were right.  In total, the Mets only signed four players to major league deals with just two of those players coming from outside the organization.  Can you name all four players the Mets signed to a major league deal in all of 2017?  Good luck!


Jerry Blevins Fernando Salas Nori Aoki Anthony Swarzak

On The Mets And Eric Hosmer

One of the more polarizing free agents this offseason is Eric Hosmer.  The main reason why is he just looks like a better player than he actually is. 

For that, look no further than his Gold Gloves. In four of the last five seasons, he has taken home a Gold Glove despite posting a cumulative -6 DRS over that stretch with his posting a -6 and -7 DRS over the last two seasons. 

Offensively, over the last three years, he has averaged 159 G, .294/.359/.463, 29 2B, 23 HR, 97 RBI. Pretty good looking numbers, but those numbers translate to a 119 OPS+, 120 wRC+. 

For this some teams, including the Royals and possibly the Padres, are willing to pay him over $20 million a year for seven years. That’s a gross overpay for a player who is averaging a 2.9 bWAR and 2.5 fWAR during the prime of his career. 

Now, there are some plausible reasons why you could say he’s more than the numbers say he is. By all accounts, he’s a leader and a tremendous clubhouse presence. The man seemingly does everything it takes to win. 

My personal favorite is when his GM Dayton Moore said, “”If you told Eric Hosmer, ‘We need you to hit 40 home runs,’ he would be able to hit 40 home runs. He’s that type of athlete.”  (WEEI). 

Basically, all you need to do is to tell Hosmer to do something, and he’ll do it. Whatever it takes to win, except hitting 40 homers because he doesn’t need to do that to win. What he will do is make the mad dash home Alex Gordon didn’t the prior year and scoring a run as Lucas Duda‘s throw went nowhere near home. 

That brings us to the Mets. 

There’s no doubt the Mets could very well use a player like Hosmer in the clubhouse. There’s value in adding a winner, and there’s more value in adding a headsmart player on a young team. 

The first problem with considering Hosmer, which the Mets purportedly aren’t, is Dominic Smith

The young first baseman was a well regarded prospect who struggled in his debut. This led the Mets to tell everyone who will listen they’ve soured on Smith. They soured on him so much they began the offseason listing first base as a need. 

It was more than a short-term consideration. The team did inquire on Carlos Santana as the Mets viewed him as a “difference maker.”

Apparently, he wasn’t enough of a difference maker to garner $20 million a year. Although, that may have more to do with the Mets not having $20 million to spend this offseason. 

Therein lies the problem. We’ll never truly know how much of an impact a player like Hosmer would have on the Mets. We don’t get to see the blending of new and old school and how they work together to build a winner. 

In fact, the way the Mets offseason is transpiring, you’d be hard pressed to argue this team is really looking to build a winner for 2018 or beyond. 

That leaves Mets fans watching Hosmer dashing for a chance to win again while we all look on in horror. 

METS BREAKING NEWS

They’re doing nothing this offseason, but everyone already knew that. 

Johan Santana Isn’t Koufax Or a Hall of Famer

Baseball can be cruel. For proof of that you need look no further than  Johan Santana

If two or three things reasonably happened, he’s a Hall of Famer instead of his teetering around the 5% thereby forever falling off the ballot. 

The biggest issue is his shoulder injury that ended his career. 

In 2012, it seemed like he was back. Through 11 starts, he was 3-2 with a 2.38 ERA, 1.029 WHIP, 9.0 K/9, and a no-hitter under his belt. 

After that no-hitter, his effectiveness waned, and his shoulder issues reemerged. Although he’s tried to comeback, it hasn’t happened. 

Now, he’s on the Hall of Fame ballot with the hopes that people will look at him as his generation’s Sandy Koufax

For the uninitiated, Koufax was elected into the Hall of Fame largely because voters completely disregarded the first seven years if his career and instead focused on the five brilliant years to end his career. 

During that five year stretch, Koufax’s average season was 22-7, 1.95 ERA, 0.926 WHIP, and a 9.4 K/9. He’d win three Cy Youngs with a 167 ERA+ and 2.00 FIP. To put it succinctly, he was great. 

So great, that he amassed 46.6 of his 53.2 WAR. Again, the first seven years of his career weren’t great. 

Like Koufax, Santana got off to a slow start to his career. This was partially due to his being a 21 year old Rule 5 pick who went straight from Single-A to the majors. 

It took two years for Santana to figure things out and five before he would find his dominant form. Like Koufax, when he found it, he was probably the best pitcher in the game. 

In his own five year stretch (2004 – 2008), Santana’s average season was 17-8, 2.82 ERA, 1.022 WHIP, and a 9.3 K/9. He’d win two Cy Young Awards while amassing a 157 ERA+ and a 3.21 FIP. 

Santana would amass 35.4 out of his 51.4 career WAR during that stretch. 

Now, Santana did accumulate more career WAR, but his period of domination did fall well short of Koufax. 

It’s noteworthy that Koufax and Santana fell short of typical Hall of Fame standards. 

As published on Baseball Reference, the average Hall of Fame pitcher amassed a 73.9 WAR, 50.3 WAR7, and a 62.1 JAWS. Again, Koufax and Santana fall short of this:

  • Koufax 49.0/46.1/47.5
  • Santana 51.4/44.8/48.1

Looking at these numbers, Koufax and Santana are close, really close. Still, there are two major distinctions between the two. 

The first has already been discussed at length with Koufax’s five year peak being better than Santana’s. 

The next is the postseason.  In Koufax’s postseason career, he won two World Series MVP Awards. Overall, he made seven starts and one relief appearance going 4-3 with a 0.95 ERA, 0.825 WHIP, and a 9.6 K/9. 

Conversely, Santana struggled in his 11 postseason appearances (five starts). Overall, he was 1-3 with a 3.97 ERA, 1.324 WHIP, and an 8.5 K/9. 

No, Santana should’ve be punished for relatively poor postseasons. However, when your numbers fall short, you need something else, like great postseasons, to put you over the top. 

Is that what put Koufax in?  Partially. 

Koufax always had narrative working for him. He didn’t start Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it conflicted with Yom Kippur. Koufax would still pitch three games in that series going 2-1 with a 0.38 ERA winning Game 7 with a complete game three hit shutout. He did that on just two days rest. 

Koufax was also brilliant in 1966, winning a Cy Young in his final season. He’d go out on top with voters remembering him at his best. 

Santana left us broken. In his final five starts, he was 0-5 with a 15.63 ERA. He’s spent the past few years trying to get back into baseball. Overall, we remember him broken and a shadow of what he was. 

In the end, Santana was great, and if things broke right, he’d be a Hall of Famer. Sadly, it didn’t happen, and with his peak not being what Koufax’s was, it’s difficult to argue he truly belongs in the Hall of Fame. 

New Year’s Resolution: Take Photos of Your Kids Everyday

Each and every year, we all set forth New Year’s Resolutions, and they all fail miserably.  In fact, according to Business Insider, 80% of resolutions fail by February.

There are a multitude of reasons why, but for the most part, they fail because we all know we are biting off more than we can chew in making these resolutions.  It’s difficult to take a bad habit or something wrong and put all that pressure on ourselves and change it overnight.

So instead of making the same resolutions you use each year and watch them fail, we should all look to make an easier resolution.  That resolution should be to take a photo of your children each and every day.

Look, we are always on our phones and those phones have cameras on them.  Why not take an opportunity and just take a picture of your child?

On a personal front, I have taken at least one photo of my son everyday since he was born.  He’s now four.  As Christmas comes along, I go on Snapfish, and I create a photo calendar of just pictures of him. Each and every day is literally a snapshot of my son from that particular day.

It’s not all set pictures.  I wait for moments.  Working hard trying to write – Take a picture.  Reading a book – Take a picture.  Soccer or ice skating – Take a picture.  Cute expression watching TV or sleeping – Take a picture.

Point is there is something our kids do each and every day that is more than worthy of capturing for posterity’s sake.

Personally, I get the joy of scrolling through a year’s worth of pictures.  I get to see how he’s grown, and how much he has changed over the past year.  With that, I’m able to create a gift for my family that everyone loves.

If you’re reading this, you’re likely doing it from your phone.  If so, just take a quick picture of your kid.  Make it a habit.  Save the photos.  Load it to Snapfish.  Enjoy it forever.

In the end, you’ll have a New Year’s Resolution well worth keeping, and one that is fairly easy to keep.

2017 Get Someone Signed (Auld Lang Syne)

Should old Mets be forgot,
And no more free agents signed!
Should free agents be forgot,
And only Anthony Swarzak signed!

For no one’s signed next year
For no one signed,
We’ll take a new free agent Met
Get someone signed!