Rene Rivera
You can look at any aspect from this game and say the Mets have to be better. That’s always the case when you lose a game. That goes double when you lose to what may be a historically bad Braves team.
For starters, Matt Harvey regressed after three terrific starts. His location was off, and the Braves made him pay. Harvey’s final line was six innings, seven hits, four earned, two walks, and five strikeouts. Ultimately, it may not have mattered, but you have to scratch your head at Terry Collins starting Kevin Plawecki over Rene Rivera.
Now, the Mets could’ve picked up Harvey tonight as they were facing former Mets prospect John Gant and his odd windup tonight:
It looks difficult to hit, right? Well, it hadn’t been the case this year with Gant having entered the game with a 5.63 ERA and a 1.750 WHIP. Naturally, Gant turned it around tonight pitching 6.2 innings allowing only two hits, one earned, and two walks with five strikeouts.
Gant had the sinker working that makes him an intriguing prospect. It’s why the Braves did a good job getting him as one of the pieces in the Juan Uribe/Kelly Johnson trade. For what it’s worth Johnson was 0-2 with a walk against Gant.
That’s how the night went for pretty much all of the Mets except Curtis Granderson who was 2-4 while scoring the only run of the game for the Mets in the first. There were a few stop and starts over the night, but the Mets were not cashing in on their opportunities. Most notably, the Mets had bases-loaded in the seventh, and Collins turned to Wilmer Flores, who couldn’t grip a bat yesterday, to pinch hit for Alejandro De Aza, who was originally announced go pinch hit for Antonio Bastardo, as the Braves brought the lefty Hunter Cervenka. Flores struck out as it’s hard to play with one hand.
The offense and pitching wasn’t the Mets only failing. In the eighth, Yoenis Cespedes bobbled a ball in the outfield. The play allowed Chase d’Arnaud, Travis‘ brother, to score even though he had already stopped at third. It went down as an unearned run to Erik Goeddel.
As if all of this wasn’t enough, James Loney made a bush league play on the bases that led to a game ending inning ending double play. On a Plawecki grounder, Loney slide into second. His slide wasn’t enough to break out the double play, so he lunged his elbow towards Jace Peterson‘s crotch. Even though Plawecki would’ve been safe by a mile, it was correctly ruled a game ending double play.
With that, Gant had his first career win, and Harvey had his major league leading ninth loss. It was a bad loss that was hard to watch. Across the board, the Mets need to be better than this.
Momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher, and the Mets had a lot of momentum tonight with Noah Syndergaard on the mound. Not only was Syndergaard great, but the bats also awoke.
It was surprising as this Mets lineup was essentially Yoenis Cespedes and seven guys, the Mets found off the street. Here was the lineup:
- Granderson 2-5, R
- Cabrera 2-5, 2 R
- Cespedes 3-4, 2 R, BB
- Flores 2-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR
- Johnson 3-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR
- Reynolds 3-5, 2 RBI, 2 2B
- Loney 1-5, RBI, 2B
- Rivera 3-5, 2 RBI, 2B
- Syndergaard 0-4, BB
This lineup absolutely destroyed Pirates pitching tonight. The tone was set in the first when the Mets loaded the bases with no outs, and Flores scored a run on an RBI ground out. After Johnson failed to score the runners with a weak pop out, Reynolds came up with a big two out two RBI double. The Mets were off and running in an 11-2 victory.
The Mets needed this for a number of reasons. First, the bench was short again. Shocking, isn’t it. Neil Walker couldn’t play due to his back again. Juan Lagares was scratched from the lineup with his thumb not allowing him to play again.
One thing that helped was the Pirates throwing Jeff Locke, who has allowed 18 earned in 8.2 innings over his last two starts. That includes the seven earned in four innings tonight. The Mets shouldn’t apologize for beating up on a struggling pitcher when they had to start the lineup they did.
However, that lineup produced for at least one glorious night. The Mets still have their issues, but you can look past them on a night when the Mets give you a laugher.
By the way, Syndergaard was great as usual:
Tonight, Syndergaard almost pitched his first ever shut-out. He lost it in the ninth. David Freese‘s RBI double scored John Jaso, who had three of the five hits off Syndergaard. But man, Syndergaard was so close. He snared a ball hit up the middle of the bat of Gregory Polanco. Syndergaard had Jaso dead to rights at third, but he took the sure out at first. Syndergaard would be lifted with one out in the ninth for Jeurys Familia, who was obviously needed to close out the 11-2 win.
Before tonight, Syndergaard had never thrown a pitch in the ninth inning in his career. His final line was 8.2 innings, five hits, two runs (thanks for a Flores throwing error once Syndergaard left the game), one earned, no walks, and 11 strikeouts. He was absolutely dominant, but then again, he always is. Tonight, the real story was the Mets scoring some runs.
The Mets have three big holes due to three players going down with significant injuries. Lucas Duda has a stress fracture in his back. David Wright has a herniated disc in his neck in addition to his spinal stenosis. Travis d’Arnaud has a torn rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder.
With this in mind, the Mets have to answer a few questions as the trade deadline approaches:
- Are any of the three players likely to return?
- Do the Mets have viable internal options to replace that player?
- What is out there on the trade market?
Working backwards, we see the biggest name on the trade market is going to be Jonathan Lucroy.
Lucroy is having a terrific year this season hitting .304/.361/.515 with nine homeruns and 28 RBI. It shouldn’t be a surprise that Lucroy is playing this well as he is better in even numbered years than odd numbered years since he became a full time starter in 2011. In 2012, his OPS+ was 132; in 2014, it was 131, and this year it is 132. In short, we can reasonably expect Lucroy to keep this up.
Lucroy’s just as successful behind the plate. He is a good pitch framer. He’s gunned down 42.9% of would be basestealers. Simply put, Lucroy is as much of a complete catcher as there is in the game. He’s also a massive upgrade over d’Arnaud’s replacements.
Since d’Arnaud’s last game on April 25th, Rene Rivera and Kevin Plawecki have combined to hit .190/.273/.289. While they have been good pitch framers, and Rivera has been a stabilizing force behind the plate, Plawecki and Rivera have both established themselves as poor hitting backup catchers. The Mets need a starting catcher that can hit. That was supposed to be d’Arnaud. It could be Lucroy now.
With that said, the Mets should pass on Lucroy despite his being better than any of the Mets catchers.
The reason the Mets can do this is because d’Arnaud has begun playing in rehab games, and he has had no setbacks this far. He will begin catching in rehab games soon. As per baseball’s 20 game rehab rule, d’Arnaud is set to return to the Mets on Sunday, June 26th at the latest.
Assuming he’s healthy, d’Arnaud can continue being a good overall catcher. He’s a better than average pitch framer. He’s coming off a .268/.340/.485 season. He hit three homeruns in the postseason last year. The only issue that remains is if he can throw out base stealers with his injured shoulder. With the way Mets pitchers hold on base runners, that may not be as big an issue as one might normally believe.
With his injury history, there may come a point in time the Mets decide to move on from d’Arnaud. That time may come sooner rather than later. However, now is not that time. The Mets have bigger issues.
James Loney has been a fine stopgap at first base, but he’s still only hitting .250/.302/.350. He’s not the long term solution. Wilmer Flores has done a yeoman’s job at third hitting .389/.450/.500. He is been much better with his approach at the plate. He is working the counts and starting to draw some walks. He also has an unsustainably high .500 BABIP leading you to believe he is due for a regression back to the .255/.292/.385 career hitter he is. Overall, the Mets continue to have long term holes at first and third with no one really knowing when or if Wright and Duda can return.
Accordingly, the Mets need to husband their resources so they can make a move to acquire a third and/or first baseman. That’s not Lucroy UNLESS the Mets feel comfortable paying the huge price he’ll command on the trade market to play first base . . . a position he has only played 43 games in his seven year career.
Editor’s Note: this was first published metsmerizedonline.com
With the Mets injuries, it’s easy to blame the lack of offense on the Mets supposed depth. It’s true. The Mets backups have been dreadful:
- Kevin Plawecki and Rene Rivera have combined to hit .194/.291/.302 since Travis d’Arnaud played his last game on April 25th.
- Eric Campbell, Wilmer Flores, and James Loney have combined to hit .197/.231/.328 since Lucas Duda played his last game on May 20th.
- Flores and Ty Kelly have combined to hit .216/.310/.243 since David Wright played his last game on May 27th
These players haven’t done their jobs, and they have hurt the Mets. However, while the Kellys and the Campbells of the world get the blame for hitting the way you reasonably anticipate them to hit, the regulars who haven’t been hitting have not faced the same scrutiny. In fact, the Mets right now have five regulars still in the lineup and four of them are just flat out not producing:
- Asdrubal Cabrera – Since April 27th, Cabrera is hitting .227/.278/.355 with only 10 extra base hits in 151 plate appearances. Over that stretch, he is striking out in 23.8% of his plate appearances.
- Michael Conforto – Since May 1st, in what is now being infamously referenced as the Madison Bumgarner Effect, Conforto has hit .160/.224/.311 while striking out in 31% of his plate appearances. He only has seven extra base hits over this stretch. Terry Collins once had concerns with him lefties. Right now, Conforto isn’t hitting anybody.
- Yoenis Cespedes – Since May 25th, Cespedes is hitting .086/.132/.114 with no homeruns while striking out 34.2% of the time. He is once again dealing with a hip issue, and he is clearly frustrated saying he is “a little lost at the plate right now.” (ESPN).
- Curtis Granderson – Since April 30th, Granderson is hitting .180/.269/.375 while striking out 28.3% of the time. His problems have been analyzed before show he’s hitting the ball on the ground more and it getting beaten by the shift. So far, Granderson is not making the necessary adjustments.
Then again, no Met is making the necessary adjustments right now. The end result is a putrid offense that is the worst offense in the major leagues. According to Baseball Tonight, since May 12th, the Mets are the last in the majors in runs per game (2.8), OBP (.282), and strikeout rate (28%). The team is also second to last in slugging (.354). These numbers would look a whole lot worse if Neil Walker wasn’t hitting.
Overall, this isn’t the July 2015 Mets that had Campbell and John Mayberry hitting in the middle of the lineup. There are legitimate hitters in this lineup who just aren’t hitting. We can all analyze who the Mets should get to be their possible long term solutions at catcher, first, and third in the event any of those injured players aren’t able to return. However, the simple truth of the matter is that unless the players currently here start hitting it’s not going to matter if the Mets make another move at the deadline.
The other day, Travis d’Arnaud began his rehabilitation assignment playing DH for High-A St. Lucie. It’s interesting he started at a position other than catcher as many people believe d’Arnaud should be using this time to transition away from catcher.
There are sound reasons for this decision. d’Arnaud has been injury prone, and catcher is a position where a player tends to get many nicks, bumps, and bruises. With the torn labrum, d’Arnaud is going to have even more issues throwing out more base stealers than he is perceived to have. Finally, with the Lucas Duda and David Wright injuries, the Mets may need long term solutions to those positions.
Despite all of these reasons, it would be an incredibly poor decision to move d’Arnaud out from behind the plate.
First, d’Arnaud’s torn labrum shouldn’t affect his ability to catch and call a game. Throughout his career, d’Arnaud’s strength has been as a receiver and a pitch framer. Yes, his torn labrum could affect his ability to throw. However, his throwing would be a bigger issue from third base.
Additionally, moving d’Arnaud doesn’t help the Mets offensively. In d’Arnaud’s absence, Kevin Plawecki has hit .203/.302/.298, and Rene Rivera has hit .194/.310/.361. Right now, the Mets have James Loney at first, who is a career .285/.338/.411 hitter, and Wilmer Flores at third, who is a career .251/.288/.382 hitter. Simply put, the Mets are better off with d’Arnaud, Loney, and Flores in the lineup.
Overall, the Mets need d’Arnaud back with the Mets as soon as possible. They need his bat in the lineup to improve the lineup. He helps this team, and this pitching staff most, when he is behind the plate. He needs to stay there.
The narrative going into the game was Noah Syndergaard‘s golf trip would have a negative impact on his start. It seemed to be the case when Syndergaard allowed a first inning solo homerun to Marcell Ozuna.
Instead of struggling from that point forward, Syndergaard did what he’s done all year. He dominated. Syndergaard pitched seven innings allowing six hits, two earned, and one walk with nine strikeouts. All Syndergaard needed was some run support.
Fortunately for Syndergaard, the Mets provided him with more than one run of support. That was the main difference between this game and Jacob deGrom‘s start on Wednesday. The main reason was Wilmer Flores started at third instead of Ty Kelly. In the fourth, Flores broke a 1-1 tie by getting a two out broken bat bloop RBI single scoring Yoenis Cespedes.
Unfortunately, Syndergaard would relinquish the lead in the sixth. The rally was built upon a Christian Yelich double to shortstop. Yes, shortstop. Asdrubal Cabrera, who hit a fourth inning homerun, dove and got a piece of the ball. It was just enough to slow it down so Yelich could get to second and Martin Prado could go to third. Prado would subsequently score on a Ozuna’s sacrifice fly. The Mets would need Flores to get things started again. He did.
In the seventh, Flores got a rally started by drawing a leadoff walk in the seventh. The Marlins then pulled starter Tom Koehler and brought in the lefty, Mike Dunn, to face James Loney. Loney made the Marlins pay by hitting the first pitch he saw for a homerun. It was Loney’s first homerun for the Mets and his 100th career homerun. The homerun broke a 2-2 tie.
Just for good measure, Flores got another rally started with a leadoff double in the ninth. He moved to third on a long fly ball from Loney to center. He JUST MISSED another homerun. Rene Rivera, on the other hand, didn’t. He hit an absolute bomb to left center giving the Mets a 6-2 lead. It gave the Mets a big enough lead to let them relax after losing two straight games in which they had a lead in what were tight scoring games.
Addison Reed pitched a scoreless eighth because that’s what he does. The four run lead allowed Jim Henderson to pitch a scoreless ninth thereby allowing Jeurys Familia a night off.
This was a great game for the Mets and Flores in particular. He finished the night 2-3 with two runs, one RBI, one walk, and one double. With David Wright‘s most recent injury, the Mets need Flores to step up and take over third base. He did that tonight. If he continues playing like this the Mets will be able to weather not just this storm, but also anything else that comes their way in 2016.
Game Notes: The struggling Michael Conforto was dropped from third to sixth in the lineup. He was 0-4 with two strikeouts dropping his average to .246.
Yesterday was about as frustrating as it gets. The Mets only scored one run in 13 innings despite drawing 13 walks. The natural reaction is to try to figure out where things went wrong, to try to figure out why this happened. There are many plausible and reasonable explanations. However, when seeking out an answer to what is currently ailing the Mets, Terry Collins is not one of them.
Yes, Terry Collins has his faults as a manager. He sticks with veterans too long. He has a tendency to mismanage the bullpen. He mismanaged the World Series so poorly he might’ve cost the team an opportunity to win the World Series. There are many things wrong with him as a manager. However, you cannot blame him for the current state of the Mets’ offense.
Terry Collins is not to blame for Travis d’Arnaud going down with a rotator cuff injury leaving him with the choice of the light hitting Kevin Plawecki or Rene Rivera each and every night. Terry Collins is not to blame for Lucas Duda‘s pre-existing back issue or his subsequent (if unrelated) stress fracture. He’s also not to blame for David Wright‘s spinal stenosis or the herniated disc in his neck. You can’t blame Terry Collins that his had to start someone from the triumvirate of Eric Campbell, Ty Kelly, or Matt Reynolds at third base. You can’t blame Terry Collins that the Mets had to go out and get James Loney, a player released by the Tampa Rays before the season began, to fill-in at first base.
Overall, the manager’s job is to get the best out of his players. It is not to suddenly turn Kevin Plawecki and Ty Kelly into capable major league hitters. That’s unfair and unreasonable.
While there is plenty of blame to go around for the offense, it’s not on Collins. In fact, you could argue that given the current state of the offense, Collins is exactly the manager you want in charge of the Mets. The Mets faced similar issues last year while Collins was at the helm. He had a young starting rotation going out there putting terrific start after terrific start just hoping the offense could score a run or two to get them the win. This is the type of environment that coiuld’ve fractured a team. It’s the type of environment when players could start getting frustrated and take those frustrations out on the field. Instead, Terry Collins held that team together until the team got healthy and Sandy Alderson could get reinforcements in place. A year later, the Mets are in the same exact position.
So, overall, Terry Collins is not to blame. In fact, he has shown that he is the exact manager you want in place right now. The World Series? Well, that’s a whole other matter. Let’s get through this rough patch first before discussing that point.
The Mets walked 13 times . . . THIRTEEN . . . and only scored one run in a 13 inning game they lost 2-1.
The Mets once again trotted out an ugly lineup reminiscent of July 2015. David Wright is still unavailable with the neck injection, so Terry Collins decided to go with Ty Kelly over Wilmer Flores. Yoenis Cespedes was out of the lineup as he informed Terry Collins he needed a day off. It was an ugly lineup reminiscent of a July 2015 lineup. It doesn’t help that Michael Conforto is still struggling. With today’s 0-6 with the golden sombrero, Conforto is now one for his last 21. With that said, the Mets had to win the 2015 way. They needed deGrom to be dominant. He was, but it wasn’t enough.
Jacob deGrom‘s velocity continued to tick up a bit with him getting it back up to the 95 MPH range on occasion. He had a season high 10 strikeouts. He had allowed only three hits and no runs over six, and he was at 92 pitches, and due up to lead off in the seventh inning. Terry Collins let him go back out there.
For the second day in a row, Todd Frazier hit a homerun. He tied the score at 1-1.
That matched the Mets offensive output. James Loney got a second inning rally started by walking. He moved to second on a Juan Lagares sacrifice bunt (really looked more like a bunt for a base hit, but that’s official scoring for you). Rene Rivera then came up and hit a one out RBI single to make the score 1-0. It was the first time Loney reached base and scored a run as a Met.
The Mets tore through their bullpen, including but not limited to, an injury to Hansel Robles. Logan Verrett came in, and he eventually gave up the winning run in the 13th in a rally started by a double hit by Matt Albers, an American League relief pitcher.
It was a bad loss capping off a poor 2-4 home stand. The Mets bench is inexcusably bad even with the injuries. The Mets need to make some moves.
Game Notes: Don Draper took his hatred of the Mets to the next level by sending Roger out there to interfere with Melky Cabrera resulting in interference being called costing Loney a chance at bat. It is the four year anniversary of Johan Santana’s no-hitter.
Yesterday, Matt Harvey may have turned his whole season around. His velocity, command, and swagger were back. Much of it had to do with the Mets finally spotting his mechanical flaw and fixing it. Another factor that wasn’t mentioned yesterday was it was the first time Rene Rivera caught Matt Harvey.
Rivera is a veteran journeyman catcher. He’s a great receiver that calls a good game. He is adept at both pitch framing and throwing out base stealers. He has a cannon throwing 34.4% of would be basestealers, which is second only to Yadier Molina among active catcher with 250+ stolen base attempts. From behind the plate, Rivera controls the game. He is a calm and steady presence back there.
This is what a young pitching staff needs more than anything. It’s what Gary Carter did for the 86 Mets. It’s what Rivera did for the Rays.
With the Rays, Rivera had been part of the development of their young pitchers, specifically Chris Archer. With Rivera behind the plate, Archer limited batters to a 93 OPS+. With all the other catchers, who have caught him, batters have a 100 OPS+ against Archer. The young Archer was just a better pitcher with the veteran behind the plate.
We’re seeing it again with Rivera and Noah Syndergaard. In the limited time, they’ve worked together, Syndergaard has limited batters to an 87 OPS+. In the four games, they have been combined, Syndergaard has a 1.54 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP. Part of that is Rivera controlling the game behind the plate. Part of that is Rivera controlling the running game allowing Syndergaard to just focus on the batter.
The results with Archer and Syndergaard show Rivera’s value. We may have seen it again with Harvey yesterday. Seeing how Rivera handles a young staff, it’s hard to justify not playing him everyday.
In fact, the only excuse is his offense. He’s a career .209/.258/.329 hitter with a 64 OPS+. This year, he’s hitting an even worse .148/.281/.259 with a 50 OPS+. Given the Mets offensive problems, it’s hard to justify putting this bat in the lineup everyday. Unfortunately, Plawecki isn’t a stumbling block.
For the second straight year, Kevin Plawecki has struggled in Travis d’Arnaud’s absence. He’s hitting .196/.292/.272 with a 57 OPS+. He’s actually worse than he was last year when he had the excuse of getting called to the majors too soon and experiencing dizzy spells during games. Right now, Plawecki is showing the Mets that he either belongs in the minor leagues, or he is nothing more than a backup catcher.
Given the comparable OPS+ figures, Rivera and Plawecki are effectively the same person at the plate. With that said, the Mets should play the catcher who is better and handling a pitching staff and controlling the running game. There is no doubt that is Rene Rivera. It’s time for the Mets to make Rivera the everyday catcher until Travis d’Arnaud returns.
Editor’s Note: this was also published on metsmerizedonline.com