Reports are that Justin Ruggiano has begun his rehab assignment in Las Vegas. It’s strange to think that is the case because Ruggiano was released from the Texas Rangers while he was in AAA before the Mets picked him up. Apparently, it is because the Mets believed he was a better option in center field than just about anyone, including Michael Conforto.
It was an odd decision considering Ruggiano is not a particularly good defensive center fielder. Over the course of his career, he has a -6.4 UZR and a -9 DRS. If the Mets were looking to add him for offense for when the team faces left-handed pitching, their decision making is equally misguided as Ruggiano is a career .271/.334/.516 hitter against them. Overall, the addition of Ruggiano could be classified as a bit of a panic move as Yoenis Cespedes is unable to play center field for the rest of the year, and Terry Collins has outright refused to play Conforto and Brandon Nimmo against left-handed pitchers. Long story short, the Mets are without a true center fielder, especially when there is a lefty on the mound. In some ways, the Mets signing Ruggiano was the team making the best out of a bad situation.
However, now there is a better center field option available as the Houston Astros have released Carlos Gomez.
Now, the Astros released Gomez as he has been terrible for them. Since he joined them last year, Gomez has hit .221/.277/.342 as an Astro. With each and every game, Gomez faltered, and he justified the Mets decision to void the trade to acquire him for Zack Wheeler and Wilmer Flores due to concerns about his hip. However, now, the Mets can acquire Gomez, and they should be interested.
From 2013 – 2015, Gomez averaged an 11.7 UZR and a 13 DRS in center field. Now, his defense has slipped from his 2013 Gold Glove caliber season, but judging on the advanced defensive metrics, Gomez has been an average at worst defensive center fielder no matter what Collin McHugh thinks:
Look, Gomez is available because he has been a bad baseball player for the past year. However, he is not that far removed from being a very productive major leaguer, and he is still only 30 years old.
If the Mets really want a right-handed bat as a platoon option, if the Mets want a player who still may have upside, and a player that can actually play center field, the Mets should go out and get Carlos Gomez. But they won’t, and it shouldn’t come as any surprise as this is a team that truly believes Ty Kelly is currently a better option in the outfield than Conforto right now. This is a team that passed over Juan Uribe to keep Kelly on the roster.
Passing on Gomez in favor of Ruggiano will become just the latest in a series of curious roster decisions the Mets have made this season.
With the Mets finally admitting that Logan Verrett was not capable of being the team’s fifth starter for the rest of the season, the Mets had to make a decision on who should be the fifth starter for the rest of the year.
Seemingly, there were a few options. The first was Robert Gsellman who has made significant strides this year in the minors, but is struggling in AAA going 1-5 with a 5.70 ERA and a 1.406 WHIP. The other option was Seth Lugo, who has pitched fairly well out of the Mets bullpen, but he has not been fully stretched out. There was also Gabriel Ynoa, who entered the season as the Mets top rated pitching prospect in AAA as the year began. Ynoa started the year strong, but he pitched to a 6.64 ERA in June and July this year.
Given the fact that the younger Mets arms didn’t seem ready, it is no surprise the Mets turned to recently acquired Jon Niese to be the new fifth starter. Niese has been horrendous this year, but with Dan Warthen as his pitching coach, Niese has been a .500 pitcher with a 3.95 ERA and a 1.365 WHIP. These are not great numbers, but these are numbers that you can live with from your fifth starter.
However, what is surprising was the Mets calling up Ynoa to be the long man in the bullpen. First and foremost, Lugo has done a good job as the long man in the Mets bullpen. In his seven appearances, Lugo has pitched 13.2 innings with a 2.63 ERA and an 0.878 WHIP. More than that, Lugo is actually a reliever. Due to his own struggles in AAA, Lugo was demoted to the bullpen where he was used as a reliever. Lugo has actually made appearances in back-to-back games and appeared in a number of different scenarios.
Ynoa hasn’t. Before being called up to the majors, Ynoa last made a relief apperance on August 26th of last year. In that relief appearance, Ynoa was on regular rest, and he pitched two innings after a Steven Matz rehab start. Prior to that Ynoa last made a relief appearance as an 18 year old pitching in the Gulf Coast League. It should be noted that in those three relief appearances, Ynoa was piggybacking the starting pitcher. In essence, Ynoa has never truly been a relief pitcher in his entire professional career.
That didn’t stop the Mets from making him one for the first time in the majors. Not only that, it didn’t stop Terry Collins from using Ynoa in back-to-back games. That is all the more startling when you consider the fact that Ynoa HAS NEVER pitched in back-to-back games in his professional career. This is no way to treat a 23 year old pitcher who very well could be a part of the Mets rotation within the next year or two.
If the Mets truly believed he was ready to get called-up to the majors, it is hard to dispute that especially seeing how poised he was on the mound in his first two appearances. However, with that said, if you’re calling him up, why not put him in the rotation and leave Niese in the bullpen where he has had some experience and some success? It’s not like Niese is fully stretched out, and it’s not like Niese has exactly earned the opportunity especially since Niese was given the rotation spot AFTER allowing six earned runs in an inning.
Instead of doing the obvious, the Mets are putting Niese in the rotation and Ynoa in the bullpen. It doesn’t make any sense.
Approximately 117 games into the season 2.5 games is all that separates four teams for the final Wild Card spot. As we have seen repeatedly this season and again this past weekend, injuries have played and will continue to play a major role in this Wild Card race.
Over this past weekend, it was announced that Giancarlo Stanton is going to miss the rest of the season with a groin injury. It’s a devastating injury for Stanton and the Marlins as Stanton had turned his season around hitting .287/.349/.588 with 10 homers and 30 RBI since July 1st. With him gone, the Marlins have lost both the most feared hitter in their lineup, but also the only hitter in all of baseball that can truly say owns Jacob deGrom.
Stanton’s injury comes on the heels of the Marlins having to send back Colin Rea and his torn UCL to the Padres as it turns out he was damaged goods. The Marlins also do not anticipate their big free agent addition, Wei-Yin Chen, to contribute for the rest of the season as he is dealing with elbow issues of his own. Joining Stanton and Chen on the disabled list is Adam Conley, who is arguably the Marlins second best starting pitcher. In addition to losing two of their starters to injuries, the Marlins are without their closer A.J. Ramos as he was put on the disabled list with a fractured middle finger on his pitching hand. Add all of that to the Marlins needing to skip a couple of Jose Fernandez starts to manage his workload, and the Marlins are in real trouble on the pitching front.
The Marlins have been relatively healthy all season, and now it seems as if they are starting to get bit by the injury bug at the wrong time of the season.
A team that has been decimated by injuries all year has been the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals season got out on the wrong foot when they began the year without starting shortstop Jhonny Peralta as he was recovering from a surgically repaired thumb.
Joining Peralta on the disabled list this year has been his replacement Aledmys Diaz with a broken thumb of his own. The Cardinals are also without Matt Adams, who had been the starting first baseman during the stretch that the Opening Day first baseman, Brandon Moss, was on the disabled list. Centerfielder Tommy Pham has spent much time on the disabled list this year leading to the Cardinals experimenting with Kolten Wong in center. This is the same Wong who had to be sent to the minors due to his struggles at the plate and at second base. The most recent and possibly most devastating injury is Matt Holliday going down with a broken thumb.
As bad as things have been for the Cardinals position players, their pitching staff is just as decimated by injuries. Lance Lynn has not made one start for the team this season as he is still recovering from Tommy John surgery. He has been joined on the disabled list by one time NLCS hero Michael Wacha who may not only be done for the season, but also may need to have his role as a starting pitcher be re-evaluated all together with his scapular issues. This duo joins a number of Cardinals bullpen arms on the disabled list.
Neither Jordan Walden or Mitch Harris have thrown one pitch this season as they have dealt with injuries. Kevin Siegrist was recently put on the disabled list with arm fatigue, and Tyler Lyons is done for the year as he is dealing with a stress reaction in his right knee. The reliever problems are only exacerbated by the fact that their closer Trevor Rosenthal was first ineffective to start the year and then landed on the disabled list with a flexor tendon injury. Like most of this Cardinals team, it is questionable whether he can return this season.
Unlike the Marlins and the Cardinals, the Mets are starting to get healthy. This weekend the Mets not only had Jose Reyes return from the disabled list, but the team also saw him score a Reyes Run on Sunday.
Reyes should soon be joined by some of his teammates. Today, Yoenis Cespedes is expected to start his rehab assignment. Tomorrow, Asdrubal Cabrera will begin his own rehab assignment. Their return will dramatically improve a Mets lineup that has been starting Ty Kelly and his .200 batting average in left field all too frequently. Matt Reynolds and his .211 batting average had already been sent to the minors when Reyes was activated from the disabled list.
Long story short, the Mets will soon be as close to full strength as they have been all season. They are getting healthy as two of their main competitors for the Wild Card are dealing with some disastrous injuries. With all these injuries, the Mets are a better team than the Marlins and the Cardinals meaning the Mets are out of excuses. It is time for the Mets to go on a run and take control of the Wild Card race.
Regardless of the results what Steven Matz has been doing this season has been admirable. Matz knows he’s going to need surgery in the offseason to remove bone spurs in his elbow, and yet he still goes out there and pitches because his team needs him.
With that said the results haven’t been pretty. From June 7th until August 9th, Matz has gone 1-7 with a 4.65 ERA and a 1.435 WHIP. That is a precipitous drop from the guy who started the year 7-1 with a 2.28 ERA and a 1.030 WHIP. The main reason for the dip is he’s getting hit much harder. He’s gone from an 18% line drive rate with batters hitting .225/.272/.294 with four homers to a 28% line drive rate with batters hitting .297/.346/.475 with 10 homers.
During his slump or whatever you want to call it, Matz has been without his main breaking pitch – the fabled Warthen slider. In the beginning of the year, he threw it 15% of the time. Beginning June 7th, he was only throwing it 8% of the time.
In place of the change, Matz began throwing more changeups going from throwing it 9% of the time to throwing it 14% of the time. It’s not a wise move as opposing batters hit .340 against the pitch while slugging .630. He’s fooling no one with the changeup and the opposition has been teeing off on the pitch.
Sunday, Matz effectively scrapped both his changeup and his slider focusing on his fastball and curveball. The result was a near no-hitter.
Over 7.1 dazzling innings, Matz only allowed the one hit allowing no runs and two walks with eight strikeouts. It was his best start since May. It was a return to the Steven Matz everyone once believed would emerge to join Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, and Noah Syndergaard as one of four aces atop the Mets staff.
Matz did it, in part, because he threw a lot more curveballs. He threw 29% curves on Sunday after throwing it 14% of the time ro start the year. It was the right move as it’s arguably his second best pitch (after his abandoned slider). Matz limits batters to a .235 batting average with his curveball, which is the second lowest batting average allowed against any one of his pitches.
With the fastball and curveball working, the only player who would get a hit off of Matz would be Alex Rios‘ former teammate Alexei Ramirez. Like Harvey, Matz wouldn’t get the no-hitter. Unlike Harvey, his teammates would score runs did him a get the win.
Wilmer Flores and Neil Walker hit solo homers in the first two innings respectively off Padres left-hander Clayton Richard giving Matz and the Mets a 2-0 lead.
In the eighth, the Mets actually scored some insurance runs. Jose Reyes led off the inning with a single. He’d steal second and move to third when Padres catcher Derek Norris threw it into center. Reyes then scored on a Jose Dominguez wild pitch. All of this happened during Ty Kelly‘s at bat. It was vintage Reyes.
The rally continued after the Reyes one man show, and it culminated in a T.J. Rivera two out two RBI double scoring Kelly and Jay Bruce. It was the first extra base hit and RBI in Kelly’s young career. It made the score 5-0.
The final score would be 5-1 after Gabriel Ynoa allowed a run in the ninth. On the bright side, the Mets are 2-0 in games Ynoa pitched. Speaking of which, the Mets have finally won two games in a row.
Overall, the story was Matz. He had a magical afternoon, and he made an adjustment to allow him to pitch more effectively.
Pennant Race: Thr Marlins beat the White Sox 5-4. The Nationals beat the Braves 9-1. Three Cardinals beat the Cubs 6-4. The Pirates bested the Dodgers 11-4.
Last thing I knew, Jeurys Familia was toeing the rubber to save a Jacob deGrom outing.
Over seven innings, deGrom only allowed three hits, one earned, and one walk while striking out nine. The Mets only scored two runs giving both he and Familia the thinnest of margins – as usual.
Around this time, a tree fell knocking out the electricity until 3:00 AM or so.
Apparently, I missed out on a Wil Myers two out home run off Familia with two outs in the ninth. I also missed Gabriel Ynoa making his major league debut in the 11th pitching a scoreless inning, striking out one, and earning his first major league win. I also missed out on Wilmer Flores with the walk-off scoring Neil Walker. I missed out on a lot of aggravation and some fun.
Hopefully, the Familia frustrating blown save against a woeful Padres team and Flores extra inning walk-off will kick-start this Mets team like it did in 2015.
Here is my appearance on the Amazing Metscast where I discussed why the Mets should fire Terry Collins and why I think the Mets can still win the Wild Card.
In my defense, it was recorded the morning before the 9-0 loss.
Also, here is the article written for Mets Merized Online referenced in the podcast.
Somewhere, someone is giving Terry Collins and his rant yesterday credit for helping inject this lifeless Mets team with some fight. Those people are mistaken.
The game started ugly. Logan Verrett immediately loaded the bases by allowing a hit and issuing two walks. Then Dan Warthen made a mound visit and for some reason or other told Verrett to throw the grand slam pitch to Ryan Schimpf. Verrett obliged. Then for good measure he gave up a homer to Jabari Blash.
Before there was an out in the game the Mets were down 5-0.
Travis d’Arnaud tried to start the comeback by hitting a two run homer in the bottom of the second. Overall, d’Arnaud had a great night going 3-4 with two runs, two RBI, abd a homer. and throwing out a baserunner. Still, pointing out d’Arnaud had a great night is like saying the Hindenburg was a nice looking Zepplin.
Verrett made sure d’Arnaud’s effort went to waste immediately surrendering three runs in the third off another Schimpf homer and a Christian Bethancourt solo shot. 8-2 Padres.
Why Collins allowed Verrett to continue pitching is stupefying. The Mets demoted Michael Conforto to recall the long man Seth Lugo. The explanation was yesterday’s hero, Jon Niese, had a bum knee. However, you can’t discount the Mets punishing Conforto for having the audacity to have a tough year with an injured wrist and a manager giving him inconsistent playing time.
In any event, Collins allowed Verrett to effectively put the game out if reach before turning to Lugo. Verrett’s final line was 2.2 innings, six hits, eight runs, eight earned, three walks, and four strikeouts.
The Mets mustered a rally in the sixth. A Matt Reynolds RBI double, Ty Kelly RBI single, and a Wilmer Flores RBI groundout pulled the Mets to 8-6. Before the Flores groundout, Curtis Granderson had a chance to tie the game with a homer and struck out. With two outs, Neil Walker was in the same situation, and he geounded out to end the inning and the rally.
It’s the last time the Mets mounted much of an fight. It also marked the end of the days of the Mets being .500 or better.
For the second straight year, it appears that the Mets have been snakebitten. They have lost Lucas Duda, Matt Harvey, and David Wright to season ending injuries. It would be easy to blame injuries like these as well as the other injuries the Mets have had for the team underachieving this season. There’s just one problem with that – the Mets have been amongst the healthiest teams in all of baseball.
According to Spotrac, the Mets rank 15th in the majors and 8th in the National League with the team having placed 13 players on the disabled list. With those 13 players on the disabled list, the Mets have missed 549 player days, which ranks 23rd in the majors and 12th in the National League.
Now, there are some fair criticisms in pointing just to the disabled list figures. First, as we have seen with the Mets handling of Yoenis Cespedes, the Mets wait too long before putting a player on the disabled list. Second, this list does not account for players like Steven Matz and Noah Syndergaard who are pitching despite having bone spurs in their elbows which will have to be surgically removed in the offseason. However, this point-of-view is a bit myopic when considering the injuries the Mets main competition for the two Wild Card spots have endured.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The 63-49 Dodgers currently have the top Wild Card spot by four games. They have also put a major league leading 25 players on the disabled list while losing a major league leading 1,400 player days.
Brett Anderson was gone for the season before he threw a pitch, Hyun-Jin Ryu only made one start, and Alex Wood lasted just 10 starts. That’s 3/5 of the Dodgers Opening Day rotation up in smoke. On top of that, the Dodgers have lost important bullpen pieces in Yimi Garcia and Chin-hui Tsao.
The Dodgers have also been decimated in the outfield. Valuable fourth outfielder and bench bat Andre Ethier was also gone before the season started. He was needed more than usual considering the Dodgers finally released Carl Crawford, had to deal with Yasiel Puig not producing, and recently losing the pleasantly surprising Trayce Thompson in the outfield.
All of this pales in comparison to the Dodgers losing Clayton Kershaw to the disabled list. Kershaw was once again dominating, was the presumptive Cy Young Award winner, and quite possibly an MVP candidate. With his back injury, no one can be quite sure when he will return. There is no more damaging blow to any team in all of baseball than the Dodgers losing Kershaw.
And yet, the Dodgers keep winning games, and that is why they find themselves the current Wild Card leader.
St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals have put one fewer player on the disabled list than the Mets, but they have also lost 174 more player days to the disabled list. Like the Dodgers, they are also ahead of the Mets in the Wild Card Standings.
The biggest injury the Cardinals have had to deal with is their starting shortstop Jhonny Peralta. Offseason surgery to repair a ligament in his left thumb has limited him to 36 games this season. When he has played, he has been largely ineffective. Initially, the Cardinals opted to go with Mets cast-off Ruben Tejada as Peralta’s short term replacment, but he was inffective and wounded up on the disabled list himself. His replacement, Aledmys Diaz was having a terrific rookie season which led to him being named an All Start. However, he is now on the disabled list with a hairline fracture in this thumb.
The Cardinals have also had a number of key position player injuries. During the season, the Cardinals have placed Brandon Moss and Tommy Pham on the disabled list at points during the season. This has left the team looking to find solutions at first base and center field during the season.
The Cardinals pitching staff has also been hit hard. Lance Lynn went from a member of the rotation to losing the entire 2016 season to Tommy John surgery. Closer Trevor Rosenthal has been dealing with injuries and ineffectiveness all year, and he has finally wound up on the disabled list. One of his key set-up men, Jordan Walden, has yet to throw a pitch all season due to a shoulder strain and a lat injury. The team also had to deal with losing key relievers from last season, Seth Maness and Kevin Siegrist, for a stretch of time.
Recently, they had Michael Wacha and Matt Holliday go down with what could be season ending injuries.
Despite these injuries, the Cardinals are 2.5 games up on the Mets this season in the Wild Card standings.
National League East
It is interesting to note that the two teams the Mets are chasing in the National League East, the Miami Marlins and the Washington Nationals, are two of the healthiest teams in all of baseball.
For the Marlins part, it seems to be a combination of good luck and youth. Seven of the eight Marlins everyday players are 28 and younger. The two 28 year olds, Justin Bour (ankle sprain) and Dee Gordon (PED suspension) are the only players from the starting lineup to be placed on the disabled list this season.
Other than Wei-Yin Chen, the Marlins pitching staff has been remarkably healthy. Most importantly, Jose Fernandez has been the dominant starting pitcher he was always supposed to be.
The Nationals being so health is quite remarkable. Each and every season, players like Daniel Murphy, Anthony Rendon, Stephen Strasburg, Jayson Werth, and Ryan Zimmerman were usually good for at least one disabled list stint during the course of the season. So far this year, Starsburg had a short stint on the disabled list, and Zimmerman just landed on the disabled list with a wrist contusion.
The reason why the Nationals are in a much better place injury wise is part luck, but it is mostly them doing things differently. They created a larger and a multi disciplined medical team of experts to address injuries. They have addressed each and every aspect of player preparation and health. The result so far is a much healthier Nationals team both on and off the field.
The Nationals changing how they have approached injuries show how other teams have adapted and dealt with injuries better than the Mets – so have the other teams competing for the two Wild Card spots. The Mets aren’t trailing in the Wild Card race due to their health. In fact, they may still be in the race because the Dodgers and Cardinals have had to deal with more injuries than they have.
After the Mets lost the 2000 World Series, it was clear the Mets needed to give Mike Piazza some help in the lineup. As fate would have it, not only was Alex Rodriguez available as a free agent, but he also wanted to play for the New York Mets. Steve Phillips would have none of it calling A-Rod a 24 and one player. From that point forward, the Mets have started eight shortstops who have come nowhere near the stats or drama A-Rod would provide over the course of his career. With this possibly being the end of A-Rod’s career, can you name the Mets eight Opening Day shortstops since that time they decided it wasn’t worth signing A-Rod as a free agent? Good luck!
Rey Ordonez, Rey Sanchez, Kaz Matsui, Jose Reyes, Alex Cora, Ruben Tejada, Wilmer Flores, Asdrubal Cabrera