Yesterday, the Mets drafted a player in the first round after forfeiting their 2015 pick to sign Michael Cuddyer. The Mets did get a second first round pick because Daniel Murphy signed with the Nationals. Accordingly, the Sandy Alderson regime has now drafted six players in the first round. Can you name all of them? Good luck!
Over the past year, the Mets have made a number of trades to not only help them go to the World Series last year, but also to help them become World Series contenders again this year. With Neil Walker returning to Pittsburgh to not one but two standing ovations, and the draft scheduled for later today it seems like today is a good day to take a cursory view of how the players the Mets traded away are faring.
Kelly Johnson & Juan Uribe for Robert Whalen & John Gant
Robert Whalen – Whalen has made 11 starts for the Atlanta Braves AA affiliate going 4-4 with a 2.88 ERA and a 1.247 WHIP. At the time of the trade, Whalen was seen as a back of the rotation starter, and his performance this year should not change those impressions.
John Gant – Despite never having pitched above AAA before this season, Gant got a cup of coffee early on with the Braves showing off his very unorthodox delivery. He predictably struggled pitching to a 6.17 ERA and a 1.714 WHIP in seven appearances. Gant was sent back down to AAA where he has pitched better. In eight appearances, he has a 3.14 ERA and a 1.233 WHIP. He appears on track for another promotion before the year is over, especially with the way the Braves want to sell everything.
Tyler Clippard for Casey Meisner
Casey Meisner – The 20 year old Meisner pitched well for Oakland’s Advance A affiliate pitching going 3-1 with a 2.78 ERA and a 1.052 WHIP in seven starts. This year, for the first time in his brief career, Meisner is struggling going 0-9 with a 4.55 ERA and a 1.645 WHIP in 11 starts. At 21, Meisner is still young for his league, and he is still walking too many batters. If Meiser can make the ncecessary adjustments, he can get back on track to being the mid to top of the rotation starter he was projected to be.
Yoenis Cespedes for Michael Fulmer & Luis Cessa
Michael Fulmer – Fulmer only received three AAA starts before the Tigers felt compelled to bring him up to help fix a beleaguered rotation that included former Met Mike Pelfrey. Fulmer has shown himself to be every bit the ace people anticipated he might be one day. He has gone 6-1 with a 2.83 ERA and a 1.175 WHIP. In his last four starts, he is 4-0 with a 0.32 ERA and a 0.635 WHIP.
Luis Cessa – Cessa was actually traded to the Yankees in the offseason, and he made his major league debut with them. In his three appearances, he had a 2.57 ERA and a 0.857 WHIP. In the minors, he has been in the rotation with less success. In his five starts (with one relief appearance), he is 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA and a 1.214 WHIP. Ultimately, Cessa has the stuff to be either a back end of the rotation pitcher or a middle reliever. His brief cup of coffee with the Yankees has shown he does have the ability to pitch in the majors.
Eric O’Flaherty for Dawrin Frias
Dawrin Frias – After the conclusion of the 2015 season, Frias become a minor league free agent. To date, no one has signed him.
Addison Reed for Miller Diaz & Matt Koch
Miller Diaz – Diaz is struggling mightily for the Arizona Diamondback’s high A affiliate going 0-1 with a 7.76 ERA and 2.414 WHIP in 15 games (inlcuding three starts). Diaz was seen as nothing more than a major league reliever, at best, and these statistics make that proposition a stretch.
Matt Koch – Koch is having another strong year in AA. In his five starts, he is 0-2 with a 2.66 ERA and a 1.310 WHIP. While Koch was seen as a bullpen piece, if he keeps improving the way he has, he may have a shot to stick with the back end of someone’s rotation.
Neil Walker for Jon Niese
Jon Niese – Niese’s early season struggles have seemed to go by the wayside. While he started the year 3-1 with a 5.94 ERA and a 1.680 WHIP, he has settled down and pitched much better of late. We just saw him pitch seven innings in beating the Mets. In his last six starts, he is 3-1 with a 2.15 ERA and a 1.141 WHIP.
For the most part, the players the Mets traded are playing well. It shows the Mets gave up valuable pieces for the quality players they received. The hope is the Mets have enough trade assets this year to swing a deal or two like they did last year.
This time last year fans were begging the Mets to call up Michael Conforto. He was seen as part of the solution to the Mets offensive issues. When he was called up on July 24th, he delivered. Conforto hit .270/.335/.506 with a 131 OPS+. He would hit two homeruns in a Game Four of the World Series. He jumped out of the gate this April hitting .365/.442/.676. He looked to be well on his way to become a superstar. Then he stopped hitting.
Since May 1st, Conforto has hit .165/.231/.339. He’s striking out 30.6% of his at bats. He’s gone from the leader in hard hit rate to 21st. He dropped from hitting the ball hard 31.4% of the time to just 21% of the time. It’s a big dropoff. It begs the question what is wrong with Conforto?
In reality, there’s nothing wrong with Conforto. He is a 23 year old player who has never played a single game in AAA. He is allowed to struggle.
Also, some of his early season success was unsustainable. He had a .411 BABIP. The league average is .300. While some have a natural talent to hit above the .300, no one has a .411 BABIP. Also, his current .188 BABIP is also unsustainable. It should be of no surprise that Conforto’s true talent kids in the middle, which is a really good thing.
He’s also not hitting lefties . . . yet. In 45 plate appearances, he’s hitting .095/.133/.095. This includes him going 0-3 against Madison Bumgarner on May 1st. Do you know what 45 games is? It’s a small sample size. His numbers aren’t pretty, but they’re also not indicative of his true talent level. In AA last year, Conforto hit .333/.414/.490 against lefties in 58 plate appearances. For the sake of comparison, Conforto hit .303/.388/.508 against righties in 139 plate appearances. Even if Collins won’t play him against lefties, it doesn’t mean he’s incapable or that playing him against a lefty will throw him into a tail spin. For his part, Kevin Long, Conforto’s hitting coach, believes that Conforto can hit lefties if given a chance.
Overall, Conforto can hit righties and hit lefties. He’s just in a prolonged slump. Hes just a 23 year old who still needs to make adjustments in the big leagues. He has the talent to do so. He’s hit every step of the way. He hit last year, and he has hit well at times this year. As we saw with Conforto’s sacrifice fly and homerun last night, he’s not only going to hit, he’s going to get big hits. When Conforto does turn things around, National League pitching is going to be in a lot of trouble.
When that happens, we are all going to be reminded just how good Conforto really is.
In 1966, the Mets made what was perhaps their worst decision in franchise history. With the first overall pick in the draft, the Mets selected Steve Chilcott. It was the worst decision in franchise history not only because Chilcott never played in the majors. It was the worst decision in franchise history for the reasons why the Mets didn’t make the obvious pick.
No, the Mets passed on a player named Reginald Martinez Jackson, or as you better know him, Reggie Jackson. This wasn’t a case of a player being overlooked for another player. No, Reggie was widely seen as the best player in that draft as was evidenced by the then Kansas City Athletics selecting him with the second overall pick in the draft. The Mets didn’t pass on Reggie because they felt stronger about Chilcott than other organizations (although they might have). They didn’t pass on Reggie because they believed he wasn’t suited for New York (turns out he was). They didn’t even pass on him because they felt there was an organizational need for a catcher (they didn’t with Jerry Grote aboard). No, the Mets passed on Reggie for the dumbest reason of all – racism. It turns out the Mets didn’t like the fact that he was dating a Hispanic woman.
When Reggie Jackson got his opportunity to exact revenge upon the Mets, he did. Reggie was the MVP of the 1973 World Series. While the Mets were floundering in the late 70’s, barely getting over a million fans to Shea Stadium, actually lower in other years, Reggie was leading the Yankees to the 1977 and 1978 World Series. In 1993, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a Yankee.
Meanwhile, Chilcott flamed out at 23, in part, because he suffered a shoulder injury. Chilcott became an unfortunate footnote in MLB history as the first ever first overall pick not to make the majors. It’s worth nothing that the Mets did eventually get the first overall pick right when they picked Darryl Strawberry in 1980. It’s also worth nothing that no first overall pick made the Hall of Fame until this summer when the 1987 first overall pick, Ken Griffey, Jr. will officially be enshrined in Cooperstown.
Overall, the MLB draft is full of hits and misses. It’s natural for players to be compared with the players who were drafted above and below them. Drafting in major league baseball is an inexact process. We were reminded of that this past weekend with Jose Fernandez shutting down the Mets, while the player drafted immediately before him, Brandon Nimmo, is still developing in AAA. However, we can live with decisions like Nimmo over Fernandez as there were sound reasons to draft Nimmo over Fernandez. If Nimmo continues his current development, he will become an effective major league player. That’s a lot more than anyone can say about Chilcott.
It’s important to keep the Reggie Jackson/Steve Chilcott situtation in mind each and every draft. There are busts, and there are players who exceed expectations. The only thing you can ask of your team is to have the right process in place when making draft picks. The Mets didn’t have the right approach in 1966. Presumably now, even in the absence of Paul De Podesta, the Mets have the right process in place. As such, we know the Mets are going to make a decision based upon the proper criteria. Accordingly, we know that the Mets are about to make a much better draft pick than the one they made in 1966.
Noah Syndergaard set the tone for the night by battling through the game.
He absolutely gutted out six innings. There was a Pirate in scoring position four of the six innings. Even with Rene Rivera behind the plate, the Pirates were 4/4 in stolen base attempts. He surrendered a career high five doubles. He allowed two in the first, and when the Mets tied the game in the fourth, he gave the Pirates the lead right back. He still hung in there. He allowed seven hits, three runs, two earned, and two walks with five strikeouts. The unearned run was the result of Neil Walker‘s error in the first. It was part of a tough homecoming for Walker:
#Mets Neil Walker has two errors at PNC Park tonight.#Pirates Neil Walker never had two errors in ANY SERIES at PNC Park.
— Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder) June 9, 2016
Neil Walker has three errors in his "homecoming" series. He never even had two during any home series with the #Pirates (h/t @Tony_Eichler).
— Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder) June 9, 2016
With the way the Mets have been going offensively lately, and with the Pirates starting phenom Jameson Taillon, Syndergaard was going to have to help himself at the plate. He did.
In the fifth, he hit a leadoff double, and Alejandro De Aza would sacrifice him over to third. Michael Conforto hit a sacrifice fly, which would tie the score at 3-3. The Mets scored their first two runs in the fourth when Ty Kelly hit his first career homerun. It was a nice parting gift for him as it appers likely he will be demoted after today’s game due to the Mets re-acquiring Kelly Johnson.
In the seventh, Jim Henderson allowed the Pirates to take a 5-3 lead with a rough inning. He allowed a leadoff walk to Andrew McCutchen. Then after Gregory Polanco just missed a homerun, he ripped a go-ahead double to right-center. He moved to third on Walker’s second error of the game, and he would score on a Josh Harrison sacrifice fly.
The Mets would battle back again. In the eighth, De Aza would get a leadoff walk, and he would score on a Conforto homerun. The Mets would then load the bases, but they would fail to get a runner home to break the 5-5 tie. Kelly would pop out to short left, and Curtis Granderson, pinch hitting for Rivera, would ground out killing the rally.
The Mets would get another chance with the bases loaded in the tenth. This time Collins pinch hit Wilmer Flores for Kelly. Flores hit a one out bloop single to give the Mets the 6-5 lead. The Mets wouldn’t score another run, but they got all they needed.
Addison Reed got the well earned win. With the Mets bullpen being a bit taxed, Collins asked him to pitch two innings. Despite a slight dip on velocity, Reed pitched two scoreless innings. It was another great outing for him in what has been an incredible year for him.
Jeurys Familia come on in the 10th and recorded his 19th straight save this year. Of course on this night, it wasn’t an easy save. Familia walked the first two batters before getting Sean Rodriguez to hit into the 6-4-3 double play. Familia walked the next batter, and Plawecki stopped the ball with his face preventing the tying run from scoring. Familia then struck out David Freese to finally end the game and the losing streak.
Overall, there was a lot to like. The Mets offense got going again. Conforto was 1-3 with a run, three RBI, a walk, and a homerun. Yoenis Cespedes went 3-5, and he scored the game winning run. The Mets snapped their nine game losing streak against the Pirates dating back to last year.
Game Notes:
Prior to tonight, the last time the Mets defeated the Pirates, Jonathon Niese was the winning pitcher. Also, Thor was still in the minors.
— Ed Leyro (@Studi_Metsimus) June 9, 2016
With the Mets injuries, it’s easy to blame the lack of offense on the Mets supposed depth. It’s true. The Mets backups have been dreadful:
- Kevin Plawecki and Rene Rivera have combined to hit .194/.291/.302 since Travis d’Arnaud played his last game on April 25th.
- Eric Campbell, Wilmer Flores, and James Loney have combined to hit .197/.231/.328 since Lucas Duda played his last game on May 20th.
- Flores and Ty Kelly have combined to hit .216/.310/.243 since David Wright played his last game on May 27th
These players haven’t done their jobs, and they have hurt the Mets. However, while the Kellys and the Campbells of the world get the blame for hitting the way you reasonably anticipate them to hit, the regulars who haven’t been hitting have not faced the same scrutiny. In fact, the Mets right now have five regulars still in the lineup and four of them are just flat out not producing:
- Asdrubal Cabrera – Since April 27th, Cabrera is hitting .227/.278/.355 with only 10 extra base hits in 151 plate appearances. Over that stretch, he is striking out in 23.8% of his plate appearances.
- Michael Conforto – Since May 1st, in what is now being infamously referenced as the Madison Bumgarner Effect, Conforto has hit .160/.224/.311 while striking out in 31% of his plate appearances. He only has seven extra base hits over this stretch. Terry Collins once had concerns with him lefties. Right now, Conforto isn’t hitting anybody.
- Yoenis Cespedes – Since May 25th, Cespedes is hitting .086/.132/.114 with no homeruns while striking out 34.2% of the time. He is once again dealing with a hip issue, and he is clearly frustrated saying he is “a little lost at the plate right now.” (ESPN).
- Curtis Granderson – Since April 30th, Granderson is hitting .180/.269/.375 while striking out 28.3% of the time. His problems have been analyzed before show he’s hitting the ball on the ground more and it getting beaten by the shift. So far, Granderson is not making the necessary adjustments.
Then again, no Met is making the necessary adjustments right now. The end result is a putrid offense that is the worst offense in the major leagues. According to Baseball Tonight, since May 12th, the Mets are the last in the majors in runs per game (2.8), OBP (.282), and strikeout rate (28%). The team is also second to last in slugging (.354). These numbers would look a whole lot worse if Neil Walker wasn’t hitting.
Overall, this isn’t the July 2015 Mets that had Campbell and John Mayberry hitting in the middle of the lineup. There are legitimate hitters in this lineup who just aren’t hitting. We can all analyze who the Mets should get to be their possible long term solutions at catcher, first, and third in the event any of those injured players aren’t able to return. However, the simple truth of the matter is that unless the players currently here start hitting it’s not going to matter if the Mets make another move at the deadline.
For the second straight year, the Mets entered the season with questionable depth. The result of the questionable depth last year was the Mets were forced to raid their minor league pitching depth to build a bench and a bullpen. Overall, the Mets traded away Robert Whalen, John Gant, Casey Meisner, Michael Fulmer, Luis Cessa, Dawrin Frias, Miller Diaz, and Matt Koch. The end result was a National League Pennant and only one player under contract beyond 2015.
The Mets had the whole offseason to make sure that didn’t happen again. They didn’t. The team decided not to re-sign Kelly Johnson, and they waived Ruben Tejada. The end result was the Mets started the year with Eric Campbell on the 25 man roster. Keep in mind, the 2015 Mets which supposedly had less depth had Campbell in the minor league system.
Unfortunately, Campbell did not reward the faith the Mets placed in him. Campbell hit .159/.270/.222. The Mets were forced to move on from him. Next up was Ty Kelly, who the Mets signed to a minor league deal over the winter, and Kelly hit .111/.200/.111. Another option was Matt Reynolds, who is still up with the team, who is currently hitting .167/.231/.167. By the way, the Mets have now made it readily apparent they are not going to give T.J. Rivera a shot. Long story short there are kiddie pools with more depth than what the 2016 Mets had this season. Accordingly, the Mets were in a position where they were forced to make a move to improve their depth.
Today, the Mets traded away Akeel Morris for Kelly Johnson. This is the same Kelly Johnson the Mets thought Eric Campbell was better than in the offseason. This is the same Kelly Johnson who is currently hitting .215/.273/.289 this year.
Again, the Mets could have signed him in the offseason and not forfeited a prospect in return. Either the Mets thought Campbell was a better player and were wrong, or they made a money decision. There is roughly a $1.5 million difference between Campbell’s and Johnson’s salaries, and the Mets did release Tejada before the season in an effort to save money. Keep in mind, the Mets not only obtained Campbell in the deal, but as per Jon Heyman, the Mets also received some money in the deal as well. Because of the Mets penny wise pound foolish decisions, the Mets once again had to dip into their minor league system to address their poor depth.
This time the cost was Akeel Morris. Last year, Morris was terrific in his 23 appearance in AA. He went 0-1 with a 2.45 ERA and a 1.091 WHIP. This year, for the first time in his major league career, he is struggling. In his 22 appearances, he is 2-2 with a 4.62 ERA and a 1.382 WHIP. Lost in those stats is Morris’ stuff. He can get his fastball up to 95, and he has a good changeup. With his ability to strike people out, he could have been a late inning reliever. With the development of another pitch, like the Warthen slider, he would be. If he does reach his potential, it will be with another organization as the Mets decided they desperately needed someone who is hitting worse than Kevin Plawecki this year.
Regardless of his struggles, Johnson is an upgrade over what the Mets have been playing lately. Johnson may also benefit from returning to a team where he played well last year. If Johnson does play well, it’ll be a reminder the Mets should not have let him sign elsewhere in the offseason. It will be a reminder that the mistake the Mets made a mistake in thinking Campbell was the best choice for the bench. Ultimately, the cost of that mistake is the career of Akeel Morris.
You knew it was going to be a long day when Jon Niese dominated the Mets in game one of the doubleheader.
Niesepitched seven scoreless innings allowing two walks while striking out two. This unrecognizable man even recovered shrugged off an error turning a Steven Matz double into a triple by getting the next couple of batters out to escape the jam. For his part, Matz battled through five innings allowing eight hits, two earned, and two walks while striking out eight.
It wasn’t a good outing for Matz, but he fought through it and limited the damage as much as he could. The problem is he got no help. The Mets didn’t score until Curtis Granderson hit an eighth inning homerun. Before that homer, Granderson was 2-53 as a Met against the Pirates (not an exaggeration). Granderson’s homerun was too little too late what would be a 3-1 loss.
The nightcap was more of the same with another 3-1 loss.
Terry Collins trotted out the same lineup as the first game, with the exception of the requisite swap of starting catchers, hoping for a change. Instead he got more of the same. It was made all the worse by the loss coming against a Juan Nicasio whose 4.75 ERA does not appear long for the Pirates rotation, especially with Jameson Taillon‘s much anticipated major league debut tomorrow.
Overall, Nicasio pitched five innings allowing three hits and one earned with two walks and seven strikeouts over five innings. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he pulled off a successful butcher boy in the fifth setting up the third run of the game. Nicasio pulled the bunt back and singled off the glove of Jacob deGrom. The play moved Chris Stewart to third. He later scored on a John Jaso double.
Like Matz, deGrom didn’t have his best stuff, but he mostly kept the Pirates at bay. He pitched six innings allowing six hits and three runs with no walks and no strikeouts. Like Matz, the Mets offense abandoned him. The only run scored was on a Kevin Plawecki RBI single scoring Michael Conforto in the fifth.
There’s just no sugar coating it. The Mets offense was, and has been, putrid. They played 18 innings, and they only collected nine hits while scoring two runs. They went down 1-2-3 in nine of the 18 innings.
Asdrubal Cabrera was 0-8, and he hasn’t had a hit in last 14 at bats. Yoenis Cespedes was 0-7, and he’s 3-36 in his last 11 games. Michael Conforto was 1-6, and he’s been hitting .160 since the end of April. These are three important bats in the lineup. Even without the Mets injuries, the Mets still need these guys to hit. They’re not, and their struggles are magnified because the Mets need them more than usual.
Simply put, if they’re not hitting the Mets aren’t winning. They didn’t hit today, and the Mets were swept in both ends of the doubleheader.
Notes: About the only good thing that happened today was Neil Walker got loud ovations before his first at bat of both ends of the doubleheader. It was a classy move for a classy player. Eric Campbell was the 26th man in the second game of the doubleheader. He didn’t play.
In 2012, Major League Baseball enacted the 26th Man Rule to help teams deal with their pitching issues created by doubleheaders. The rule states that if a team has a doubleheader they can call-up a player from their 40 man roster to be available to play in both ends of the doubleheader if the doubleheader was scheduled at least 48 hours in advance. In the event that the doubleheader was not scheduled at least 48 hours in advance, a team can call-up a player from the minor leagues, but that player would only be available in the second game of the doubleheader.
Now, since this is the Mets only trip to Pittsburgh, there were only two possible dates to schedule the doubleheader. The first was today, June 7th, and the second was Wednesday, June 8th. Considering the fact that the first game of a doubleheader is going to start at 4:05 P.M. today, it was practically impossible for the teams to schedule this doubleheader 48 hours in advance. Basically, both the Mets and the Pirates were prevented from having a 26th man on their roster for both ends of the doubleheader because the schedule only has the Mets going to Pittsburgh one time this season. In essence, Major League Baseball has created a rule that is not in conformity with its schedule.
Accordingly, the Mets are going to have to pitch Steven Matz and Jacob deGrom today and try to figure out what they are going to do over the weekend. It’s likely that they are going to have to start Logan Verrett this weekend because they are not going to want to start Matz or deGrom on three days rest. The Mets could avoid this situation by having Verrett start today. It’s feasible, especially considering that Verrett last pitched on June 1st. He’s well rested, and if he’s going to have to make a start, why not make it now? The reason is that because this is a doubleheader, the Mets are going to need each and every single one of their bullpen pieces.
Alternatively, the Mets could call-up a starter from AAA to make the spot start in the second game. However, this situation isn’t feasible for a number of reasons. First, the likely starter, Sean Gilmartin, last pitched on June 3rd meaning he would have to make a start on short rest and after a cross-country flight. The Mets could go with Gabriel Ynoa in the second game since it is his turn in the rotation. However, the Mets may not want Ynoa to make his major league debut after a cross country flight, and they may not want to complicate their AAA rotation thereby pushing a young pitcher past the point they realistically should pitch. Finally, the Mets might not feel Ynoa is ready to pitch in the big leagues yet.
Realistically, the Mets don’t have a viable pitching option. Accordingly, the Mets are going to go the position player route. It’s not a bad decision either. You don’t want Yoenis Cespedes playing both games on a sore hip. Juan Lagares isn’t available to hit today with a torn ligament in his thumb. As much as the Mets may need another pitcher, they also need another position player. Accordingly, Eric Campbell is going to be that guy. Campbell will be available to play first, second, third, left, right, or pinch hit. Knowing Terry Collins, he just might have Campbell do all of the above in the second game since there is going to be a lefty starting in the second game of the doubleheader.
However, he’s not going to be able to do any of that in the first game as he’s unavailable to be used. Apparently, Major League Baseball believes you only need a 26th man on the roster when you have time to plan out how you are going to use your roster and not when you are pressed into making quick decisions. The 26th Man limitations are without merit, and they need to be removed immediately.