If you’ve worked anywhere, and a new boss comes in, you know they want to immediately set new things in place. They want to leave their mark. It doesn’t matter if the changes are needed or wanted. When Commissioner Rob Manfred took the helm, he set forth to improve the pace of play and average game times.
We can discuss whether the changes and/or enforcing of rules already in place was a good thing. We can debate if the changes had a noticeable impact. We can even argue if this was even necessary. That is all besides the point. What is clear, however, is that is something that the Commissioner wanted to improve.
To me, this is why the “momentum” towards adding the DH in the NL doesn’t make sense. Let’s start with the subjective. At a minimum, for innings 1-5, a National League pitcher will normally get at least two at bats. When a pitcher comes up to bat, you normally see an out. This out may be the result of the pitcher being a poor hitter. The out may be as a result of the pitcher going up there to sacrifice bunt. Regardless, the pitcher is typically a quick out. When there are quick outs, you move the game along more quickly.
Now, this quick out that helps move the game along and arguably helps improve the pace of play is replaced with a DH. As structured a DH is not an easy out. They’re typical a better hitter than the pitcher who wins the Silver Slugger. This year it was Madison Bumgarner, who hit .247/.275/.468 with five homers and 9 RBI. That’s an outlier, where you are blown over by that pitcher’s hitting stats. If you got that from a position player or a DH, you’d be screaming for them to be benched, like Evan Gattis, who hit .246/.285/.463. Side note, what was A.J. Hinch thinking last year making Gattis the DH for 136 regular season games and all six postseason games?
While it’s noteworthy that the worst DH was a better hitter than the best hitting pitcher, it’s not a complete analysis. Given that I live in the New York market, I predominantly see the Mets and Yankees play. As you may guess, I watch a lot more Mets games. In any event, in New York, the best hitting pitcher is Jacob de Grom, who hit .186/.226/.203. The Yankees normal DH was a guy you might have heard of who goes by the name Alex Rodriguez. Last year, A-Rod hit .250/.356/.486. That’s a massive difference. With A-Rod getting on base much more frequently over the position he’s replacing, the game should be longer.
However, is that necessarily true? We can think it makes the games longer, but that does not make it necessarily true. Well, it turns out AL games are typically longer than NL games. In 2014, AL games were about four minutes longer than NL games. Admittedly, four minutes may not seem like much time. However, MLB put measures in place to reduce game times, and the net result was six less minutes per game. Say what you want with respect to this, but it’s a start.
In all fairness, it does appear that the pace of play initiative had a more profound impact on the AL. The split between the NL and AL is now approximately one minute. With that said, NL games are still shorter. I’m still interested to see if: (1) MLB will continue this initiative; and (2) what the further impact this initiative has on both leagues.
However, the main point is MLB wants to shorten games. If the DH is introduced into the NL, game times will lengthen. These two concepts do not jive. As such, if MLB wants to reduce game times, it should keep the DH out of the National League.
Editor’s Note: this is the first in a series on the possibility of the NL adding the DH.
As we have seen throughout their history, the media has had a profound impact on the Mets. We first saw it with Dick Young’s columns leading to Tom Seaver demanding a trade. There were the days of Mike and the Mad Dog bringing Mike Piazza to the Mets. Dick Young has since passed, Mad Dog Chris Russo is on Sirius XM, and Mike Francesca has announced he’s leaving WFAN in 2017.
It appears the torch has already been passed to Mike Vaccaro. If you’re asking who Mike Vaccaro is right now, newspapers are in bigger trouble than advertised. With that said, Mike Vaccaro is the preeminent sports columnist in New York. A July column of his secured his place amongst the greats.
Back in July 2015, Mets fans were subjected to Eric Campbell and John Mayberry, Jr. hitting the in the middle of the lineup. Mets fans were clamoring for a trade. Sandy Alderson mocked Mets fans referring to New York as “Panic City.” Mike Vaccaro called it what it really was, “Malpractice.”
He kept the heat on up until the trade deadline. He questioned if the front office was a fraud. He called the lineup an indictment of Sandy Alderson. He called the Mets willfully ignorant. He said the Mets were not committed to making the team better. He kept the heat on the Mets. He wasn’t saying anything different than every Mets fan was at the time. It’s one thing for Mets fans to hoot and holler on Twitter. It’s another thing for a respected columnist to say it.
The Mets began a relative flurry of trades before the non-waiver trade deadline acquiring Tyler Clippard, Kelly Johnson, Juan Uribe, and Yoenis Cespedes. Whether you thought the trades were good, bad, or ugly, this series of trades changed the narrative about the Mets. I’m sure a number of factors went into those decisions, but I’ll never discount the public pressure. I’ll always appreciate that Mike Vaccaro for being the lead voice. Anytime you have a cause, no matter how relatively insignificant, it’s always beneficial to have a well respected voice leading the way.
By the way, when you were upset with the offseason, so was Mike Vaccaro. He called out the Wilpons for being cheap. Again, he said exactly what you and I were thinking. Again, the public pressure was ratcheted up. Then it happened. The Mets re-signed Yoenis Cespedes. They expanded payroll to make it commensurate with revenues and the market in which they play. In the end, that’s all that Mets fans were asking of ownership.
We can all parse through who gets credit for all of this, and I’m sure there’s enough credit to spread around to everyone. However, I don’t think anything resonated quite like the Malpractice column. At least to me, it was a seminal moment.
A large part of Dick Young’s legacy was his columns which caused Seaver to demand a trade. With it came some awful baseball and an empty Shea Stadium. Part of Mike Francesca’s legacy was the Mike Piazza trade, and by extension, Piazza entering the Hall of Fame as a Met. Right now, part of Mike Vaccaro’s legacy is Yoenis Cespedes being a Met. The rest of that story is yet to be written. When it is written by Mike Vaccaro, it will be a must read.
In any event, Yoenis Cespedes is still a Met, and for that, I say, “Thank you Mike Vaccaro.”
There are a few things I pride myself on. One of them is that I’m always prepared. I’m that guy you hate because my Christmas shopping is done before Black Friday. I’ve found that to be more difficult with a son. When this snowstorm came, I was completely unprepared.
To put things is perspective, this was the second big snowstorm with my son. Last year, he hated it. HATED! Back then, he was still a little guy. At first, he was all excited to run in the snow, but then he got stuck. It went up to his belly. As such, when I heard about this year’s snowfall, the last thing I thought of was him playing in the snow.
The thing of it is a kids love playing in snow. It hit me almost too late. I had to run out Friday during lunch to get a sled. Toys R Us? Sold out. Target? Sold out. Models? Didn’t carry them. Home Depot? Nope. I basically had to go into Dicks and get the only one they had left. I envisioned the type of sled I wanted to get my son, but it wasn’t it. At this point in the game, beggers can’t be choosers.
How’d it go? Well, this year, my son loved the snow. He couldn’t wait to go out and play in it. He got angry with me when I went out to shovel last night because he thought I was playing in the snow without him. This morning I gave him the plastic shovel and let him push it around the driveway. Sure, he messed up a lot of what I already did, but he was so excited to be helping his daddy. It was worth it to have to re-shovel some areas
As for the sledding? He wasn’t as big a fan as I hoped he would be.
He wanted to shovel more. I seriously hope he stays this way forever. First, it would save me the time and effort. Second, it would give him more incentive to go out and earn a few bucks like I did as a kid. I digress. That’s how toddlers are. I’m sure if I started with the sledding, he not have wanted to stop that. It’ll probably be a different story next year.
In any event, when the snow comes, you need more than milk, bread, and eggs. You need to go out early and make sure you get your kid a sled before all the other parents do.
It’s incredible to think Yoenis Cespedes is back with the Mets. Everyone associated with the Mets should be thrilled. Cespedes’ presence on the Mets makes them a better team than the one they had. The question is how much better.
Well, first let’s get some things out of the way. Cespedes will not be as good as he was when he first came to the Mets. He was insanely hot. He hit 17 homers in a less than two months. That’s roughly a 50 homerun pace. He has power, but he’s never shown that much power. Cespedes also isn’t the .150 hitter we saw struggle in the World Series. As with everything else in life, the truth is somewhere inbetween.
Cespedes is a career .271/.319/.486 hitter. In an average season, he hits 30 homers and 103 RBI. His OPS+ is 122. His wRC+ is 121. All of this is to say that while he’s not the hitter he was initially with the Mets, he’s still a very effective slugger. The various projections seem to think he’ll hit a little worse than his career averages next year:
- Marcel: .265/.309/.480 with 26 homers and 88 RBI
- Steamer: .266/.312/.463 with 26 homers and 72 RBI
- ZiPS: .270/.312/.498 with 30 homers and 98 RBI
So, the projection systems, for what they’re worth, see Cespedes’ production dipping slightly in 2016. Part of that could be his first post-30 year old season. Part could be his .236/.302/.491 batting line Cespedes has had at Citi Field. I believe all Mets fans believe the reason should be that these projections are plain wrong and Cespedes will be more like he was in August and September.
The thing is Cespedes is going to have to be that 30+ homerun guy for the Mets. He needs to be that guy not only because the lineup needs another power threat, but also the fact that he needs to makeup for the fact that he’s a poor centerfielder. Remember, he has a career -12.6 UZR and -17 DRS in centerfield. Those are ugly numbers. Numbers which should be somewhat abated by Juan Lagares coming in late as a defensive replacement thereby shifting Cespedes to his natural LF.
So overall, it seems Cespedes will be poor defensively, and he will hit for power. More importantly, with Cespedes the Mets should be projected to win the NL East. Once the Mets get to that point, they have the pitching to win the World Series.
I’m projecting a very fun 2016 ahead.
With snowmaggeddon, or whatever you want to call the same annual big snowstorm we get, it does warm my heart that we are still talking baseball. We’re still talking baseball over two months since the World Series ended.
Usually, I equate snow and baseball with the old Mayor’s Cup games. No, not the original. I wasn’t alive for the majority of those. There was some odd reboot in the early 90’s. Back then there was no Interleague play, so this was it for bragging rights.
In any event, my father brought my brother and me to the game. We also went with my uncle who is a huge Yankee fan. In any event, I might’ve been the coldest I ever was at that game . . . that meaningless awesome game. I remember we my Dad buying those pale blue batting gloves from the concessions for my brother and I. I remember my Dad having to take my brother into the concourse and give him hot chocolate. I don’t remember the score of that game, but I do reminder sitting in my seat through all nine innings. I sat there through the bitter cold and the flurries.
At the end of the day, baseball is awesome no matter the weather. It’s nice to be talking baseball on a cold day with snow on the ground. It’s nice to be excited about Mets baseball. It’s nice to be thinking about baseball when it seems like warm summer nights at Citi Field are seemingly so far away.
This morning my son woke me up early, very early, by sitting on my chest and yelling, “DADDY WAKE UP!” I’m starting to come down sick. Despite all of this, I’m going to have to shovel about a foot of snow. So, how am I feeling this morning?
AWESOME! Yoenis Cespedes re-signed with the Mets. He turned down more money because he wanted to play for the Mets, for us fans. This never happens. Usually, like with Carlos Beltran, the Mets had to be the highest bidder in order to get the player. Again, this never happens.
Furthermore, the Mets spent $27.5 million in the first year to get him. They gave him a no trade clause. They offered him an opt out. His contract is the fifth highest in Mets history and the highest single season salary in Mets history. The Mets made him the second highest paid position player next year. The Mets front-loaded his three year $75 million contract. The Wilpons spent to improve the team.
Right now, there is no reason for any Mets fan to complain. Sure, you can miss players like Daniel Murphy. However, there is no reason to complain if you’re a fan. Alejandro De Aza may feel differently, but I’m pretty sure fans are alright with that.
Today, it doesn’t get any better being a Mets fan. The fans were always all-in, and now the team is all-in as well. Today, as it continuously snows leaving us all trapped inside, the Mets have not had a sunnier outlook. Instead of thinking of shoveling, Mets fans are thinking of watching a World Series favorite playing baseball on warm summer nights.
I’m not putting on my snow clothes to go outside today. No, I’m putting on the same clothes I will be wearing this October in Citi Field. What a great day.
LETS GO METS!
I’m still in shock, but Yoenis Cespedes is returning to the Mets. Better yet, the Mets opened the pocketbook in order to re-sign him. It’s incredible. La Potencia is back in Citi Field.
This is even better because this shouldn’t have happened. It’s been a very bizarre offseason with many of the top free agents remaining unsigned until after the New Year. In any other year, Cespedes would’ve been signed long ago. Teams normally would’ve jumped all over him because he didn’t have a Qualifying Offer attached. The Mets got very lucky.
The Mets were lucky because Cespedes was still on the market. They’re lucky Cespedes turned down bigger offers. They’re lucky he was willing to effectively take a one year deal. They’re just plain lucky.
I’ve seen people saying the Mets played this perfectly. I’ve seen people saying the Mets are owed an apology. This is all nonsense. The Mets signed Alejandro De Aza to platoon in center. The Mets moved on from Cespedes. De Aza was not part of a long con to get Cespedes. No, for some reason, Cespedes was still on the market when he shouldn’t have been. As a result, the Mets got lucky, very lucky. We should all celebrate this day. However, no one should be patting the Mets on the back. Instead, we should all be taking the other 29 teams for not making Cespedes an offer he couldn’t refuse.
More importantly, we should all thank Cespedes. He wanted to be here. He got a no trade clause to be here. He is the one that made it happen more than anyone. He deserves your promise more than anyone. So no, don’t apologize to the Mets. Go out and thank Cespedes.
It’s a Cespedes Miracle!
We knew it was going to happen sooner or later. It turns out tonight was the night the Mystery team got involved in the Yoenis Cespedes bidding:
there are more than just the mets and nats in on cespedes. #mystry teams
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 23, 2016
As far as I know there is only one Mystery team. They’re in Alaska, and they play hockey. I can understand the lure to join Mystery. Russell Crowe is on that team. He may hold you accountable, but he does party with the team. There’s a lot to like about joining the Mystery team. With that said, I highly doubt Cespedes wants to play in Alaska. That would be going from the biggest stage in the world to effectively becoming invisible. It’s time for Cespedes to stop fooling around and just sign the discounted team friendly deal the Mets have offered him.
It’s got to beat playing in Alaska, doesn’t it?
As Sandy Alderson stated numerous times this offseason, the Mets payroll is expected to be around $115 million. With the Mets signing Antonio Bastardo, it looks like the Mets payroll is around $115 million depending on the remaining arbitration cases. This probably means the Mets are done spending this offseason.
If the Mets are done spending, that means the Mets will need to find a right hand hitting 1B/OF from within their organization. Looking over the 40 man roster, there is one player that fits that description. Fan favorite Eric Campbell. Seriously, peruse the roster. Matt Reynolds is a 2B/SS. Darrell Ceciliani is a left-hand hitting outfielder. The other prospects are future everyday players.
No, it appears that right now Eric Campbell is going to make the Opening Day roster. For all the discussion of the Mets building a deeper, more versatile roster, we get Eric Campbell.
Now, there are some good things to say about Campbell. He’s a good pinch hitter. He’s willing to do anything and everything to play in the majors including learning how to catch. He has an unsustainably low BABIP, and he hits the ball hard. Those two things coupled together means he could have a much better year at the plate.
With all that said, how is Eric Campbell in position to make the Opening Day roster. The Mets are less than a month away from Spring Training, and they don’t have a better option than Campbell to be the 25th man on the team. How is this excusable for a team that just won the NL Pennant and wants to return to the World Series? Right now, the reason boils down to the Mets possibly having maxed out on their budget for the 2016 season before signing a better player for his spot.
I like Campbell and all he represents. He cannot be on the Opening Day roster. As of right now, he probably will be.
Note: this obviously changes if the Mets sign Cespedes. I may be in the minority, but I’m not confident that will happen.
Earlier this offseason, Commissioner Rob Manfred came out against opt out clauses. His stance is important because traditionally the Wilpon family has adhered to the Commissioner’s requests and recommendations. They did so even if it could have possibly prevented the Mets from getting a better player.
I was reminded of that again when I saw the video from the Mets meeting with season ticket holders. Essentially, the Mets appeared to once again be falling lock step with the Commissioner’s office on an issue that would only harm the Mets ability to obtain the better players. Well, now with all the Yoenis Cespedes drama, it appears that may be changing:
Sources: Mets, Cespedes discussing an opt-out clause after the 1st year of a three-year deal. Would allow him to test market again Fall '16.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) January 22, 2016
Or is it? We all read Andy Martino’s New York Daily News article about the Winter Meetings. We saw in that article how the Mets attempt to manipulate the media to curry fan favor and/or attempt to remove some heat off of them. The key passage is:
My first scoop came in late November, when some media outlets were reporting that Dickey was seeking a five-year deal. Dickey called me one day, angry, insisting he only wanted three. He believed the Mets were leaking misinformation to make him appear greedy. I didn’t know anything about that, but was more than happy to relay his take. I got the story, and he got his perspective in the paper.
*************
One team official, very late at night, screamed at me, “I don’t know what R.A. is telling you, but he needs to step aside and let his agent handle this.
I look at all of this, and I wonder if the Mets are truly going to offer an opt out clause. We know the Mets previous attempts to change public perception on Cespedes failed. Mets fans don’t want to pass on him because he smokes cigarettes. No, they still want him to return. Further complicating the matter is the fact that Cespedes loved being a Met. That means the Mets need to act and act fast. Judging by Buster Olney’s Tweet, it appears they are.
However, I don’t know how plausible it is the Mets would offer an opt out clause. If the leak came from the Mets, it may just mean they want to placate their fan base that they really tried to land Cespedes on a reasonable deal, but he passed anyway. It might have been leaked by Cespedes’ agents to try to get Washington to bid against themselves. What I do know is that the Mets going against the Commissioner’s Office on an issue is uncharacteristic of them. I hope this is the time it happens, but based on past history, I doubt it.
Until I see Cespedes at a press conference putting his #52 jersey back on, I’m going to assume the Mets offer to Cespedes is three years with an opt out after the third year.