Momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher, and the Mets had a lot of momentum tonight with Noah Syndergaard on the mound. Not only was Syndergaard great, but the bats also awoke.
It was surprising as this Mets lineup was essentially Yoenis Cespedes and seven guys, the Mets found off the street. Here was the lineup:
- Granderson 2-5, R
- Cabrera 2-5, 2 R
- Cespedes 3-4, 2 R, BB
- Flores 2-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR
- Johnson 3-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR
- Reynolds 3-5, 2 RBI, 2 2B
- Loney 1-5, RBI, 2B
- Rivera 3-5, 2 RBI, 2B
- Syndergaard 0-4, BB
This lineup absolutely destroyed Pirates pitching tonight. The tone was set in the first when the Mets loaded the bases with no outs, and Flores scored a run on an RBI ground out. After Johnson failed to score the runners with a weak pop out, Reynolds came up with a big two out two RBI double. The Mets were off and running in an 11-2 victory.
The Mets needed this for a number of reasons. First, the bench was short again. Shocking, isn’t it. Neil Walker couldn’t play due to his back again. Juan Lagares was scratched from the lineup with his thumb not allowing him to play again.
One thing that helped was the Pirates throwing Jeff Locke, who has allowed 18 earned in 8.2 innings over his last two starts. That includes the seven earned in four innings tonight. The Mets shouldn’t apologize for beating up on a struggling pitcher when they had to start the lineup they did.
However, that lineup produced for at least one glorious night. The Mets still have their issues, but you can look past them on a night when the Mets give you a laugher.
By the way, Syndergaard was great as usual:
Tonight, Syndergaard almost pitched his first ever shut-out. He lost it in the ninth. David Freese‘s RBI double scored John Jaso, who had three of the five hits off Syndergaard. But man, Syndergaard was so close. He snared a ball hit up the middle of the bat of Gregory Polanco. Syndergaard had Jaso dead to rights at third, but he took the sure out at first. Syndergaard would be lifted with one out in the ninth for Jeurys Familia, who was obviously needed to close out the 11-2 win.
Before tonight, Syndergaard had never thrown a pitch in the ninth inning in his career. His final line was 8.2 innings, five hits, two runs (thanks for a Flores throwing error once Syndergaard left the game), one earned, no walks, and 11 strikeouts. He was absolutely dominant, but then again, he always is. Tonight, the real story was the Mets scoring some runs.
Mets fans always have been and always will be captivated by Jose Reyes. During his time in Flushing, he meant so much to Mets fans. He was an exciting leadoff hitter whose speed on the bases was matched only by the speed of his throws to firstbase. The joy and excitement he showed on the field was only surpassed by they joy and enthusiasm exhibited by the fans who watched him on the field. When he finally became a free agent, he wanted to stay, and Mets fans wanted him to stay. Now, with his future uncertain with his suspension and the rise of Trevor Story, there are those who may want him to return.
Admittedly, there was a time I would have gladly joined that chorus. Not now.
Let’s start with the practicalities. The Mets have a shortstop, and his name is Asdrubal Cabrera. Cabrera is a career .267/.329/.411 hitter with a 104 OPS+. With his recent slump, Cabrera is hitting .267/.332/.400 with a 100 OPS+. Over the last two years, he averaged a -6,3 UZR and a -7.5 DRS. The Mets owe him $8.25 million this year and the next. After next year, the Mets can decide to keep Cabrera for the 2018 season at $8.5 million, transition to Gavin Cecchini or Amed Rosario, or move in a completely different direction.
For his part, Reyes has put up similar production to Cabrera. Reyes is a career .290/.339/.431 hitter with a 105 OPS+. Because he accepted a suspension for an alleged act of domestic violence, Reyes has not played this year. When he played last year, Reyes hit .274/.310/.378 with an 82 OPS+. He did that while playing in two hitters ballparks in the Rogers Centre and Coors Field. Over the past two years, he has averaged a -6.6 UZR and a -12 DRS in the field. For that, the Rockies are paying Reyes the prorated portion of $22 million this year and the next. Like Cabrera, Reyes has an option for 2018. Unlike Cabrera, if that option is not exercised, Reyes is a $4 million buyout.
In terms of his production on the field, Reyes is not an upgrade over Cabrera. Worse yet, he’s a much more expensive option. Even if you were to presume the Rockies would eat a portion of Reyes’ salary, there is almost no amount that would make a deal between the two clubs make sense.
For the time being, the Mets needs are at first and third base. Reyes does not address either of those needs unless you want to shuffle a bunch of players out of position. The first option would be to move Reyes to second base like he once did in the first year of the Kaz Matsui experiment. That would force Neil Walker to third base. In that situation, you are asking Reyes to return to a position he last played in 2004 for 43 games, and you are asking Walker to play a position he last played in 2010 and has played 15 total games in his career. It’s asking for trouble. The other option is to put Reyes at shortstop and move Cabrera to third base. Cabrera has only played 1.1 innings at third base in 2004. It’s not much better. Overall, there is no fit for Reyes on the team.
Assuming there was room for Reyes, and assuming the Rockies were to release him, it is still a bad idea.
The addition of Reyes would be a distraction. It’s a distraction because of who he is and what he once meant to Mets fans. If Cabrera, Walker, or another infield falters, there will be a clamoring for him to replace that regular in the lineup. There’s also the matter of his domestic violence action. There have been studies that show 62% of previously arrested domestic violence perpetrators are re-arrested withing two years of the initial domestic violence act. Now, Reyes is purportedly taking the issue seriously. As part of his suspension, he is seeking counseling. We all hope for both him and his wife that the counseling will help and that there will be no more violence in that household.
With that said, this is baseball. We use statistics to make judgments on players. We can use Reyes’ statistics to show he is no longer the player he was with the Mets. We can use the statistics to show he would not be an upgrade on the Mets roster. Unfortunately, we can also use the statistics to show that the drama that surrounds Reyes may not be over. What is and should be over is Reyes’ great Mets career.
We should all wish Reyes and his family the best no matter where he winds up. Let’s just hope that place isn’t Flushing.
Editor’s Note: this was first published on metsmerizedonline.com
At the end of the 2014 season, Modells had a sale to clear out some of their baseball inventory. As luck would have it, there was a children’s David Wright jersey on sale for $15. As I left Modells that way, Wright jersey in hand, I never imagined my son may not have an opportunity to wear the jersey.
At the conclusion of the 2012 season, with free agency on the horizon, Wright had signed a seven year deal that effectively was going to make him a Met for life. When his contract expired, Wright was going to be the all-time leader in nearly every offensive category there was. At this time, Wright was really transitioning from the young superstar Cliff Floyd took under his wing to the mentor of a new crop of Mets players he was going to lead to the World Series. It was his destiny much in the way that it was the destiny for Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry in the 80’s. As we saw with Doc and Darryl, life gets in the way. The things outside baseball can take everything from you.
For Doc and Darryl, it was substance abuse. Both of them have missed out on the Hall of Fame, and God knows what else, because of these issues. It may not have robbed them of their careers, but it did rob them of their greatness. It robbed them of their seemingly assured path to Cooperstown.
For Wright, his body is failing him. While Wright has lost some time and some great seasons to injuries, no one expected the spinal stenosis. The spinal stenosis has robbed him of his ability to truly be an everyday player. It may have robbed him of his chance to put up the numbers he needed to get inducted into the Hall of Fame. However, through almost sheer grit and determination, Wright wasn’t going to let the spinal stenosis rob him of his chance to win the World Series. Seeing Wright play this year was to be all the most impressed and amazed with him. No, he wasn’t the Wright of old. No one expected that. Instead, he was an effective major league player. He was hitting .226/.350/.438 with a 115 OPS+. He had eight doubles and seven home runs. More impressively, he homered in each of his last three games.
There was almost a certain beauty to what Wright was doing. He was taking everything he had, and he was willing himself to be great again. He was able to combine his experience with what physical tools he still had to be an effective to very good major league third baseman. While many feared he might be a drain on the Mets, he actually proved to be one of their better everyday players.
Then, because life is not fair, disaster struck yet again.
In addition to Wright’s spinal stenosis, he is now dealing with a herniated disc in his neck. Initially, he wanted no part of surgery. He wanted to return this year. He wanted to help the Mets win the World Series. He wanted to hit another home run at Citi Field. He earned that right, and he was going to do everything he could do to experience it this year. As we learned yesterday, the chances of Wright’s return became all the more remote. Yes, he still wants to rehab and try to avoid the surgery in his neck. However, almost tellingly, Wright is now speaking with doctors about certain surgical options. A surgery on his neck would almost assuredly end his 2016 season. After that, who knows?
Now, as we saw last year and this year with Wright, we can never count him out. He is going to do what he can to be on that field to lead the Mets to the World Series. There is still hope he can return. He should return. He deserves to leave that field not just with a World Series, but on his own power. He should be able to make his own decision. It shouldn’t be forced upon him. However, the more time passes, the more you question if that is going to happen. Sometimes baseball can be cruel, and right now it is being about as cruel as it can get for David Wright.
Whenever Wright’s career is over, he will have retired as the greatest homegrown Met’s position player. He will be the greatest Met to spend his entire career with the team. As time progresses, Mets fans will talk about him in the way that Yankee fans talk about Don Mattingly, which would be all the more fitting as both players had their Hall of Fame chances and their careers taken away from them due to back injuries.
Selfishly, I just want Wright to hold on just a little longer. I want to see him win that World Series. I want my son to have some David Wright memories of his own. I want him to be able to wear his David Wright jersey to something other than David Wright Day.
Here’s a list of all the Mets who got hits off the Pirates rookie phenom Jameson Taillon through the first seven innings:
Don’t worry. Yoenis Cespedes put an end to the tomfoolery by immediately grounding into the 5-4-3 double play. Taillon would pitch a career high eight innings allowing two hits, no earned, and one walk with five strikeouts. Before tonight, Taillon never pitched more than seven innings at any level. He went past that point making the Mets look foolish in the process.
Yes, the Mets are a compromised lineup without David Wright and Lucas Duda. Yes, it does hurt the offense when Neil Walker and Michael Conforto out of the lineup. However, that’s an excuse.
The Mets put out a lineup with Yoenis Cespedes and Asdrubal Cabrera, who were two high priced players free agents signed more for their offense than anything. Until this year James Loney and Alejandro De Aza were major league quality players. By the way, remember when De Aza was supposed to be the answer in centerfield? Also, the Mets had Kelly Johnson in the lineup, who the Mets thought so highly of they parted with Akeel Morris to get him (after thinking Eric Campbell was a better bench option).
The other two batters were Wilmer Flores and Kevin Plawecki. Flores was the Mets starting shortstop last year because the Mets thought he was better than players like Jung Ho Kang (more on that in a minute). Now he’s a bench piece. Plawecki was the former first round pick, who, putting it nicely, isn’t any good. He showed us how bad he was again today.
Aside from the 0-3, he was dreadful in the field. In the sixth, he dropped what should have been a foul out off the bat of Andrew McCutchen extending the at bat. Later in the inning, he bounced a an offline throw when Josh Harrison tried to steal second. The ball went into center, and Harrison went to third. Because Jacob deGrom was so good neither error hurt the Mets.
However, deGrom wasn’t perfect when the Mets needed him to be. He made a mistake that Kang turned into a two run homerun in the sixth. The final line for deGrom was six innings allowing six hits, two earned, and one walk with nine strikeouts. For any other team, this would’ve been good enough for the win. Not for this putrid Mets offense.
Jim Henderson allowed a two run home run to Starling Marte. The homer made the score 4-0, and it put the game out of reach. You know, if it wasn’t out of reach at 2-0.
Look, teams will look bad against good pitching. Mets fans have seen their pitching do this to opponents. There is no shame is being shut down by a phenom like Taillon. The problem is, lately, every pitcher looks like Taillon against the Mets.
Let’s start with the obvious. In each and every at bat, the optimal result is the home run. One through nine, you want each and every one of your batters to hit a home run each and every time at the plate. That’s not always going to happen. As a result, you are going to have to build runs through basehits, walks, and effective at bats with runners in scoring position. The best offensive teams are able to score runs and win games even when they are not hitting home runs. Accordingly, the Mets are not a good offensive team as they are overly reliant upon hitting home runs.
No matter how you slice or dice it, the Mets offense is entirely dependent on hitting a home run. Here is the breakdown:
| HR/Game | Games | Record | Runs/Game |
| 0 | 20 | 5-15 | 2.1 |
| 1 | 19 | 11-8 | 3.3 |
| 2 | 12 | 8-4 | 4.7 |
| 3+ | 11 | 10-1 | 6.3 |
In essence, if the Mets don’t hit any home runs, they are not scoring runs, and they are not winning games. Why?
First and foremost, the Mets just don’t get on base that frequently enough to score runs without hitting homeruns. The Mets team batting average is .233 which ranks 27th in the majors. The team OBP is .309 which ranks 23rd in the majors. In order to score runs by something other than the homerun, you need to get people on base. In that respect, the Mets are one of the worst in the game right now.
The Mets next problem is that even when there are runners on base, they do nothing with the baserunners. The Mets are the worst team in baseball with a .226 batting average with runners on base. Their .303 OBP with runners on base is 28th. When you look at stats like this, the answer most people advocate is the Mets should start playing some good old fashioned small ball. The problem with that is the Mets are really bad at playing small ball.
The Mets rank 24th in the majors in productive outs. A productive out is an out that moves over a baserunner with no outs, when a pitcher lays down a successful sacrifice bunt with one out, or when an out scores a runner. The Mets have had 613 such opportunities this season, and they have been successful only 29.4% of the time. A large part of that is, as a team, the Mets have struck out 563 times this year which is the fifth most in the majors. With the Mets being ineffective in getting people on base, they cannot afford to be this ineffective in moving runners over when they make those outs.
When baserunners take matters into their own hands, the results are just as poor. This Mets team has not been blessed with much team speed, and as a result, the Mets do not try to steal many bases. In fact, the Mets rank second to last in stolen base attempts (22) and stolen bases (13). When the Mets do attempt stolen bases, they are successful only 59.09% of the time. Now, it has been espoused in order for stealing bases to be an effective tactic, the baserunner needs to be safe 75% of the time. Therefore, in the rare occasions the baserunners try to take matters into their own hands, they are hurting the team with a poor percentage play.
The Mets not only have trouble getting runner on base and into scoring position, but they also have problems getting those runners home. The Mets rank DEAD LAST in the majors with a .214 batting average with runners in scoring position. The Mets 129 RBI with runners in scoring position ranks is tied for last place with the Philadelphia Phillies. It’s even worse with two outs. With runners in scoring position with two outs, the Mets are again DEAD LAST in team batting average (.163) and RBI (43). The Mets are last in the majors with nine sacrifice flys. In fact, when the Mets have a runner on third with less than two outs, the baserunner only scores 42% of the time. Again, that’s last in the majors. Overall, when the Mets can a baserunner, that baserunner only scores a league worst 23% of the time. The end result is the Mets having one of the worst offenses in all of baseball.
Simply put, the Mets are not scoring runs unless they hit a homerun. When they don’t hit homeruns, they don’t win many games. There have been many discussions about whether the Mets hit too many homeruns. As it turns out, the answer is they don’t hit enough of them. With that said, it’s time for Yoenis Cespedes, Michael Conforto, Curtis Granderson, and Neil Walker to get to work hitting homeruns because if they don’t, the Mets aren’t going to score any runs.
Editor’s Note: this was first published on metsmerizedonline.com
On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes as the official flag of the United States of America. It’s up to you to decide whether or not it was created by Betsy Ross at George Washington‘s behest. There’s no harm in perpetuating the fantasy. As baseball fans at least pretend that baseball was invented by Union General Abner Doubleday in the quaint little village of Cooperstown, New York. It’s why the Baseball Hall of Fame is located there.
As Americans and Mets fans, we all carry the fantasy that this October we will once again see the American Flag stretched across the outfield in Citi Field. We will all be getting residential flagpole installation services to fit our front yards with as many flagpoles as we can physically fit on the grass, and raising the star-spangled banner high into the sky for all to look upon in pride. Flag Day is a proud moment in our history, and I for one can’t wait for it.
In actuality, it’s not really a fantasy. The Mets faced the same issues last year with the injuries and the poor offense. On this date last year, the Mets were 34-30. This year, they are 34-28. Lost in the David Wright and Lucas Duda injuries as well as the struggles from Curtis Granderson and Michael Conforto is the fact that this Mets team is simply better than the one the Mets fielded last year. Even in the worst of times, the Mets now have Yoenis Cespedes in the middloe of the lineup instead of John Mayberry and Eric Campbell.
So yes, on this Flag Day, we can still dream of the days in which the American flag once again adorns the Citi Field outfield. We can hope for Wright and Granderson to hit homeruns while Noah Syndergaard intimidates batters from 60′ 6″ away. We can also await the Mets raising a World Series flag in centerfield.
After going to the playoffs in Major League, every expected the Indians to repeat and possibly win the World Series. The same goes for this year’s Mets team. Last year, the Mets dealt with injuries, which hampered their ability to score enough runs to support a young pitching staff. The Major League II Indians had the same problems:
The parallels don’t just end with the repeated problems. They go much further.
The once cheap Indians spent money in the offseason to help improve the club. For the Indians, it was Parkman. For the Mets, it was bringing back Yoenis Cespedes.
Both Terry Collins and Lou Brown had to spend time in the hospital. It makes you question which British show Collins was watching in a Milwaukee hospital.
Matt Harvey is having Wild Thing Rick Vaughn type of struggles during the season.
Both Willie Mays Hayes and Michael Conforto went from bursting on the scene to having sophomore slumps.
Instead of going out and making a huge transaction to fix the teams’ need, they went outside the majors to help the team. The Mets acquired James Loney for cash considerations, and the Indians acquired Tanaka.
Speaking of Tanaka, he was at Citi Field visiting the Mets right before David Wright went on the DL:
photo Andrew Beaton‘s Twitter Account.
So far, he hasn’t helped these Mets find their marbles. Perhaps, it’s because Juan Uribe took them to Cleveland of all places.
There are only two more steps remaining for the Mets to truly become the Major League II Indians:
- They need to bring back Michael Cuddyer the way the Indians brought back Dorn; and
- The Mets need to win one more series than they did the prior year.
Hopefully, this is the point in the season when we can cue the Mets going on an insane winning streak allowing them to take control of the NL East and get to the World Series.
The Mets have gone through Eric Campbell, Ty Kelly, and Matt Reynolds as bench players. Unfortunately, none of them performed up to expectations. Finally, the Mets felt compelled to trade a good prospect like Akeel Morris for Kelly Johnson. It was a deal made after the Mets had already gone through almost every single last option they had in the minors who could play multiple positions.
Actually, they didn’t. The Mets never gave T.J. Rivera a shot.
Rivera has done all you could ask from a player. He has learned multiple positions. He’s capable of playing every position in the infield even if he’s not truly adept at any single position. After being passed over for a promotion to the majors by Kelly, Rivera dedicated himself to learning the outfield to make himself even more attractive to be a major league call-up. He has hit .361/.401/.526 so far in AAA this year. He as the Pacific Coast League’s Player of the Month for the month of May. Again, Rivera has done everything to merit a call-up. It just isn’t happening.
Was Rivera the solution to the Mets bench problems? Probably not. He was still a 27 year old undrafted minor league player. Yet, he still possessed skills that could of translated to the major leagues. He had the potential to be a contact hitter with doubles power. He could have filled in all across the diamond. There are a lot of things Rivera was capable of doing if only he got the chance. He won’t for reasons that are still unclear, and frankly, are unfair.
So yes, the Mets minor league system is worse for having lost a real prospect in Morris. It’s frustrating that he was traded away for a player that could have been re-signed by the Mets in the offseason. However, that frustration doesn’t match the frustration Rivera must be feeling now knowing that the Mets may never give him his chance despite him having earned an opportunity.
Jimmy Rollins has been a career .264/.324/.418 hitter. In the prime of his career, he was a .286/.342/.468 hitter. In 2007, he predicted the Phillies would win the NL East, and he backed it up by being the MVP that year. He was a clubhouse leader on a Phillies team that went to the postseason five straight years and won the 2008 World Series. He’s won four Gold Gloves at shortstop. Rollins has been a very good major league player. The problem is Rollins isn’t that player anymore.
Last year, Rollins hit .224/.285/.358 in 144 games with the Dodgers. There’s no sugar coating it. Rollins wasn’t good last year. It’s why the Dodgers called up Corey Seager at the end of the year, and why Rollins and Seager split time at shortstop during the NLDS. Despite his struggles, Rollins was able to latch on with the Chicago White Sox this year. In 41 games, Rollins hit .221/.295/.329. It is no wonder why for the second straight year Rollins has been pushed aside for a shortstop prospect. This year it was Tim Anderson, and this year it came much quicker. Rollins has been designated for assignment. He’s now 37 years old, and he is facing the very real prospect that his career might be over.
It might be time for the Mets to throw Rollins a lifeline.
Even with how poor Rollins is playing, he’s still a better player than what they have. With the Kelly Johnson addition, the Mets have one spot left on the bench that is going to Matt Reynolds. Even in a two year spiral, Rollins is playing better than Reynolds. Additionally, Rollins has been a proven leader on a World Series winning team. As we saw last year with Juan Uribe, you cannot add enough veteran bench pieces to a team that has World Series aspirations.
Now, one thing that is obvious is Mets fans don’t like Rollins. They don’t like anyone from those Phillies teams especially Chase Utley. With that said, Mets fans will get over it if Rollins is a positive contributor. The Mets fans had no issue with Orel Hershiser in 1999, and they had no issue with Orlando Hernandez a/k/a El Duque in 2006. There were no issues with Kelly Johnson either last year or this year. Ultimately, all Mets fans want is to win. They will cheer whoever helps them win. That includes Jimmy Rollins.
Overall, the Mets should look into adding Jimmy Rollins into the mix.