Jacob deGrom
When Brodie Van Wagenen took over as the Mets General Manager, he was gifted an organization with great pitching depth. It was more than just reigning Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom. It was a rotation so deep, Steven Matz was a fifth starter.
Behind them was an upcoming group of starters at or near top 100 rankings. Of note, Justin Dunn and Anthony Kay were first round picks putting it together and putting themselves in a position to be Major League ready starters sooner rather than later. Notably, both made their Major League debuts last year.
Now, Matz has gone from fifth starter to the Mets second starter, and the Mets rotation currently goes just three deep. How the Mets got here is purely on Van Wagenen’s shoulders.
Some of this was Van Wagenen’s hubris. He was all too willing to trade top prospects close to the Majors and continue with thin pitching depth. It was something the Mets got away with last year with Mickey Callaway who seemed to have a knack for keeping starters healthy. Of course, Van Wagenen couldn’t wait to fire him.
On the top prospects Van Wagenen traded away, he was all too cavalier about it. In fact, he said he was comfortable doing so because he was confident he’d draft well.
Brodie Van Wagenen said he had this aggressive draft strategy in mind when he traded away prospects.
Story: https://t.co/XL9KOUpj0f
— Tim Healey (@timbhealey) June 30, 2020
Now, Van Wagenen has done well with the drafts. However, it needs to be noted, especially now, Matthew Allan, Josh Wolf, and J.T. Ginn are nowhere near being ready to help this team win now.
Speaking of win-now, the Mets just let Zack Wheeler go to the Phillies even though Wheeler wanted to stay and would’ve signed at a discount. Instead, he signed that discounted deal with the Phillies. To make matters worse, Van Wagenen went out of his way to slight and further motivate Wheeler.
Van Wagenen’s master plan was to instead sign Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha. Porcello is coming off a year where he had the worst ERA in the AL. Wacha has a bum shoulder and a three year decline in FIP, BB/9, K/9, and K/BB.
Again, Van Wagenen’s plan was to dismantle the Mets group of aces and near aces with Major League ready first round picks and replace that with well below average starters in the name of . . . depth. While it’s a sick joke, it wasn’t intended to be funny.
Sure, you can argue injuries hit this rotation. Noah Syndergaard needing Tommy John couldn’t be foreseen. Marcus Stroman tearing his hamstring was bad luck. Conversely, that’s exactly why you hold onto your starting pitching depth, and it’s why you hold onto your top end starters instead of letting them go to a division rival.
These problems have been compounded by the bullpen injuries. This means the Mets are down to three viable starters and no one to fill-in those middle innings when the dubious fourth and fifth starters can’t go deep into games.
However, Van Wagenen will tell us it’s alright because he built depth (he didn’t), and he had a draft strategy (leaving the team with no real MLB ready starters in the minors). Suddenly, the Mets went from a team so needed a couple of tweaks to be a true World Series contender to a team who may now just be the fourth best in the division.
If the Mets fall short this year, make no mistake, it’s all on Van Wagenen and his complete and utter short-sightedness on how he has handled the Mets pitching depth.
The Mets were bludgeoned by the Yankees over the two game exhibition set by the combined score of 15-3. The key word there was exhibition.
Neither of these two games counted, and they had all the weight and importance of a Spring Training game. That’s because it was Summer Camp, which was really Spring Training Part Deux.
Really, when you break it down, almost none of what happened the past two games matters. That’s even if you want to get bent out of shape about the Yankees homering off of Corey Oswalt, Drew Smith, and Chasen Shreve, i.e. bullpen bubble guys.
That’s not to say there weren’t some important takeaways. There absolutely were. It’s just the final score of home run barrage weren’t close to them.
The biggest takeaway was Yoenis Cespedes was able to play consecutive days, and he looked good running. He also only played three innings in left meaning he’s not quite in a spot to play the outfield just yet. Put another way, on a team of DHs, he’s the Mets DH.
Jed Lowrie still isn’t really playing, and the Mets have no idea when he can play. Basically, it’s 2019 all over again. To a certain extent, in this topsy turvy COVID19 world, it’s nice having some consistency.
It appears with Wilson Ramos missing these two games to attend to an undisclosed family matter and Rene Rivera being added to the 40 man roster, Tomas Nido might be the Mets Opening Day catcher. Somewhere the rehabbing Noah Syndergaard must be ripping his hair out.
On the topic of Opening Day, Jacob deGrom had a good bullpen session, and he appears set to go.
In that Opening Day lineup, all indications are Robinson Cano will start the year batting third . . . again. Of course, this once again means this wasn’t a Mickey Callaway decision, but rather a Brodie Van Wagenen one. That is, unless, you believe Luis Rojas independently reached the same decision, and Van Wagenen isn’t still trying to prop up his former client he used Jarred Kelenic to obtain.
More than any of this, it’s great having baseball back with Gary, Keith, and Ron calling games. Let’s all just cherish this, hope everyone stays safe, and the Mets got the work in they needed to start their path towards winning the 2020 World Series.
Jacob deGrom left after the first inning of an intrasquad game with a back issue. He has now undergone an MRI, and it was determined there was no structural damage.
This isn’t the first time deGrom had a back issue. Back in his first Cy Young season, he dealt with a back issue near the end of Spring Training. As we know, not only did he not miss a turn through the rotation because of it, deGrom would have an all-time great season en route to his first Cy Young.
If you’re an optimistic person, you could see this as a harbinger of good things to come. Even if you don’t try to grasp at straws to try to paint this as an induction of another great season for deGrom, hearing it’s “just” muscle tightness is a relief.
Well, at least it should be.
If we’re being honest, the Mets have a horrible track record on this. In April 2015 David Wright was only diagnosed with a hamstring injury. Pedro Martinez‘s toe in 2005 preceded a torn labrum in 2006.
Those problems still persistent. Much like with Carlos Beltran in 2010, the Mets initially insisted Yoenis Cespedes didn’t need career saving surgery before relenting. There’s also the matter of Jed Lowrie whose problems are still not fully known or addressed by the Mets.
On Lowrie, aside from making the biggest free agent blunder in team history, they’ve reached new standards in medical diagnosis and treatment. That’s something else.
Jed Lowrie is dealing with left knee soreness, Mets are limiting his activity.
— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) February 20, 2019
Brodie Van Wagenen said on @wcbs880 that Jed Lowrie’s MRI revealed no significant damage, and they’ll bring him along slowly. #Mets
— Wayne Randazzo (@WayneRandazzo) February 22, 2019
If you’ll notice, Lowrie’s MRI revealed “no significant damage.”
Soreness became no significant damage. That became soreness behind his knee. That became a capsule strain. After that, the Mets have all but given up on trying to pretend to know what Lowrie’s issue was and is. We just know he can’t play in games until he can play without a knee brace.
So yes, celebrate deGrom not suffering a significant injury. Breathe a sigh of relief. Picture that third Cy Young and World Series trophy. Its hard not to get carried away. After all, deGrom is the best pitcher in baseball, and he should dominate in 2020.
That’s if he can pitch. Considering the Mets history, we can’t be 100% sure. At least not yet. Sure, it’s a melodramatic way of looking at things, but this is the Mets. It’s also 2020 with all the crazy and bizarre things that have happened it’s difficult to trust some good news.
In the end, not trusting deGrom will be fine may be nothing more than paranoia. Well, justified paranoia.
As part of the COVID19 measures, Major League teams have a player pool of 60 players. Those are the players a team can call up and utilize over the course of the 2020 season. One of the players in the Seattle Mariners’ pool is Jarred Kelenic.
This isn’t too surprising as many teams are carrying top prospects. This will help them develop their top guys instead of those players losing a full year of development. However, with Kelenic, we were reminded again today he could make an impact this year.
So a source sent me the video of Jarred Kelenic’s swing on the homer in live BP. The sound … pic.twitter.com/82RG82id4t
— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) July 7, 2020
Last year, in his first full pro season, Kelenic made it all the way to Double-A. This was someone who graduated high school in 2018, and now, he’s on the cusp of making it to the Majors.
That should be contrasted against the ever changing narrative behind trading him. First, it was the Mets had to keep Edwin Diaz away from the Phillies.
When Diaz faltered, and Robinson Cano looked every bit the 36 year old coming off a PED suspension, the narrative was that Kelenic wasn’t going to help anyone for five years, and the Mets are a win-now team.
With Kelenic bursting through to Double-A and the Mets not actually winning now, Brodie Van Wagenen now wants to sell he felt comfortable making the deal (and other deals) because he had his super aggressive draft strategy in mind. Honestly, that seems far more post hoc justification with Van Wagenen trying to lean into the one aspect of the GM job he’s ultimately done well.
Fact is, Van Wagenen knew his former client Cano wanted to come back to New York. His first act as the Mets GM was to try to make that happen.
As inexcusable that conflict of interest was, that’s not the worst part of this deal. Remember, Van Wagenen was an agent trying to get Cano to New York and get an extension or trade for Jacob deGrom. He wasn’t out there scouting and watching Appalachian and Gulf Coast League games.
That’s right. A novice GM with zero front office experience traded a once in a lifetime prospect in exchange for a former client. He traded one of the best regarded prospects in the game despite never actually taking the time to scout him. It’s beyond absurd.
In the end, the Mets better win soon with Cano and Diaz because the Mets are running out of justifications for this trade, and it’s very likely they will all be gone when Kelenic is in the majors.
Judging from last year and his place in the 60 man pool, that day is coming much sooner rather than later. Certainly, it’s going to be much sooner than the bogus five year selling point.
But to be fair to Van Wagenen, how could he have possibly known? After all, he would’ve actually had to scout and watch Kelenic in action.
(1) David Wright – The franchise leader in nearly every offensive category and is widely considered to be the best position player in franchise history. Only homegrown Met to be named team captain. Dubbed Captain America for his exploits in the World Baseball Classic. Once named by Bill James as the perfect baseball player. Seven time All-Star, two time Gold Glove winner, and two time Silver Slugger. Hit the first Mets homer in Citi Field, and he hit the first ever World Series homer in Citi Field. Had perhaps the most emotional good-bye game we have ever seen a player in sports history ever have. A lifetime Met who had a hand in helping ensure Jacob deGrom does the same.
(13) Wilmer Flores – Player who loved being a Mets player so much, he cried on the field when he thought he was being traded. Came back to hit a walk-off homer to beat the Nationals. That was one of many walk-off hits, and he would become the Mets all-time leader in that category. Handled shortstop well defensively after Chase Utley tackled and broke Ruben Tejada‘s leg. Joined Edgardo Alfonzo as the only Mets players to go 6-for-6 in a game. Played all four infield positions in effort to do whatever team asked of him to help them win.
(2) Edgardo Alfonzo – Best second baseman in Mets history in addition to being one of the best third baseman. Part of the best defensive infield in history. First Mets player to ever go 6-for-6. Homered in the first inning of the Mets first ever NLDS game, and he hit a grand slam off Bobby Chouinard in that game to give the Mets the victory. All-Star in 2000. Hit .444/.565/.611 in the 2000 NLCS. Last Mets player to ever record a World Series base hit in Shea Stadium. Led the 2019 Brooklyn Cyclones to their first ever outright New York-Penn League title.
(3) Al Leiter – Was a 1 or 1A during most of his Mets tenure, and he gave his all battling tough when the Mets needed him most. Had arguably the single greatest pitching performance in team history with his two hit shut out of the Reds in the Wild Card play-in game. Won the Roberto Clemente Award in 2000. Became the first ever pitcher to beat all 30 teams. Wore the caps for each and every first reponder agency during his complete game on the one-year anniversary of 9/11. Trails only Tom Seaver and Jacob deGrom in ERA+ among Mets pitchers with at least 1,000 innings arguably making him the best left-handed pitcher in team history.