2015 Playoff Preview
It appears the Mets have soured on Juan Lagares. Last year, he was a Gold Glove winner, who showed some promise with the bat hitting .281/.321/.382. Using WAR, he was a top 25 player in the majors last year (12th in the NL).
This year has been much different. Lagares hasn’t been the same offensively or defensively. His UZR has slipped from 18.6 (excellent) to 2.1 (average). His arm was terrific last year, but with his injured elbow, he doesn’t seem to have the same zip on the ball. With his defense compromised, you can’t justify his declining offense. This year he has regressed to .259/.289/.362.
This is probably why the Mets tried to send him to the Brewers in the failed Carlos Gomez trade. This is the reason the Mets are playing Yoenis Cespedes out of position. It may be the reason he was the only Mets outfielder who didn’t get in the game yesterday.
In any event, he’s been reduced to a platoon player and a late inning defensive replacement. His arrow is trending down while Eric Young, Jr.‘s is trending up. He’s been a terrific pinch runner that can come in handy in the playoffs. We also shouldn’t forget he’s a Collins’ favorite.
Ultimately, what may save Lagares in the NLDS is the fact that the Dodgers starting rotation features three lefties. Collins refuses to play Michael Conforto leaving Collins to pick between Michael Cuddyer and Lagares. Cuddyer has only played in seven complete games since returning from the DL. This means the Mets need Lagares in the NLDS.
This means the Mets need Lagares to get back on track offensively and defensively.
During the Rule 5 Draft, the Mets selected Sean Gilmartin to be an additional lefty in the bullpen. He was not viewed as a lefty specialist, but the Mets did view him as a possibility to join Josh Edgin in that role.
During Spring Training, it was discovered that Edgin needed Tommy John surgery, thereby ending his year. Right on the eve of Opening Day, the Mets traded for lefties Jerry Blevins and Alex Torres. Gilmartin made the team, but he was suddenly a man without a role. It didn’t help that he started the year poorly.
After his first four appearances, he had an ERA of 6.00. He then ripped off a torrid stretch into the 4th of July where he only allowed three runs in 26 appearances and 23.1 innings pitched. In six of those appearances, he pitched more than one inning. He became a viable part of the bullpen.
Right now, he’s not only the long man out of the pen, but he’s the only viable lefty. He’s not a LOOGY, and he’s not their best pitcher against lefties, but he’s effective enough (.267/.319/) to pitch against them. Truth be told, he’s much better against righties (.216/.294/.278). In his 47 appearances, he’s gone more than one inning on 15 different occasions, including one stellar three inning outing. He created a role for himself as the long man out if the pen.
Overall, he is 3-1 with a 2.74 ERA (2.60 FIP), and a 1.216 WHIP. The eye test says he’s had a good year. His FIP suggests he’s been excellent this year. With the Mets’ current lefty situation, he will likely be on the playoff roster. That’s a far cry from a player on the Opening Day roster with no role.
As we’ve seen this year, he’s come a long way.
When the Mets added Addison Reed right before the waiver trade deadline, the Mets had their sights set on a shutdown 7-8-9 featuring three closers. So far, each of them have performed extremely well.
You know what’s shocking? Even though the Mets have had the Addison Reed-Tyler Clippard–Jeurys Familia triumvirate together for three weeks, they only appeared together in the same game only three times. They’ve never collectively blown a lead, but the tandem has only resulted in one save. Like last night, it had more to do with the Mets tacking on eighth inning runs more than anything.
In any event, Mets fans can be confident the bullpen can hold leads and/or keep the Mets in a game. I also believe the Mets will ride this trio hard because the Mets starters go deep into games. Jacob deGrom and Matt Harvey average 6.1 innings per start (average rounded down to nearest third of an inning). Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz average 6.0 innings per start (major league starts only). Bartolo Colon averages six innings per start. Jon Niese isn’t going to start in the playoffs.
If you’re starters are going at least six, you only need your triumvirate. If your starters are going less than five, you’re in trouble anyway. Even if you need to pull a starter early, there are viable options. Hansel Robles has been terrific, especially in the second half with a 2.60 ERA, 0.904 WHIP, 12.4 K/9, and a triple slash of .173/.250/.429. He’s been good enough to consider him as part of a 6-7-8-9 shut down bullpen.
In a do or die game, Terry Collins has shown he will manage accordingly. He will have a quick hook and trust his key bullpen arms. If he will lean heavily on these three or four guys that’s good news. Familia for one has shown the ability to go multiple innings. I imagine Collins is going to ride him like Joe Torre rode Mariano Rivera (calm down, it’s only a usage comparison).
For people worrying about the 11 runs allowed by the bullpen on Sunday, don’t. Robles had a hick up. He’s allowed. Eric O’Flaherty pitched in that game while the game was still in the balance. He won’t pitch in the playoffs. I’m going to discount this game especially with the rough Robles outing and the relievers that appeared in the game.
Overall, the Mets bullpen is in great shape heading into the playoffs. They can stretch out their main four guys in a do or die game. These guys can keep a game close or hold a lead. I’m even confident after the last Nationals series, Collins will deploy them properly and out them in a position to succeed.
Surprisingly, the bullpen is a major strength of this team . . . even if no one is saying it.
Last night, the Mets were dominated by CC Sabathia, who has not been good for three years. He has a 4.80 ERA. Last year, it was a 5.28 ERA. Two years ago, it was 4.78. This was all the more disturbing because the Mets featured an almost all righty lineup.
This is alarming because the Mets will face three lefty starters in the first round. This triumvirate features Clayton Kershaw, Alex Wood, and Brett Anderson. Each of these pitchers are significantly better than Sabathia has been this year. Since I was concerned, I decided to look at the numbers.
The first thing I noticed was the Mets bats have gone cold. Over the past week, the Mets are hitting .194/.263/. This means we shouldn’t put too much emphasis on one start or anything that has happened over the past week. Accordingly, we should focus on the lefty-right splits over the course of the season:
- vs. LH starters .244/.310/.401
- vs. RH starters .245/.313/.399
Essentially, the Mets hit righties and lefties equally well. That doesn’t mean I’m confident about their chances against Kershaw, but it does mean I’m not going to panic when Wood and Anderson start.
The Mets have two weeks to snap out of this slump. Once they do, it shouldn’t matter who’s on the mound . . . so long as it’s not Kershaw or Greinke.
Since the trade, Yoenis Cespedes has been insanely hot. He was carrying a vastly improved offense. With his play, fans have been clamoring to re-sign him. They wanted to make him the MVP.
Well, he’s come crashing down to earth. He’s 0-16 with a .194 Citi Field batting average. It’s a slump. Just as we couldn’t believe his earlier numbers would hold true, we can’t overreact to this slump. His early stats with the Mets were not congruent with his career numbers. Early on, he was hitting, .307/.354/.660. As he’s not Babe Ruth, these numbers weren’t sustainable.
Another reason why these numbers aren’t sustainable is the fact that it isn’t who Cespedes is. Cespedes is a career .270/.318/.486 hitter. Now, he may improve due to a change in leagues or the presence of Kevin Long, but not that much. So as much as his recent hot streak wasn’t him, this cold snap isn’t him either.
He’ll settle in as the hitter he’s always been, which is a terrific player. He’s a cleanup hitter. He’s just not the player you thought he was. That’s fine. I’m happy with the player he is. We need that player to win the World Series.
Even after all the trades, Mets fans knew/believed that the Mets would only go as far as their young pitching would take them. Mr he main focus was on the Matt Harvey–Jacob deGrom 1-2 punch.
The problem is the rest of the NL has pretty good 1-2 punches in their own right, and that’s before you take Harvey’s innings limits into account. Let’s see who the NL playoff teams have:
Dodgers
Cardinals
Cubs
Pirates
With these matchups, you’d imagine the NL playoffs will be all about pitching. You can imagine the Mets being anywhere from up 2-0 to down 0-2. This is what makes Noah Syndergaard so important. He can give the Mets a lead in the series, put the other team on the brink, or get the Mets back in a series.
Thor has answered every call thus far in a stellar rookie season. His games against the Nationals are much bigger than what he’ll experience this afternoon. Although, I suspect the crowd may have a little more juice. I’ll have faith in him no matter what happens today.
October is going to become Hammer Time!
With the additions of Tyler Clippard and Addison Reed, Sandy Alderson has really surged up the bullpen. The seventh, eighth, and ninth innings are locked down.
What is great about these pitchers is they can get both lefties and righties out. It eliminates the need to go to matchups late in the game. That’s important because you risk exposing a LOOGY to a right handed pinch hitter in a key spot in a game. Of course, I’m being optimistic here because I have no choice. However, this doesn’t address the need to get a lefty out in the fifth or sixth inning.
With the Dario Alvarez injury and the ineffectiveness of Eric O’Flaherty, the Mets are not going to have a LOOGY in the mold of Pedro Feliciano for the playoffs. In fact, that leaves the Mets with one effective lefty in the bullpen, Sean Gilmartin, who has reverse splits and is better suited as the long man. So where do the Mets go from here?
Let’s start with who’s not an option. We know Jerry Blevins is out for the season. I’ve also seen and heard rumblings from people for the Mets to look at Josh Smoker. There’s some problem with Smoker. First, he’s never pitched above AA. Second, his stats are deceiving. At 26, he’s old for that level thereby skewing his stats a bit. Lastly, he hasn’t pitched in over 10 days. His season is over, and I presume he shut it down. If so, he’s not ready.
So that leaves Hansel Robles to get the lefties out. Looking at his splits, he gets lefties out better than a LOOGY ever could. He is limiting them to .188/.250/.438. Sure, it seems odd using a RHP to get out a lefty, but I’m more interested in effectiveness than appearance. I wonder if Terry Collins will see it that way, or will he bring in Gilmartin to get a lefty out in a big spot?
With Adrian Gonzalez, and to a lesser extent Andre Ethier, on the horizon, it’s an issue that needs to be figured out sooner rather than later.