Mark Vientos

Mets Press Conferences Leaving Little Hope for 2023

Out of nowhere, Steve Cohen announced he was going to have a press conference before the series finale against the Milwaukee Brewers. What Cohen will say is a mystery, but we can pretty much rule out any changes to the organization based upon the events of the day.

After Cohen announced he was doing a press conference, we got to hear impromptu press conference from Billy Eppler. That press conference all but confirmed Eppler and the Mets were sticking by Buck Showalter. Basically, Eppler said the Mets were sticking by everyone and everything they have been doing this season.

Eppler told us some of the obvious. The pitching is underachieving, and they need to find ways to fix it. He seemed alright with the offense but not the overall execution. Mostly, Eppler was there giving a vote of confidence in Showalter as the Mets manager. In fact, he came just short of the job Showalter has done this season.

Notably, Eppler has never fired a manager in season in his career. You could argue Eppler doesn’t have it in him to fire a manager.

He inherited Mike Scioscia as the Los Angeles Angels manager. Scioscia would walk away from the team on his own terms (partially due to his frustrations with how Eppler ran the organization). Yes, Brad Ausmus was fired so the Angels could hire Joe Maddon. That was really a decision by Arte Moreno and not Eppler.

You can draw a number of conclusions from this including Eppler does not have what it takes to fire a manager. He doesn’t have the ability to make the call that needs to be made. You can even argue it’s all just a coincidence. Who knows?

What we do know is Eppler is supporting a manager flaunting the analytics. He’s even flaunting Eppler’s decision making. For example, Eppler called up Mark Vientos only for Showalter not to play him.

In the end, this is all semantics and guesswork. The only thing we know at the moment is the Mets are falling well out of the postseason picture, and they may soon need to sell off more than just Eduardo Escobar.

The reason we are here is Eppler built a poorly constructed roster, and it looks like the team will not be alive in the race for Eppler to try to fix it at the trade deadline. Then again, based on his work last year, you don’t exactly want him making trades.

You can’t trust the combination of Eppler and Showalter at the moment. That was clear from what we have seen from their collective body of work. In terms of Eppler, that includes his support of Showalter.

Eppler will get to continue to support Showalter and this failing Mets team as we can anticipate Cohen will support Eppler and Showalter. Make of it what you will, but in the end, staying the course with Eppler and Showalter leaves you even more pessimistic the Mets can fight their way back into the race.

And no, not even a shocking David Peterson start could make us believe otherwise.

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Mets Will Miss Eduardo Escobar

When looking at the numbers, it didn’t make much sense for the New York Mets to jump the gun and sign Eduardo Escobar early in the 2021-2022 offseason. However, the Mets did, and they wound up with a player who brought a lot of intanglibes to the franchise.

Right off the bat, he gave a famed and impassioned speech to the Mets minor leaugers about what it takes to make it. It was just the tip of the iceberg on the impact a person of Escobar’s caliber can have on a franchise.

Escobar was brought in for those intangibles. After a season where the Mets fell apart and were booing the fans, they needed to address the chemistry. They needed real clubhouse guys. Escobar was every bit that and more. We got that sense of hearing Francisco Lindor talking about him in the moments after Escobar was traded:

Lindor hit in on the head when he said Escobar was one of the best teammates he ever had. He was also one of those players fans wanted to see succeed. That was no more evident than when Escobar told the fans he was going to give them reason to root for him.

We had that reason when Escobar had a great end to the 2022 season. We also had that reason throughout his tenure with how he comported himself and was always a team first player.

In 2022, when he struggled, Escobar lost his starting job to Luis Guillorme. Actually, it was a platoon, but when you’re the right-handed bat in the platoon, you lost your job. Escobar responded by being a great teammate and having a phenomenal end to the 2022 season to reclaim his job and doing all he could to prevent a collapse.

During that 2022 season, Brett Baty was called up. If not for Baty’s thumb injury, we have no idea if Escobar would ever get the opportunity to start again. Despite knowing that, he worked with Baty and Mark Vientos during spring training to help them improve as ballplayers. He actively helped prepare two prospect who were likely to take his job during the 2023 season.

With Escobar’s early season struggles, that happened much sooner than later. Escobar responded to that by being a great teammate and helping Baty anyway he could. He also responded by rebounding and starting to put together a much better season.

When you are having a lost season like the Mets are having, you are eventually going to have to sell. When the Los Angeles Angels offer the package of Coleman Crow and Landon Marceaux, you pretty much have to pull the trigger on that because you’re not really going to do much better for a utility player.

That said, as you look to get younger and go through difficult stretches, Escobar is exactly who you want on your team. You want him as a mentor and to be a positive force in the clubhouse. Trading him was necessary, but you don’t do it enthusiastically.

Escobar was very good for the Mets since they signed him. He had big moments, but the biggest moments of all was when he was a great teammate and true leader in the Mets clubhouse. He is going to be sorely missed.

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Mets Should Start Selling

Right now, the New York Mets are 34-40. They’ve recently lost a home series to the St. Louis Cardinals. Good luck finding hope for this season.

The Mets are 13.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL East. They’re seven games back in the Wild Card.

Only the St. Louis Cardinals, Washington Nationals, and Colorado Rockies have a worse record than the Mets. The Mets have lost a series to all three of those teams.

There’s no point in pretending anymore. Lord knows I’ve tried and tried and tried again. It’s time to admit defeat. After all, defeat and the Mets are growing synonymous of late.

There are pieces here with value. Despite being a bad bullpen, there’s David Robertson and Brooks Raley.

Teams will line up for Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. Now, you may not want to trade them if you’re looking to contend next year, and the Mets will be, but you have to at least listen.

Mark Canha and Tommy Pham are playing well lately. They give a team a veteran bat and presence. Daniel Vogelbach is hot of late, so you can hope he can keep it going until another GM is dumb enough to trade for him.

Maybe you can move Eduardo Escobar. Maybe someone entices you to move Drew Smith. There should be a team interested in Omar Narváez and/or Luis Guillorme. Mets are likely stuck with Starling Marte.

Point is there are assets, and there could be teams looking to trade sooner rather than later. After all, teams like San Diego and Seattle are always desperate to make a trade.

For various reasons, the Mets just shouldn’t expect much in return. We’re not talking about game changing players, and Billy Eppler is the Mets GM. Maybe if Steve Cohen eats some money, they can maximize the returns.

In reality, you’re not doing this for the lottery ticket prospect. Mostly, you’re doing it for the prospects and young players who are here.

Mark Vientos should at least be the DH. Ronny Mauricio should now get the call-up to play whatever position he is going to play. You need them to get acclimated to the majors and be ready to take on a big role in 2024.

You need to let David Peterson finish the season in the rotation. It’s time to see if he can be a fifth starter, reliever, or look to cut bait. After all, they’re effectively doing that already with Tylor Megill (he’s really a reliever).

Give José Butto a run. Clear a path for Mike Vasil for later in the season.

Maybe take a glance at Luke Ritter. Sure, he’s an older prospect with very little Triple-A experience, but he’s breaking out this season. After all, what do you have to lose? Games? They’re doing that already.

Mets have to find out about these young players. They need to make it beyond impossible for Buck Showalter to sit them.

Maybe they surprise you like the Cincinnati Reds are surprising everyone. Likely, they won’t, and the Mets will falter. However, it’s better to falter with young players getting experience than watching this.

It’s time to start selling.

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Joey Cora Again Shows He’s Horrible Third Base Coach

When the New York Mets hired Joey Cora, the hesitation was that he has been a bad third base coach. In fact, he was so bad the Pittsburgh Pirates fired him mid-season the year prior to the Mets hiring him.

In 2022, he proved he was a poor third base coach. There were a number of flat out bad calls and some embarrassing ones as well. However, at the end of the day, when you win 101 games, people tend not to care about the third base coach. That’s even with the Mets being among the worst in extra bases taken

This season, for the most part, the Mets really haven’t had the base runners or close games for Cora to be all the impactful. However, when those moments arrive, Cora finds a way to make a horrible call.

Now, when you listened to the ESPN broadcast, you were told that Brandon Nimmo was to blame for Jose Trevino picking Nimmo off second. It was the ultimate TOOTBLAN. Getting picked off second with the bases loaded and two outs ending a threat where the game was tied 3-3. Even if Nimmo was really safe, you can’t be in that position.

Now, it looks really bad. Cora holds up Mark Vientos, and Nimmo was well past second base. Lets put aside for a moment that’s a play where Cora normally sends Vientos, but he didn’t there. We can also admit this was an instance where Cora absolutely made the right call. Vientos is not quick, and holding him up at third was the right decision.

Here’s the problem with what transpired. Nimmo hustles more than anyone in baseball, and he is fast. He’s hitting second base while Cora is windmilling Vientos home. It was a very late hold by Cora, and he did it out of the sight line of Nimmo.

Vientos was given the sign to go which Nimmo saw, and he began reading the play. It was when the throw took his eyes into Cora’s sight line that Nimmo held up seeing what was now happening. You’ll note Cora did not follow Nimmo and get into position to ensure he held.

Now, you can certainly blame Nimmo for not checking back on Cora or Vientos. That’s fair, but he’s also there reading a play. Also, he knows Cora’s history. He’s aggressive and sends players at will. Now, for Cora, he knows Nimmo is a very aggressive base runner, and he needs to get in Nimmo’s sight line to ensure he sees the hold.

However, Cora doesn’t judge Vientos’ speed, and he doesn’t take into account Nimmo’s speed and aggressiveness. The end result was a late hold and Nimmo is no-man’s land. Nimmo got the full blame, but he was there because Cora is a bad third base coach.

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2023 Subway Series Not That Interesting

The first Subway Series was 1997, and it had all of New York enthralled. There was the upstart New York Mets led by Lance Johnson, Bernard Gilkey, and Todd Hundley, against the defending World Series champion New York Yankees.

The first Subway Series did something rare in sports. It exceeded the hype. Dave Mlicki is still a Mets legend for the complete game shutout to open the series culminated with striking out Derek Jeter to end the game.

The Mets would spoil a David Cone no-hit bid in the series finale and almost pull out a win. While the concept of the Mets and Yankees being rivals was a bit forced at the outset, we did see the beginnings of a rivalry.

The rivalry reached its apex in the 2000 World Series and with all the drama surrounding Mike Piazza and Roger Clemens. There was a lot more to it like former Mets greats like Cone, Dwight Gooden, and Darryl Strawberry returning to Shea.

Mostly, it was Bobby Valentine who knew the Mets underdog status. He embraced it, and he treated those games like they were must win. Typically, they were for him as it was usually a marker for how the Mets were performing that season.

Since 2000, we have seen the series go through ebbs and flows. There have been moments like the Luis Castillo dropped fly ball or Carlos Delgado‘s power display. Of course, there was the Shawn Estes/Clemens drama.

All that said, this series has never been the same since 2000. In reality, this series has never been at a lower point than it is right now.

The Yankees are in third place and nine games back of the Tampa Bay Rays, but they do have a half-game lead in the Wild Card race. The Mets are in fourth place, are four games under .500, and they trail by three games in the Wild Card race.

The Yankees are without Aaron Judge. The Mets are without Pete Alonso. The ticket prices are through the roof, and Citi Field still has not sold out the game. It’s also a two game set making the possibility of the teams walking away with a somewhat uninteresting split.

On the bright side, we are going to see Gerrit Cole, Max Scherzer, and Justin Verlander. The Baby Mets of Francisco Álvarez, Brett Baty, and Mark Vientos will get their first taste of this series, and more importantly, put their stamp on this series.

We may very well see competitive games with a number of storylines emerge. However, in the past, the storylines were already written because of all the intrigue surrounding the series. That intrigue is seemingly gone for now.

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Mets Still Alive And Well In Wild Card Race

Everywhere you look, the sky is falling for the New York Mets. They lost seven in a row before winning a game, and then they promptly lost again making them losers in seven of eight.

They’ve lost 11 series this season after losing 11 all of last season. They are four games under .500. Pete Alonso is on the IL. Who knows what to believe with Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander anymore. Buck Showalter has been bad and completely out of touch.

Guess what? Despite all of that, the Mets are only three games out in the Wild Card race. That’s not remotely insurmountable for this team. While we’re understandably focused on the negatives, there are plenty of positives happening with the team right now.

Mark Canha has completely turned his season around. Since May 14, he is hitting .300/.400/.467 with four doubles, two homers, and 11 RBI.

Tommy Pham has done the same. Since May 17 he is hitting .333/.392/.711 with six doubles, one triple, three homers, and 13 RBI.

Eduardo Escobar‘s resurgence has been oft discussed. Since May 12, he is hitting .378/.425/.487 with a double, homer, and five RBI.

Of course, all of this pales in comparison to what Francisco Álvarez is doing. He’s playing like an All-Star and Rookie of the Year candidate. On the season, he has a 128 wRC+. He’s sixth among all rookies in fWAR, and he is a top five catcher in all of baseball.

Francisco Lindor is a second-half player, and he seems primed to be just that for the Mets again this season. Since June 4, he is hitting .250/.357/.542 with a double, two homers, and three RBI while playing Gold Glove defense.

Kodai Senga has been figuring it out, and Carlos Carrasco has again become a dependable starting pitcher. On the back-end, David Robertson has been an excellent closer.

Overall, when looking at the Mets, the pieces are there. They will be closer if Brett Baty can figure things out, and if Showalter can play Mark Vientos to let him mash.

The Mets are in this race even with them faltering of late. They have an owner able to take on payroll to make a run. Mostly, you can argue, the Mets have everything right where they want them seeing how the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies were in similar situations in recent years only to make a charge to the World Series.

The Mets dreams of winning a World Series isn’t over. They are very much alive and in postseason contention. They just need to hang in there.

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Mets Who Need To Step It Up With Pete Alonso Gone

The absolute last thing the New York Mets needed was for Pete Alonso to hit the IL. He was on pace for a historic 60 homer season, and he was the Mets best player so far this season. Really, outside of him, Francisco Álvarez, and Brandon Nimmo, the Mets players have truly under-performed.

That said, the Mets did score 10 runs in the series finale against the Atlanta Braves proving they can score runs without Alonso. They just need other players to pick up the slack. Honestly, the Mets do have the talent to do that.

First and foremost, the Mets need Francisco Lindor to be more of an offensive threat. For much of last season, it was him and Alonso carrying the Mets offense. This year, he’s just at a 100 wRC+. The good news is this is the point of the year where Lindor typically takes off, and he’s right on schedule with a four game hitting streak.

In addition to Lindor, Jeff McNeil has to snap out of this funk he’s been all year. It seemed like the shift rules could help him chase history. Instead, he’s having one of his worst seasons mostly driven by an inability to hit on the road. He was last year’s batting champ. He needs to get much closer to that for the Mets to have a chance.

Brett Baty was supposed to be the solution at third. Instead, he has been mired in a deep slump for other a month. He’s really struggling hitting breaking pitches, and he’s pounding the ball into the ground. He’s coming off a two hit game, so maybe, there’s some hope for him still.

Buck Showalter has used every excuse not to play Mark Vientos, but now, it seems like he is out of excuses. Against the Atlanta Braves, we saw a rusty player who went from hot to fighting it. With Alonso out, Vientos can now finally get enough games to get into a groove and establish himself as a bona fide Major League power hitter.

These are all possibilities, and if these players can get going, the Mets will be fine offensively even without Alonso. However, that’s not going to be the biggest issue.

Mostly, the Mets need Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander to figure it out right now. This team is three games under .500 and in fourth place in the NL East. Much of that is because their co-aces have been more like deuces. They’ve been inconsistent and unreliable, and all we hear is that they are so close, blah, blah, blah.

Well, time is up with them. They need to finally deliver. We know the bullpen is unreliable and not going to get better. The Mets need length and quality innings from their starters. That starts with Scherzer and Verlander.

Finally, we go to Showalter. Look, at this point, he’s done enough to get fired by the team. He may treat this injury as an excuse for more Daniel Vogelbach and Mark Canha at first. He can’t. If he does, the Mets are sunk.

In the end, there are just a few Mets who have not under-performed. To a certain extent, that is actually good news. After all, that means if the Mets best players start performing, this team can start rolling off wins. Of course, the manager needs to let that happen, and the players need to start doing that now.

They have no other choice.

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Fire Buck, Hire Beltrán

This probably should be the last straw for Buck Showalter. Every single time you think things can’t get worse, it gets worse.

It all started going bad in Atlanta last year. The Mets needed to win just one game to win the division. Instead, they were swept to complete a historic collapse.

The Mets followed that with a loss in the Wild Card Series. In the decisive Game 3, Showalter waited too long to have Joe Musgrove’s ears inspected, and he looked weak doing it.

This Mets team was supposed to be an NL East contender. At the moment, they’re 30-33 sitting in fourth place 8.5 games out of first place.

The season has hopefully reached its nadir as the Mets got swept by the Atlanta Braves. It marked the first time in Mets history where they lost three straight games they led by three runs.

The Mets are reeling losing six straight. Neither Max Scherzer nor Justin Verlander looked good. The bullpen is a mess. Worse yet, Showalter is proud of the team?

This just feels like the final straw for a souring fanbase. The fanbase was souring well before this senseless quote.

There’s the Daniel Vogelbach fascination. Batting Francisco Álvarez last. His general mistrust of young players leading Mark Vientos from being red hot in Triple-A to ice cold when he’s needed most.

There should be fingers pointed in many different directions, but usually, in these circumstances, it’s the manager who goes.

Admittedly, it’s not likely Showalter is fired. Same goes for Billy Eppler. At least not yet. However, that doesn’t mean the Mets shouldn’t do it.

At the moment, their hopes like with their young players. However, Showalter is reticent to fully deploy them, and we see him trying to hold them back. It’s really time for him to go.

Part of the issue is hiring interim managers is messy. You can’t conduct a full search. Oft times, you’re hiring a coach from a failed staff or shoe-horning a guy atop an existing staff.

If the Mets were to fire Showalter, they should consider hiring Carlos Beltrán as the interim manager.

Beltrán is already with the organization. He’s a name who could excite the fanbase and bring some juice to the team.

In the past, Beltrán was definitively not the guy. However, due to current circumstances, he could be exactly what the Mets need.

With much of the Mets hopes tied to Álvarez, Brett Baty, and Vientos, we should remember Beltrán mentored David Wright and Jose Reyes. He is also well aware of what Francisco Lindor is going through this year.

There’s a lot he knows. There’s so much more he doesn’t. It’s a free try for the Mets to see if he can. If he can’t, the season is teetering on lost anyway, and that’s with a manager who has done this for 22 years.

There’s also the karma of giving Beltrán the job after it was wrongly and needlessly taken away from him. If there’s any org that needs good karma right now, it’s the Mets.

Ultimately, this will not happen. Not now. Perhaps not ever.

Just because it won’t doesn’t mean it shouldn’t. We can dicker over Beltrán or the next guy (Eric Chávez?), but what is becoming incredibly clear is the Mets need a change. Showalter needs a change.

If the Mets do pull the trigger and fire Showalter, it will be a decision we can be proud of.

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Vientos Should Not Be Sitting Behind Baty And Vogelbach

It needs to be reiterated that the New York Mets need to send Mark Vientos back to Triple-A Syracuse. It’s readily apparent Buck Showalter has no intention of playing him.

Since Vientos was recalled, he has started in just nine out of a possible 18 games. He’s only played in the field three times. He came to the Mets red hot at the plate improving defensively (he’s still a bad fielder), and now, he’s not allowed to hit or field.

In September, you understand. Like last season, it’s about exposure and just getting your best guys on the roster to try to take your team over the top. However, it’s June.

Young players aren’t helped by sitting. They need reps to improve, or at the very least, show what they need to work on to ge able to play at the Major League level. Again, Vientos isn’t playing.

This is exacerbated by the fact the Mets are playing two people over Vientos who simply cannot be in the everyday lineup right now.

Daniel Vogelbach has become a DH who can’t hit. He’s been horrid for over a month now. On the season, he is down to a 93 wRC+. To put that in perspective, on May 14, he had a 132 wRC+.

Vogelbach is only making $1.5 million. There is team control though next season, but what’s the point when the 30 year old platoon DH can’t hit anymore.

Showalter won’t stop playing him. The only way to stop it is to DFA Vogelbach.

Now, Brett Baty is a more difficult call. He is a well regarded young player who did surpass Vientos as the third baseman of the future. That said, there are extremely troubling trends.

Baty’s ground ball rate is up to 49.5%. He’s hit onto more double plays (4) than he’s hit homers (3). He can’t hit a breaking ball at the moment (39.3 WHIFF%).

Teams are now exploiting that with Baty striking out in 41.2% of his plate appearances since May 25. Overall, Baty is down to a 90 wRC+, and there aren’t any signs that number will improve anytime soon.

It’s getting increasingly difficult to argue Baty should be in the majors instead of Triple-A. In fact, Baty belongs in Syracuse now. He’s regressing, and he’s at the point where he needs too much work.

There is no reason to play Baty over Vientos now. Vientos isn’t anywhere near the defender, but he could be working with Joey Cora to improve and become more playable.

Mostly, the Mets can give him a chance. Maybe he succeeds. Maybe he fails. Whatever the case, he has upside and promise. At the very least, he couldn’t possibly be worse than Baty or Vogelbach have been.

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Mets Prioritize Vogelbach Over Álvarez With Nido DFA

With Omar Narváez set to come off the IL, the New York Mets were going to have to make a move., While it seemed like sending Mark Vientos down was the obvious move since he’s not playing, the Mets instead opted to designate Tomás Nido for assignment.

On the surface, it makes sense. After all, Francisco Álvarez has played so well the Mets were not going to send him back down to Triple-A Syracuse. As such, Narváez is really just taking over Nido’s spot on the roster. However, that is such a grossly over simplistic view it needs to be disregarded outright.

With the catching situation, the first caveat is Álvarez has not caught more than 81 games in a season. That presents a challenge for the Mets to get him through a full season healthy and without mental or physical fatigue. As a result, the team will have to look to buy Álvarez time here or there.

Honestly, that is something the Mets did with Álvarez in Syracuse by having him DH on occasion. It’s at least one of the reasons why the Mets assigned three catchers to Triple-A Syracuse to start the season.

However, for that to work, Buck Showalter has to show a willingness to DH one of his catchers. You can hear him saying you can’t take the risk of a catcher getting injured and having your team lose the DH for the game. More to the point, Showalter very infrequently did it with Matt Wieters. Going through each of his stops, it is something he would do far less than 20 times a season.

Put another way, the odds are Álvarez isn’t going to DH. In fact, so far this season, we have not seen Álvarez DH in any games.

Instead, we are likely going to see Daniel Vogelbach be the primary DH for the Mets. Anytime there is a right-handed pitcher, we should expect to see Vogelbach. That is the case even with Vogelbach hitting Vogelbach is hitting .158/.284/.246 since May 3. On the season, Vogelbach has a 99 wRC+. In essence, he’s a below average hitter at a position where the only job is to hit.

Now, those Vogelbach at-bats could have gone to Álvarez on the days he’s not catching. Again, Álvarez will need time off here and there. Also, we should not expect Showalter to just allow Álvarez to get the vast majority of starts over Narváez.

Remember, this is the same Showalter who continues to bat Álvarez ninth and is still somewhat of the belief Álvarez is a platoon bat. That is to say the left-handed hitting Narváez is going to get his starts and his plate appearances. Showalter’s default is to appease the veterans. That should lead us to see more Narváez than we originally contemplated.

Again, this could have been a good thing because it would permit Álvarez to DH. However, that role isn’t open with Vogelbach still on the team. The odds of Showalter doing it without Nido as a third catcher are diminished. Because of the totality of the circumstances, we see the Mets opted to DH Vogelbach over creating more opportunities to have Álvarez in the lineup.

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