Day Game So Mets Lost

Today’s Mets game was scheduled at 12:10 because it was Camp Day at Citi Field.  Apparently, the Mets aren’t much interested in generating new baseball fans because the team played one of their typical dreary day games.  With today’s loss, the Mets are now an MLB worst 10-23 in day games.

This loss was one of the worst.  It wasn’t the worst because the Mets were blown out.  The 5-1 score dictate otherwise.  Rather, it was a dreary day when the Mets gave you very little reason to cheer.

Rangers starter Martin Perez allowed just three hits over eight innings to the Mets with Wilmer Flores fifth inning homer being the lone run scored.  Perez was so good on the mound that he was able to stick around long enough to earn a golden sombrero.

One pitcher who did not last very long was Rafael Montero.  His good stretch of pitching is now long forgotten, and he’s back to being the very bad pitcher that would drive Mets fans crazy.  Just to put it in perspective, the first run of the game scored on a Montero balk, and he followed that up by allowing a three run homer to Joey Gallo, who has just worn out the Mets in this short two game series.

The run in the second inning was maddening.  Elvis Andrus would steal consecutive bases off of the combination of Montero and Rene Rivera, and then he would score just ahead of Jose Reyes‘ throw home.  It was a bad job blocking the plate by Rivera.  The only thing worse than that was Collins failure to challenge the play at second on the first stolen base.  Replays would show Andrus was actually out.

Montero’s final line would be 3.0 innings, five hits, four runs, four earned, three walks, and five strikeouts.

From there, Terry Collins played his favorite stretch everyone out in the bullpen game.  Josh Smoker would pitch two innings, but he couldn’t get through that third.  He would load the bases with no outs.  Hansel Robles came on, walked a batter, got out of the jam, and he would pitch three innings.  This for a reliever that just said he couldn’t feel his fingers the other day.

Chasen Bradford pitched a scoreless ninth to at least give the Mets a chance to win the game in the ninth.  They didn’t.

Really, the one highlight other than Flores’ homer was Amed Rosario making a terrific diving play:

We are now at the point where Rosario and Michael Conforto are really the other two reasons to watch this team.  Hopefully, the Mets will call-up Dominic Smith to give us a third reason.

GAME NOTES: Neil Walker started the game at third base making him the 164th third baseman in Mets history.

The 2017 Matt Harvey Mistake

Before yesterday’s game, Matt Harvey threw from the mound for the first time in what could have been the first step towards a rehab assignment.  In fact, after the session, Harvey said, “I’m on track to get back hopefully pretty soon.”  (Anthony DiComo, MLB.com).

Of course, Harvey is in this position because he was put on the disabled list with a stress injury to his right scapula.  While we cannot state anything with certainty, there is the distinct possibility the stress injury was the result of the muscles in Harvey’s shoulder being roughly half the size of the muscles in his left shoulder.  This could stem from the fact Harvey had surgery to alleviate the effects of Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS), and he was unable to have his typical offseason workouts.

It should be pointed out that Harvey was not expected to be full strength in May.  As Pitching Coach Dan Warthen said, “History says with that surgery that it’s 10 months out.  That’s when you really start to feel strong. Generally when you open a season you gain two miles per hour. If he’s playing at 94, 95, it’s a completely different story.”  (Mike Puma, New York Post).

Harvey was a different pitcher to start the season.  He wasn’t just sitting at a lower velocity, but he was also unable to strike batters out.  He tired as the season progressed to the point where he wasn’t even hitting 90 MPH anymore.  It was at that point everyone had to face the truth – something was wrong.

However, that something wrong began in the offseason.  The Mets knew Harvey wasn’t going to be at full strength, and they put him in the Opening Day rotation anyway.  They did it because Steven Matz and Seth Lugo had injury issues.  He was put in the rotation because the Mets refused to add a veteran depth to the rotation to protect against a rotation with a number of injury issues heading into the season.   Frankly, Harvey was in the rotation because he pushed for it, and there was no one standing in his path telling him it was a bad idea.

There was no repeat of the 2015 Scott Boras controversy.  The Mets were unwilling to sit back and wait to do what was best for Harvey and really for the team.  Harvey being the competitor he is wasn’t willing to wait.

In the end, the Mets got 13 starts from Harvey, and he went 4-3 with a 5.25 ERA, 1.450 WHIP, and a 6.9 K/9.  That’s not Harvey.

Overall, the Mets pushed Harvey forward because they didn’t want to wait for him to be 100%.  Harvey pushed because he was a competitor.  In the end, it became a forgettable season for both parties.  Hopefully, they both learned from this season, and they will be smarter going forward.  However, based upon past history, it is unlikely to happen.

 

Mets Straight Flexen

After two straight tough starts to begin his career, Chris Flexen finally had that magical major league experience every organization’s young top prospect envisions they’ll have. 

Staked with a 4-0 lead on the strength of homers hit by Michael ConfortoYoenis Cespedes, and Travis d’Arnaud off Rangers starter A.J. Griffin, Flexen was able to go out there and just focus on getting the batters out. 

Now, it wasn’t always pretty. He did wind up walking three batters. He also came close to hitting a few batters until he finally plunked Rougned Odor in the fourth. With that said, Flexen pitching inside was a welcome change, and it was part of his effectiveness. 

The Rangers wouldn’t score off of him until a Joey Gallo homer to lead-off the fifth. 

Despite the homer in the fifth, Flexen would start the sixth. He would come just short of finishing the inning. If he had, he would’ve doubled the amount of innings he lasted in his first two starts. 

First, it was an Adrian Beltre homer. After a Carlos Gomez two out walk, Terry Collins pulled his young starter and entrusted Erik Goeddel to get the Mets out of the jam. Goeddel would first allow Gallo to hit an RBI double to pull the Rangers to within 4-3 before Goeddel would get out of the inning. 

Flexen’s final line in his first career win was 5.2 innings, four hits, three runs, three earned, three walks, and four strikeouts. In addition to that, Flexen would double in the fifth to collect his first career hit. 

The win would be secured with some good bullpen work from Jerry Blevins and AJ Ramos, who collected his first save in a Mets uniform. 

It also helped Asdrubal Cabrera hit an RBI double scoring Conforto in the seventh to provide an insurance run in the 5-4 victory.  That homer loomed large with the Robinson Chirinos two out homer in the ninth. 

The game certainly earned Flexen another opportunity to start. That’s a good thing when you consider the Mets are stubbornly playing their vets over the young kids. At a minimum, we can see the maturation of Flexen. 

Game Notes: Neil Walker had his first career start at first base. Matt Harvey threw a 25 pitch bullpen before the game. 

Mets Putting Flexen In A Tough Spot

It is interesting when you think about it.  The Mets waited and waited and waited before they would bring up Amed Rosario.  They waited for the Asdrubal Cabrera situation to calm down.  They wanted him to be playing well.  In essence, the Mets wanted the perfect situation to call-up Rosario to put him in the best position to succeed.

The Mets did this despite many believing he was ready.  The Mets were willing to deal with poor defense at shortstop, and perhaps the 2017 to protect him.

The Mets handling of Rosario makes how they are handling Chris Flexen all the more curious.

Unlike Rosario, there was no calls for Flexen to be called-up to the majors.  Even with the injuries, most thought the right call would have been to put Tyler Pill back into the major league rotation.  There was nothing to lose there.  The Mets season was already going nowhere, and Pill had some success in an earlier stint in the Mets rotation.  Instead, the Mets made the bold and perhaps inspired choice to call Flexen up to the majors from Double-A.  It was something the Mets have not done since 2006 with Mike Pelfrey.

Flexen was initially set up for success with him making his debut in San Diego.  Petco Park is a pitcher’s park, and the Padres are not a great team.  Unfortunately, Flexen would struggle, and he would last only three innings.

From there, Flexen took the mound in Coors Field, which was hardly the ideal spot for a any pitcher let alone one whose best pitch is his curveball.  Like he did in San Diego, Flexen struggled, and again, he would last just three innings.  He would depart that game with a blister.

Instead of sending him down after two tough outings, or putting him on the disabled list with the blister, the Mets are going to send Flexen back on the mound.  This time it is against the Texas Rangers.  While it is a down year for the Rangers, they do have veteran hitters like Adrian Beltre who can give a young pitcher fits.  He’s doing this coming off two rough starts and with a blister on his finger.

Who knows?  Maybe this is the best way to test a young pitcher and find out something about him. It’s possible he will be better for the experience.  He could learn what he needs to improve to be able to get outs at this level.  All in all, there’s an argument for made for letting him struggle.  To that end, Flexen has shown poise on the mound despite him not getting results.

However, this all begs the question – if the Mets are so willing to call up Flexen before he was ready and put him in difficult situations, why wouldn’t they do the same with Rosario?

 

Give Us A Reason To Watch

Look, we can all agree the Dodgers are a much better team than the Mets.  There are several reasons why this is the case, and there is another time to re-evaluate how the Mets have gone from beating the Dodgers in the 2015 NLDS to being completely over-matched in a three game series where Clayton Kershaw didn’t even pitch.

Teams have bad series all the time.  Even when the Mets are good, we see clunkers like this from time to time.  However, this series seemed more than that.  This was a team thoroughly out-classed on the field.  It makes you shudder when you consider the Mets had Jacob deGrom and Seth Lugo going.

At this point, it’s time to press the reset button.  We all know the Mets aren’t going to the postseason.  With each passing day, even getting to .500 is a pipe dream.  For what it’s worth, getting to .500 is detrimental.  The Mets need to lose as many games as they can to get the best possible draft pick they can in the 2018 draft.  You want the Mets to be able to go and draft the next Michael Conforto.

No matter what happens, we know the Mets are going to continue to lose a number of games to close out the season.  That’s fine.  We’ve all accepted it.  What we cannot accept is turning on the game and watching a team lose without any purpose whatsoever.

What is the team accomplishing by playing Wilmer Flores and Jay Bruce at first base?  Neither one of them are going to be the first baseman next year.  That job is going to Dominic Smith.  With each game Flores and Bruce play first, and Smith remains in the minors, the Mets have accomplished absolutely nothing.

What does playing Curtis Granderson everyday accomplish?  He’s been a good Met and an even better man.  He’s also accepted a role as the team’s fourth outfielder.  It’s likely he will be gone after the 2017 season.  With each game he plays, you learn nothing about him.  All the while, Brandon Nimmo sits languishing on your bench not even getting at-bats in Triple-A to help him improve as a player.

For that matter, why is Gavin Cecchini in Triple-A?  Do we really need to learn more about Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera?  Isn’t one or two of them likely gone after the season?  If not, aren’t their roles going to be much different in 2018?  Reyes should be firmly on the bench in 2018, and Cabrera has shown he should be at third base.  If that is the case, why isn’t Cecchini playing second base over these two?

Ultimately, you can justify playing any of the aforementioned veterans you want.  Certainly, you want Neil Walker to showcase himself to teams after a lengthy disabled list stint.  However, the aforementioned veterans have already been showcased and teams have passed on them for a variety of reasons.  Playing them everyday serves this Mets team no purposes.  That is unless the Mets are going to have a huge push to celebrate Bruce passing Carlos Beltran and Todd Hundley for the Mets single season home run record like they pushed Reyes winning the Mets first ever batting title.  Note, Reyes’ batting title didn’t exactly draw fans to the park.

Calling up Amed Rosario was a step in the right direction.  Seeing Paul Sewald pitch in some high leverage situations is another step.  Taking a chance on Chris Flexen was inspired.  However, it’s simply not enough.  Sooner or later, Mets fans are going to tune out these games . . . if they haven’t already.

To that end, it’s time to get Smith and Cecchini up here and play them everyday or close to it.  Fans would rather see them work through some growing pains at the major league level than watch Bruce, Cabrera, Granderson, Reyes, and Walker lose in lackluster fashion.

It’s time to turn the page if for no other reason than it’s time to give fans a reason to watch what has become a dreadful team.

Mets, Dodgers, Sunday Night Game, Blowout

The New York Mets were playing on Sunday night.  They were scheduled to play the Los Angeles Dodgers who are currently on a pace to win 115 games.  The question wasn’t whether the Mets would lose.  The question was whether the game would be competitive.

SPOILER ALERT: It wasn’t.

Shocking, I know.

Effectively speaking, this game was over in the first inning.  The shame of it was the Mets initially seemed to get out of that inning unscathed.  Travis d’Arnaud made a strong throw to beat Justin Turner at second.  However, that’s not what happened.  Upon review, Turner made a swim move avoiding the tag.  It would turn out to be one of the three stolen bases on the nigh against d’Arnaud and Steven Matz.

After the play, Matz would give up a walk and three hits giving the Dodgers a 3-0 lead.  It would have been 4-0 except Michael Conforto made a good throw from center to nail Austin Barnes at the plate.   It was a good block of the plate by d’Arnaud.

However, it didn’t matter much.  Hyun-jin Ryu dominated a Mets team that frankly looks disinterested right now.  Over seven innings, he allowed just one hit to d’Arnaud while striking out eight batters over seven innings.  That would be the Mets only hit in the game.

On the other side, Turner would hit a two run homer off Matz, and Josh Smoker would allow a two run shot of his own to Cody Bellinger.  Apparently, Terry Collins doesn’t have access to Baseball Reference because he continues to try to use Smoker to get tough left-handed batters out despite Smoker having reverse splits.

That’s at least better than whatever Matz is doing now.  His last six starts, including tonight, have been absolutely terrible.  His pitching 5.1 inning is a moral victory at this point.  There is something clearly wrong with him whether it is mechanical, mental, or like most of his career, physical.

Because he is now a member of the Mets bullpen, AJ Ramos had to give up a run to make it 8-0. 

In sum, the Mets lost another game to the Dodgers, and they got swept in the season series in which they were not competitive.  This is the first time there has been a season series sweep in this 55 year rivalry.  Isn’t that just the perfect allegory to the 2017 season?  The Dodgers reach new heights while the Mets are irrelevant.

Game Notes: Turner made his old team pay again going 2-4 with three runs, a homer, two RBI, and two stolen bases.  Jay Bruce and Neil Walker sat with some injury issues.  Walker would make a pinch hitting appearance.

Explaining August Trades

With the July 31st trade deadline having coming and gone, the Mets were able to trade Lucas Duda and Addison Reed for a quintet of hard throwing right-handed relief prospects. Unfortunately, the Mets were unable to move other trade assets in Jay Bruce, Asdrubal Cabrera, Curtis Granderson, Neil Walker, or any number of the veterans on the roster who could help a contender.

Now, the trade deadline having passed doesn’t mean those players cannot be traded. Rather, it means those players cannot be traded unless they go through the waiver process. This is why you will see a number of players, even presumably untouchable players like Yoenis Cespedes, start to be put on revocable waivers starting as early as August 1st. All of these players are put through waivers so they can begin to facilitate August trades.

Typically, August trades are presented as being overly complicated. They’re not. In fact, there are three situations wherein a players is traded in August: (1) Player Was Unclaimed; (2) Team Claims Player; or (3) Player Not On 40 Man Roster.

Player Was Unclaimed

When a player is put on waivers, they remain on waivers for 47 hours. Should a player go unclaimed after that time period, that player can be freely traded to any other team during the month. The one caveat here is the player being traded can only be traded for another player who has cleared waivers, a player not on another team’s 40 man roster, or everyone’s favorite, a player to be named later.

Team Claims Player

In the event another team claims a player, there are three things a team can do. First and foremost, a team can revoke the waiver request on that player. In the aforementioned example of Cespedes, if another team were to claim him, the Mets can very simply revoke the request. If and when the Mets do that, Cespedes remains a member of the Mets, and he cannot be traded until the conclusion of the 2017 season.

Now, it is the situation where a player claims a player that things can get complicated. However, the complication is in the explanation more than in how it is handled.

During the the 47 hour time period a player is put on waivers, the other 29 Major League teams have an opportunity to put in a waiver claim. Keep in mind, this is not like a poker table where everyone knows if you pass or not. All teams make the decision ignorant of what the other teams are doing. If a player is claimed off waivers, his team can only trade him to the team that was awarded the waiver claim. That process is determined by waiver priority.

The team that has waiver priority is the team in the same league who has the worst record. For example, if the Pittsburgh Pirates and Arizona Diamondbacks were to put in a waiver claim on Walker, the Pirates would be deemed to have claimed Walker off waivers because their record is worse than the Diamondbacks record.

If no team in the National League claims Walker, then the process is repeated in the American League. Using a similar hypothetical, the Tampa Bay Rays will be deemed to have claimed Walker off waivers over the Cleveland Indians because the Rays record is worse than the Indians.

In a situation where a player is claimed by teams in both leagues, the process first looks at the league and then the record. For example, if the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago White Sox both put in a claim for Walker, the Dodgers will have won the claim because they are a National League team. The fact the Dodgers have the best record in baseball and the White Sox have the worst record in the American League does not come into the equation.

Now, once a team has been awarded the waiver claim, the teams have 48.5 hours to work out a trade. If the teams cannot work out a deal in that time frame, the player returns to his original team, and he cannot be traded for the rest of the season.

The final possibility here is the player is claimed, and his team lets the player go to the new team without looking for anything in return.

Player Not On 40 Man Roster

The aforementioned rules only apply to players not on the 40 man roster. Hypothetically, another team an be interested in a player not on another team’s 40 man roster. For example, a team looking for left-handed relief help could reach out to the Mets about Alberto Baldonado, who has limited left-handed batters to a .222 batting average in Triple-A. As Baldonado is not on the 40 man roster, the Mets can execute this hypothetical trade at any time.

Caveats

These rules only apply to players put on revocable waivers. If a player is placed on irrevocable waivers, once that player is claimed, there are no trade discussions because that player automatically switches teams with the trade.

Another important consideration is once a player is a player can only be put on revocable waivers just once. If a player is put through revocable waivers, gets claimed, and is returned to his original team, that’s it. After that, the player can only be put on irrevocable waivers.

Another important factor is a player with a non-trade clause or 10-and-5 rights can still block a trade to another club. However, while that player can block the trade, they cannot block being moved to another team on a straight waiver claim.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, for the player to be eligible for the postseason, the deal will have to be consummated by August 31st. If a deal is not struck by that date, the player can play on the other team until the end of the regular season, but that player cannot appear on a postseason roster.

 

Mets No Match For Dodgers

Here’s the long story short on the Mets game – the Dodgers are just a much better team. 

The Mets got homers from Conforto, Wilmer Flores and Curtis Granderson in the first to get out to a 3-0 first inning lead. Seth Lugo would no-hit the Dodgers for 4.2 innings. And, yet, the Mets had no hopes of winning this game. 

With a pair of Chris Taylor and Cody Bellinger blasts, the Dodgers tied the game in the sixth. 
Yasiel Puig homered off Paul Sewald to lead off the seventh giving the Dodgers took the lead and didn’t look back. 
In total, the Dodgers hit five homers, including one from Justin Turner, who we should all remember was a player the Mets kicked out the door.

As if things weren’t aggravating enough, Terry Collins found a way to pull Michael Conforto because as we know, if you want to win a game, you pull your best bat from the game. 
Game Notes: Amed Rosario was 0-4 marking this as his first hitless game in the majors. 

Rosario Is Here, Won’t Play Everyday

Lost in all the euphoria of Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson announcing the team will finally promote top prospect Amed Rosario to the majors was his statement that Rosario will not be playing every day:

“Rosario is not going to play every day,’’ Alderson said. “He’s never played that many games in a year.”

Rosario set his career high in games played last year with 120 games split between St. Lucie and Binghamton. In addition to those 120 games, Rosario did make an appearance in the MLB Future’s Game and the Florida State League All Star Game. His career high of 120 games had surpassed his previous high of 105 games played in 2015. That was a 15% jump in games played.

What is notable was when Rosario passed the 105 game mark last season, he didn’t wear down as one might suspect. In fact, Rosario got better. From his 106th game until his 120th game, Rosario hit .403/.456/.548 with four doubles, a triple, a homer, and 11 RBI with five stolen bases.

If Rosario were to have a similar 15% jump that he had from 2015 to 2016, this means Rosario would play in 138 games this season. Before his call-up, Rosario has played in 94 games meaning that he would play in 44 of the Mets remaining 59 games. As the Mets have not set forth a specific construct on Rosario’s playing schedule, it is possible the shortstop may play in more or less games than that.

Certainly, Rosario’s play on the field may dictate exactly how many games he plays to finish out the season. Should he play well, like he did at the end of the 2016 season, it is likely Terry Collins will be more inclined to put his name in the lineup in more games than originally expected. If he struggles, it is possible he will play in fewer games. You could also argue Rosario should stay in the lineup when he struggles so he can work on making the necessary adjustment. Ovearll, the specific amount of games he plays shouldn’t be the issue.

The real objective with Rosario is making him a better player. Yes, part of that is getting on the field and playing. Another aspect is just getting acclimated to the majors and learning from the veterans on the team like Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera. It is about making the adjustments he needs to make to become a better player not just this year, but for his entire career.

Yes, it will be frustrating if you are a Mets fan that rushes out to a game now to see him play only for him to be sitting that day. It will be even more frustrating for the Mets not to do everything in their power to insure Rosario becomes the major league player we all believe he can be.

Rosario Debut Ruined By Darvish And Utley

What could have gone down as a pretty interesting game fell apart. 

Both Jacob deGrom and Amed Rosario picked up their first career stolen bases in the game:

Other than that, there wasn’t much reason to cheer. After Michael Conforto‘s single to lead-off the bottom of the first, the Mets offense would only get two more hits. 

Long story short, Yu Darvish completely dominated the Mets. He pitched seven innings allowing just three hits. If not for the stolen bases, no Met would have made it to scoring position. He only walked one and struck out 10. 

Unfortunately, deGrom could not match zeros with him. It was pretty impossible to do it when Chris Taylor homered to begin the game. 

In total, the Dodgers just wore down deGrom, who would need 99 pitches to get through just five innings. His final line was five innings, five hits, three runs, three earned, three walks, and eight strikeouts. 

Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse with the offense not performing and deGrom struggling, Josh Smoker would throw an ill-advised change-up to Chase Utley

https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/893651237480136704

Just like that, it was 5-0 Dodgers. After scoring a run off Chasen Bradford in the seventh, it was 6-0 Dodgers.  It might as well have been 600-0 at that point. The Mets were overmatched and were not going to do much in this game. 

This game was a solemn reminder of the different directions these two teams have gone since that epic NLDS just two years ago. 

Game Notes: Conforto, Rosario, and deGrom were the only Mets to get a hit in the game. Conforto was the only Met with a multi-hit game.