Its astounding how much 2016 is paralleling 2015. This year, like last year, 46 games into the season, they trail the Nationals in the division. Interestingly enough, this is not where the parallels end.
Catcher
Last year and this year, Travis d’Arnaud had a significant injury forcing him to miss a significant period of time. This pressed Kevin Plawecki into assuming the starting catcher’s job, and he struggled. However, Plawecki kept on catching because his backup was a good defensive poor hitting catcher. Last year was Anthony Recker. This year it’s Rene Rivera.
Back Issues
Last year, the Mets faced the prospect of not knowing when or if David Wright could return due to his back problems. As a result, Eric Campbell played many more games than the Mets ever anticipated he would. The same thing is happening now as a result of Lucas Duda‘s stress fracture in his lower back.
Minor Leaguers Not Ready for the Majors
With the rash injuries last year, the Mets trotted out the likes of Daniel Muno and Darrell Ceciliani to try to fill in the gaps. It didn’t work. This year the Mets have pressed Matt Reynolds and Ty Kelly into action. Reynolds and Kelly are having similar difficulties.
Rotation Issues
Last year, Jon Niese and Dillon Gee were having the worst years of their careers thereby putting the pressure on the other starters. The Mets were stuck in a holding pattern about making a change as the obvious replacement, Noah Syndergaard, still needed a little more time. This year it is Matt Harvey struggling while the obvious replacement in the rotation, Zack Wheeler, still needs more time to get ready to pitch in the majors.
Colon Dependability
At this point last year, Bartolo Colon was 7-3 with a 4.82 ERA and a 1.20 This year Colon is 4-3 with a 3.44 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. This year and last year the Mets have been able to count on Colon to take the ball every fifth day and give them a chance to win.
Mid 30’s Corner Outfielder
Through May 25th last year, Michael Cuddyer was hitting .250/.328/.372. This year Curtis Granderson is hitting .204/.304/.413. Like Cuddyer last year, the Mets are relying heavily on Granderson, and unfortunately, they are not getting the production they need from them.
Second Year Starter Stepping Up
Last year, Jacob deGrom went from Rookie of the Year to All Star. He emerged as the ace of the staff. This year that honor belongs to Syndergaard. Syndergaard has been dominating on the mound like deGrom did last year. He’s a likely All Star, and he’s quickly become the staff’s ace. Honorable mention should go to Steven Matz here as well.
Call for the AA Prospect to Get Called Up
Last year with a rash of injuries and offensive ineptitude, Mets fans shouted from the rooftops that Michael Conforto should be called up to the majors from AA. This year the fans have begun the same with Dominic Smith due to Duda’s injury and Campbell playing there everyday.
Jeurys Familia
Last year, Famila was as dominant as anyone at the end of the game. He started the year a perfect 13/13 in save chances. This year Familia is back to his dominant form. He’s a perfect 16/16 in save chances. As in 2015, Familia is going to slam the door shut.
The Two Team Race
Last year the Braves were the upstarts that faltered. This year will be the Phillies. However, when the dust clears, this is really a two team race between the Mets and the Nationals for the NL East.
Just remember that no matter how bad things got last year, the Mets still won the division by seven games. This year the Mets have a much better team across the board. We may sometimes forget this when the Mets slump or have a couple of injuries. However, this is a much better Mets team that can win the division. This is still a World Series contender. That’s the overriding lesson from 2015.
Last night, Matt Harvey had another tough game. In his prior nine starts, he faced the music and answered the media’s questions. Last night, he didn’t. Neither did Dan Warthen. Instead, the ENTIRE ORGANIZATION left Kevin Plawecki to answer questions about Harvey’s night.
Couple of things here. First, the questions Plawecki fielded were no different than what he’s received the other times he’s caught Harvey. Second, I have not seen one tough question to him about his own poor play. Third, where was the Captain, David Wright, through all of this?
No, Wright did not skip out on answering questions. Still, he’s the Captain. He’s the face of the franchise. It’s his responsibility to go help out a young player put in that seemingly difficult situation.
In my opinion, these are all fair and legitimate questions. Honestly, none of that really matters at the end of the day. I don’t even care that much about what has seemingly been an issue between Harvey and the media. These issues were resurfaced all last night into today. They were articulated well in Mike Vaccaro’s New York Post column. Agree or disagree with the column, there’s an underlying issue being brought to the surface here.
As a Mets fan, my issue isn’t Plawecki having to answer questions when Harvey isn’t around. It isn’t with Harvey or Warthen ducking the media. It isn’t with Wright shrinking from his responsibilities as Captain. It isn’t even with the apparent issues with Harvey’s and the media’s seemingly difficult relationship.
No, my issue is how this all affects the team. Does Harvey’s leaving early cause a rift in the clubhouse? Does it create a rift between him and his teammates? Will this finally be the seminal moment where Harvey turns it all around?
At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is the lasting impact last night had on both Harvey and the Mets. Depending on how the season goes, this will either be a moment we all specifically reference time and again, or it will be nothing more than a blip on the radar screen. Here’s hoping it’s the latter.
There’s no defending Matt Harvey for this one. He had yet another terrible start. Rather than face the media, he left the stadium to let his teammates try to answer questions about something neither the Mets or Harvey had answers for all season long.
Harvey is a professional who needs to know better. He shouldn’t leave his catcher, Kevin Plawecki standing there to try to answer questions better amswered by Matt Harvey or Dan Warthen.
According to Adam Rubin, Dan Warthen was unavailable to answer questions from the media. In Harvey’s absence, Warthen would’ve been the individual who was best suited to answer questions about Harvey’s struggles. Being the pitching coach, he should know the ins and outs of Harvey’s struggles. If it’s a mechanical issue, what’s the issue? Is it fatigue? Is it mental? What did Harvey say to you to convince you he should’ve made this start?
These are all valid questions left unanswered by both Harvey and Warthen. Instead, both left the Mets struggling young catcher to answer questions neither have had an answer to all year. Harvey deserves to be chastised for abandoning his teammates. Warthen deserves the same blame.
Any hopes of this being a Happy Harvey Day was shattered when Daniel Murphy launched a fifth inning two run homerun into the upper deck off of Matt Harvey making it a 5-1 game. Murphy really pimped that homerun too.
Murph has left the building, ladies and gentlemen. #Nats 5, Mets 1. pic.twitter.com/6qD4pNtccy
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) May 25, 2016
It was the third homerun hit against Harvey on the night. Given Harvey’s pattern this year, it should come as no surprise that the first two homeruns were back-to-back shots by Ryan Zimmerman and Anthony Rendon. Overall, Harvey had another career worst night in what had been a nightmare of a season:
Elias: Matt Harvey surrendered a career-high 20 bases tonight.
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinMedia) May 25, 2016
Prior to 2016, Harvey had never allowed 2 or more runs in 5 straight games.
This year, he's allowed 2 or more runs in all 10 of his starts.— Ed Leyro (@Studi_Metsimus) May 25, 2016
For the night, Harvey pitched five innings allowing eight hits, five earned, and two walks with a career worst one strikeout. He has an MLB worst 6.08 ERA.
Unfortunately, Harvey didn’t get much help. The Mets 6-8 batters were Eric Campbell–Kevin Plawecki–Ty Kelly. Kelly was making his debut with David Wright getting a scheduled day off. It’s hard to question Collins’ handling of Wright so far this year because it has been superb. With that said, if it was an either/or situation, it’s surprising he wouldn’t trot out his best possible lineup for a Harvey start; last night’s Wright homerun notwithstanding.
With this lineup, it’s not much of a surprise that Stephen Strasburg had a good night. He pitched 6.2 innings allowing four hits, two earned, and two walks with 11 strikeouts. It should be noted that Strasburg found himself in the same shoes last year that Harvey finds himself now. Strasburg finished last year going 6-2 with a 1.90 ERA and a 0.75 WHIP. This year he’s a sure fire All Star and an early Cy Young candidate with an 8-0 record with a 2.79 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP.
The Mets offense was an Asdrubal Cabrera homerun fourth inning homerun and a short lived rally in the seventh. The Mets had a first and third with no outs with the aforementioned Campbell-Plawecki-Kelly triumvirate due up. Campbell got an RBI ground out making it 5-2. Plawecki walked, and Kelly struck out. In his big league debut, Kelly was 0-4 with three strikeouts. Juan Lagares then pinch hit for Hansel Robles (who was great again), and he struck out against Felipe Rivero ending the rally.
Any hopes that the Mets would come back were dashed by the bullpen. In consecutive innings Antonio Bastardo and Jim Henderson allowed solo homeruns. It snapped the Mets’ bullpens 16.2 inning scoreless inning streak.
Campbell hit a one-handed two run homerun in the ninth (yes you read that right) to make it 7-4. That would be the final score. It wasn’t really that close, but it was just one game, albeit a game that leaves the Mets once again looking for answers across the board. The Mets play another one tomorrow.
As we saw during Spring Training, Yoenis Cespedes is serious about his cooking. He even lent out his Lamborghini just so he could have the right waffle iron.
Lately, Cespedes has moved from waffles to eggs.
Cespedes is cooking! This year Cespedes has been the Mets best player. He’s hit .303/.384/.660 with 15 homers and 36 RBI. He leads the majors in homers, RBI, slugging, OPS+, and awesome cars. As we’ve seen these results are a result of what he’s been cooking up. Recently, he shared some of his eggs with Michael Conforto:
.@ynscspds doesn't just serve it up out on the field. Watch him whip up #breakfast for @mconforto8. #Mets #ChefCes pic.twitter.com/FEDIlc3ehy
— New York Mets (@Mets) May 23, 2016
Conforto has hit homers two games in a row. He has also been the Mets second best player hitting .284/.358/.553 with eight homers and 24 RBI.
Considering how the Mets have been hitting lately, it’s time the rest of the Mets start having what Cespedes is cooking. If he needs some help, I got the perfect sous chef for him.
After Terry Collins stated he doesn’t believe the prognosis of Lucas Duda‘s back is good, it has caused many to speculate on how the Mets will proceed in fulfilling the first base vacancy. Many of those thoughts are creative as the Mets may need to get creative to fill the void. Unfortunately, most of the suggestions will not work. Here’s why:
Move Michael Conforto to 1B
The thinking here is Michael Conforto was deemed to have all the tools to be a great 1B by his biggest fan – Keith Hernandez. This move would allow Juan Lagares and Alejandro De Aza to platoon in CF while moving Yoenis Cespedes to LF.
Admittedly, this sounds great. It’ll improve both the offense and the defense. However, the problem is the Mets never even sought to have Conforto to play RF. Why should we now believe they’re willing to move him to the infield mid-season. They’re not.
Move Alejandro De Aza to 1B
This one makes sense as De Aza is languishing away on the bench. He went from a platoon player to a fifth outfielder with the Cespedes signing. However, he hasn’t played there in over a decade, and he has just recently started working with Tim Teufel to get acclimated to first. He needs more than a week to get ready.
Slide David Wright to 1B
The idea here is David Wright is better suited to first now with his back and throwing issues. In actuality next to catcher, first is the last position Wright should play. The amount of twisting and stretching involved is harder on the lower back and would only exacerbate his stenosis. Furthermore, even if he could play first base, all you’ve accomplished is reshuffling the deck chairs as you’ve now moved the hole to third instead of first.
Slide Neil Walker to 1B
In this scenario, the Mets move Neil Walker to first and call up Dilson Herrera to play second. The argument is this is exactly what the Mets would do if they had Daniel Murphy.
The problem with that thinking is Walker isn’t Murphy. Walker has never played first base in the majors. He last played first in AAA in 2009 and that was only for seven games. It’s not fair to expect him to be able to slide over with no preparation. It’s also not fair to add more things to his plate while he’s in the midst of a bad slump.
Move Asdrubal Cabrera to 1B
The thought is Asdrubal Cabrera was once a utility player who is capable of playing multiple positions. In addition, the Mets have Matt Reynolds on the roster who is a SS. There are two problems here. First, Cabrera is one of the few Mets producing day in and day out. You don’t want to mess with that especially when he’s never played first. Second, Reynolds was in the middle of a slump in AAA, and he hasn’t shown any signs he’s getting out of it in his limited major league duty.
Move Kevin Plawecki to 1B
This is a holdover from Spring Training when the Mets were looking for ways to keep both of their young catchers in the lineup while letting Duda sit against lefties. Doing this now would also open up more playing time for Rene Rivera, who has shown himself to be a terrific catcher.
The problem is this really damages your offense. Kevin Plawecki has hit .203/.300/.291 this year. Rivera is a career .209/.258/.329 hitter. It’s one thing to have either one of them in the lineup. It’s a whole other thing to have both of them in the lineup.
Call Up Dom Smith
The thinking here is if the Mets don’t have the answer at the major league level, they should go into the minor leagues to solve their problems. Who better than one of, if not the, best Mets prospect. The problem is he’s just not ready. He’s only played 41 games in AA. While the obvious counter-argument is Conforto, it must be noted, Conforto was much further along in his development offensively.
Call Up Brandon Nimmo
The thought process here is Brandon Nimmo is absolutely raking in AAA right now. He’s on an eight game hitting streak that’s seen him hit .364/.462/.636 with three doubles, three triples, and six RBI. While he has played CF almost exclusively, he should be athletic enough to play first. While these are valid points, it should be noted he’s never played first, and like with Conforto, the Mets do not appear inclined to let either one play first.
Trade for Yangervis Solarte
Yangervis Solarte makes a lot of sense for the Mets. He can not only play first, but he can also play third. In his career, he’s also played at second, short, and left. In essence, he’s a much better version of Eric Campbell. In his first full major league season last year, he hit .270/.320/.428. He’s hitting .250/.379/.375 this year. This is all the more impressive when you consider he plays most of his games at Petco.
Here’s the rub. The Padres have no incentive to trade him. He’s not arbitration eligible until 2017, and he can’t become a free agent until 2020. If the Mets were inclined to even trade for Solarte, it’s going to come at a high cost, and the Mets most desirable trade assets were traded away last year. No, if the Mets do make a move your looking at the In the interim, the Mets can inquire about the Kelly Johnsons and Ike Davises of the world.
Overall, that’s the issue. The Mets don’t have what it takes right now to address the first base position internally or externally. Although, the idea of having Travis d’Arnaud work at first during his rehab assignment is intriguing given his shoulder problems and injury history (hat tip Brian Mangan). However, short of that happening, it’s more of the same for the Mets.
This means Campbell is your everyday first baseman until Flores comes off the DL. At that point, the Mets will probably go with Flores until Duda is healthy. Ultimately, Duda needs to be the answer there because in reality any other solution is unrealistic or just a question mark.
With the prognosis on Lucas Duda’s back not looking good at the moment, it seems like it’s not a matter of if but when Duda is placed on the DL. When that happens, the Mets are going to have to make a move on the 40 man roster.
The Mets are not likely to call up either Brandon Nimmo or Dilson Herrera. Both are performing well at AAA, but both players are also seen as possible everyday players. It’s likely the Mets aren’t going to call them up, wasting service time, just so they can sit on the bench. No, the Mets are going to have to make move to call up either T.J. Rivera or Ty Kelly.
Early reports are that it may be Ty Kelly. There’s some logic to this move. Terry Collins seemed enamored with him during Spring Training. He’s hitting .391/.478/.548 in AAA. He’s played every position, but catcher. Yes, that includes him pitching one scoreless inning. He’s earned this call-up.
Problem is so has T.J. Rivera. He’s hit .375/.406/.569 in 20 more plate appearances. So far this year, he’s played first, second, third, and left.
Like Kelly, he’s a gap to gap line drive hitter with doubles power. They’re both 27 year old AAA utility players whose value is predicated on their bats. Neither are good defenders. Neither have a set position. Overall, there’s very little separating Kelly and Rivera.
The case for Kelly is he’s a switch hitter who’s been known to have an exceptional eye at the plate. This year, Kelly already has 19 walks. In his minor league career he has walked 505 times and struck out 504 times. While he’s struggled the past two plus years in AAA, he seems to be putting it together this year.
However, Kelly has played the vast majority of his time in left field this year, and the last thing this Mets team is another outfielder. With that said, he has primarily been an infielder prior to this year. Of note, he has only played four games at first base. Overall, while Kelly has had a nice year at the plate, he isn’t exactly what the Mets would need if Duda went on the DL.
If the Mets truly wanted a backup infielder, they would go with Rivera. He has played all but one of his games in the infield this year. While he doesn’t have Kelly’s eye at the plate, he strikes out less frequently. Rivera also typically gets more extra base hits.
There’s another important reason to call up Rivera. This is Rivera’s sixth season with the Mets organization after signing with the team as an undrafted free agent. He has improved his game each and every year. He has gone from a minor league depth player to being on the cusp of the major leagues. Calling him up would be a moral boost to every player in the organization. It’s a sign to every minor leaguer that if you continue to work on your game and continue to improve, you are eventually going to get a shot at playing in the majors.
Is that why Rivera should be called up over Kelly? Of course not. However, with so little separating the two of them, you might as well call up the infielder in whom you have invested six years. It’s time to call up T.J. Rivera especially with the Mets running out of excuses to keep him in the minors.
Editor’s Note: this was first published on metsminors.net
In 1986, the Mets were lead by two immensely talented players. The first was a 24 year old outfielder named Darryl Strawberry. Coming up, he was thought to be the next Ted Williams. Joining him was a 21 year old young ace named Dwight Gooden. Gooden was unhittable and was starting to do things not even Tom Seaver had done.
Thirty years later, we celebrate these players and their contributions to the Mets last World Series victory.
Yesterday, there was no greater tribute than seeing 23 year old Noah Syndergaard and 23 year old Michael Conforto lead the way. They were wearing the old racing stripe jerseys to boot.
Syndergaard pitched seven innings allowing only six hits, one unearned run, and no walks while striking out 11. This year he’s 5-2 with a 1.94 ERA, a 0.978, WHIP, and an 11.3 K/9. He’s doing things not even Dwight Gooden or Tom Seaver have ever done:
Noah Syndergaard: 1st pitcher in Mets history to have 10 K, 0 BB, and 0 earned runs allowed in back-to-back starts pic.twitter.com/PXWlqIgtjj
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 23, 2016
Part of the reason he earned the win yesterday was due to Conforto’s homer in the first inning.
For the second year in a row, Conforto is showing no moment is too big for him. He has shown himself to be a natural born hitter. This year he’s hitting .284/.358/.553 with eight homers and 24 RBI. He has an astounding 146 OPS+.
Overall, thirty years later the Mets are once again led by two budding superstars in their early twenties. History is repeating itself. Hopefully, history will keep on repeating itself straight through October.