The New York Mets delayed it longer than needed, but they eventually called up Ronny Mauricio. So far, he has been electrifying giving a jolt to the team and the fanbase. We saw that in his first at-bat when he hit an unreal 117 MPH double off of Seattle Mariners starter Logan Gilbert:
First career hit
Double for Mauricio pic.twitter.com/zfFV3qrS6f
— Mets Daddy (@MetsDaddy2013) September 1, 2023
That was the hardest hit ball by a Mets player in the Statcast Era. Yes, that was hit harder than anything off the bat of Pete Alonso, That’s how you know how special the power and bat could be for Mauricio. That’s why he’s been getting Alfonso Soriano comps from Keith Law.
On the weekend, his first weekend in the majors, he was 5-for-11 with that double and two strikeouts. He would score a run and would go 2/2 in stolen base attempts. All-in-all, it was better than you possibly could’ve imagined his debut to be.
The question for Mauricio is what is next?
Not to downplay his first few games, but he was characteristically over-aggressive at the plate. When he took a pitch, it appeared more like he was taking all the way rather than his showing any real plate discipline. He did not walk and only had one three ball count.
In the all too early tally, he whiffed on half of the breaking balls he saw. He destroyed the fastball. He hit the ball on the ground a lot.
Defensively, he didn’t look comfortable at second. Again, it’s too early, but per Baseball Savant, he’s a -1 OAA already. It should be noted here his defense was an issue in Syracuse. Already, Buck Showalter said Mauricio will get looks at third and left field.
Being excited as a fan, it looks like Mauricio is here to stay. Maybe, he is. However, we also thought that with Brett Baty, and that has not turned out well this season.
Mauricio is currently riding high after a strong weekend at the plate. That was all the more impressive considering the Mariners pitching staff leads the majors in FIP. Perhaps, he is going to take another leap forward as the Mets are set to play the Washington Nationals, who own the second worst FIP in the majors.
However, at some point, things will get more difficult. The Minnesota Twins (sixth in FIP), Miami Marlins (ninth in FIP), and Philadelphia Phillies (fifth in FIP) have strong pitching staffs. They will also have some video and data on Mauricio allowing them to adjust and pitch him tougher.
Put another way, the league is going to adjust, and we will get to see how Mauricio responds. If he holds his own, the Mets have an important piece of the puzzle for next season. If not, Mauricio is back in limbo. This will make September an important month for the Mets giving fans all the more reason to watch.
When Noah Syndergaard left the New York Mets, he thought things would go far different than it has. The further away he has gotten away from the Mets; the further he has gotten away from being Thor.
He thought he was going where he needed to come back from Tommy John when he spurned the Mets to sign with the Los Angeles Angels. His 106 ERA+ wasn’t what he wanted to be, but he was league average.
It led to a trade deadline deal to the eventual pennant winning Philadelphia Phillies. He wasn’t all that great and initially was in the bullpen in the postseason.
In the offseason, he did the smart thing by signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He didn’t perform well, and he spent much of the year dealing with blisters.
The Dodgers were all too happy to dump him on the Cleveland Guardians at the trade deadline. After six starts, the Guardians designated him for assignment.
Look, there’s nothing here to suggest Syndergaard will ever be what we once knew him to be. Going to Baseball Savant, there’s nothing to suggest he’s a good or even capable Major League pitcher now.
That brings us to the Mets.
Carlos Carrasco is making starts every five days (maybe for not much longer). The bullpen also has been a disaster with relievers shuttling back-and-forth from Queens to Syracuse.
You could argue Syndergaard couldn’t be worse than what the Mets have. It’s not an ironclad one (with the exception of Carrasco). Thinking he can resemble the Syndergaard of old is fool’s gold.
The Mets still are in a spot where they’re looking at options for the 2024 pitching staff. They’re also looking for reasons to get fans to the ballpark. Maybe Syndergaard could be an answer to both.
Most likely not.
At this point, the question really is why not? No one is kicking down Syndergaard’s door. The Mets don’t have better waiting. Sure, it’s sappy nostalgia, but that’s at least something.
At this point, just bring back Syndergaard. If nothing else, it’ll be better than watching Carrasco.
Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry forever defined an era of New York Mets baseball, the best era of Mets baseball. Despite that, they are forever defined not by what they did, but by what they failed to do.
We will never know how many more World Series the Mets win if Strawberry and Gooden were clean. Notably, Gooden missed the 1986 victory parade because he was getting high.
It wasn’t just about the World Series titles or other missed chances at the postseason. It was about what they did to their own careers. The narrative is they should’ve been Hall of Famers.
With regard to Strawberry, that was undoubtedly true. It’s a testament to his abilities that he was the best position player in Mets history despite the drug problems.
In his Mets career, he amassed a 36.6 WAR. For the sake of comparison, Dave Winfield, the right fielder on the other side of town, had a 32.0 WAR over his first eight seasons.
Remember, this was with Strawberry battling drug (and related domestic) problems. For that, the Mets were done with him, and he was off to Los Angeles where his life and career would spin out of control.
Gooden has always been a different issue. We forget his career was plagued by shoulder problems. We need not look further than Johan Santana to see how that can completely alter a career.
We could argue the drug problems played a role. Given how Gooden was off found drugs when he should’ve been doing other things leads credence to that. However, we’re also talking about a pitcher who threw 800.2 innings before his age 22 season.
Knowing what we know now, Gooden’s arm was abused. We saw his body break down. With that, his Hall of Fame chances might’ve been overstated. Maybe not.
Wherever you land, we can all agree Gooden limited his own potential and production. Same goes for Strawberry. It’s why they are cautionary tales.
It used to be you needed to be a Hall of Famer to have your number retired by the Mets. It should probably remain that way. Strawberry and Gooden are reasons why.
As much as they did for the franchise, they also harmed the franchise. The Mets run wax cut short for years. Their impact has been too far long lasting . . . just not the way we hoped it would be.
For Gooden, his story never seems to have a happy ending. Just when you think all is good, he’s back in the news. With respect to Strawberry, he finally seems on the right path, and you could see this moment the culmination of his not just saving his life but working towards saving the lives of others.
That’s the way it is. Retiring their numbers is about what they did. It’s also forever immortalizing what could have been. That’s the way it always was with Doc & Darryl.
Their story is more about the fall than the greatness. In the end, the Mets chose to honor all of it.
According to a recent report from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Milwaukee Brewers believed they were close to acquiring Pete Alonso from the New York Mets at the trade deadline. For their part, the Mets disagreed with this characterization.
The term the Brewers source told Rosenthal “talks advanced to the point where the teams were within “field-goal range” of a trade.” Here’s a visual representation of that:
Put another way, there’s no way the Mets were close to trading Alonso to the Brewers.
Some background here. The Mets have long attempted to hire David Stearns away from the Brewers. Brewers owner, Mark Attanasio, has rebuffed the Mets while saying he does not like “small market teams” like he claims the Brewers to be serving as executive on the job training for larger market teams.
Stearns’ contract with the Brewers expires after this season. That leaves a clear path for the Mets to hire him.
Certainly, given the adversarial nature of the Brewers/Mets relationship, it would seem the Brewers have ulterior motives in leaking they were close to acquiring Alonso. It sows potential discord between the player and organization as potentially Stearns looks to extend or trade Alonso in the ensuing offseason.
Of course, all of this is pure conjecture as to why the rumor is bogus. There’s also a bigger reason why this trade was never close.
Alonso is the most popular Met setting team power number records. At some point, he’s going to emerge as potentially the Mets best homegrown position player. If the Mets trade him, especially with a year of control still remaining, the team needs an unquestioned haul in return.
Well, the Brewers were not going to trade their top prospect – Jackson Chourio. Chourio is a top 10 prospect in the sport, maybe top two. He’s the centerpiece needed to make this deal, and yet, he on his own would not be sufficient.
Sure, the Brewers have other top 100 guys, but they don’t have anyone sniffing the top 10 or 20 at the moment. Sal Frelick is top 25, but there’s not another top 30 prospect to pair with him.
The Mets simply cannot trade Alonso to anyone without getting their best prospect. There would be a backlash we haven’t seen for decades, which is saying something considering the Wilpons tenure.
The Mets aren’t dumb, and they know this. In all likelihood, they weren’t trading Alonso for prospects, but were perhaps playing the groundwork for a potential offseason deal which could include Major Leaguers. Who knows?
The only thing we do know is Alonso wasn’t getting traded for less than the best anyone could offer. It would’ve taken a nearly unprecedented prospect haul for a team to acquire Alonso, and the Brewers weren’t doing that.
Instead, the Brewers are trying to fracture the Mets relationship with Alonso. They’re trying to make Stearns’ job more difficult. In the end, Alonso, the Mets, and anyone with a brain should just disregard the Brewers nonsense here.
In an overarching report on the New York Mets team culture by Mike Puma of the New York Post, there was a focus on Justin Verlander. Long story short, it didn’t click.
While people have their takeaways from the article, the biggest was Verlander’s frustrations with Puma writing, “Verlander often complained about the Mets’ analytics department, which he deemed inferior to the one that served him in Houston.”
Going back to 2017, Verlander was still a very good pitcher for the Detroit Tigers. He was 34, and in previous seasons, there was a dip in his performance. Between that, his contract, and the Tigers rebuilding, it was time to move him.
After going to the Houston Astros, Verlander became an ace again winning two Cy Youngs. Verlander became a Met because of money. As we saw, Houston still wanted him.
It didn’t work for Verlander in his brief time with the Mets. Part of that was injury. Another part, according to Verlander, is the Mets have areas they need to improve.
Maybe it was constructive. Maybe it was harsh. Certainly, Verlander rankled some feathers. In the end, the only takeaway is the Mets have work to do.
Look, the Astros are the best in the business. You can also make cases for the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers. You can’t make that case with the Mets.
The biggest issue is the Wilpons. They set the organization well back on that perspective, and it takes time to get out from under that.
Another issue is Billy Eppler. Under his direction, the Los Angeles Angels were never an analytically driven or analytically forward thinking organization.
The end result is Steve Cohen is trying to get the Mets up to speed with a GM who really isn’t well versed in the direction of the field of baseball analytics.
The Mets may know some of the things they don’t know and need to investigate. The bigger issue is they don’t know what they don’t know. Verlander made that apparent.
Looking deeper than that, the Mets don’t know what areas the more analytically driven teams are even pursuing. That’s exactly where the Mets need to close the gap.
If nothing else, Verlander let the Mets know where they are lacking. It’s now incumbent on the organization to close that gap, and more importantly forge ahead in the areas other teams have not yet embarked.
Adam Ottavino didn’t have it. That’s no surprise with him having a 7.36 ERA on no days rest. Opposing batters are hitting .276/.400/.690 against him.
Now, that should’ve been reason enough for Buck Showalter to use Ottavino to save a two run lead. However, to be fair here, it’s not like the Mets really have a plethora of options. In fact, you could argue they’re complete devoid of options.
Seiya Suzuki hit a lead-off homer. Jeimer Candelario walked, and he went to second on a balk when Ottavino forgot how many times he threw over. After Mike Tauchman walked, Showalter went to Phil Bickford.
In a trade deadline where the Mets sold heavy, they obtained Bickford and Adam Kolarek from the Los Angeles Dodgers. The reason is the Mets needed arms, and the Dodgers were parting with relievers having poor seasons.
Bickford had a 5.14 ERA over 36 appearances with the Dodgers. He had an 86 ERA+ and 4.39 FIP despite a strong 10.3 K/9. The reason is he was walking too many batters.
His brief Mets tenure hasn’t been much better. He’s allowed at least a run in three of four appearances.
The worst of it was his allowing three earned in 1/3 of an inning against the Baltimore Orioles. Even with that, there’s some promise with Bickford.
Per Baseball Savant, he generates a high spin on his fastball. With his fastball excellent extension, he has a high whiff and strikeout rate. The issue is location with his high walk rate and how hard he’s been hit this season.
We’ve seen it implode, but against the Chicago Cubs, we saw how effective he could be.
He came into a very difficult spot. Two on, no outs, Mets up by one. After a Nick Madrigal sac bunt, the tying run was 90 feet away with the go-ahead run in scoring position.
He then settled in, and he showed how he can over power batters. It started by striking out Christopher Morel.
He was careful to Nico Hoerner issuing a walk. With Hoerner having good numbers against Bickford, it was the right move.
With two outs and the bases loaded, Bickford struck out Ian Happ to end the game. Neither Morel nor Happ had a chance.
With that, Bickford earned another opportunity. Another one after that. Mets can play it out from there.
Edwin Díaz is still on the IL even if he’s pushing to return. Bickford is under team control next year and not arbitration eligible until after 2024.
Bickford is in his prime. He had a great 2021 season, and he’s a few tweaks from getting back to that point. On a night where he dominated to earn his second career save, you think Jeremy Hefner fixed him.
Maybe not. Who knows? All we do know at this point is Bickford came into a big spot and earned a save. That’s something to build on at a time the Mets are looking for pieces for 2024.
Put Bickford in the closer role. See how he fares. See if you found another late inning option for next year.
Back in June, it was noted here just how badly Brett Baty was struggling. Unfortunately, it keeps getting worse for Baty, and we are at the point where he has completely regressed.
On the season, Baty is hitting .216/.289/.331 with 11 doubles, seven homers, and 27 RBI. Remember, over his first 13 games, he was hitting .333/.391/.524.
Overall, he’s at a -0.6 WAR, 73 OPS+, and a 77 wRC+. If he had enough plate appearances to qualify, he would be the worst third baseman in baseball by a fairly wide margin.
The argument in the beginning was, well, at least he’s good defensively. That was true when he was a 2 OAA in June. It’s now August, and Baty is a -4 OAA.
By wRC+, he’s the worst hitter at the position. By OAA, he’s the the third worst defensive third baseman. In total, he’s the worst at the position in the majors.
In all honesty, when Baty was first a prospect in the Mets farm system, this result was a real concern. The thought was with his size he may eventually need to move off third. At the plate, his ground ball rate was too high with a lot of swing-and-miss potential.
That said, he corrected all of that. He was hitting line drives instead of grounders. He became a good defender. He got to the point where the Mets third baseman of the future needed to be the third baseman of the present.
From there, everything has gone wrong.
As noted, his defense has been very bad for two months. He has a 27.7 K%, the worst he’s ever had in full season ball. He has a 51.3 GB%. He’s a ground ball machine who strikes out too much.
The Mets looking to demote him now is just inane. The damage is done. In fact, instead of demoting him, the Mets should be taking a hard look at their coaching staff.
What has Joey Cora been doing to actively assist in making Baty significantly worse at third? What have Jeremy Barnes and Eric Hinske been going with Baty that we see his ground ball and strikeout rates worsen to this extent?
Mostly, what has Buck Showalter done to help develop Baty? Put another way, why has Baty regressed under the tutelage of Showalter and his coaching staff?
Before the fire sale, Steve Cohen said he puts the blame for the season failures on the players and not the coaching staff or GM. Looking at Baty’s regression, it does appear the coaches have more than their fair share of the blame.
The fact Baty got worse requires a multi-faceted analysis. That analysis needs to start with what Syracuse did right and what Showalter and his coaches did wrong.
The New York Mets can call it what they want, but they had a fire sale where they overhauled the organization. Finally, they built the type of farm system which can create the sustainable winner Steve Cohen coveted when he first purchased the team.
Saying the quiet part out loud, the next step in the Mets plan is to lose enough games to get a top six pick in the draft. Put in other words, the Mets are tanking. They need to tank because if they have a pick outside the top six they will drop 10 spots in draft position due to their payroll.
For the Mets, they now have to decide how they want to tank. Do they want to tank while failing to put a representative and competitive product on the field? Do they want to best use this time to get get a look at and develop young players? Or, do they just want to be horrendous and go through the motions?
Checking into the Mets series finale against the Kansas City Royals, Buck Showalter had his old Baltimore Orioles buddy DJ Stewart batting second. Rafael Ortega was in center. It was at least the first game since the trade deadline Danny Mendick, who played eight of the last nine, wasn’t in the starting lineup.
Stewart and Mendick are 29 years old. Ortega is 32. Up until this point in their careers, none of these players have been able to stick on Major League rosters. Given their age, it is fair to question whether that will ever happen .
Being fair to Stewart, he has made the most of his second chance. You could argue he could carve out a role in the Mets for the next year or two. That goes double with Daniel Vogelbach likely being gone after this year. However, you cannot say the same of Mendick or Ortega.
For an example of what the Mets should be doing, we can look to Jonathan Araúz. He just turned 25, and he was once thought of as a top prospect with the Boston Red Sox organization. There is real value in getting a long look at him to determine if he has a future with the Mets in a utility role.
There is dignity and a purpose getting a long look at Araúz. The same could be said about taking a look at Ronny Mauricio and letting him work with the Mets coaching staff to let them weigh in on whether his future is at second or any one of the three outfield positions.
Luke Ritter is having a big year in the minors, and he will be Rule 5 eligible again this offseason. Jose Peroza will also be Rule 5 eligible. There are others in the organization. Arguably, one of these two could be taken in the draft.
If you may be in a position where you are forced to add them, why not take a look now? The same could be said of some relievers like Dedniel Núñez, who was already once taken in the Rule 5 Draft.
The overriding point here is the Mets have young prospects having big years. There is nothing wrong with giving them a look at the Major League level. If they are drowning, send them down, and let them be better for the experience. You can get an evaluation from the Major League coaching staff. If you’re not impressed, you have more information at your disposal as you move on from them.
Overall, you are going to lose as many games (perhaps more) than you will be with Mendick, Ortega, and Stewart. However, you will be furthering your organizations goals. Mostly, you are giving your fans something to see who have stuck with you during this disappointing season, and you hope will be there next year as you change course from your past offseason strategies.