Asdrubal Cabrera

Mets Win the Home Run Derby

On the eve of the All Star Game, the Mets and Nationals engaged in their own Home Run Derby with each team hitting four apiece. Of all the home runs, none was bigger than Wilmer Flores‘ near Promenade shot in the fifth giving the Mets a 7-6 lead. 

It was Flores’ third home run in the past two games and his fifth on the home stand. It was made all the more gratifying as it came off of everyone’s favorite ex-Met Oliver Perez

Flores had entered the game in the top of the fifth as Bartolo Colon was ineffective and couldn’t make his way out of the fifth. In fact neither he nor Nationals rookie starter Lucas Giolito were good. Colon looked too old giving up six earned over 4.2 innings, and Gioloto looked too young allowing four earned in 3.2 innings. Neither pitcher would factor in the decision. 

Hansel Robles would be the pitcher who got the win for the Mets. He came on in the fifth, and he bailed the Mets out of a bases loaded situation by getting Anthony Rendon to fly out to center. Robles kept the Mets in the game allowing for Flores’ heroics. Overall, he would pitch 1.1 innings allowing only one hit while striking out two. 
It was a good hard fought win that saw the Mets rally from 1-0, 4-1, and 6-4 deficits. You accomplish that by getting key hits from everyone in the lineup:

  • James Loney hit a two out RBI single in the third to tie the game 1-1. 
  • Travis d’Arnaud and Jose Reyes homered in the fourth to narrow the gap from 4-1 to 4-3. 
  • Yoenis Cespedes tied the game in the fourth with an RBI double scoring Curtis Granderson
  • Brandon Nimmo battled from back in the count to get a single in the fifth. He would later score on Flores’ three run homer. 
  • Asdrubal Cabrera hit a solo home run in the sixth to give the Mets an 8-6 lead. 
  • Neil Walker added an insurance run in the seventh with his seventh inning RBI single making it 9-7. 

Quietly, Granderson, the new second place hitter, had a brilliant night. He was 3-5 with two runs, two walks, and a double.  The Mets needed this entire offensive output because the Natuonals weren’t going away and because the Mets had to use Antonio Bastardo. In the seventh, Bastardo allowed Daniel Murphy to hit a bomb to right center. Murphy joined Bryce HarperClint Robinson, and Rendon in Nationals who homered on the night. 

After Bastardo was out of the game, the Mets turned to Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia to secure the 9-7 win. Reed pitched 1.1 scoreless, and Familia recorded his 31st straight save to start the season. 

Familia was aided by a terrific play by Cabrera after he issued a leadoff walk to Jayson Werth. Murphy hit a ball that Cabrera made a terrific play just to get to the ball with a dive to his right. He flipped to Walker to get the force out. It become a double play as Werth was ruled to have interfered with Walker by sliding past the base. For what it’s worth, Murphy was safe at first by a mile, but that’s the new rule. Familia then struck out Harper to end the game. 

The Mets have now closed the gap to three games and two in the loss column. 

Game Notes: The eight home runs were the most in any single game at Citi Field. Reyes had started, stumbled, stopped, and was picked off of first by Wilson Ramos. It went down as a caught stealing. 

Flores Does His Best Stanton Impersonation 

When the Mets signed Jose Reyes to predominantly play third base in David Wright‘s prolonged absence, many believed this would mean Wilmer Flores would find himself back on the bench. Today, Flores would have something to say about that. 

In the second inning, Flores hit a bomb to left centerfield off Justin Nicolino to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. In the fourth, Flores hit another one to left center to give the Mets a 4-1 lead. 

There was some excitement when he came up with the bases loaded in the fifth, and he worked a 3-1 count. Unfortunately, he hit a hot shot right at Don Kelly, who started the 5-5-3 double play. However, this double play wouldn’t mar what was a 2-4 day with the two solo homers. 

Between Flores’ two homers and Curtis Granderson‘s two RBI single in the fourth, Jacob deGrom had all the run support he needed in his last start before the All Star Break. 

For most of the afternoon, deGrom spent his time in and out of trouble. He was twice aided by timely double plays that prevented a run from scoring. Overall, it was a very good start that saw deGrom throw 117 pitches over seven innings allowing six hits, two earned, and two walks with seven strikeouts. The two runs were courtesy of Giancarlo Stanton

Stanton killed the Mets like he did this entire three game series. He tied a major league record by having homers in his last four at bats, which included his first two at bats today. In total, eight of his last ten hits at Citi Field have been homers. He’s got three of the four longest homers at Citi Field. By the way, Yoenis Cespedes has the other:

Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia made sure of that Stanton wouldn’t cause any more damage. Reed struck out the last batter in the eighth to ensure Stanton couldn’t tie the game with another homer.  Familia struck him out leading off the ninth en route to his 30th consecutive save to start the season.  

The Mets 4-2 win moved them to 2.5 games up on the Marlins in the East and the Wild Card. The Mets will now look to make similar headway against the Nationals this weekend. 

Game Notes: Reyes started at shortstop because Asdrubal Cabrera was up late last night due to a family illness. Reyes  was 2-4 with two doubles and a run. Flores was shifted from first to third, and James Loney got the start. The Marlins challenged a call in the fifth, but the double play ruling on the field was upheld

Mets Bats Bring the Thunder

Mother Nature provided the rain, but it was the Mets bats that provided the thunder. The Mets hit five home runs within the first five innings going ahead 10-1. 

It started in the second inning with James Loney and Asdrubal Cabrera going back-to-back off Cubs starter Jason Hammel. Cabrera would hit another homer off Hamel in the fifth. That would be the second homer in the inning. The first was a Yoenis Cespedes laser shot. Cespedes needed to hit that homer as Brandon Nimmo hit a home run in the fourth inning that was one foot farther than Cespedes’ shot yesterday:

It was Nimmo’s first career home run and curtain call. He followed it up by making a nice defensive play in the fifth:

  
It was a terrific night for Nimmo and the Mets. 

The beneficiary of all these runs was Jacob deGrom. It was about time the Mets scored some runs for him too. The Mets had not given him more than two runs of support since May 27th. He’s had the fourth worst run support in the majors this year with the Mets scoring 2.89 runs per game for him (Matt Harvey has the second least with 2.79). 

deGrom would finally get his first win since April 30th. His ability to get this win was in doubt as there was a rain delay for over an hour before the third inning. Terry Collins sent him out there anyway, and deGrom lasted five innings allowing three hits, one earned, and one walk with seven strikeouts. The lone run he allowed was a solo home run off the bat of Kris Bryant. It’s possible deGrom could’ve gone more than five as he was only up to 85 pitches. However, once there was another rain delay in the sixth, the third one of the game, deGrom was done for the night. 

Needless to say, deGrom pitched much better out of the delay than Hammel did. The Mets pummeled Hammel in this 10-2 win like they did in Game 4 of the NLCS.

Game Notes: Loney was 3-4 with two runs, three RBI, a double, and a homer. He was a triple short of a cycle. He actually hit one this year. It was a June 18th game against the Braves. Seth Lugo made his major league debut in the eighth inning wearing number 67. He became the first Met to ever wear that number. Lugo got it up to 97 MPH showing real promise out of the pen. He pitched two scoreless innings allowing two singles, a HBP, and striking out a batter. He also had his first balk falling off the mound before delivering a pitch. 

David Wright attended his second straight game. For safety reasons, he watched the game from the bullpen. 

Sandy Alderson Had a Poor Offseason

This past offseason Sandy Alderson and the Mets were heralded for building a deep roster that was better built to sustain a slate of injuries like the Mets fared last year.  Here are how all the players Sandy Alderson acquired during the offseason have fared with the Mets this year:

Neil Walker

So far, Walker has had a terrific 2015.  In fact, he is on pace to have the best year of his eight year career.  However, as the Mets offense has tailed off, so has Walker.  Here are his monthly splits:

  • April .307/.337/.625 with 9 homers and 19 RBI
  • May .250/.333/.420 with 4 homers and 6 RBI
  • June .224/.307/.289 with 1 homer and 6 RBI

Each and every month Walker has gone from one a career best year to stats worse than he has had over the course of his career.

Asdrubal Cabrera

Like his double play partner, Cabrera’s stats are masked by a hot April.  In April, Cabrera hit .300/.364/.400.  Since that time, Cabrera is only hitting .247/.307/.409.  Worse yet, despite many raving about his defense, the advanced metrics disagree.  So far, he has a -5 DRS and a -2.1 UZR.

Alejandro De Aza

He was supposed to be a platoon partner with Juan Lagares in center.  Given his .165/.216/.242 batting line, it is a blessing that never came to be.

Yoenis Cespedes

For the second straight year, Cespedes has been terrific for the Mets.  His OBP and slugging are on pace to be the highest in his career.  He’s also on pace for a career high 38 homers.  Even with his poor defense in center field, he has been day in and day out the best player on the Mets.

Rene Rivera

Like every other backup catcher during the Sandy Alderson regime, Rivera has not hit.  Initially, he was supposed to be a minor league depth, but after another Travis d’Arnaud injury, he was called-up to the majors.  He has worked well with Mets pitchers this year, specificially Noah Syndergaard  Mostly due to his defense, and also because of how poorly Kevin Plawecki has played, he has stayed in the majors when d’Arnaud came off the disabled list.

Ty Kelly

He was a minor league free agent that was never supposed to play in the majors.  When he hit .148/.207/.259 in 14 games we found out why.  Of course, he was pressed into action in part because the Mets found it wise to start with Eric Campbell on the 25 man roster instead of Ruben Tejada.

Bartolo Colon

Somewhat surprisingly, at the age of 43, Colon is having his best season with the Mets.  He’s 6-4 with a 2.86 ERA and a 1.170 WHIP.  He also did this:

Jerry Blevins

After he went down last year, the Mets searched high and low for a lefty out of the pen.  They never did quite find one.  Blevins has been healthy this year, and he has been terrific going 2-0 with a 2.49 ERA.  Only recently did he have a 21 appearance and 13 inning scoreless streak snapped.

Antonio Bastardo

He has been the worst reliever in the Mets bullpen with a 5.28 ERA and a 1.565 WHIP.  Terry Collins has shoved him to the back of the bullpen and tries to avoid using him in high leverage situations at all costs.

Jim Henderson

The minor league free agent had a great Spring Training and made the Opening Day roster.  He was having a terrific season until Collins pushed him too far for what he perceived to be a must-win game in April.  His production tailed off, and now he is on the disabled list with an injured shoulder.  This is the same shoulder that caused Henderson to miss all of the 2015 season after having had two surgeries on the joint.

Overall, looking over how these moves have panned out thus far, it does not appear that Sandy Alderson has had as good an offseason as many proclaimed him to have had.  In fact, as the season progresses, it makes Alderson’s season look worse and worse.  In order for the perception of Alderson’s offseason to change again, the underperforming players are going to have to improve.  Time is growing shorter and shorter for that to happen.

Daniel Murphy – Mets Killer

In Max Scherzer‘s last three starts (including tonight) against the Mets, he has allowed four hits total. In essence, he only allows one hit per outing against the Mets. Asdrubal Cabrera took care of that one hit with a second inning single. Since it wasn’t a home run, it meant the Mets weren’t going to score off of him. 

No, it didn’t help that Curtis Granderson needed to be scratched from the lineup after getting nicked up yesterday.  His absence was all the greater when Terry Collins decided to put Alejandro De Aza and his .216 OBP in the lead off spot. It really makes no sense at all until you consider 

The decision worked as well as everyone thought it would. Brandon Nimmo hit a one out single in the eighth chasing Scherzer from the game. Granderson then pinch hit for Rene Rivera and singled off Oliver Perez. After a Travis d’Arnaud pinch hit fielder’s choice, the Mets sent up De Aza.

Dusty Baker brought in his closer, Shawn Kelley, for the four out save as he was the only person in the ballpark who thought De Aza was a threat. Despite having been 3-3 off Kelley in his career, De Aza would strikeout to end the inning. 

It also didn’t help that the Mets didn’t re-sign Daniel Murphy in the offseason. He’s now a National AND a Mets killer. Coming into tonight’s game, he was hitting .419/.441/.645 with two homers and eight RBI. Tonight was more of the same:

Murphy’s homer was one of the two runs scored off of Logan Verrett who made a good spot start. He pitched five innings allowing the two runs with four walks and one strikeout. It didn’t matter as the Mets didn’t score any runs for him. 

If there was any hope the Mets would comeback, Murphy crushed those hopes:

Murphy’s two run home run off Sean Gilmartin in the eighth made it 4-0. It put the game out of reach. The James Loney two run homer in the ninth really only served to end a 23 inning scoreless streak. The Mets lost 4-2 and fell to six games behind the Nationals in the division. 

Game Notes: Nimmo took some poor routes on balls leading to some base hits that led to a run in the third. Antonio Bastardo pitched two scoreless innings.  Murphy went 2-4 with two runs, three RBI, and two homers. 

Stop Batting Travis d’Arnaud Eighth

Last year, Travis d’Arnaud established himself as a major league catcher both behind and at the plate.  He showed how far he had come from the player that had to be sent to down to the minors in 2014 because he wasn’t hitting.

In 67 games, d’Arnaud hit .268/.340/.485 with 12 homers and 41 RBI.  He had a 127 OPS+.  For the most part last year, d’Arnaud spent his time hitting fifth, sixth, and seventh.  For whatever the reason, d’Arnaud was at his best when he was hitting seventh in the lineup.  When he did hit seventh, d’Arnaud was hitting .311/.382/.541 with two homers and 12 RBI.  d’Arnaud was hitting seventh in the lineup when he hit three homers in the postseason last year.  Given the construction of the Mets roster this year, you could make the case that d’Arnaud should’ve been hitting seventh.

Instead, Terry Collins sees him as the eighth place hitter on this Mets team.  There was a legitimate reason for it when he was hitting behind players like David Wright, Lucas Duda, Yoenis Cespedes, Michael Conforto, Neil Walker, and Asdrubal Cabrera. Now, it is a bad decision.  Duda and Wright are on the disabled list, and Conforto is in the minor leagues.  Now, Collins is hitting d’Arnaud behind players he is clearly better.  Take a look at the players who are currently hitting ahead of d’Arnaud:

  • James Loney – a career .285/.338/.411 hitter who was released by the Rays prior to the start of the season.
  • Wilmer Flores – a career .252/.290/.383 hitter who lost his starting job to Ruben Tejada last year and was never considered for a starting job this season
  • Brandon Nimmo – a promising rookie

Given how much d’Arnaud progressed last year, it is easy to say he is better than these options, and accordingly, he should hit higher in the lineup. However, d’Arnaud is struggling this year only hitting .206/.270/.250 with no homers.  There are various reasons for these struggles from his wrapping his hands around Julio Franco style when he bats to him starting with an open stance and closing it as the pitch is being delivered.  He’s just not as quiet in his stance as he was last year when he was having his most successful season.  It’s possible some of these changes were made due to his shoulder.  It’s also possible these changes were made due to the struggles he has been facing while hitting eighth in the order.

In 17 of his 19 games this year, d’Arnaud has hit .203/.277/.254 while hitting eighth in the order.  For his career, he is hitting .194/.278/.287 from that spot in the lineup.  That includes him going 0-3 against the Nationals yesterday.  In his entire career, d’Arnaud has never hit well out of the eighth spot in the lineup.  It has been more of the same this year, and quite possibly, it has led to d’Arnaud reverting to some bad habits at the plate.  The Mets need to get him going in order to help with their offensive woes.  It’s possible the best way to cure help him and the Mets is to take him out of the eighth spot.

 

The Mets Shortstops Came Up Big

When the lineup was announced, the main reaction everyone had was “HOW CAN YOU START MATT REYNOLDS IN LEFTFIELD!”  Matt Reynolds never played in the outfield in his professional career, and the Mets were sitting Michael Conforto against Danny Duffy, the pitcher off whom he hit a home run against in the World Series.  In the bottom of the sixth, Reynolds made Terry Collins look like a genius with his first career home run:

  
His homerun broke the 3-3 tie, and it put Noah Syndergaard in position for a win after what was an uneven outing.

The Mets other three runs were courtesy of the Mets other shortstop, Asdrubal Cabrera, who actually played shortstop today.  In the fourth, he scored off a James Loney two out RBI single with a nifty slide:

 
In the top of the fifth that 1-0 lead would quickly evaporte when Syndergaard allowed Chelsor Cuthbert to hit a solo home run.  The Royals continued the rally, and they would eventually went ahead 2-1 on a Whit Merrifield RBI single scoring Jarrod Dyson.  This meant Cabrera would have to go back to work by hitting a go-ahead two run home run (scoring Curtis Granderson).

Syndergaard had a rough sixth inning.  He got Rene Rivera crossed-up not once but twice.  One of them went for a wild pitch moving Salvador Perez to third.  He would score on a Paulo Orlando RBI single tying the game at three.  The Mets would go ahead for good on the aforementioned Reynolds’ home run.

In the eighth, Cabrera would leave his impression on the game AGAIN with a great stab and behind the back throw to get the force out at second. 

  
It would help Addison Reed pitch a scoreless eighth. Jeurys Familia pitched a scoreless ninth to preserve the 4-3 win. With that save, Familia is now tied with Armando Benitez for most consecutive saves to start a season (24). 

After the stretch the Mets went through, including getting swept by the dreadful Braves, you would feel terrific after sweeping a two game set against the team that beat you in the World Series.  However, there remains some trepidation as Yoenis Cespedes had to leave the game with an apparent wrist injury after his walk in the fifth.  He was replaced by Alejandro De Aza, who may be set to get more playing time in center if Cespedes needs to miss any period of time.  Given the way De Aza has played this year, it is an not all too enticing proposition. 

With that said, there’s nothing left to do but enjoy this win while waiting with baited breath for the Cespedes news. By the way, we still don’t know about Zack Wheeler and his elbow. Good times. 

Game Notes: Jerry Blevins continues to put up zeroes:

Hansel Was Hot Tonight

Four pitches into the game disaster struck. Whit Merrifield lined a ball off Bartolo Colon‘s hand knocking him out of the game. The Mets are beginning a stretch of 20 games without a day off, and they were left scrambling to fill in 8.2 innings tonight. 

Hansel Robles stepped up big time. He would pitch a career high 3.2 innings, and he throw a career high 65 pitches. He was terrific. It started with him combining with Travis d’Arnaud for a strike em out, throw em out double play to end the first.  The only run he surrendered was in the fifth, when he was stretched beyond his limits. He might’ve gotten out of the game if Wilmer Flores didn’t pull a Roger Dorn

Erik Goeddel came in and got out the jam. He would pitch two scoreless innings.  Jerry Blevins added a scoreless seventh stretching his scoreless inning streak to a career high 12 innings (over 20 appearances). Addison Reed set the Royals down 1-2-3 in the eighth, and Jeurys Familia would not blow the save against the Royals. 

The Mets were able to eke out a victory using the long ball. In the first, Asdrubal Cabrera hit a homer, and it was up to Rene Rivera to take off his helmet:

  

Of course, the other homer came from Yoenis Cespedes who hit it out to straight center. Cespedes would also add in a move over the shoulder catch to end the sixth. 

  

As the Mets hit two homers, they won the game. In true Mets fashion, they beat the reigning World Series Champions after getting swept by the worst baseball team assembled since maybe the 1962 Mets. 

It was made possible largely because of a terrific Robles performance. He got a well earned win. 

Game Notes: X-rays on Colon’s hand were negative. Former Met Dillon Gee relieved Royals’ starter Ian Kennedy in the fifth, and he shockingly entered to boos. He pitched a scoreless inning. In his first game back from the DL, d’Arnaud would go 0-3. 

Cespedes Being Great Isn’t Enough

On July 31, 2015, the Mets were three games behind the Washington Nationals.  The Mets had the pitching to win, but they still needed the offense.  Most of the Mets best hitters were either on the disabled list or had just returned from their own stint on the disabled list.  Under these circumstances, the Mets made a trade for Yoenis Cespedes.  Cespedes played his first game with the Mets on August 1st.  From that point until the end of the season, Cespedes would hit .287/.337/.604 with 17 homers and 44 RBI.  The Mets would go from three games back in the division to winning the National League East by seven games.  The Mets then set out on a magical postseason run that found them falling just short of winning a World Series.

Many have posited that but for the Cespedes’ acquisition, the Mets would not have even made the playoffs.  Cespedes was credited only with raising his game, but also raising the play of his teammates.  Cespedes’ production and the ensuing run the Mets went on were seen as proof positive of that fact.  Unfortunately, that narrative hasn’t been proven true this year.

Last year, the Mets were 37-22 in the 59 games Cespedes was with the Mets.  This year the Mets have played 68 games, and they are 36-32.  Despite having played in nine additional games, the Mets still have less wins with Cespedes on the roster.  The Mets are faltering despite the fact that Cespedes is producing near the same levels he produced last year.  In fact, Cespedes is hitting .287/.352/.564 with 17 homers and 43 RBI this year.  Last year, this production was seen as transformative.  This year many are left to inquire what moves the Mets need to make to return to the postseason.

The reason for this is simple.  The current Mets team is worse than the 2015 version.  For example, here is the lineup from Cespedes’ first game with the Mets:

  1. Curtis Granderson CF
  2. Daniel Murphy 3B
  3. Yoenis Cespedes LF
  4. Lucas Duda 1B
  5. Wilmer Flores 2B
  6. Kelly Johnson RF
  7. Travis d’Arnaud C
  8. Ruben Tejada SS

Here is the Mets lineup from Sunday:

  1. Curtis Granderson RF
  2. Asdrubal Cabrera SS
  3. Yoenis Cespedes CF
  4. Neil Walker 2B
  5. James Loney 1B
  6. Wilmer Flores 3B
  7. Michael Conforto LF
  8. Kevin Plawecki C

No, the lineup Cespedes first appeared would undergo some tweaks as the season progressed.  First, Granderson would move back to RF, and Cespedes would play CF most of the time.  Additionally, Murphy played some third base, but his primary position with the team was second base.  Furthermore, until David Wright returned, Juan Uribe received the bulk of the playing time at third base.  Finally, in both 2015 and 2016, Conforto was the primary left fielder that played alongside Cespedes in center.  With that in mind, your only conclusion can be that the 2016 Mets as currently constituted are worse than the 2015 Mets.  Here are the stats:

2016 2015
C Plawecki .194/.301/.258 d’Arnaud .268/.340/.485
1B Loney .279/.329/.412 Duda .244/.352/.486
2B Walker .266/.335/.477 Murphy .281/.322/.449
3B Flores .241/.308/.380 Uribe .219/.301/.430
SS Cabrera .265/.325/.394 Tejada .261/.338/.350
LF Conforto .270/.335/.506 Conforto .231/.297/.447
RF Granderson .223/.310/.449 Granderson .259/.364/.457

Overall, other than Walker, the 2016 Mets have no real advantage over the 2015 Mets from an offensive standpoint.  

Granderson and Conforto are worse versions of themselves.  Cabrera has hit for more power than Tejada did last year, but Cabrera’s stats are buttressed by a strong April.  Since May 1st, Cabrera has hit .249/.306/.391.  As for the catching and first base situations, the Mets have been trying to keep afloat since the Duda and d’Arnaud injuries.  There is no timetable on Duda’s return.  The expectation is d’Arnaud returns today.

This all tells us two things. First, Cespedes really didn’t make the players around him better last year. Yes, his presence in the lineup made the Mets a better team. However, him being a Met didn’t make the other Mets better players. 

That leads to the second point, which is Sandy Alderson didn’t do the job he was tasked to do. He built a Mets team that lacked sufficient depth to carry the Mets through the anticipated Wright injury (even if the injury was of a different nature), and the likely Duda injury (again the injury was of a different nature). 

So yes, Cespedes was great last year, and the Mets won. Cespedes has been similarly great this year, but the results are different. The results are different because it takes a lot more than Cespedes being great to make the Mets great. We know that now.  Hopefully, so do the Mets. 

The Mets Need More from Asdrubal Cabrera

Since David Wright went on the Disabled List, Terry Collins has mostly turned to Asdrubal Cabrera to hit in the second spot in the lineup.  Last night, it worked with Cabrera going 2-5 with 2 runs.  He helped spark a Mets offense that scored 11 runs.  However, far too often that hasn’t been the case.  In his 27 games hitting in the second spot in the order, Cabrera has hit .222/.282/.361.

Those numbers are not what the Mets signed up for when they added Cabrera as a free agent in the offseason.  Coming into this season, Cabrera was a .267/.329/.412 hitter who averaged 11 homers and 57 RBI a year.  In the second half of the 2015 season, he hit an astonishing .328/.372/.544 with 10 homers and 36 RBI.  The Mets saw this first-hand during a three game set in Tampa last August.  During that three game set, Cabrera went 4-11 with a walk, a run, a double, and a stolen base.  He did this against Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, and Bartolo Colon.  Clearly, the Mets were wowed by Cabrera, and they pounced on him in the offseason.

Early in the season, when the Mets were winning, Cabrera was great.  The Mets went 15-7 in April, and Cabrera hit .300/.364/.400.  Since April, both Cabrera and the Mets have faltered.  The Mets have gone 20-22 and Cabrera has hit .247/.310/.390.  It’s   Yes, there have been many issues that have afflicted the Mets including the aforementioned Wright injury.  However, as we see, one of those issues has been Cabrera’s struggles at the plate.

In fact, Cabrera has hit .306/.367/.440 in Mets wins.  Last night, Cabrera hit, and he helped ignite the Mets offense.  The Mets need more of that Cabrera this year.