Last season, Noah Syndergaard basically dominated with a fastball/sinker, curveball, and a changeup. He tinkered with a slider, but he only threw it 3.15% of the time. After a full offseason to work on the pitch, Syndergaard announced in a big way that the pitch will be a big part of his repertoire this season.
GIF: Did we just witness @Noahsyndergaard throw a 95 MPH SLIDER?! pic.twitter.com/v5BGdNGKLp
— Nick Pollack (@PitcherList) April 5, 2016
A 95 MPH SLIDER! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?!?!?
You don’t throw 95 MPH sliders with all the cheat codes on when you’re playing a video game. It’s not seemingly impossible. It is impossible. Somehow, someway Syndergaard was able to do it. Syndergaard took that pitch and took it to another level. Everyone noticed it, including Syndergaard himself as Adam Rubin reported:
“I realized in the beginning of the game I had a pretty good feel for it,” Syndergaard said. “I really took it to the next level, because I’ve never thrown a 95 MPH slider before . . . . I kind of shocked myself with how good my slider was. It felt good in spring training, but I amped it up to another level today.”
That’s an understatement. Seven of Syndergaard’s nine strikeouts came with the slider. He only had 11 strikeouts from his slider all last season. None of the Royals could hit the pitch, not even Hall of Famer George Brett – he of 3,154 hits and a career .307 batting average. As reported by Joel Sherman of the New York Post:
“There is no man alive who could’ve hit those three sliders [Syndergaard] threw to Morales,” Yost said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 95-mph slider. George Brett was in here [his office] and I asked him if he could hit that, and he said no way.
After watching Syndergaard last year, we should no longer be surprised that Syndergaard has unmatched and unhittable stuff. And yet, he continues to amaze because he has a strong work ethic and a willingness to be coached. He gets better and better. He even amazed his teammates; the same people who watch him day in and day out. As David Wright said in Adam Rubin’s article:
“He had electric stuff,” captain David Wright said. “I looked up at the scoreboard and saw 94, 95. I go ask [catcher] Travis [d’Arnaud] what those pitches were, and he’s talking about sliders. That’s unheard of. That’s about as good as I’ve seen. Stuff-wise, composure-wise, for a young guy to come into this environment and throw that type of game, he’s got the ability to be a special one.
By the way, for all the talk about his new unhittable slider, Syndergaard still had his original unhittable pitches working:
Syndergaard is averaging 99.7 mph on his sinker. Not approaching. Not maxing out at. Averaging.
— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) April 5, 2016
As Joel Sherman reported, Alex Gordon said, “He was throwing me fastballs right down the middle, and I couldn’t catch up.” No one was catching up to the fastball. No one was making contact with the slider. Travis d’Arnaud, an exceptional receiver, even had trouble catching the pitch at times. Syndergaard now has two unhittable pitches.
We all joke that Syndergaard is really Thor, the Norse god of thunder. It’s a moniker Syndergaard fully embraces. With his other worldly stuff, at what point does this seek being a joke and start being accepted as reality?
Editor’s Note: this article was first published on metsmerizedonline.com
There’s an inherent danger when a national baseball writer or broadcaster talks about a team. These people don’t have the intimate knowledge the local media or the fans. What’s frustrating when it comes to the Mets is the national media usually treats the Yankees as the Mets biggest rival or acts like those games are bigger than any others.
Yes, there is more juice to Mets-Yankees games than a Mets-Padres game. However, the national media makes these games to be much bigger than what they are. Case in point – of all the years you were a Mets fan, what was the single worst regular season loss you experienced?
For me, it was the last game of the 2007 season. The Mets had unfinished business from the 2006 season. They were amongst the World Series favorites. They pretty much had the division locked up being seven up with 17 to play. No one had ever blew that kind of lead. Well, the Mets did, but they still had a chance to either win the division or force a one game playoff against the Phillies to win the NL East.
It didn’t happen. The Mets lost to the Marlins. It was over in the first inning when Tom Glavine allowed seven runs in 0.1 innings. One of the runs scored when Glavine just threw the ball into left field while trying to throw out a runner at third base. Not only did the Mets lose, but the Phillies won. No postseason for the Mets. To make matters worse, Glavine spoke after the game and said that he wasn’t devastated by the loss or his performance.
You may have your own moments. There is certainly the Final Game at Shea. There was the Mel Rojas game in 1998. There was Armando Benitez blowing the save against the Braves in late September 2001 thereby taking away any hope that the Mets could win the division. I’m assuming there were games before my time, or games I’m just not remembering right now. For example, I know many people talk about how close the Mets came to winning the division in 1985 with a brutal September loss to the Cardinals. Point is, there are many valid answers. Apparently, we’re wrong.
The Sporting News picked the game where Luis Castillo dropped an Alex Rodriguez pop up with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Derek Jeter and a hustling Mark Teixeira would score giving the Yankees a 9-8 win. Brutal loss. Absolutely brutal. However, there is no way it’s the worst regular season loss in Mets history. This is the type of mistake a national writer makes when they over-emphasize the Mets-Yankee rivalry, and they don’t pay attention to the losses that actually matter.
In any event, my guess was closer than yours. The Sporting News listed the 2007 loss as an honorable mention. In retrospect, that’s worse because they were aware it happened.
Major League Baseball can just drive you crazy at times. Despite there being three games yesterday, they’re declaring today Opening Day. Furthermore, despite the fact that everyone was off today, they want all the fans to wear their team hats around today.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wear a hat in my office.
In any event, it’s not a bad idea. I can’t wear one, but I was thinking this past weekend that I should get a new Mets hat for my son. He grew out of his first one right as the playoffs started, and I figured I’d hold off on getting him a new one until after the Winter. Overall, my search was a complete failure.
We first stopped at Babies R Us. They Yankee hats, t-shirts, and jerseys. For the Mets? They only had bibs, onesies, a $40 sweatshirt, and a David Wright toddler shirsey in clearance. No hat, but I did get the shirsey.
Similarly, Dicks and Modells (two of them) did not have toddler Mets caps. Lids had Mets children’s fitted caps, but they were $26.00. First, you never buy a toddler a fitted anything because that’s when they hit their growth spurt and grow out of it within a week. Second, why only fitted? What happened to snap backs and stretch fit hats? Finally, $26.00? Are you kidding me? Keep in mind that for those of you who don’t have toddlers, they’re not always fans of wearing hats. I’m not spending $26.00 for my son to only wear it 5 times. Great, now I should like my father. Thanks MLB!
What’s frustrating about this is I want to get my son a cap, but I can’t. I still can’t get my son a Mets cap even after they went to the World Series. However, I can still buy my son a Yankees cap. Everywhere you go now, you see more and more Mets caps and less and less Yankees caps. Except for toddlers, you do not see toddlers wearing Mets caps.
Now, I could go online and buy one, but with kids you really need to see it to know if it’s the right size or not. For example, my son can wear anything from 3T – 5T depending on who makes it. So in reality, that option is out.
Logistically, that means either my son will go without a Mets cap until we go to Citi Field, or he will continue to wear one of Daddy’s caps.
For now, we’ll stick with this option.
Yesterday, my son was so excited for baseball. As soon as he woke up, he wanted to read If You Give a Dog a Donut (the dog plays baseball and hits a homerun). He put on his 2015 World Series t-shirt. He played baseball more than he had on any day during the offseason.
By the way, sooner or later Mommy is going to stop Daddy from allowing this to happen. He’s starting to hit some real line drives and he hit me in the shoulder yesterday. I’m not too proud to admit it stung a little.
Before the game started, my wife and I agreed he could stay up a little later to watch some of the game. We got in front of the TV to watch the game. To make it fun, we sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” while he was on his piano while we were waiting for the game to start. And we waited, and we waited, and we waited . . . .
We waited 40 minutes before first pitch. We were past his bedtime before the game even started.
Even though I knew I was going to pay for it, I let him stay up a little longer than intended. He curled up next to me on the couch, and I was able to describe to him more in detail what was happening. I had to explain AGAIN that no, we cannot throw our toys, but yes, we can throw a baseball.
We waited until his new favorite player, Michael Conforto, came to bat. He didn’t disappoint by getting on base with a walk. After that, it was off to bed. My son got to watch one and a half innings. Note, he did sneak into the bedroom later to watch some more of the game. He fell asleep watching the game with me. Even with a frustrating 4-3 loss, I have to say it wasn’t all bad.
My son still loves baseball. He still wants to watch games with me. Now, that the games are moving to SNY and away from ESPN, he might actually get to watch some of it.
Last night I came away with the same impression of David Wright as everyone else did. He looked done. He couldn’t catch up to the fastball. He couldn’t get anything on his throws. It’s just really hard to play baseball when you have a fork sticking out of your back – it’s worse when you have spinal stenosis.
With all that said, there are some reasons to have some patience here. Other than Curtis Granderson‘s fly ball out to start the game, no Met was able to hit the ball into the outfield against Edison Volquez. In fact, Volquez only allowed two hits over six innings. He was making all the Mets hitters not named Michael Conforto look bad. Keep in mind, Wright did show a good eye, and he was able to work out a walk. As for not hitting Wade Davis, who does? As a reliever, the man has a career 1.32 ERA in 287.0 innings. No, we should not have expected Wright to get hits off of these two pitchers last night.
As for Wright in the field, it was a mixed bag. What everyone is pointing to is his poor throws. His inability to get anything on those throws led to two base hits. However, what we are ignoring was Wright’s range. He got to Eric Hosmer‘s bunt when the shift was on. He got to ball Omar Infante hit down the third base line. Yes, a good throw (or even a slightly below average throw) would’ve gotten those runners. However, Wright got to two balls that required some range. That is a good sign.
Even with these facts brought to light, yes, Wright’s arm looked weak, and his bat looked slow. Fact is he may still need some more time to get ready.
Remember, Wright started preparing for the season later than he usually does. He didn’t play in a Spring Training game until March 18th, which is less than a month ago. He didn’t play in a full game until last Tuesday. He didn’t play multiple games in a row until last week. Couple that with his taking less batting practice and infield practice, and you have a player that may still need more time to get ready for the 2016 season.
And if you look back at the 2015 season, there is room for hope. Before Wright went on the disabled list, he was hitting .333/.371/.424. This was before he was diagnosed with spinal stenosis and learned how to address it. Keep in mind, he didn’t suddenly acquire spinal stenosis with one awkward slide. When Wright was diagnosed, and he returned from the disabled list, he hit .277/.381/.437. So no, Wright didn’t forget how to play baseball.
Furthermore, Wright has learned he has to listen to his body. He’s not going to push it. He’s going to play when he’s healthy enough to play. This should result in him being a better player on the days he does play.
Overall, he just needs to play more than one game before we begin to judge him. He may need a week or a month before he returns to the David Wright of old, or at least the David Wright of last year, who was a good ball player.
Wright’s earned the right for the fans to have a little patience with him before we say that he’s done, especially since no one can honestly say that after one game.
Watching the Mets lose the 2015 World Series was tough. There were a lot of what-if moments. The Mets lost three ninth inning leads. There was a lot to get you down.
However, there was one at bat from that entire series that made me smile. The funny thing was the at bat had no bearing on the outcome of any of the World Series games. It was the penultimate at bat of the World Series.
Michael Conforto stepped up to the plate against Wade Davis. The Mets were down 3-1 in the series. Davis has a career 0.84 career postseason ERA, and he had not allowed a run in the 2015 postseason. The Royals were leading 7-2 in the 12th inning. There were two outs, and Davis had two strikes against Conforto. There wasn’t going to be any rallies reminiscent of the 1986 World Series. It was over, and the only issue in doubt was who was going to become the answer to a trivia question for making the last out of the World Series.
It wasn’t going to be Comforto. He would hit an opposite field single. In a World Series where he hit two home runs in a game, I was most impressed with this at bat. It spoke to what he was as a player. He was never going to quit despite mounting odds. It showed how special he was going to be.
Unsurprisingly, Conforto picked up where he left off. On Opening Day, he went 2-2 with a double and two walks. On a day where the Mets hitters struggled, Conforto couldn’t make an out. It was yet another sign that he is a special player. There may be no limit to what he can accomplish. From an offensive standpoint, it’s hard not to compare him to another player who skipped AAA to star in the majors.
In 2003, Miguel Cabrera skipped AAA, and he was called up to the majors to play left field for the Florida Marlins. He was the missing piece for the eventual World Series champions. That year, he hit .268/.325/.468 with 12 homers and 62 RBI in 87 games. He had a 106 OPS+, 106 wRC+, and a 0.6 WAR. He notably hit a homerun off of Roger Clemens in the World Series.
Cabrera would go on to win a Triple Crown, two MVP Awards, and six Silver Slugger Awards. He’s a 10 time All Star. He’s a future Hall of Famer.
Last year, Conforto played in 56 games hitting .270/.335/.506 with 9 homers and 26 RBI. He had a 132 OPS+, 134 wRC+, and a 2.1 WAR. As discussed before, he hit two homeruns in a World Series game. When he hit the first homerun, he became the youngest player to homer in the World Series since Cabrera. Furthermore, he has shown himself to be a good left fielder with a strong, accurate arm. Overall, to this point in his brief career, he’s been better than Cabrera.
Also of note, Conforto is a winner wherever he goes. He’s the third player to appear in the Little League World Series, College World Series, and the World Series. He’s the only person to record an RBI in all three World Series. There is no stopping Michael Conforto.
Cabrera went on to become one of if not the best hitter in the sport. The scary part is Conforto was better than Cabrera was at this point in his career. Judging by the first game of the season, Conforto is not taking anything for granted. He’s going to do everything he can do to unlock his full potential. That could mean All Star games, Silver Sluggers, and possibly MVP awards. Hopefully, there will be at least one World Series title.
Right now, the sky is the limit for Conforto. We shouldn’t be surprised at what he accomplishes.
Editor’s Note: this was also published on metsmerizedonline.com
* picture from the Mets Twitter account
Aside from the fact that Curtis Granderson didn’t hit a homerun, Opening Day sure felt like a repeat of the 2015 World Series. As the late Yogi Berra would say, “It’s déjà vu, all over again.” We had the following:
- Yoenis Cespedes failing to make a routine play in the outfield leading to a run;
- A good Matt Harvey effort getting wasted;
- The Royals taking advantage of a poor Mets defense;
- Michael Conforto being really impressive; and
- The Mets losing.
For all the debating over the course of the offseason regarding Terry Collins leaving in Harvey, we got a taste of what Game 6 would’ve looked like. It wasn’t pretty. It really highlighted what the Royals did well, and the Mets did poorly.
The main difference between these teams is fundies (as Keith Hernandez puts it), defense, and a little bit of luck. Cespedes drops an easy out off the bat of Mike Moustakas, and he later scores on a single past Asdrubal Cabrera, who showed off his limited range at short on the play. Eric Hosmer‘s bunt stays fair while Juan Lagares‘ goes foul. Yes, it would lead to a run. Alex Gordon hits one off the end of the bat falling just out of the reach of Lagares to score a run. It was as frustrating as the World Series.
Since the Mets lost, let’s start with the bad. Mainly, it was David Wright. He couldn’t hit a fastball. He was 0-4 with a walk and two strikeouts. The last strikeout was in the ninth with the tying run on third. He made a couple of plays in the field, but he was able to get absolutely nothing on his throws. While it’s still early, and you don’t want to overreact to anything. However, with Wright’s back, I’m not sure it overreacting.
Also, the home plate umpire wax terrible. He was calling strikes in the area where Noah Syndergaard goes when he’s standing 60′ 6″ away, but over the plate was called a ball. Even worse than that was the ESPN brand new telecast. They delayed the start 40 minutes for an already late 8:00 start. They did inane segments like “The Mendoza Line” and Aaron Boone imitating batting stances. Even better, there were all-in on the Royals. When the Mets got something going in the 8th, they were being Royals-esque.
This is also Opening Day – a time when anything is possible. A time when we are supposed to be full of hope. There were definitely reasons for hope.
Harvey was good. The stat line wasn’t pretty with him allowing four runs (three earned) with eight hits, three walks, and only two strikeouts in 5.2 innings. However, his stuff looked good, and he really wasn’t helped by his fielders.
Conforto was 2-2 with a double and two walks. Last year was a fluke. He’s a much better player than he showed he was last year. Another good sign was the Mets offense that was asleep for almost all of Spring Training, woke up in the 8th and made it a game. The rally was highlighted by a Lucas Duda two run bases-loaded RBI single.
Sadly, the 8th inning rally fell short as the new double play combination make the outs killing the rally. In the ninth, we yet again saw Wade Davis and record the save, stranding the tying run on third, and locking down the 4-3 win. It was as frustrating a loss as you could’ve imagined. However, the Mets can build off of this. There was nothing you can point to tonight that would make you believe the Mets aren’t World Series contenders.
It’s time to dust themselves off. Continue to work on things during their off day, and go to the next ace in the fold in Game 2.
I haven’t been this excited for a Mets season since 2008. The Mets might’ve collapsed in 2007, but that was due to injuries and poor starting pitching. The Mets cured that by trading for Johan Santana.
It was also the last season at Shea Stadium. It was a year to re-live all the memories from my 25 years of going to Mets games there. As Sunday Plan ticket holders, my brother, father, and I were guaranteed the opportunity to be there for the last regular season game played at Shea. Not until Jerry Manuel summoned Scott Schoeneweis from the bullpen did I think it would be the last ever game played at Shea. It was a second collapse, and a brutal way to end the season.
Looking back on the 2008 season, I never really enjoyed it. Part of it was the hangover from 2007. Part of it was the slow start to the season. Part of it was the embarrassing way the Mets fired Willie Randolph. It was just a frustrating year.
Here’s the thing. The Mets won 89 games that year making them 16 games over .500. That means the Mets season was full of more good days than bad. When that happens, it’s a pretty good year. It’s a good year even if your team falls short of its World Series aspirations. It’s a shame in a year that the Mets won a lot of games, including Santana’s gem on the penultimate game of the season, is mostly known for misery.
Entering the 2016 season, the Mets are once again seen as World Series favorites. Unlike 2008, I’m going to try to enjoy each and ever minute of it.
No, it won’t be as fun as the second half of last year. That came out of nowhere. It’s always more fun the first time a group of players win. It’s more fun when you don’t see it coming. However, it doesn’t mean that a season in which your team is amongst the World Series favorites can’t be fun.
Overall, the Mets should win more games than they lose. That means there will be more good days than bad days. I hope to not take the losses as hard while taking more enjoyment in the wins.
So starting with Curtis Granderson digging into the batter’s box, I’m going to enjoy each and every moment. This season should be a special one. The Mets should be in the postseason, and as we saw last year, their pitching can carry them to the World Series.
Lets Go Mets!
Sometimes, you overthink things. Sometimes, you ignore what works and try to reinvent the wheel. In these instances, things rarely go as planned, and you wind up reverting back to the way things were.
Last year, Sean Gilmartin pitched extremely effectively as the long man in the Mets bullpen. He went 3-2 with a 2.67 ERA, 1.186 WHIP, 2.75 FIP, and a 139 ERA+. He pitched 57.1 innings in 50 appearances (one start). Last year, he justified the Mets taking him in the Rule 5 draft, and he showed the Mets why he should be in the Opening Day bullpen.
After Logan Verrett was returned to the Mets from the Texas Rangers (Verrett was also a Rule 5 pick), the Mets used him both out of the bullpen and as a starter. However, it was as spot starter where Verrett really shined. In his four starts, he went 1-1 with a 3.63 ERA and a 1.030 WHIP. His work allowed the Mets to manage Matt Harvey‘s innings so he could pitch unencumbered in the postseason. Verrett showed his ability as a spot starter and reliever thereby showing the Mets he belonged on the 2016 Opening Day roster.
Naturally, despite Gilmartin being a good long man and Verrett being a good spot starter, the Mets decided to flip their roles for 2016. Verrett is now the long man in the bullpen. Gilmartin will report to AAA where he will be a starting pitcher. When there is an injury or fatigue, he should be the first one called up from AAA to make a spot start. This seems like overthinking things. It probably would’ve been better to leave the two pitchers in roles in which they excelled.
Hopefully, the Mets aren’t revisiting this decision in a month or two. Hopefully, the Mets aren’t left realizing they should’ve left the players in their roles because they were very well suited for those roles. Hopefully, Gilmartin and Verrett build upon the strong seasons they had last year.
When Ruben Tejada was tendered a contract, I agreed with the move. When the Mets released him, I understood the move. He was taking up a spot on the 40 man roster, and there were important roster decisions to make. Now that Spring Training is over, and the roster is set, I don’t understand the Mets thought process.
Heading into the season, the Mets placed Zack Wheeler on the 60 day disabled list. This frees up a spot on the 40 man roster until such time as Wheeler is back and ready to play. This move coupled with Tejada’s release gave the Mets two open spots on the 40 man roster. With Jim Henderson making the team that leaves one open spot on the 40 man roster. That spot has gone unfulfilled.
The Mets could’ve used it to acquire a backup catcher. Rene Rivera, a strong defensive catcher, is a free agent. The Mets decided to bring back Johnny Monell on a minor league deal despite a tough 2015 season. Apparently, the Mets weren’t happy with their choices or with the choices available because they put Kevin Plawecki on the Opening Day roster. Rather than them using the last spot on the 40 man roster, the Mets decided to allow Plawecki reach Super Two status. They are gambling with hindering Plawecki’s development by not getting him regular playing time.
They are also relying on Wilmer Flores being the primary backup to all four infield positions. They are hoping Eric Campbell can be a good bench player like the front office has always imagined he could be. They are hoping that if he falters, or there is an injury, Matt Reynolds could fill-in. They are taking this risk despite Reynolds not having an obvious position to play in AAA with the presence of Dilson Herrera and Gavin Cecchini.
The Mets knew Tejada could adequately play second, third, and short. His presence could’ve allowed the Mets to let Flores get more time at first and third. For reasons now unknown, the Mets decided not to go this way. The Mets decided not to go with a bona fide major league caliber player to be a utility player even though Tejada arguably had the best year of his career when he started the year as a utility player in 2015.
Instead, the Mets let Tejada go to another National League team. If not for his recent injury, he would be helping the Cardinals try to win a World Series. There was a spot for him to do that with the Mets. Instead, the Mets have decided to let that last 40 man roster spot go to waste.
Upon reflection, the only reason it makes sense for the Mets to release Tejada and for them not to add another catcher is money. By cutting Tejada when they did, the Mets saved about $2.5 million.
The Mets are making cost cutting moves that harms the team’s depth despite tickets sales being much better than the Mets thought it would be. The Mets are paring down payroll despite the Mets slightly raising ticket prices.
Yes, the Mets went out and spent the money on Yoenis Cespedes. Yes, the payroll is more commensurate with what a contending team’s payroll should be. However, releasing Tejada is an unnecessary mickle and dime maneuver. He was depth. After last year’s rash of injuries, you would think the Mets wouldn’t take that lightly. He wasn’t taking anyone’s spot on the roster. In fact, they’re not even using all the spots available to them on the roster.
Hopefully, the Mets season doesn’t come down to a $2.5 million decision the team made in March.