With today being Valentine’s Day, it is only right we get into the spirit of things by being as clever as Bobby Valentine was the time he used eye black to make a fake mustache. Without further ado, here are some “clever” Mets themed Valentine’s Day lines you may see on one of those cards you used to pass out to your classmates in grammar school:
Jerry Blevins – Jerry? Hello! Be my Valentine
Josh Edgin – I’m Edgin my way closer to you.
Jeurys Familia – I want to become Familia with your sexy self.
Matt Harvey – If you thought 50 Shades of Grey was seductive, wait until you see the Dark Knight I have in store for you.
Seth Lugo – Lugo you want to get with this.
Rafael Montero – You might as well be my Valentine because we both know there’s not getting rid of me not matter how awful I am.
Addison Reed – You and Me Addison up to a great Valentine’s Day
Hansel Robles – You’re so hot right now
Fernando Salas – If I had to the same again, I would, my Valentine, Fernando
Josh Smoker – You’re so hot, I can see the Smoker from miles away
Noah Syndergaard – Can you handle this god’s thunder?
Yoenis Cespedes – There’s a lot of Potencia between you and I Valentine
Travis d’Arnaud – d’Arnaud it pains me to be apart from you
Lucas Duda – Duda right thing and be my Valentine
Wilmer Flores – I’ll cry if you put me in the Friends zone
Amed Rosario – Don’t Be Surprised Be Ready
Neil Walker – I would Walker 5,000 miles to be your Valentine
David Wright – It’s only Wright we would be Valentines
Jay Bruce – Let me be the Valentine you regret for years to come.
Michael Conforto – It’s a Conforto to know whether in NY or Vegas we’re Valentines
Curtis Granderson – It’s Grandy being your Valentine
Juan Lagares – You’re the only Juan for me
Brandon Nimmo – Nimmo I’m smiling because of you.
Ron Darling – Be my Darling this Valentine’s Day
Keith Hernandez – I mustache you to be my Valentine’s Day OR How about a Valentine’s Day mustache ride?
Happy Valentine’s Day
Well, it has finally happened. With Pitchers and Catchers reporting, the Mets dream rotation all has major league experience, and they are all healthy at the same time. For a fan base that never got to see Jason Isringhausen, Paul Wilson, and Bill Pulsipher all pitch together in the same rotation, this is no small event.
In fact, this is a momentous occasion where some demons can be slain, and yet, there is some debate over whether we will see each and every single one of these pitchers pitch in the same rotation:
Matt Harvey is coming off surgery to alleviate the symptoms of Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS). This surgery does not have the same history as Tommy John, so while there is always reason to believe in Harvey due to his drive and determination, there is some doubt as to how TOS will affect him in the future.
Jacob deGrom is coming off surgery to re-position his ulnar nerve. As far as pitcher elbow surgeries, this is as easy as it gets. And yet, whenever a pitcher gets elbow surgery, especially when that pitcher has once had Tommy John surgery, it gives you pause.
Steven Matz has pitched in the majors for parts of two seasons, and he was injury prone in both of those seasons. Last season, it was a surgery to remove what was categorized as a massive bone spur. Now that it is gone, he should be free and clear to resume being the pitcher we think he can be. Still, he is one more injury away from us questioning if he, like Travis d’Arnaud, will ever be healthy.
Zack Wheeler has not taken the mound in over two seasons due to his Tommy John and his difficulties and setbacks during the rehabilitation process. Fortunately, he seems ready to go, but he is at this point, we have no idea.
Noah Syndergaard has largely come through two seasons unscathed, and he has emerged as the staff ace. And yet, with his being a pitcher, moreover his being a Mets pitcher, you hold your breath. While you get excited about him adding muscle and his talk about wanting to throw harder, it should also give you some nervousness.
And yet despite all of these concerns and red flags, this is a great day. The dream that was set in motion with the Carlos Beltran and R.A. Dickey trades is close to coming to fruition. And with these five pitchers going to the mound, it is going to be extremely difficult for the opposition to out-pitch this quintet. It is going to be even harder to beat the Mets when they take the mound.
At some point during the season, we will see all five of these pitchers in the rotation, and if we don’t that might be good news. The reason? Well, it could be because either Robert Gsellman or Seth Lugo won a job in the rotation, and they pitched well enough the Mets are loathe to move them out of the rotation.
If the Mets truly have seven pitchers capable of being in THIS starting rotation, the Mets should be primed for a great 2017 season.
Well somehow, someway, Rafael Montero has survived three years of uninspired pitching and two rounds of cuts from the 40 man roster to remain a New York Met. He survived the second time because the Mets traded Gabriel Ynoa yesterday to the Orioles for cash considerations. In Baltimore, Ynoa could conceivably join Logan Verrett in the Orioles starting rotation. That’s right, Verrett, make that three rounds of cuts from the 40 man roster.
Ultimately, Verrett and Ynoa were traded because the Mets had a team, namely the Orioles, who was interested in their services. When it comes to Ynoa, it is easy to ascertain why.
Ynoa has a mid to high 90s fastball, a good change-up, and an emerging slider. For most of his minor league career, he showed good control and an ability to locate his pitches. You could argue what he was as a pitcher. To some, he was a back-end of the rotation guy. To many, he had a promising career in the bullpen. For those that truly believed in his talent, they could make a justifiable case he could emerge as a front of the rotation starter. No matter what the opinion, the consensus was this guy was a major league talent.
Unfortunately, we did not get to see that in his limited time in a Mets uniform. Having never been in a major league bullpen before, Ynoa struggled when thrust into the role. After having been effectively shut down for the season, at least from the perspective of being a starting pitcher, Ynoa struggled in his few starts with the Mets. Call it making excuses for the player, but he was a rookie put in an unenviable task. Who knows? Maybe if he was put in a real position to succeed, his stats would have been much better, and maybe the Mets move someone other than him.
And that is the real shame. We never did get to see what Ynoa could truly be in a major league uniform. Maybe he would have been a solid bullpen arm. Maybe he was that guy who surprised you in the rotation. Now, he can still be those things, but he will be those things in a Baltimore Orioles uniform.
And hopefully he will achieve all he is capable of with the Orioles. It would be good for the Mets to show the prospects they are willing to move are capable of succeeding when it comes to future trade talks. It is better for Ynoa who left his home at the age of 17 with the dreams of becoming a major leaguer.
Having followed the Knicks this century, the events that transpired Thursday should have come as no surprise. This organization seems to handle everything wrong whether it was everything related to Isaiah Thomas, including but not limited to the Anuka Brown Sanders sexual harassment, how they have handled everything related to Carmelo Anthony, and how they have run the front office. Keep in mind, the one guy that showed the ability to navigate through all of this, Donnie Walsh, was first marginalized and then effectively shoved out the door.
The Charles Oakley incident is just the latest incident in what has been a series of missteps by this once proud and relevant organization.
It should now come as no surprise the Knicks have now banned Oakley from the Garden. It should first be noted Oakley did his part. Anytime you put your hands on a security guard, you have merited a lifetime ban. Depending on who you believe, Oakley may have precipitated the ejection from the arena by heckling Dolan. Oakley denies it, but who could blame him? Things have been a mess. What really stands out is how he was ejected.
Honestly, look how many people were there ready to have him ejected. They seemingly brought out each and every security guard there to remove him from the game. The Knicks made a spectacle before Oakley made a spectacle.
Let’s assume Oakley said nothing, but Dolan wanted him gone anyway due to their acrimonious relationship. Apparently, Dolan was so upset by Oakley’s mere presence at the game, he was willing to have security remove him WHILE THE GAME WAS GOING ON! He wanted him gone that badly. He didn’t care if he was bothering the view of the fans nearby. He didn’t care if he was distracting his team on the court. He wanted Oakley gone no matter who was inconvenienced or distracted.
Now, let’s assume Oakley was heckling Dolan. Why wouldn’t he? The Knicks have been ineptly run for years now. I’d be shocked if he wasn’t heckled throughout the Garden during most Knicks games. He’s certainly earned it. And you know what? If he is that thin-skinned, he needs to sit up in an owner’s suite rather than down near the court.
Alas, he’s the owner, and it’s his prerogative. Still, he has to be smarter, and he has to know this was not going to end well for anyone. Knowing what we know of Oakley, there was no way he was leaving that game. If that is the case, why not attempt to do it the right way anyway. Phil Jackson was one of his coaches with the Bulls. Former teammate Allan Houston is a member of the front office and routinely at games. For that matter, many Knicks legends and former teammates attend the games. They could have handled the situation better than Dolan did by having security surround him and escalate the situation.
Oakley is a Knicks legend and a fan favorite. He should be treated as such. He wasn’t.
This goes a long way towards explaining what has happened between the Knicks and Carmelo Anthony. The team doesn’t seem to care about how it treats its stars, or in reality, even disrupting the team’s play. The Garden seemingly picks its favorites, and those people are treated like gold and are untouchable. It’s not surprising the Garden’s favorites do not align with how the fan’s favorites are. Even less surprising is the fact that the Garden favorites have rarely, if ever, aligned with building a winning team.
We all deserve better from the Knicks. More importantly, Charles Oakley did. He’s banned for life, but we’re still stuck watching this nonsense.
On the bright side, Pitchers and Catchers report on Monday meaning we can all ignore the Knicks tomfoolery this Spring just like we have most seasons since Dolan has assumed control of the Knicks.
As Pitchers and Catchers report on Monday, there is likely going to be a position battle for the fifth starter spot. This spot once belonged to Zack Wheeler, but now given his having missed the past two seasons, his spot in the rotation is in jeopardy leaving him to fight for a spot in the rotation with two other pitchers. Likely, the two pitchers who lose the fifth starters competition will wind up in the bullpen. Given what the health has been for the Mets starting pitchers over the past two seasons, we will very likely see starters make relief appearances and relievers being forced to make a starter or two.
This practice has been fairly common ground during the Sandy Alderson Era. Can you name the pitchers who have both started games and made relief appearance(s) for the Mets since 2011? Good luck!
R.A. Dickey Mike Pelfrey Chris Capuano Dillon Gee Jon Niese D.J. Carrasco Miguel Batista Jeremy Hefner Chris Schwinden Shaun Marcum Carlos Torres Aaron Laffey Collin McHugh Jenrry Mejia Daisuke Matsuzaka Rafael Montero Bartolo Colon Sean Gilmartin Logan Verrett Noah Syndergaard Seth Lugo Robert Gsellman Gabriel Ynoa
As we near pitchers and catchers reporting for Spring Training on Monday, it appears the Mets have few position battles. The few that exist are really over which pitchers will make the Opening Day rotation and what role they will have. Like much of what the Mets have done since he was first injured on the eve of the 2015 season, it seemingly all depends on Zack Wheeler.
For a while it seemed that he was going to start the year in the bullpen, but his recent comments to Kevin Kernan of the New York Post cast some doubt over that with him saying, “I don’t even know if I could do every other day in the bullpen. It was a struggle for me to get every fifth day. That’s because I’ve started my whole life.”
Wheeler has a point. It may not be best for either him or the Mets to put him in the bullpen. It may be best for him to start the year either in extended Spring Training to let him continue to build up his arm strength while also limiting his innings or for him to begin the year in the rotation with the Mets carefully monitoring his innings.
Ultimately, Wheeler’s role is really yet to be determined. His role may hinge on how well he pitches in Spring Training, but also how well each of these pitchers pitch this Spring:
2016 Stats: 4-2, 2.42 ERA, 8 G, 7 GS, 44.2 IP, 1.276 WHIP, 8.5 K/9
When we talk about pitching coach Dan Warthen, we continuously focus on the Warthen slider. However, one other area that needs focus is his ability to work with young pitchers to get them to get the maximum velocity out of their fastballs.
Before coming to the Mets, Gsellman possessed a low 90s fastball and sinker. Typically, he was a pitcher who pitched to contact, did not record man strikeouts, and he kept the ball on the ground. As a result, he was seen as a back of the rotation pitcher. That all changed when Gsellman was called up to the Mets.
According to Brooks Baseball, once Gsellman came to the majors, he began throwing in the mid 90s. As a result, while he was still inducing ground balls, he began striking out more batters. He went from a guy who averaged a 6.7 K/9 in the minors to one who is now striking out a batter per inning. Gsellman also showed guile in being a pitcher who began the year in Double A to being a pitcher who helped pitch the Mets into the postseason. With his newfound velocity as well as his moxy, he is now perceived as a middle of the rotation or even possibly a top of the rotation starter. If Gsellman isn’t perceived to having passed Wheeler now, he could very well put together the type of season that would make people believe he is the better pitcher.
2016 Stats: 5-2, 2.67 ERA, 17 G, 8 GS, 64.0 IP, 1.094 WHIP, 6.3 K/9
Lugo is a throwback pitcher in that he likes to work quickly, he pitches to contact, walks few batters, and he ramps up his fastball an extra gear when he needs to get out of trouble. This needs to be kept in mind for when people predict Lugo will have a regression in 2017.
Underlying the regression talk is Lugo’s 4.33 FIP. The FIP is indicative of the fact that Lugo has a relatively low strikeout rate, and he is a flyball pitcher. Put another way, advanced metrics suggest that a pitcher who allows the ball to be put in play as often as Lugo does should have a much higher ERA than what he had in 2016. At least in theory, Lugo’s stats should be more in line with the pitcher who struggled in Triple A leading him to be moved to the bullpen than the pitcher who was great in the rotation.
And yet, Lugo may actually prove to be better in 2017 than he was in 2016. By now, you must have heard his curveball has the highest spin rate ever recorded. He used his curveball last year to make some of the best hitters in baseball look foolish at the plate. A curveball with a spin rate like his will generate a number of ground balls thereby alleviating some of the fly ball concerns. And again, as Lugo showed last year, he’s a pitcher’s pitcher that knows when he needs to keep him pitch counts low to get deeper into games and when he needs to ramp it up to help himself get out of trouble.
Verdict
For many of us, it is hard to let the dream of Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, and Wheeler pitching in the same rotation die. It was supposed to first happen in 2015, and then Wheeler got hurt. It was supposed to happen again last year, but Wheeler had too many setbacks. For many related to the Mets, fans and the organization alike, it would psychologically be better if Wheeler starts the year in the rotation so this famed grouping can pitch in the same rotation.
And yet, at this time, Gsellman seems to be the better choice for the Mets fifth starter. He is the better bet to be more durable. He has a longer future with the Mets organization. He also probably has a higher upside as a starting pitcher. For a Mets team who projects to be in a dog fight for the division, they can ill afford to give away games at any point in the season to let Wheeler pitch in the rotation before he can prove he’s capable of withstanding the rigors of being a major league pitcher again.
Therefore, Gsellman should be the fifth starter with Lugo and Wheeler rounding out the Mets bullpen.
At some point today, Jon Niese is going to hold a workout for teams interested in signing him. Niese needs to do this workout because: (1) he’s coming off knee surgery; and (2) he was terrible last year. Absolutely terrible. And yet, despite that, the Mets should be interested in re-signing him.
Let’s get the obvious reasons why the Mets shouldn’t be interested out of the way first. He’s a malcontent that would likely complain about the weather in San Diego. He always has an excuse for when he fails. He’d blame the pitch the catcher for the pitch he called. He’d blame the designer of the ballpark for the configuration of the outfield walls. He’d blame God for the wind patterns. He’d do all of that before admitting he hung a pitch that was hit into the second deck. More than any of this, Niese was just horrible last year. Typically, you don’t want players like this.
That is unless they are really cheap, and they have something to prove.
Niese should be both. Working in reverse, Niese, perhaps for the first time in his major league career, has something to prove. He’s coming off a year with a 5.50 ERA and a 1.587 WHIP. Quite possibly, he was the worst pitcher in all of baseball, certainly the worst starting pitcher. Because Niese is who he is, he’ll probably give you a million reasons why this happened. I’m sure he’ll say PNC Park was not suited for him, or Ray Searage was not as good a pitching coach as Dan Warthen. The Pirates probably didn’t shift as well as the Mets did. He’ll certainly blame his knee injury. At least with the knee injury, there may be an actual valid excuse, and it could be reason to buy low on Niese.
Before being traded to the Pirates, Niese was 61-61 with a 3.91 ERA, a 1.361 WHIP, and a 95 ERA+. Basically, he was a fifth starter who constantly tricked the Mets into thinking he could be more than that. It’s partially why Sandy Alderson gave him a contract extension. It’s why the Pirates traded Neil Walker to get him. Maybe he fulfills that promise one day. Likely, he doesn’t. Still, Niese has already shown he’s a quality major league pitcher.
He’s a major league pitcher that is going to come cheap. With teams seemingly being devoid of interest in him during the offseason, Niese is likely going to garner little more than a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training. Essentially, Niese is going to go to a team where he has an opportunity to either make the team out of Spring Training or be one of the first call-ups should a pitcher get injured or be ineffective. That being said, signing Niese is theoretically no different than the Mets recent signing of Tom Gorzelanny, or back in 2006, when they signed Darren Oliver.
For the Mets, Niese could be an intriguing bullpen arm who surprisingly showed during the 2015 postseason, he can get the big out. He may have a second act to his career as a reliever much in the same way Oliver Perez has. By focusing on one or two pitches, he could be a reliable bullpen arm like Oliver. Or maybe, he could just be more starting pitching depth for a Mets team relying on three pitchers coming off season ending surgery and two unproven starters behind them.
Maybe just maybe, the Mets should offer Niese a minor league deal to come back to the team. It isn’t the worst idea in the world.
Time and again, people mistakenly assert Josh Smoker should be considered as a left-handed reliever out of the bullpen. The reason for this mistake is the obvious belief that just because Smoker is a left-handed pitcher, he will naturally give left-handed batters fits. Unfortunately with Smoker, that isn’t the case whatsoever.
During his brief stint in the majors last year, left-handed batters hit .366/.448/.600 off of him in 29 plate appearances. Unfortunately, this wasn’t entirely the result of a small sample size. In Triple-A last year, left-handed batters hit .282 off of him. In 2015, left-handed batters hit .250 off of him in Double-A. Simply put, Smoker is not your typical lefty out of the pen.
As a result, until Smoker finds another pitch to use to get left-handed batters out, he is going to need to be lifted when a left-handed batter comes to the plate. That is unless Smoker is able to learn how to utilize his slider against left-handed batters.
The slider is the obvious choice as: (1) Smoker knows how to throw a slider; and (2) Dan Warthen‘s specialty as a pitching coach is teaching the slider. If Smoker is actually able to master the slider, then he has a real weapon he can use against left-handed batters. The good news is he obviously has been working on the pitch, and he has had some success with it as Bryce Harper would attest:
At this point, Smoker either does not have the confidence in the pitch, or he does not throw the pitch consistently well. If he ever does get to that point, and he can combine the slider with his 96 MPH fastball, Smoker could very well be unhittable. Considering Smoker already dominates right-handed batters and struck out 14.7 batters per nine in the majors (12.8 in Triple A), you have a reliever who is a potential closer. You certainly have one that is more than capable of handling the sixth inning with Fernando Salas back in the fold.
Overall, should Smoker develop his slider, the Mets bullpen has the possibility of being one of the best in the major leagues. And with that, quite possibly, much of the success of the bullpen and the Mets 2017 seasons rests with Smoker mastering the slider. With Warthen as his pitching coach, you have to like the chances of that happening.
If you look at the initial reactions to the Tom Gorzelanny signing, it was met with some anger and derision from Mets fans. It has led to a meme where Mets fans have begun to compare him to sloth from the Goonies:
https://twitter.com/barbitosfritos/status/827570412867428352
Obviously, this anger comes from Mets fans wanting the team to do more to sign free agent relievers to fill the obvious holes in the Mets bullpen. Namely, Mets fans wanted the team to go out and sign Jerry Blevins, who for some strange reason remains on the free agent market. Because the Mets signed Gorzelanny and not Blevins, Mets fans have understandably overreacted. They shouldn’t.
Because this is a minor league deal, the Mets are not obligated to carry Gorzelanny on the Opening Day roster like they were Antonio Bastardo last season. Essentially, if Gorzelanny does not show the Mets he is not capable of being a part of their bullpen, they can leave him in the minor leagues as depth.
Now, if Gorzelanny does show he can be a solid contributor out of the bullpen, the Mets only owe him $1 million with incentives that could increase his salary to $2.8 million. Essentially, this is a low risk, potentially high reward signing.
And there is reason to believe Gorzelanny can be a solid contributor in 2017. For his career, he has limited left-handed batters to a .229/.302/.356 batting line. For the sake of comparison, Blevins allowed left-handed batters to hit .255/.313/.324 off of him last year. Now, Blevins has historically been better than that against left-handed batters. However, the Mets are looking to replace Blevins’ 2016 production, and judging from Gorzelanny’s career splits, he is more than capable of that.
Another reason to believe in Gorzelanny is his repertoire. He primarily relies upon a low 90s sinker and a low 80s slider. While he also can throw a change-up and a curveball, while he has gotten older he has more and more relied on his sinker and slider. As we have seen with pitchers like Addison Reed and Fernando Salas, Dan Warthen has been successful working with them to get better results with those pitches as they have had in prior stops. It also doesn’t hurt that Travis d’Arnaud and Rene Rivera are excellent pitch framers that will be able to help Gorzelanny get into pitcher’s counts and get him that borderline called third strike.
Also, consider some of the success he has had against some of the left-handed batters he is sure to see during the 2017 season:
- Freddie Freeman 2-8
- Bryce Harper 0-3
- Daniel Murphy 3-14
At the end of the day, Gorzelanny may very well be considered a solid minor league free agent signing in the same ilk as Darren Oliver or Tim Byrdak.
On the other hand, it might not work out. But if it doesn’t, so what? It’s a classic example of nothing ventured, nothing gained. The million Gorzelanny is potentially earning should not stand in the way of the Mets re-signing Blevins and/or signing another free agent reliever.
And in fact, it didn’t. Not too long after the Mets signed Gorzelanny, the Mets then re-signed both Fernando Salas and Blevins.
Still, Gorzelanny wasn’t the guy Mets fans wanted, but he could become the guy the Mets fans want on the mound against a left-handed batter this October.
Look every kid is different, and accordingly, they are going to respond differently to different parenting techniques. This is no more true than potty training. Regardless of what anyone told you, there is no one size fits all approach. There is just whatever technique works best for your child. With that in mind, I’ll only offer one piece of advice to parents who are in the process of potty training their children.
Buy Crocs.
When you are in the process of potty training, there are going to be a lot of accidents. As a result, you may very well find yourself doing laundry near the levels you once did when your child was an infant. Underwear, pants, shirts, socks, and even shoes will get wet on at least one occasion. The underwear, pants, shirts, and socks are easy to clean. The shoes are a different matter.
If you are like me, you like the light-up sneakers because it gives you a (false?) sense of security when you’re in public. Run those shoes through the washing machine, and they’re most likely no longer lighting up anymore. Most likely, you will only have one pair of sneakers for your child meaning when those sneakers go through the laundry, you have to wait for them to come out before you go anywhere. That is unless you want to put your child in water shoes, flip flops, slippers, snow boots, or whatever else you have on hand. Depending on your child’s mood, this could lead to a temper tantrum or worse.
Now, if your child had the accident while wearing Crocs? You just wipe ’em down, and move along. That’s the beauty of these rubber shoes. They don’t get soaked. They don’t need to be run through the washing machine. They’re quick and easy to clean. It’s going to make your life so much easier during a process that can be very trying at times.
If and when you are going to start potty training, make sure you get the Crocs first. Let your child get accustomed to them, so when the time does come, it is not too many things at once.
Overall, Crocs have made the process much easier for me, and I hope it will make it easier for you as well.