Steven Matz
Yoenis Cespedes and Asdrubal Cabrera are supposed to come off the disabled list, but that doesn’t mean that the Mets are getting healthy for the stretch run. Not in the least. Seth Lugo will make his first career start as Steven Matz is going to miss tonight’s start due to his bone spurs. Sorry, he is going to miss the start due to shoulder discomfort.
Matz started feeling shoulder discomfort the day after his last start. Matz felt this shoulder discomfort after having gone 7.1 innings in his prior start and throwing 120 pitches over six innings the start before that. In his last start, Matz had all but scrapped his slider, and he started relying more on his curveball as a weapon to get batters out.
It is important to note the Mets pitched Matz because they believed there was no structural damage. As Sandy Alderson said, “Continuing to pitch will not cause any structural damage. We will continue to monitor his situation, but at this point it’s a function of if he can tolerate the discomfort while continuing to pitch.” (New York Post). It should also be noted that, according to Jon Heyman, the Mets talked Matz out of getting surgery to remove the bone spur. Instead, the Mets decided it was best to have their young lefty try to pitch through the pain and help the Mets win another World Series.
One thing that stood out in Matz’s last start was how everyone seemed to believe he turned a corner. Not just this season, but possibly his career. Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez talked a few times about how important it was for young players to learn the ability to pitch while being hurt, while having pain. As Darling would say, pitchers always have pain, and therefore, they need to learn how to deal with it if they are going to take that next step.
That begs the question – was Matz pitching through pain or was he pitching through injury? Matz is going to miss this start, and according to Terry Collins, he may very well miss his next start as well. What if Matz pitching with the bone spurs led to his shoulder injury? There will be many theories bandied about, but at the end of the day, no one knows quite for sure. However, what we do know is that the Mets best chances to win both this year and the years going forward is keeping their starting pitchers healthy. They haven’t been healthy this year.
For what it’s worth, after his last start, Matz didn’t feel there was an issue saying, “My arm’s been feeling great. I have no complaints there.” (Newsday). Except, now he does, and we don’t know why. The only thing we do know is that the Mets pressured him into pitching with an injury in his elbow, and now, they are sitting him with a shoulder injury.
For the first time in quite a while, I was legitimately excited to watch a Mets game as we were guaranteed a great pitching matchup with Jacob deGrom and Madison Bumgarner. Admittedly, when I saw a lineup with Ty Kelly and Justin Ruggiano, I was less excited. Still, whenever deGrom takes the mound, the Mets have a legitimate chance to win.
I didn’t even make it to the fourth inning. I missed Ruggiano giving the Mets false hope with the grand slam. I missed deGrom and Bumgarner failing to hold up their ends of the bargain in the pitching duel. I missed the Mets show some fight in the sixth by them trying to crawl their way back into the game with a Kelly triple scoring Ruggiano and Travis d’Arnaud to make it 8-7.
I did manage to wake up in the eighth inning. I tried to keep my eyes open for as long as I could. As I watched Addison Reed give up a two run RBI double to Buster Posey, I asked myself why I was bothering. If the Giants are lighting up Reed, there really is no chance for a comeback. With that, I went back to sleep. While I missed the ninth, I was pretty certain the Mets were going to lose by a score of at least 10-7. As it turns out, that was the final score.
The Mets are back to a game under .500, and they fell to 4.5 games behind the idle Cardinals. The hope is that Yoenis Cespedes and Asdrubal Cabrera coming back will help spark this team, but I’m not holding my breath, especially now with the Mets having to skip Steven Matz in the rotation with bone spurs – no wait, they have to skip him now due to bone spurs and a shoulder injury.
Sooner or later this bad dream has to end, right?
With the Mets finally admitting that Logan Verrett was not capable of being the team’s fifth starter for the rest of the season, the Mets had to make a decision on who should be the fifth starter for the rest of the year.
Seemingly, there were a few options. The first was Robert Gsellman who has made significant strides this year in the minors, but is struggling in AAA going 1-5 with a 5.70 ERA and a 1.406 WHIP. The other option was Seth Lugo, who has pitched fairly well out of the Mets bullpen, but he has not been fully stretched out. There was also Gabriel Ynoa, who entered the season as the Mets top rated pitching prospect in AAA as the year began. Ynoa started the year strong, but he pitched to a 6.64 ERA in June and July this year.
Given the fact that the younger Mets arms didn’t seem ready, it is no surprise the Mets turned to recently acquired Jon Niese to be the new fifth starter. Niese has been horrendous this year, but with Dan Warthen as his pitching coach, Niese has been a .500 pitcher with a 3.95 ERA and a 1.365 WHIP. These are not great numbers, but these are numbers that you can live with from your fifth starter.
However, what is surprising was the Mets calling up Ynoa to be the long man in the bullpen. First and foremost, Lugo has done a good job as the long man in the Mets bullpen. In his seven appearances, Lugo has pitched 13.2 innings with a 2.63 ERA and an 0.878 WHIP. More than that, Lugo is actually a reliever. Due to his own struggles in AAA, Lugo was demoted to the bullpen where he was used as a reliever. Lugo has actually made appearances in back-to-back games and appeared in a number of different scenarios.
Ynoa hasn’t. Before being called up to the majors, Ynoa last made a relief apperance on August 26th of last year. In that relief appearance, Ynoa was on regular rest, and he pitched two innings after a Steven Matz rehab start. Prior to that Ynoa last made a relief appearance as an 18 year old pitching in the Gulf Coast League. It should be noted that in those three relief appearances, Ynoa was piggybacking the starting pitcher. In essence, Ynoa has never truly been a relief pitcher in his entire professional career.
That didn’t stop the Mets from making him one for the first time in the majors. Not only that, it didn’t stop Terry Collins from using Ynoa in back-to-back games. That is all the more startling when you consider the fact that Ynoa HAS NEVER pitched in back-to-back games in his professional career. This is no way to treat a 23 year old pitcher who very well could be a part of the Mets rotation within the next year or two.
If the Mets truly believed he was ready to get called-up to the majors, it is hard to dispute that especially seeing how poised he was on the mound in his first two appearances. However, with that said, if you’re calling him up, why not put him in the rotation and leave Niese in the bullpen where he has had some experience and some success? It’s not like Niese is fully stretched out, and it’s not like Niese has exactly earned the opportunity especially since Niese was given the rotation spot AFTER allowing six earned runs in an inning.
Instead of doing the obvious, the Mets are putting Niese in the rotation and Ynoa in the bullpen. It doesn’t make any sense.
Regardless of the results what Steven Matz has been doing this season has been admirable. Matz knows he’s going to need surgery in the offseason to remove bone spurs in his elbow, and yet he still goes out there and pitches because his team needs him.
With that said the results haven’t been pretty. From June 7th until August 9th, Matz has gone 1-7 with a 4.65 ERA and a 1.435 WHIP. That is a precipitous drop from the guy who started the year 7-1 with a 2.28 ERA and a 1.030 WHIP. The main reason for the dip is he’s getting hit much harder. He’s gone from an 18% line drive rate with batters hitting .225/.272/.294 with four homers to a 28% line drive rate with batters hitting .297/.346/.475 with 10 homers.
During his slump or whatever you want to call it, Matz has been without his main breaking pitch – the fabled Warthen slider. In the beginning of the year, he threw it 15% of the time. Beginning June 7th, he was only throwing it 8% of the time.
In place of the change, Matz began throwing more changeups going from throwing it 9% of the time to throwing it 14% of the time. It’s not a wise move as opposing batters hit .340 against the pitch while slugging .630. He’s fooling no one with the changeup and the opposition has been teeing off on the pitch.
Sunday, Matz effectively scrapped both his changeup and his slider focusing on his fastball and curveball. The result was a near no-hitter.
Over 7.1 dazzling innings, Matz only allowed the one hit allowing no runs and two walks with eight strikeouts. It was his best start since May. It was a return to the Steven Matz everyone once believed would emerge to join Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, and Noah Syndergaard as one of four aces atop the Mets staff.
Matz did it, in part, because he threw a lot more curveballs. He threw 29% curves on Sunday after throwing it 14% of the time ro start the year. It was the right move as it’s arguably his second best pitch (after his abandoned slider). Matz limits batters to a .235 batting average with his curveball, which is the second lowest batting average allowed against any one of his pitches.
With the fastball and curveball working, the only player who would get a hit off of Matz would be Alex Rios‘ former teammate Alexei Ramirez. Like Harvey, Matz wouldn’t get the no-hitter. Unlike Harvey, his teammates would score runs did him a get the win.
Wilmer Flores and Neil Walker hit solo homers in the first two innings respectively off Padres left-hander Clayton Richard giving Matz and the Mets a 2-0 lead.
In the eighth, the Mets actually scored some insurance runs. Jose Reyes led off the inning with a single. He’d steal second and move to third when Padres catcher Derek Norris threw it into center. Reyes then scored on a Jose Dominguez wild pitch. All of this happened during Ty Kelly‘s at bat. It was vintage Reyes.
The rally continued after the Reyes one man show, and it culminated in a T.J. Rivera two out two RBI double scoring Kelly and Jay Bruce. It was the first extra base hit and RBI in Kelly’s young career. It made the score 5-0.
The final score would be 5-1 after Gabriel Ynoa allowed a run in the ninth. On the bright side, the Mets are 2-0 in games Ynoa pitched. Speaking of which, the Mets have finally won two games in a row.
Overall, the story was Matz. He had a magical afternoon, and he made an adjustment to allow him to pitch more effectively.
Pennant Race: Thr Marlins beat the White Sox 5-4. The Nationals beat the Braves 9-1. Three Cardinals beat the Cubs 6-4. The Pirates bested the Dodgers 11-4.
For the second straight year, it appears that the Mets have been snakebitten. They have lost Lucas Duda, Matt Harvey, and David Wright to season ending injuries. It would be easy to blame injuries like these as well as the other injuries the Mets have had for the team underachieving this season. There’s just one problem with that – the Mets have been amongst the healthiest teams in all of baseball.
According to Spotrac, the Mets rank 15th in the majors and 8th in the National League with the team having placed 13 players on the disabled list. With those 13 players on the disabled list, the Mets have missed 549 player days, which ranks 23rd in the majors and 12th in the National League.
Now, there are some fair criticisms in pointing just to the disabled list figures. First, as we have seen with the Mets handling of Yoenis Cespedes, the Mets wait too long before putting a player on the disabled list. Second, this list does not account for players like Steven Matz and Noah Syndergaard who are pitching despite having bone spurs in their elbows which will have to be surgically removed in the offseason. However, this point-of-view is a bit myopic when considering the injuries the Mets main competition for the two Wild Card spots have endured.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The 63-49 Dodgers currently have the top Wild Card spot by four games. They have also put a major league leading 25 players on the disabled list while losing a major league leading 1,400 player days.
Brett Anderson was gone for the season before he threw a pitch, Hyun-Jin Ryu only made one start, and Alex Wood lasted just 10 starts. That’s 3/5 of the Dodgers Opening Day rotation up in smoke. On top of that, the Dodgers have lost important bullpen pieces in Yimi Garcia and Chin-hui Tsao.
The Dodgers have also been decimated in the outfield. Valuable fourth outfielder and bench bat Andre Ethier was also gone before the season started. He was needed more than usual considering the Dodgers finally released Carl Crawford, had to deal with Yasiel Puig not producing, and recently losing the pleasantly surprising Trayce Thompson in the outfield.
All of this pales in comparison to the Dodgers losing Clayton Kershaw to the disabled list. Kershaw was once again dominating, was the presumptive Cy Young Award winner, and quite possibly an MVP candidate. With his back injury, no one can be quite sure when he will return. There is no more damaging blow to any team in all of baseball than the Dodgers losing Kershaw.
And yet, the Dodgers keep winning games, and that is why they find themselves the current Wild Card leader.
St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals have put one fewer player on the disabled list than the Mets, but they have also lost 174 more player days to the disabled list. Like the Dodgers, they are also ahead of the Mets in the Wild Card Standings.
The biggest injury the Cardinals have had to deal with is their starting shortstop Jhonny Peralta. Offseason surgery to repair a ligament in his left thumb has limited him to 36 games this season. When he has played, he has been largely ineffective. Initially, the Cardinals opted to go with Mets cast-off Ruben Tejada as Peralta’s short term replacment, but he was inffective and wounded up on the disabled list himself. His replacement, Aledmys Diaz was having a terrific rookie season which led to him being named an All Start. However, he is now on the disabled list with a hairline fracture in this thumb.
The Cardinals have also had a number of key position player injuries. During the season, the Cardinals have placed Brandon Moss and Tommy Pham on the disabled list at points during the season. This has left the team looking to find solutions at first base and center field during the season.
The Cardinals pitching staff has also been hit hard. Lance Lynn went from a member of the rotation to losing the entire 2016 season to Tommy John surgery. Closer Trevor Rosenthal has been dealing with injuries and ineffectiveness all year, and he has finally wound up on the disabled list. One of his key set-up men, Jordan Walden, has yet to throw a pitch all season due to a shoulder strain and a lat injury. The team also had to deal with losing key relievers from last season, Seth Maness and Kevin Siegrist, for a stretch of time.
Recently, they had Michael Wacha and Matt Holliday go down with what could be season ending injuries.
Despite these injuries, the Cardinals are 2.5 games up on the Mets this season in the Wild Card standings.
National League East
It is interesting to note that the two teams the Mets are chasing in the National League East, the Miami Marlins and the Washington Nationals, are two of the healthiest teams in all of baseball.
For the Marlins part, it seems to be a combination of good luck and youth. Seven of the eight Marlins everyday players are 28 and younger. The two 28 year olds, Justin Bour (ankle sprain) and Dee Gordon (PED suspension) are the only players from the starting lineup to be placed on the disabled list this season.
Other than Wei-Yin Chen, the Marlins pitching staff has been remarkably healthy. Most importantly, Jose Fernandez has been the dominant starting pitcher he was always supposed to be.
The Nationals being so health is quite remarkable. Each and every season, players like Daniel Murphy, Anthony Rendon, Stephen Strasburg, Jayson Werth, and Ryan Zimmerman were usually good for at least one disabled list stint during the course of the season. So far this year, Starsburg had a short stint on the disabled list, and Zimmerman just landed on the disabled list with a wrist contusion.
The reason why the Nationals are in a much better place injury wise is part luck, but it is mostly them doing things differently. They created a larger and a multi disciplined medical team of experts to address injuries. They have addressed each and every aspect of player preparation and health. The result so far is a much healthier Nationals team both on and off the field.
The Nationals changing how they have approached injuries show how other teams have adapted and dealt with injuries better than the Mets – so have the other teams competing for the two Wild Card spots. The Mets aren’t trailing in the Wild Card race due to their health. In fact, they may still be in the race because the Dodgers and Cardinals have had to deal with more injuries than they have.
Do you wish Terry Collins will become a better manager?
Do you wish Jay Bruce will start hitting like he was hitting for the Reds this year?
Do you wish Asdrubal Cabrera, Yoenis Cespedes, Jim Henderson, Juan Lagares, Jose Reyes, Justin Ruggiano and/or Zack Wheeler can get off the disabled list soon?
Do you wish Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz will return to their pre-bone spur form?
Do you wish Curtis Granderson can return to his 2015 form?
Do you wish Michael Conforto and Travis d’Arnaud will stop regressing and start fulfilling their promise?
Do you wish Neil Walker can stay this hot for the rest of the season?
Well for all those that wish for all that and much more like a postseason berth, Grandpa Gustafson has a message for you:
It was more of the same for a Mets team that hasn’t won back-to-back games in more than a month.
Steven Matz couldn’t hold up the razor thin 1-0 lead the woeful Mets offense gave him. Worse yet, despite his balky elbow, Terry Collins pushed him to a career high 120 pitches over six grueling innings. For what it’s worth, Matz tied his career high with nine strikeouts. Matz departed in the short side after allowing two solo homers.
This wasn’t Collins only curious decision. In the fifth, Collins ordered a hit-and-run with Matt Reynolds at first and Matz at the plate. Of course it didn’t work. Reynolds was caught stealing, and then Matz would strike out later in the at bat.
Also, none of the Mets pitchers could hold on a runner leaving Travis d’Arnaud looking bad back there – not that his throws were that good anyway. On the night, the Diamondbacks were five for five stealing bases.
Still, heading into the seventh, the Mets had a 3-2 lead because Neil Walker continued his insanely hot hitting. He hit his 20th home run of the year scoring Curtis Granderson, who has led off the inning with the doubles.
Walker’s 20 homers out him in company with Jeff Kent and Edgardo Alfonzo:
Neil Walker: 3rd different @Mets player, whose primary position was 2B, with a 20-HR season
Jeff Kent & Edgardo Alfonzo (twice each)
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) August 10, 2016
Then the unexpected happened. The bullpen faltered – Hansel Robles specifically. Runners were on second and third, after a double steal of course, and there were two outs after Robles struck out Jean Segura. Robles then allowed Michael Bourn to hit a bases clearing triple. Collins would eventually remove Robles, but not before he allowed Paul Goldschmidt to hit an RBI single to give the Diamondbacks a 5-3 lead.
Josh Edgin came on and got the Mets out if the jam, but it was too little too late.
The Mets would not threaten over the final three innings as they found another way to fail to win back-to-back games. Why would they score off an absolutely atrocious Diamondbacks bullpen:
https://twitter.com/brianpmangan/status/762864074182922240
Of course, Collins pinch hit Ty Kelly for d’Arnaud with two outs in the ninth as Collins is really trying to convince Sandy he should be fired.
The Mets next chance to win back-to-back games will be Thursday, August 11th. The way things have been going, don’t hold your breath.
Game Notes: It was Zack Greinke‘s first start since coming off the DL, and fist start against the Mets since The Murphy Game. James Loney had an RBI ground out in the first scoring Walker. Walker is going all he can going 3-4 with two runs, two RBI, and a homer. This was Edgin’s second appearance since getting called-up.
Pennant Race: Nationals lost 3-2 to the Indians. Marlins lead the Giants 2-0 through eight. The Cardinals and Reds are tied at three through five.
Yesterday, Yoenis Cespedes began his day with a round of golf with Kevin Millar . . .
He got me this am @ynscspds #BoyClub #Millar/Cespedes #Rematch ⛳️⛳️⛳️⛳️⛳️ pic.twitter.com/bI5epD1Job
— Kevin Millar (@KMillar15) August 3, 2016
. . . and he ended the day on the disabled list.
By all reports, Cespedes has been playing golf each and every day since he’s been injured.
Cespedes’ injury was painful enough to prevent him from flying out and participating in the All Star Game. It was so bad he told the Mets he could no longer play center field. It was so painful he would miss games. Overall, his quad injury would affect his ability to play baseball, but he would not let it interfere with him playing golf each and every day.
Did the Mets botch this? Sure, they always mishandle injuries. It’s why they talked Steven Matz out of getting surgery to remove bone spurs from his elbow. They also talked Juan Lagares out of surgery initially. The solution for Matt Harvey was him roughing it out without getting a full examination. They wouldn’t put a hobbled Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera immediately on the disabled list. There are more injuries they’ve mismanaged both this year and in the entire Ray Ramirez Error, sorry Era.
The Cespedes situation is yet another example of the Mets mismanaging injuries. They could’ve out him on the disabled list at the All Star Break to minimize the amount of games he would miss. They could’ve told him not to play golf.
However, they shouldn’t have to tell a 30 year old man making $27.5 million to rest his legs so he could return to the field as soon as possible. They shouldn’t have to tell him not to let down his teammates in the middle of a pennant race so he could hang out with Kevin Millar on the golf course. No, this is something Cespedes should just no. He either didn’t know, or he knew it and didn’t care.
Cespedes showed a complete lack of self awareness saying he needed to stop playing for 10 days to get healthy:
YC: “I think the best option is just rest, 10 days or so. If I continue playing hurt, I’m never going to recover.”
— Matt Ehalt (@MattEhalt) August 4, 2016
It wasn’t clear from that statement if he meant golf or baseball. Given his actions over the past month, he probably meant baseball.
Yes, the Mets mismanaged this injury like they mismanage all of their injuries. However, Cespedes prioritized his golf game over the game he is paid to play. Hopefully, Cespedes will refrain from playing golf these next 15 days to let him get back on the field.
After a month of golf and his sporadic play, it’s difficult to be optimistic that Cespedes will now treat this injury seriously and put baseball first.