Jose Reyes
In a four game series against the Washington Nationals, here was the allocation of games started among the Mets infielders:
- Gavin Cecchini two games
- Asdrubal Cabrera three games
- Wilmer Flores three games
- Jose Reyes two games
- Amed Rosario three games
- Dominic Smith two games
The focus isn’t where it needs to be. Once again, the Mets are failing to develop their young players. Previously, the excuse was you can’t develop young players when you’re trying to win a World Series. This team isn’t winning a World Series, and still, we are not seeing young players in the lineup getting the time they need to develop.
Terry Collins isn’t letting Smith play against left-handed batters. He’s bouncing Flores around the infield instead of giving him a place to focus on and improve. He puts Reyes atop the lineup whenever he gets an opportunity rather than let Brandon Nimmo establish himself as a Major Leauge lead-off hitter. The list goes on and on and on . . . .
Hopefully, the Mets find out what they need to know about this Cabrera and Reyes. Hopefully, they take full advantage of the development time, and they show they are ready to be the big pieces for the Mets over the next decade.
This was one of those days that makes you question why exactly the Mets are sticking with Terry Collins right now?
He’s eschewing developing young players like Dominic Smith, but he makes sure to get Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera in the lineup.
He also continues to make just poor decisions with his pitching. If you didn’t know any better, you’d expect Collins gets paid by the bullpen move, and he gets paid double for each double switch.
He really pressures his pitching staff. Today, Collins took that to an absurd level.
Even knowing Seth Lugo would be limited to 75 pitches in the second game of the double header, Collins ripped through his bullpen.
Part of that was Tommy Milone only lasting 4.1 innings. The bigger part of that was Collins managing the game like it was Game 7 of the World Series to try to protect a five run lead.
What was really irritating was Collins first ripped through the guys who could give him multiple innings – Hansel Robles, Rafael Montero, and Josh Smoker. The trio combined to pitch one inning with 35 pitches.
With all Collins histrionics, the Mets still blew the 5-0 lead. They got there because Cabrera and Flores hit a pair of homers.
With the Mets blowing the lead, they needed another homer. Amed Rosario came through with an eighth inning homer off Joe Blanton.
Rosario has 4 homers, 3 of them in the 8th inning or later, 2 to give the Mets a lead in a tie game.
— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) August 27, 2017
The Mets would hold onto the 6-5 lead with AJ Ramos getting the sixth out save to preserve the rare Mets Sunday win. Of course, to get the rare win, you needed a play you rarely if ever see.
With Adam Lind getting the two out single to extend the game, Edwin Jackson pinch ran for him with Daniel Murphy coming to the plate as the go-ahead run.
Murphy ripped a liner above a leaping Cabrera. Travis Taijeron, who had some on in one of the multitude of double switches, overran the ball, and Jackson broke towards home.
Juan Lagares adeptly backup up Taijeron on the play. He then made a strong throw to Cabrera, who in turn, made a strong throw to Travis d’Arnaud. With the tag, the Mets cut down Jackson, and the Mets won the game on your typical 9-8-4-2 put out.
After this game, the question was whether the Mets pitching staff had enough bullets left to pull out a win in the nightcap. The answer was a resounding no.
The Mets had rallied from a 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 lead in the second game.
Lagares knocked in the first run on an RBI double. He then came home to score on a Brandon Nimmo two run homer to give the Mets a 3-2 lead. It was short-lived.
After Lugo went 3.2 innings allowing two runs, Smoker came on, and he kept the Nationals at bay in his 1.1 innings of work.
Then came Robles in his second appearance on the day. After getting a Murphy line out, the Nationals had a runner on first with one out.
Robles continued by walking the first four batters allowing the Nationals to not only tie the game, but also take a lead. On the bright side, Collins double-switched Smith out of the game meaning he was willing to sacrifice development to win this one game.
Things could’ve been worse, but Chasen Bradford enduced Howie Kendrick to hit into the inning ending 4-4-3 double play.
Ultimately, it didn’t matter. Erik Goeddel pitched the eighth, and Lind took him deep to give the Nationals a 5-3 lead. The insurance run loomed large with the Mets rallying in the ninth off Sean Doolittle.
d’Arnaud led off with a pinch hit single, and Gavin Cecchini singled to move d’Arnaud to second. With a 0-2 count, Reyes dropped a single right in front of Taylor allowing d’Arnaud to score to pull the Mets within one.
The tomfoolery ended with a Lagares line out to Alejandro De Aza.
Collins did everything he could to win both ends of the double header even if it meant eschewing his main responsibility right now- developing players. He didn’t care what he did to the bullpen. For all that effort, he just had a split to show for it.
Game Notes: Kevin McGowan was activated for the second half double-header as the 26th man. He would not pitch.
Terry Collins benched Dominic Smith against Gio Gonzalez, and he batted Brandon Nimmo eighth.
Michael Conforto and Yoenis Cespedes gone for the season.
Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera played over Gavin Cecchini.
Michael Taylor nailing a slower than molasses Cabrera at home by a healthy margin:
From Downtown! pic.twitter.com/nTifaslvLw
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) August 26, 2017
Robert Gsellman certainly didn’t look like a guy who cared whether his manager thought he needed to improve.
The first inning rally got started on an error from him, and he threw a wild pitch allowing a run to score. Before the inning ended it was 4-0 Nationals.
It was a gorgeous sunny day outside, and my son wanted to go play baseball outside with me.
To paraphrase Peter Gibbons, “I wouldn’t say I missed the last eighth innings, Bob.”
No, not even with Wilmer Flores going 4-4 with a run, double, home run, and three RBI.
Judging from the 9-4 final score, I made the raise decision.
Game Notes: Travis Taijeron made his Major League debut going 0-4. Jeurys Familia made his first appearance since returning from the disabled list. He pitched one inning allowing three runs on four hits and two walks.
As we have seen with Terry Collins, he is loathe to let young left-handed batters face left-handed pitching. He did it time and again with Michael Conforto, but he did it under the auspices of the team trying to win. Now? The Mets are not trying to win anything. They are trying to develop their young players so they are ready to win next year.
Despite the change in goals, Collins still sits his left-handed hitters against left-handed pitching. You understand it somewhat with Brandon Nimmo as the team is also trying to get a good look at Juan Lagares. With that said, there’s no reason why he is doing this with Dominic Smith. Since Collins has done it more than once, it is time we begin tracking when Collins let Smith face a left-handed pitcher, and when he benched him.
| Date | 8/15/17 |
| Score | 5-2 Yankees |
| Situation | Top 9, one out |
| Pitcher | Aroldis Chapman |
| Result | Jose Reyes PH |
ad
| Date | 8/16/17 |
| Score | 0-0 |
| Situation | Game Start |
| Pitcher | Jaime Garcia |
| Result | 0-3, K |
ad
| Date | 8/18/17 |
| Score | 0-0 |
| Situation | Game Start |
| Pitcher | Justin Nicolino |
| Result | Benched for Wilmer Flores |
ad
| Date | 8/20/17 |
| Score | 0-0 |
| Situation | Game Start |
| Pitcher | Adam Conley |
| Result | 0-3, 2K |
ad
| Date | 8/21/17 |
| Score | 1-0 Diamondbacks |
| Situation | 6th Inning, one out, one on |
| Pitcher | Jorge De La Rosa |
| Result | K |
ad
| Date | 8/22/17 |
| Score | 0-0 |
| Situation | Game Start |
| Pitcher | Patrick Corbin |
| Result | Benched for Flores |
Season Total: 0-7, 4 K
Right now, the Mets are just a bad baseball team. When you are a fan of a bad baseball team, it is sometimes difficult to find seasons to watch. Thankfully, there still remain reasons to watch the Mets:
Jacob deGrom – This year, deGrom has returned to pitching like an ace. No, he may not be the guy he was in 2015, but he’s still a great pitcher. You know with him on the mound the Mets have a chance to win the game. With his ability, anything is possible.
Michael Conforto – We have been watching Conforto have one of the best, if not the best, season a young Mets player has ever had. He will soon be the youngest Mets player to ever hit 30 homers. He’s showing how special he is taking on more leadership responsibilities in the clubhouse.
Chris Flexen – Very quickly, Flexen has gone from over-matched to holding his own. He’s just 23 and had just seven Double-A starts under his belt. Just holding his own at this point is remarkable. Sooner or later, he may just prove he belongs at this level.
Juan Lagares – One thing that really stood out in the Subway Series was this man can still play Gold Glove defense. In fact, he might be the best outfielder in baseball with his league leading 34.0 UZR/150. Metrics aside, it’s a joy to watch him play center field defense, and you never know when he is going to make his next great play.
Amed Rosario & Dominic Smith – They have essentially been presented as this generations David Wright and Jose Reyes or Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry. If they’re at those levels, the Mets will quickly turn things around. If they are truly this good, we won’t want to miss a minute of them playing. To that end, we have already seen great defense from them, and they’ve already homered in the same game.
With that, there are five very good reasons to continue watching this team. Other than that, we can watch because we’re Mets fans, and we love our team. I know I watched the Jeff Torborg, Art Howe, or Jerry Manuel Mets teams, I can certainly watch this team.
On the sixth pitch of the game, Brett Gardner hit a tapper back to Steven Matz, who then threw the ball away. That set the tone for the latest poor Matz start.
This error eventually led to Gary Sanchez hitting a three run homer.
Matz then got in trouble in the fourth, and he didn’t get through the inning. Then again, he didn’t deserve to with Luis Severino popping up a sacrifice bunt attempt which dropped in front of him for a base hit.
Matz would eventually depart the inning down five runs and with the bases loaded and just one out. Chasen Bradford allowed a two RBI single to Sanchez to make it 7-0 before getting out of the inning.
Of note on the Sanchez base hit was the Yankees again challenged Yoenis Cespedes arm and scored a run.
After the inning was over, the latest Matz clunker was in the books. Since July 9th, Matz is 0-6 with a 10.47 ERA and a 2.051 WHIP. If you’re looking for a bright side, Aaron Judge didn’t hurt him at all. He was 0-2 with two strikeouts and a HBP.
With Bradford doing yeoman’s work in his third straight day out of the pen, he did give the Mets a chance to get back in this one. They almost did too in the seventh.
Judge dropped a Travis d’Arnaud fly ball for a two base error with one out in the seventh. Sandy Alderson’s new favorite player, Matt Reynolds, followed with an RBI single to get the Mets on the board.
Brandon Nimmo, who came on for Cespedes in a double switch, chased Severino with a single. The Mets eventually loaded the bases with two outs, and Michael Conforto was up against the LOOGY Chasen Shreve. With Conforto striking out, the final nail was in the coffin.
By the way, Gary Cohen did confirm this was the first time two Chasens appeared in the same Major League game.
Surprisingly, the Mets had life again in the ninth. It was the same trio that got the Mets started in the seventh. d’Arnaud and Reynolds had back-to-back singles off Bryan Mitchell, and Nimmo walked to load the bases.
Curtis Granderson then hit a grand slam to pull the Mets within 7-5.
Unfortunately, this also meant the Yankees were now in a save situation. Dellin Betances then came on to slam the door shut.
That grand slam was about all that was notable from the Mets side in what was a forgettable Subway Series for the Mets. Then again, it’s been a forgettable season, so this series was really just more of the same.
Game Notes: Jose Reyes was put on the DL, and Kevin McGowan was sent down to Triple-A to make room for Matt Reynolds and Gavin Cecchini on the roster.
With Wilmer Flores and Jose Reyes suffering injuries, we got to see Travis d’Arnaud shift all game between second and third base. With the Mets not wanting to be put in that situation again, the Mets have flown both Matt Reynolds and Gavin Cecchini to New York as a precaution. In the event both Reynolds and Cecchini are activated, it appears that Reynolds, not Cecchini, will be the one who will get playing time.
Before the game and before injuries were an issues, Sandy Alderson informed reporters he was inclined to give Reynolds a long look in September. Alderson also stated the team will not be giving Cecchini a long look at second base in September. Alderson’s statements could be interpreted to mean the Mets are now moving on from Cecchini.
In one sense, this shouldn’t be that surprising. After struggling at shortstop and with the rise of Amed Rosario, Cecchini was moved to second base. While he has been good defensively at second, he has taken a step back offensively.
Cecchini had a breakout offensive season in 2015 in Binghamton. He continued that success last year in both Las Vegas and the Arizona Fall League. Seeing him hit .267/.329/.380 this season, it makes you question what was the issue with him.
There are some plausible explanations for this. For starters, Cecchini’s 2015 and 2016 stats were partially fueled by a high .348 and .357 BABIP. Certainly, his being an aggressive contact line drive hitter with low walk and strikeout rates, he is susceptible to swings in his BABIP from year to year. To that end, it may not be such a surprise to see Cecchini see his BABIP drop to .329 this year and his offensive stats drop they way they have.
Another possible explanation is Cecchini has had to put extra work and attention to learning second base. With the Mets focus this season with making their players more versatile, Cecchini has also had to work on his play at shortstop. This is a plausible explanation as to why we have seen Cecchini struggle at the plate this year.
Still, this is a talented player. It was one of the reasons the Mets made him their first round draft pick (12th overall) in 2012. In his two brief stints in the majors, he has not been over-matched at the plate. Last year, he hit two doubles in seven at-bats. In his call-up this year, he had a four game hitting streak that included a home run off Clayton Kershaw. Seeing this, and how much the Mets have invested in him, it seems peculiar the Mets would just pass on giving him an extended look in the majors.
Then again, this seems to be a pattern with Sandy Alderson. He and his front office have truly struggled with contact hitters like Cecchini who have not shown power at a young age. Many will point to his decision to non-tender Justin Turner, but there is also the way the Mets have handled T.J. Rivera. The team continuously passed him over for players who did not pan out.
Cecchini may or may not be an everyday second baseman or even a Major League player. At this point, we don’t know, but it also seems odd to take that stance when he’s still just 23 years old, who has not been afforded the opportunity to receive the benefit of Kevin Long’s tutelage. There’s also the matter of the Mets giving playing time to Reyes, Flores, and Asdrubal Cabrera. In large part, the Mets know what they have in them, and for the most part, they haven’t been good enough to help the Mets win this year.
We don’t know that with Cecchini. It’s time to give him a chance.
If nothing else, you knew tonight was going to be an interesting game from the Mets perspective.
The day began with Sandy Alderson voicing his displeasure with Robert Gsellman saying he didn’t care that Sandy believed he needed to pitch better.
Both Jose Reyes and Wilmer Flores suffered injuries before the game leading to Travis d’Arnaud playing third then second then third then second . . . .
Officially, d’Arnaud and Cabrera switched 22 times tonight. That’s a lot.
— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) August 17, 2017
Basically, d’Arnaud was constantly repositioned to avoid being at the pull side of the opposing hitter. It wasn’t until the ninth that he had to make a play. It was a pop out.
P4! P5? P4! pic.twitter.com/YG2A9ZT99r
— Meditations in Panic City (@MedInPanicCity) August 17, 2017
From there, we saw some good baseball and some really poor home plate umpiring.
For a pitcher that needed a big game after his comments, Gsellman was just okay. His final line was 5.1 innings, four hits, three runs, three earned, three walks, and three strikeouts.
One of the runs he allowed was an Aaron Judge monster of a homer to the third deck that was somehow just the third longest homer in Citi Field history:
Um, well… On the plus side it only counts as one. pic.twitter.com/VxagVw3LqI
— CitiFieldHR (@CitiFieldHR) August 17, 2017
Even with that monster homer, the game was tied going into the sixth.
Juan Lagares got the rally started with a leadoff double off Jaime Garcia. He got over and then scored on a Yoenis Cespedes sacrifice fly.
After Judge hit his homer, Rene Rivera hit one of his own in the fifth. It wasn’t as impressive as Judge’s, but you couldn’t tell that from Garcia’s reaction.
In the sixth, Gsellman loaded the bases with one out leading Terry Collins to go to Paul Sewald. Sewald did a decent job limiting the damage to one run on a Chase Headley sacrifice fly.
The Mets rallied back to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth. Cespedes lead off with a walk and moved to third on a Michael Conforto double. The second base umpire ruled Cespedes was interfered with on the basepaths, but he was only awarded third. Cespedes then scored on a d’Arnaud sacrifice fly.
At this point, Collins did what he always does with Sewald – he pushed him. It wasn’t good enough that he got out of a stressful jam. No, he had to go back out there. The combination of questionable managing and poor umpiring would do him in.
Ronald Torreyes led off the inning with a double. After a sacrifice and a walk to Jacoby Ellsbury, the Yankees runners at the corners with one out. Sewald went 3-2 to Aaron Hicks, and this happened:
Call hurts #Mets
Ball 4 should be strike 3
Top 7 Sewald vs Hicks
4% call same
5.4in from edge pic.twitter.com/TXBcCm8yPL— Mets Strike Zone (@MetsUmp) August 17, 2017
On the pitch, Sewald missed his spot by a good margin, and Rivera did him no favors by stabbing at the pitch. With that said, the home plate umpire Chad Whitson cannot miss that call. Then again, he was so terrible, you shouldn’t be surprised.
Even with Sewald did get Judge to pop out, but his luck ran out with Didi Gregorious ripped a two RBI double that provided the winning margin in a Yankees 5-3 victory. The Didi double snapped an 0-25 streak Sewald had with runners in scoring position.
Ultimately, the story here was bad umpiring, Collins putting too much on Sewald again, and the Yankees bullpen just being that good.
Game Notes: d’Arnaud became the first Mets to appear at catcher, second, and third since Jeff McKnight in 1993.
Last night, the Yankees brought on Aroldis Chapman to close out a Yankees three run lead. After Wilmer Flores struck out to begin the inning, Dominic Smith strode up to the plate in what would be the rookie’s biggest test in his brief major league career. Seeing how he hit an opposite field homer earlier in the game, and Rafael Devers hit a huge home run against Chapman in Chapman’s last save attempt, this was promising to be a very interesting match-up.
Sorry, no, the match-up never happened. Instead, Terry Collins pinch hit for Smith with Jose Reyes.
This is not the first time we have seen this play with Collins. During Michael Conforto‘s first two years with the Mets, Collins did not let his young left-handed hitter face left-handed pitching. Instead, he would bat Michael Cuddyer, Juan Lagares, Justin Ruggiano, Ty Kelly, or really any warm body on the bench to prevent Conforto from facing a left-handed pitcher.
The end result of Collins’ refusal to play Conforto against left-handed pitching was Conforto actually struggling against left-handed pitching. Over his first two big league seasons, Conforto hit .129/.191/.145 with just one extra-base hit, a double, in the 68 at-bats he did get against left-handed pitching.
However, there was no reason to sit Conforto against left-handed pitching. His hitting coach, Kevin Long, found the notion that Conforto can’t hit left-handed pitching absurd. Conforto hit left-handed pitching in both his collegiate and brief minor league career. Still, despite Conforto’s ability to hit left-handed pitching everywhere else, Collins decided to sit him against left-handed pitching.
When pressed on it, Collins said, “We’re in a situation where we’re trying to win games. This is not a time to develop players.” (Barbara Barker, Newsday).
Assuming Collins is correct that you shirk the responsibility of developing young players because you have designs on winning a World Series, why is he now repeating the same tactics with Smith?
Currently, the Mets are 10 games under .500. The team has to win 62% of their remaining games just to get to .500. The team has already traded away Jay Bruce, Lucas Duda, Addison Reed, and Neil Walker. If an opportunity presents itself, Asdrubal Cabrera, Curtis Granderson, and Rene Rivera will find new homes before the end of the month. Put more succinctly, this team is not in a position where they are trying to win games – this is a time to develop players.
Pinch hitting for Smith the very first opportunity he gets to face a left-handed pitcher in the majors does nothing to accomplish that goal.
Overall, unless Collins is facing some delusions of grandeur, there is no reason to believe the Mets are winning anything in 2017. Smith is ticketed to be the Mets starting first baseman in 2018. To that end, the rest of the regular season should be dedicated to helping him best prepare for the 2018 season. Sitting him against left-handed pitching only hinders his development.
Maybe, just maybe Collins was never truly concerned with player development. Maybe in his mind young left-handed batters are just incapable of hitting left-handed pitching. It is likely the reason why he previously sat Conforto against left-handed pitching, and it is the reason why he’s doing it with Smith now.
It’s poor managing, and it has had a tangible effect on player development. Collins might have had his excuse with Conforto, but he doesn’t have that excuse with Smith now. If Collins shields Smith from a left-handed pitcher just one more time, the Mets are going to have to find someone else to manage. Simply put, you cannot permit Collins to hinder Smith’s development to win some meaningless games.
This wasn’t the best of Subway Series games for Mets fans.
Jacob deGrom was good but not great.
The Yankees first got to him in the third when Ronald Torreyes hit a lead-off double that Yoenis Cespedes couldn’t even be bothered to hustle to field. His lack of hustle was all the more damning when Torreyes made it to second with ease despite slipping on the first base bag.
Of course, Cespedes would hustle on two infield singles in the game.
The Yankees then took a 1-0 on an Aaron Hicks RBI single.
That lead grew to 4-0 on a pair of homers. The first was a two run Yankee Stadium special off the bat of Jacoby Ellsbury in the fourth. The Gary Sanchez solo shot in the sixth would’ve been out anywhere.
Even with the four runs, deGrom was largely effective. His final line was 7.1 innings, nine hits, five runs, five earned, two walks, and four strike outs.
deGrom would get the loss because Sonny Gray dominated the Mets for six innings. He had only allowed one walk and four hits while striking out five.
Dominic Smith knocked him out of the game with his first career homer in the seventh:
One more look at Dominic Smith's first career home run, a 373-foot, opposite-field shot to left. #Mets pic.twitter.com/IRtpdnsF6K
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) August 16, 2017
It was an opposite field shot just past Hicks’ glove. The homer brought the Mets to within 4-2, bit the Mets wouldn’t get closer.
One reason why was home plate umpire. Dellin Betances began to get wild after getting two quick outs to start the eighth. Betances then walked Cespedes, and he found himself down 3-1 to Michael Conforto.
The 3-1 pitch was certainly a strike, but the 3-2 pitch was low. Even if it was technically a strike, it was not called a strike all night.
That was the Mets last chance to tie the game.
The Yankees expanded the lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the eighth. Aaron Judge led off with a double by just beating out Cespedes throw to second. It became runners on the corners after Didi Gregorious fought off a pitch and blooped it just over the head of Wilmer Flores.
It was a bad situation that could have been worse if not for Juan Lagares. Sanchez hit a ball to the deepest part of the park. Instead of it going for extra bases, a shallow playing Lagares not only ranged all the way back, but he also got into good throwing position. This kept Gregorious at first.
Jerry Blevins and Chasen Bradford got out of the inning keeping the score at 5-2. Unfortunately, that insurance run would loom large with the Mets challenging Aroldis Chapman in the ninth.
It started with Terry Collins pinch hitting Jose Reyes for Smith because Collins is apparently the only person on the planet who doesn’t know Rafael Devers hit a home run off Chapman.
Reyes got the infield hit, but who cares? The rest of this season is about player development, and the Mets gain nothing from pinch hitting for Smith against a tough lefty.
It’s complete and utter nonsense. It’s the same nonsense that held up Conforto’s development.
If this is the way Collins manages from here on out, it’s time to get rid of him.
That said, Amed Rosario made things interesting with an opposite field two run homer to bring the Mets to within 5-4.
Gregorious would make a nice play taking a base hit away from Travis d’Arnaud, and Lagares would ground out to end the game.
It was a frustrating loss not just because deGrom wasn’t at his best, but also because Collins continued the same poor managing.
Game Notes: This is the first time Smith and Rosario homered in the same game.