With Clayton Kershaw suffering a mid-season back injury and missing a somewhat significant chunk of time, the National League Cy Young race became wide open. For the most part, the season was very close with many viable choices. Here is my ballot:
1st – Johnny Cueto
Understandably, Madison Bumgarner gets all the publicity with his postseason heroics, but in reality, Cueto was the staff ace for the San Francisco Giants this year, and ultimately the one pitcher who should win the Cy Young Aaward this season.
In 2016, Cueto made 32 starts pitching 219.2 innings while throwing five complete games. Overall, Cueto was 18-5 with a 2.79 ERA, 1.093 WHIP, 8.1 K/9, 198 strikeouts, a 147 ERA+, 2.95 FIP, and a 5.7 WAR.
While complete games was the only category Cueto led, his name was spread out all over the National League Top 10 pitching categories. On the season , Cueto finished second in pitcher WAR, fifth in ERA, third in wins, third in win-loss percentage (.783), ninth in WHIP, third in walks per nine (1.844), second in innings pitched, sixth in strikeouts, third in starts, second in shutouts (2), fifth in strikeout to walk ratio (4.400), second in home runs per nine (0.615), second in batters faced, sixth in ERA+, third in FIP, fifth in adjusted pitcher runs (34), fifth in adjusted pitcher wins (3.6), second in WPA (5.0).
More so than any pitcher across the National League, Cueto’s traditional and advance statistics hold up. In an era where going deep into games is a lost art, Cueto led the league in complete games. By the thinnest of margins, Cueto edges out the rest as being the best pitcher in the Naitonal League this season.
2nd – Max Scherzer
Like Cueto, Scherzer was a traditional and advanced statistic darling this season. For the season, Scherzer made 33 starts pitching 223.1 innings. Overall, he was 19-7 with a 2.82 ERA, 0.940 WHIP, 11.2 K/9, 277 strikeouts, a 148 ERA+, a 3.16 FIP, and a 6.5 WAR.
Looking over these stats, Scherzer is the National League leader in WAR (for pitchers), wins, WHIP, hits per nine (6.287), inning pitched, strikeouts, games started, and strikeout/walk ratio (5.130). Scherzer was also sixth in ERA, fourth in win-loss percentage (.731), third in K/9, eighth in complete games (1), third in batters faced (877), fifth in ERA+, fourth in FIP, fourth in adjusted pitching runs (35), fourth in adjusted pitching wins (3.8), and fourth in WPA (4.4).
Looking at his numbers as a whole, Scherzer leads in most of the important traditional ones like wins, strikeouts, WHIP, starts, and innings pitched. He is also scattered across the top 10 in the advanced statistics that were created to normalize pitching across teams and ballparks. Overall, he just falls short of Cueto as Cueto was better in run prevention with him having a better ERA, FIP, and WPA.
3rd – Noah Syndergaard
It was a tale of three seasons for Syndergaard. There was the first part of the season where he debuted a 95 MPH slider to go with his 100 MPH fastball that made you wonder how anyone could ever hit him. There was a second part where he was affected by bone spurs in his elbow leaving your wondering if he could finish out the season. The final part was him returning to form.
Syndergaard made 30 starts and one relief appearance (thanks in part to Chase Utley) pitching 183.2 innings. Overall, Syndergaard was 14-9 with a 2.60 ERA, 1.149 WHIP, 10.7 K/9, 218 strikeouts, 158 ERA+, 2.29 FIP, and a 5.2 WAR.
While Syndergaard did not lead in any of the more traditional statistics, he was the league leader in FIP. He was also the the league leader in HR/9 allowed (o.539). Coupling that with him ranking second in strikeout to walk ratio, Syndergaard was the pitching king of the three true outcomes this season.
In addition to the three true outcomes catergories, Syndergaard also ranks highly in WAR (sixth), ERA+ (third), adjusted pitching wins (seventh), and WPA (tenth). In the more traditional statistics, Syndergaard also rates highly. Syndergaard is third in ERA, eighth in walks per nine, fourth in strikeouts per nine, fourth in strikeouts, and second in strikeout to walk ratio.
Overall, you could justify Syndergaard being named the Cy Young for the 2016 season. However, with Cueto and Scherzer making more starts and throwing more innings, they were more valuable pitchers than Syndergaard was this season.
4th – Jon Lester
When people have addressed the Cubs rotation this season, many have focused on last year’s Cy Young Award winner, Jake Arrieta, or Kyle Hendricks, who is the major league ERA leader. People have overlooked Lester, who has been the most valuable pitcher of the group.
In 31 starts, Lester has pitched 197.2 innings. Overall, Lester is 19-4 with a 2.28 ERA, 0.997 WHIP, 8.87 K/9, 191 strikeouts, 176 ERA+, 3.35 FIP, and a 5.6 WAR. This has been just an outstanding year for Lester, and it is quite deserving of Cy Young consideration.
Like the aforementioned starters, Lester is in the Top 10 in several pitching categories. Lester ranks third in pitcher WAR, second in ERA, first in wins, first in win-loss percentage (.826), third in WHIP, fourth in hits per nine (6.739), eighth in strikeouts per nine, sixth in innings pitched, seventh in strikeouts, fifth in complete games (2), seventh in strikeout to walk ratio (3.898), eighth in home runs per nine (0.911), second in ERA+, seventh in FIP, first in adjusted pitching runs (41), first in adjusted pitcher wins (4.4), and first in WPA (5.2).
With Lester ranking this highly in each of these categories, he could very easily have finished in the top spot in the Cy Young voting instead of fourth. The reason why he is ranked lower than Cueto and Scherzer is that while Lester has a better ERA and is a league leader in wins, he also has pitched fewer innings than those pitchers. While Lester has thrown more innings than Syndergaard, he doesn’t compare to Syndergaard when it comes to the run prevention categories. In reality, it’s splitting hairs, and the way those hairs split leads to Lester being ranked fourth on the ballot.
5th – Jose Fernandez
Honestly, this was a toss up between Fernandez and Hendricks. Both were deserving given there statistics. However, overall, Fernandez was more dominating that Hendricks was this season.
In 2016, Fernandez made 29 starts pitching 182.1 innings. Overall, he was 16-8 with a 2.86 ERA, 1.119 WHIP, 12.5 K/9, 253 strikeouts, 137 ERA+, 2.30 FIP, and a 4.2 WAR.
The main case for Fernandez is him leading the majors in strikeouts per nine and having the second best FIP in the majors. In sum, what this means is he was about as dominating a pitcher in the National League this season. He was striking out batters at a higher rate than any other pitcher, and in the hypothetical neutral setting, he was the second best pitcher at keeping runs off the board. Like the aforementioned pitchers he ranked highly in several categories ranking seventh in ERA, fifth in wins, sixth in win-loss percentage (.667), tenth in WHIP, ninth in hits per nine (7.355), second in strikeouts, fourth in strikeout to walk ratio (4.600), third in home runs per nine (0.642), eighth in ERA+, ninth in adjusted pitching runs (23), ninth in adjusted pitching wins (2.4), and sixth in WPA (3.5).
For reasons we are all too familiar, Fernandez wasn’t able to catch up to Scherzer in strikeouts, nor was he able to pitch in more innings to bolster his case. As such the strength of his case was how dominating he was viewed through the prism of the advanced statistics. Looking through that prism, he feel short of putting up the type of season Syndergaard did. As such, he finished behind Syndergaard.
As you will see across baseball, the voting for the AL Rookie of the Year Award is going to be across the board. Many will want to reward a player putting together almost a full year while others want to reward a players who got called up and was insanely hot for a short stretch of time. There is room for both types of players on the ballot, and as you will see in my ballot, the player that did both, should win the Rookie of the Year Award:
1st – Michael Fulmer
Other than Corey Seager, Fulmer was the most impressive rookie in baseball this season. Consider that if not for a long rain delay, Fulmer would have pitched enough innings to qualify to have the best ERA in the American League. Overall, on the season, Fulmer was 11-7 with a 3.03 ERA, 1.119 WHIP, and a 7.5 K/9. He was also one of 14 pitchers in the American League who would throw a complete game shut out.
When Fulmer was first called up by the Tigers, he was only supposed to be the rotation for a short duration due to the Shane Greene injury. Fulmer laid those plans to rest by putting together the best rookie season out of any pitcher in baseball this year.
If you are more interested in short bursts of greatness over longer periods of work where a player’s performance is permitted to ebb and flow consider that Fulmer was 3-1 with a 0.61 ERA and a 0.910 WHIP in five June starts. Consider that in a stretch from June 1st to August 14th, Fulmer made 13 starts going 6-2 with a 1.57 ERA and a 0.872 WHIP while averaging 6.2 innings per start. No rookie in the American League put up a two and a half month stretch that can compare to the run Fulmer went on over the summer.
That run was also part of the season for Fulmer falling off. As he far exceeded his innings limits for a team in the middle of the Wild Card race, his performance would noticeably suffer. However, that’s part of the reason why Fulmer is the Rookie of the Year. He was put in position to have a long run of success while also having to deal with being put in a position to fail. Ultimately, as Fulmer had the most dominant stretch of any American League rookie while also having a successful season stretching from April to September, he is the Rookie of the Year.
2nd – Nomar Mazara
Mazara was called up to the majors earlier than he was ready due to an injury to Shin-Soo Choo. Despite Mazara not being ready, he would jump right out of the gate winning the AL Rookie of the Month Award for April and May. In fact, if you took a straw poll around the All Star Break over who was the Rookie of the Year, Mazara would have won it hands down.
In that April and May stretch, Mazara hit .302/.348/.479 with three doubles, nine homers, and 24 RBI while being the Rangers everyday right fielder. Mazara played an above averaged right field too with a 5.3 UZR. Yes, Mazara would regress just as any other 21 year old rookie not quite ready for the majors would. Mazara finished the season hitting a respectable .266/.320/.419 with 13 doubles, three triples, 20 homers, and 64 RBI. Mazara would be only one of two rookies, Cheslor Cuthbert being the other, that had enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title.
Among rookies, Mazara had the most at-bats, runs, hits, and RBI. He is tied for first in homers. When you lead all rookies in these categories while playing well defensively, all for a first place team, you are among the top rookies in the sport, and you should be considered the top rookie among position players.
3rd – Gary Sanchez
In August and September, there has been no player, rookie or otherwise, discussed than Sanchez. After the Yankees decided to sell by trading away Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, and Carlos Beltran, Sanchez was among the rookies called-up by the Yankees to see which ones were ready to contribute next year to a rebuilding ball club. Sanchez came out and immediately announced he was ready to contribute.
In 51 games, Sanchez has hit .299/.372/.650 with 12 doubles, 20 homers and 42 RBI. Naturally, he leads all major leagues in homers during that stretch, and he’s tied with Mazara for the most amount of homers by a rookie. If you extrapolate those numbers over the course of a full 162 game season, Sanchez would finish the year with 37 doubles, 62 homers, and 131 RBI. After a full season like that, the Yankees would probably be best advised to just give him a monument and retire his number 57. You get numbers from a catcher like this, especially one with a cannon behind the plate, you are talking about a top five regular season in major league history.
But that’s part of the issue. Sanchez hasn’t played a full season. He’s played just two months. They’ve been two awesome months, but it’s still only about one-third of a full season. As we have seen with Fulmer and Mazara, a rookie who has a bright major league career ahead of them can have an incredible run for two months. Because Sanchez only played one-third of a season, we didn’t get the opportunity to see the league adjust to him and see if he could respond. While Sanchez’s rookie year was definitely the best, the brevity of his season coupled with how others have dominated in similar stretches that he did bumps him down to third on my ballot.
Across the National League, there have been a number of standout performances. Consider for a moment that this ballot omits pitchers like Kenta Maeda, Steven Matz, and Junior Guerra. It also doesn’t include the terrific shortstops Trevor Story and Aledmys Diaz. In any other season, each of these players could not only be on the ballot, but they also could win the award. In what was a loaded field, here is my NL Rookie of the Year ballot:
1st – Corey Seager
Short of Jackie Robinson and Mike Piazza, Seager has put together the best rookie season by a Dodgers player. That’s high praise especially when you consider the Dodgers organization has accumulated more Rookie of the Year Awards than any other team in baseball.
Seager was incredible this year leading all rookies in WAR, doubles, and RBI. He was also second in home runs. He was the only rookie in the National League who played enough games to qualify for the batting title. He’s also played a great shortstop with a 10.9 UZR. Overall, there is no knocking his overall game, nor is there any reason to not give him the Rookie of the Year Award
2nd – Trea Turner
It’s one thing to be a well regarded prospect. It’s another thing to come up and show the world why you were a well regarded prospect. It’s a whole other thing to do that while playing out of position.
Given Ben Revere‘s failures in center field, the Nationals had two options to fill-in the position. One was Michael Taylor, who is a well regarded prospect in his own right despite his weak bat, or move your best prospect to center field. The Nationals chose the later, and they really benefited from it.
In 73 games, Turner hit .342/.370/.567 with 14 doubles, eight triples, 13 homers, and 37 RBI. With that, he had a 3.6 WAR, which was the second highest position player WAR accumulated in the non-Seager division. In center field, Turner had a -2 DRS, which means he was slightly below average, which is really remarkable when you consider he had never played an inning in center field before the 2016 season. All of this is even more impressive when you consider Turner did this to help a team win their division.
Given the totality of the circumstances, Turner’s 2016 season might have been the most impressive by any rookie. If not for Seager, it was the best season any rookie had this year.
3rd – Seung-Hwan Oh
Where would the St. Louis Cardinals be this season had they not signed The Final Boss out of the Korean Leagues? For most of the year, the Cardinals team and bullpen has dealt with injuries. Most notably, Trevor Rosenthal went from ineffective to injured in the span of the year. With those issues, the Cardinals needed someone to step up. That person was Oh.
In 74 appearances, Oh showed all of baseball how he earned the nickname The Final Boss. He made 76 appearances going 6-3 with 19 saves, a 1.92 ERA, 0.916 WHIP, 11.6 K/9, 214 ERA+, and a 2.13 FIP. He took over the closer’s job in the beginning of July, and he was converted 19 out of 22 save chances with a 2.27 ERA, 0.958 WHIP, and an 11.3 K/9. Not only was Oh one of the top rookies in baseball this year, he was also one of the best relievers in the game. With that in mind, The Final Boss deserves to be on the Rookie of the Year ballot.
Now, as my wife and probably most of society will tell you, I am not a fashionable person. In the fall and winter, I prefer a hooded sweatshirt, typically Mets, Rangers, or Giants. In the spring and summer, I wear t-shirts. Again, typically the Mets. Other than that, I have work clothes. So I am not the person to talk to you about fashion.
However, even with that, for the life of me I don’t get how drawstrings on pants are deemed fashionable or stylish.
For those that do not know what I am talking about let me explain. Typically, toddler boys like wearing sweatpants over jeans and the like. As a parent, when you are heading towards or dealing with potty training, you actually want your child to have sweatpants over jeans because they are easier to get on and off. The very last thing you want to do is discourage your child because he has trouble getting out of his pants and then has an accident. During the potty training process, you want to minimize complications. Jeans are a complication. Therefore, you want sweatpants.
If your child is anything like my child, there is a big problem with sweatpants. For my son, he has legs that are 3T (or up depending on the manufacturer) but he has a small waist that is better suited to 2T pants (he certainly doesn’t get that from me). Initially, my wife and I were excited when we noticed that many stores sell toddler sweatpants with drawstrings. We were fooled and irritated.
For some reason, different manufacturers glue or sew on faux drawstrings. In essence, this means you cannot tighten your child’s pants. While your child’s pants are falling to the ground, that drawstring just sits there mocking you. Even more infuriating is the fact that you have already taken the tags off and washed it (yes, your toddler’s clothes needs to be washed before they wear them), you cannot return it. Now that drawstring is sitting in the dresser laughing at you each and every time you reach in for a pair of pants that are actually functional. Even more infuriating is the fact that when your child does grow into the waist, the pants will be halfway up his legs.
With that in mind, just do not buy a pair of pants that have a drawstring. You need to either look for the label that says “Functional Drawstring,” of you just need to give that drawstring a tug to see if it tightens the pants. If you do that, you will not be wasting money, and more importantly, you will have pants that actually fit your child not matter what size waist they are.
Like the Mets, the minor league affiliates’ seasons are long over, and over at Mets Minors, organizational leaderboards are being compiled, and awards are being handed out:
Full Season Batting Leaders – statistically speaking Brandon Nimmo might’ve had the best year especially with him missing out on the Pacific League batting title by .001 points and him having the top OBP in the farm system.
Short Season Batting Leaders – Despite having had the shortest season, Peter Alonso might’ve had the biggest impact
Minor League Best Starting Pitchers – Statistically speaking, the Mets best minor league pitchers were P.J. Conlon, Thomas Szapucki, Harol Gonzalez, Ricky Knapp, and Andrew Church.
Full Season Pitching Leaders – Naturally, the above-referenced pitchers were listed throughout.
Short Season Pitching Leaders – Gonzalez and Gary Cornish dominated for the Brooklyn Cyclones while Szapucki continued to show why he is becoming a big time prospect.
Here is how all the 2015 draft picks fared with Alonso and Justin Dunn as standouts. And nowadays, you would be remiss without mentioning the fact that Tim Tebow homered in his first professional at-bat.
However, here are the bigger awards everyone is most curious about:
Position Player of the Year – Amed Rosario with honorable mention to Dominic Smith
Pitcher of the Year – P.J. Conlon
Reliever of the Year – David Roseboom
As you saw this season, there were major contributors from the Mets minor league system this year. If not for Seth Lugo, Robert Gsellman, Josh Smoker, T.J. Rivera, and others, the Mets may not make the postseason this year. It is not only good to know the Mets minor league system has been this beneficial, but also that there is a significant amount of talent behind the players we have already seen contribute.
One refrain coming out of Game 5 of the NLDS was how the seventh inning was an hour and six minutes. One of the major factors for it being that long was the number of pitching changes made.
In the top of the seventh inning along, Dusty Baker made seven pitching changes. Now, it should be noted that among those changes was Oliver Perez coming in for Shawn Kelley because Kelley suffered an injury and had to come out of the game. In the bottom of the seventh, not including Grant Dayton coming into the game because Dave Roberts pinch hit for Julio Urias in the top of the seventh inning, there was one more pitching change when Kenley Jansen entered the game.
Now, in the postseason, there is a 2:45 minute commercial break between innings and for pitching changes. With the six pitching changes last night, that means there was an additional 15 minutes of dead air time. That was 15 minutes away from the game. Was all that time away necessary? Arguably, it wasn’t.
With the exception of Perez, each of the pitchers who entered the game had time to go into the bullpen and get warmed up to go into the game. Therefore, unlike the pitcher that was sitting in the dugout between innings, the pitcher is ready to go. Naturally, you may want to give the pitcher a few warm-up pitches to get acclimated to the mound. However, there is no reason why a pitcher needs almost three minutes to get warmed up when they are already warm. At that point, the pitcher should be ready to go.
Ideally, you don’t want the broadcast to break away to a commercial break. The broadcast sticking with Clayton Kershaw throwing off the mound while Daniel Murphy was looming on deck on heightened the drama that was already present. Not only that, it kept you in the moment. Your focus was on what was the biggest moment of this postseason thus far.
Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world. While it is best for the viewers, and probably the sport of baseball, that the broadcast does not cut away from the moment, Fox still needs to pay its bills. Keep in mind, Fox pays MLB approximately $500 million per year to televise regular season and postseason games. Fox needs advertising revenues to justify that expense. To get the advertising revenues, Fox needs commercial breaks. With that in mind, here are some practical solutions:
Reduce the Commercial Break Time for Pitching Changes
This solution is splitting the baby a bit. This would permit Fox to still have an opportunity to sell some commercial for pitching changes while at the same time improving the flow of the game. The hope here is that by reducing the commercial break time, you are heightening the drama and intensity of the moment. Furthermore, you have more people glued to their screens. At least conceptually, this would put a premium for that specific commercial break time (even if it probably doesn’t work out that way in a practical sense).
Allow Advertising Throughout the Game
This one tends to be a little touchy for sports fans and especially for baseball fans. Baseball fans already complain of the crowded screen with the score, the broadcaster’s logo, the sometimes present K-Zone, and the crawler that appears during some points of the game. However, let’s be honest, the advertising is already present.
If you listen the games on the radio, you hear a GEICO ad for the 15th batter of the game. If you watch Mets games, you are familiar with the Cholulua Hot Sauce radar gun readings. Additionally, you see the advertising signs behind home plate during the games or on the outfield walls. They are ever present. Adding a Mastercard logo to the screen wouldn’t be any more of an intrusion. Furthermore, it would increase revenues and permit baseball to take measures to really increase the flow of games, including but not limited to reducing commercial time for pitching changes.
Split Screen
This is the solution that probably works best for everyone. Fox gets to keep the commercial time to sell to advertisers. Presumably, advertisers would permit the split screen because there would be less people walking away from the TV or switching the channel in that moment because they are watching the pitcher warm up. Additionally, fans can stay within the moment if they so choose.
Overall, it isn’t really about the pace of the game per se. It is really about being taken out of the moment. You go from the high intensity of the of the rally with the manager walking out to the mound to make the pitching change. After the change is made, there’s a commercial break taking out of the moment. Unless that is one of your teams on the field, you lose a bit of that intensity. You take quick mental break from the game. That isn’t good for anyone.
Rather, baseball needs to find a way to keep you engaged while also keeping you emotionally invested in the moment. A baseball game is about the ebbs and flows of the game. When there is a moment of high stakes and increasing drama, it is absolutely captivating. The worst thing with any captive audience is to send them away. That’s why commerical breaks for pitching changes need to change immediately.
Now that the regular season is over, and the Mets have been eliminated from the postseason, it is time to look back at the 2016 season as a whole. The Mets have had some surprising years from players and some disappointing years from players. In sum, the Mets had some terrific players and seasons from players that helped them back to a second straight postseason appearance. However, you are left wondering if some of the Mets players played just a little better or were healthy, they might have been in the race for and/or won the NL East. Do you think you can name the best players in the NL East this year? Good luck!
Max Scherzer, Wilson Ramos, Freddie Freeman, Daniel Murphy, Anthony Rendon, Asdrubal Cabrera, Christian Yelich, Odubel Herrera, Curtis Granderson, Mike Stanton, Noah Syndergaard, J.T. Realmuto, Bryce Harper
Despite slugging .533 over the last two months of the season, and homering in seven consecutive postseason games, including home runs off Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta, and Kyle Hendricks, the Mets only made the perfunctory qualifying offer to NLCS MVP Daniel Murphy. At the time, the qualifying offer was made no player had ever accepted the qualifying offer.
The Mets thought process was grounded in several factors. First, they believed they could get Ben Zobrist, who they viewed as a superior player. Second, the Mets could recoup the first round draft pick they lost by signing Michael Cuddyer in the previous offseason. Third, and most importantly, the Mets didn’t foresee Murphy carrying that level of production for a full season in 2016 and beyond.
That last point became all the more apparent when, after the Mets lost out in Zobrist, they traded Jon Niese (who was later re-acquired in exchange for Antonio Bastardo) for Neil Walker. The Mets made this move despite never inquiring what it would take to re-sign Murphy.
The logic of the Walker trade was the Mets were getting an All Star second baseman in his walk year. Should he perform, the Mets could either re-sign him, or they could make the qualifying offer and recoup another draft pick. Should he falter or leave in free agency, the Mets could turn the position over to second baseman of the future Dilson Herrera.
Walker would have a career year for the Mets both at the plate and in the field. Overall, he would hit .282/.347/.476 with 23 homers and 55 RBI. Those numbers are even better when you consider that the switch hitting Walker was no longer a liability from the right side of the plate. Rather, he was a dominant force.
Unfortunately, Walker would go through part of the summer unable to feel his feet due to a herniated disc. Despite his being in the best stretch of the season and the Mets fighting for the Wild Card, he would have to undergo season ending lumbar microdiscetomy surgery.
While the Mets remain hopeful Walker will recover fully, and that the two sides can agree to a deal, nothing is guaranteed. The Mets need Walker to recover with no issues because Herrera was moved in the trade to acquire Jay Bruce.
Now, many will say this has all been a debacle as Murphy had an MVP caliber season for the rival Washington Nationals. This year, Murphy hit .347/.390/.595 with 47 doubles, five triples, 25 homers, and 104 RBI. He led the league in doubles, slugging, and OPS. Worse yet, he killed the Mets getting a hit in all 19 games against them while hitting .413/.444/.773 with six doubles, seven homers, and 25 RBI.
In response to that, many will say judging the Mets decision on Murphy is unfair as: (1) no one saw this coming; and (2) you are using hindsight to criticize the Mets.
That argument is unfounded. First and foremost, the General Manager is supposed to have foresight. He is paid to make sure what happened with Murphy never happens. Second, and most importantly, the argument is patently false.
As Mets hitting coach Kevin Long told MLB Network Radio, “Daniel Murphy became a monster overnight, once he got it, you knew he wasn’t going to lose it.”
Murphy certainly hasn’t lost it. In fact, he was even better leading the Nationals to an NL East title over the Mets. Tonight, he looks to recreate his incredible Game Five performance against the Dodgers so he can once again torture the Cubs in the NLCS.
Meanwhile, the Mets are looking at their second base options, which assuredly are no better than Murphy, in what is an extremely weak free agent class, after being shutout in the Wild Card Game. It didn’t have to be this way as the Mets coaching staff saw Murphy putting together a season like this.
By the way, Anthony Kay, the pick the Mets received for Murphy becoming a National, had to have Tommy John surgery before he ever threw a pitch as a professional.
Apparently, the Mets and Nationals being rivals for a whole two seasons has lead a bunch of Mets fans to root for Chase Utley in the NLCS. Yes, rooting for the Dodgers, or against the Nationals, is rooting for Utley. As a Mets fan, I don’t get it. To me the Nationals are the lessor of two evils. Without even getting into the early years of the Mets history where the Dodgers, notably Sandy Koufax, routinely embarassed the Mets, here’s why:
Mike Scioscia grand slam off Dwight Gooden:
Jay Howell is a dirty cheat:
Orel Hershiser effectively ends the best run in Mets history:
Dodgers sign Darryl Strawberry in free agency making him an ex-Met:
And, oh yeah, Bobby Ojeda.
Guillermo Mota hitting Mike Piazza on multiple occasions and always running away when confronted.
Utley breaking Ruben Tejada‘s leg turning a potential sweep into a series:
Also, Utley’s subsequent cowardice ducking in and out of Citi Field and not taking one at-bat at Citi Field.
Speaking of which, everything Utley ever did to the Mets:
Seriously, did you know that other fans refer to the right field corner in Citi Field as the Utley Corner? It is one of the biggest humiliations the Mets have suffered at the hands of Utley and his Phillies teams including the 2007 and 2008 collapses. By the way, also part of those teams was current Dodgers catcher Carlos Ruiz.
So no, there is no circumstance, unless they are playing the Cardinals, that I could ever root for the Dodgers or an Utley led team. It’s why, despite this new massive rivalry the Mets have apparently had stretching all the way back to last year, I’m rooting for the Nationals. Personally, I’d rather have a little bit more perspective on Mets history past and present. Speaking of which, just remember that while Utley was always a thorn in the Mets side, Daniel Murphy was doing this for the Mets last year:
So overall, I’m siding with the team that has been a Mets rival for exactly two years and hasn’t done much harm to the Mets as a franchise over a team that put an end to the best run in Mets history, had players who consistently threw at Piazza, and have one of the dirtiest players in baseball.
In case you missed it, and how could you, Tim Tebow played his first ever Arizona Fall League game for the Scottsdale Scorpions. First, Tebow made headlines for just starting and batting seventh in the game. Next, there was a buzz over what could be considered an impressive batting practice display:
More Tim Tebow BP #ArizonaFallLeague2016 #Mets pic.twitter.com/LNo48yy1sm
— Josh Norris (@jnorris427) October 11, 2016
Then he made headlines for face-planting while going all out trying to catch a flyball:
Great photo from @billazbbphotog of Tim Tebow before he crashed into the wall on Tuesday trying to catch a fly ball. pic.twitter.com/ywzZ6wUGN2
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) October 12, 2016
Lastly, he made headlines for praying over a fan seeking an autograph who had a seizure. Boy did that spark controversy. Some people called it a miracle. Others will point out that most seizures do not last more than 90 seconds, and that, in fact, Tebow did nothing. The latter crowd will point out how this only serves to further prove that Tebow is a distraction from what is actually happening in the Arizona Fall League.
And you know what? They’re right.
If you are a Mets fan, you should be more interested in how Gavin Cecchini performed. As you may already know, Cecchini is the Mets top major league ready middle infield prospect. Depending on what happens with Neil Walker this offseason, Cecchini could very well find himself in the second base mix for next season. Out of all the Mets prospects, his performance in the Arizona Fall League is the most important. However, outside of a few well regarded minor league websites, you will not find much information on Cecchini’s outstanding 2-3 performance with three RBIs leading his team to victory.
There were also outstanding performances by potential future closer Corey Taylor, who outside of those who closely follow the Mets minor league system, most Mets fans don’t know much about him.
That’s also the point why Tebow’s detractors are wrong.
Look, Tebow is going to be a media circus no matter what he does. If he played ping pong, he’d get more attention and marketing deals that Forrest Gump ever did. Instead of football or ping pong, Tebow is playing baseball, and he is getting attention for his actions both on and off the field.
If most are being honest, they wouldn’t know when Arizona Fall League Games are being played or what the results of those games would be. It is the main reason why the games are not carried on the MLB Network. Another reason is most fans are consumed with postseason baseball, which is more than understandable. If not for Tebow, there is a large group of some really terrific and hardcore baseball fans who wouldn’t even know the Arizona Fall League baseball games were beginning. However, now with Tebow playing, everyone knows. That’s a good thing because it allows a fan to check not just what Tebow did, but also what other players did in the game like Cecchini and Taylor.
More importantly, Tebow is benign. Every team in baseball was sending a team of scouts and front office personnel to attend the Arizona Fall League. They are not sending any more or any less because Tebow is there. Teams have a vested interest in the Arizona Fall League because they not only want to see how their own prospects fare against the supposed other top prospects in the game, but it also allows them to see how the other top prospects up close. You get to see how hard they work, and you get a better sense of what areas of the game they may need to improve. You can also get a sense of how a particular player could fit into your organization.
So overall, Tebow dominated the headlines like he did in college and the NFL. Like college and the NFL, Tebow brought more eyes to the game than would have been there in the first place. Like his time in college and the NFL, professional scouts and front office personnel were not distracted by his performance. Rather, they were still able to see what was happening with the prospects they believed had a brighter future as a professional player.
At the end of the day, whether or not Tebow had any impact on the man’s health or in the major leagues is still a mystery. Depending upon your point of view, you probably already have a strong opinion on that in either direction. Regardless of your point of view, you have to admit that Tebow drew your interest to the Arizona Fall League more than you would have had in any other season. With Tebow drawing more interest to the sport that is a good thing no matter what your opinion is of him.