After being unable to make more than eight hitless pinch hitting attempts over two years, Jed Lowrie has out-hit the entire Mets team in 2021. For that matter, so has Zack Wheeler.
So much for the universal DH.
Wheeler also has more strikeouts than anyone on the Mets pitching staff including Jacob deGrom. For that matter, so has Matt Harvey. In fact, Harvey has struck out more batters than the entire Mets staff combined.
If you think that’s scary, consider Chris Flexen does as well. In fact, Flexen has more wins that the Mets do this year. Of course, that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise considering Brodie Van Wagenen was horrible as the GM.
Of course, we all know the reasons why Wheeler is out-hitting the Mets, and Flexen has been stats than anyone on the Mets is because the Mets haven’t been able to play their opening series.
Until that point, Noah Syndergaard, Seth Lugo, and Carlos Carrasco are atop all the Mets pitching categories despite their not being able to begin their season for at least a month. Of course, no one is pitching for the Mets now.
The stats are so skewed J.D. Davis is the Mets top fielder . . . and hitter. Right now, Davis can be considered the Mets player because he’s tied atop every statistic. That’s how you know things aren’t great.
Fortunately, the Mets hiatus will be over soon when they take the field in Philadelphia on Monday. When that happens, we should soon see deGrom correct a number of these bizarre discrepancies caused by the Nationals COVID infections.
Thanks to the Washington Nationals, we can’t watch New York Mets baseball just yet. What we could do was see former Mets pitchers in action.
Matt Harvey took the ball for the Baltimore Orioles, and he looked good. His slider was moving, and he touched 95 MPH. Unfortunately, he fell one-third of an inning short of the win.
Matt Harvey, 94mph Fastball…and gets the fist pump from Severino. pic.twitter.com/A7rSeI92sG
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 3, 2021
Zack Wheeler took the ball for the Philadelphia Phillies, and he’d have more hits himself than he allowed. He was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI.
Zack Wheeler was rollin'. pic.twitter.com/hdXs1mqI3k
— MLB (@MLB) April 3, 2021
On the mound, he struck out 10 over 7.0 innings with the only hit against him coming from Travis d’Arnaud.
We also saw the former bullpen arms do well. Darren O’Day pitched 0.2 scoreless and picked up a hold. Michael Fulmer picked up a hold for pitching a scoreless inning while hitting 95 MPH.
All-in-all, it was a pretty good day for former Mets pitchers. Hopefully, that momentum for Mets pitchers will confine when the Mets are finally able to start their season on Monday.
The New York Mets season will be off to a late start. With multiple Washington Nationals players becoming infected with COVID19, the opening series between these two division rivals was canceled.
With that as a backdrop, J.D. Davis was asked about getting the vaccine when he’s eligible to receive it. He incredulously responded he hadn’t thought about it.
J.D. Davis said he hasn't thought about whether he'll get a COVID-19 vaccine.
"It's a personal preference and everybody has their own choice of doing so," he said, noting that he wants to be sensitive to those who have struggled with/died from the disease.
— Tim Healey (@timbhealey) April 2, 2021
Somehow, a player sidelined waiting to start the season wants us to believe he didn’t think about the vaccine created which would’ve permitted him to play this weekend.
He’s either incredibly vapid where he actually wants us to believe he doesn’t have the mental capacity or awareness to think about a vaccine for a once in a century pandemic, or he’s lying like he did when originally asked about his involvement in the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal.
Yet, despite his wanting us to believe he hasn’t thought much about COVID19 and returning to normal life, he wants us to believe he’s upset they’re not playing and that the players are happy cooped up unable to do anything beyond dealing with one another.
But hey, why would you have to sit around thinking about things when you’re just handed a third base job you didn’t earn? Moreover, why would think there are ramifications for your decisions when you were given an enormous pass for the Astros scandal and lying to the press?
In response to the new election law passed by the State of Georgia, Major League Baseball decided to take a stand. In a released statement and in a bold move, they voiced their opposition to the law by stripping the All-Star Game from the Atlanta Braves.
With MLB making this move, it does invite scrutiny as to why they have no issues with discrimination against Native Americans.
Notably, MLB hosted the All-Star Game in Cleveland despite Native Americans problems with the Indians team name as well as the wildly racist Chief Wahoo mascot. MLB tried to skirt around that with the Indians players using the C logo on the cap, but still, Chief Wahoo existed and was visible in some fashion in that ballpark.
The same year the All-Star Game was held at the ballpark of the team with the questionable name and wildly racist mascot, the 2021 All-Star Game was award to the team with a questionable name and wildly racist chant.
In all honesty, there has been debate over the Braves name, but the Tomahawk Chop has been different. It’s been deemed culturally insensitive if not outright racist.
The Braves as an organization not only distributed foam tomahawks to fans, but they have also played the song on the organ prompting fans to do the Chop. When it was an issue brought up by Cardinals pitcher Ryan Helsley, the Braves response was not to do it when he pitched.
Just keep in mind, MLB never said they would take away the All-Star Game if the Tomahawk Chop continued. If anything, that tells us MLB didn’t care. You can also decipher from this, MLB only took action now with the voter law because it felt public pressure to do so.
In the end, that’s what we can say here. Either MLB doesn’t care about Native American discrimination, or they only care about discrimination when people tell them to care.
Before the season, Michael Conforto said he did not want to have contract extension talks during the season. While some have intimated he relaxed that Opening Day deadline, Conforto did once say he wanted to resolve his contract status by Opening Day.
Right now, we know Francisco Lindor has a 10 year $341 million contract. What we don’t know is what impact that will have on the Mets willingness and ability to hand out extensions to their other important players. On that note, the Mets were simultaneously having extension discussions with Lindor and Conforto with Lindor obviously being the priority.
With Lindor, the Mets had a future Hall of Famer who they parted with some good young players and prospects to obtain. For Conforto, it’s different. He is the homegrown player who could be a future captain and break a number of Mets records. He is also the player who hit two home runs in a World Series game at Citi Field.
Being further away from that shoulder injury, and being further away from Terry Collins, Conforto has re-emerged as an All-Star caliber player. While his career has not been on par with Lindor’s Conforto does have Hall of Fame talent. This is a player with one of the sweetest swings you’ve seen in Mets history this side of Darryl Strawberry. He has also been a good outfielder.
How we all remember Conforto’s career is going to be dictated by what he does in his prime and beyond. With the Mets, he has a comfort level, and now, he has a front office which is going to give him to the tools to really succeed. He can now get even more out of his talent with the data and training the Mets can now put in place. That many not only make his peak higher, but it may also lengthen his career.
Of course, the Mets have to entice him to stay in terms of dollars. While the narrative on Scott Boras is overstated, he has been reluctant to have his players sign extensions. Still, we have seen it with superstars like Greg Maddux, Stephen Strasburg, and Jose Altuve. The key is that Boras wants a real deal for his clients and not the hometown discount.
Seeing Conforto, he shouldn’t be pressured into the hometown discount. That goes double when they gave Lindor the third highest contract in the game. Conforto is a Met through and through, and he deserves to be treated as such.
The Mets were gifted an extra couple of days to focus in on Conforto and get a deal done. With Boras and the extremely weak outfield free agent class, that is going to be very difficult. However, as we saw with Lindor, all it takes is to make the offer to make Conforto feel like the wanted star he truly is. The Mets now have 48 more hours to get it done.
Back on August 16, 2017, the New York Mets faced a rash of injuries. Instead of postponing the game, Travis d’Arnaud, a catcher, rotated with Asdrubal Cabrera between second and third all game long. The reason that happened is Major League Baseball does not cancel games when teams face injuries.
At times, this leads to tough and frankly bad decisions. A classic example was when the New York Mets took a risk by designating Darren O’Day so Nelson Figueroa could make a start. That led to O’Day getting claimed by the Texas Rangers. O’Day is still pitching now whereas Figueroa last pitched in the majors two years after this decision, and he had a full career arc as the Mets postgame analyst.
Point is, teams are forced to play through injuries. Baseball is unforgiving that way. However, when it comes to COVID teams are not forced to play. Sure, the Miami Marlins played with COVID last year, and Don Mattingly was rewarded for putting the entire season in jeopardy by naming him the National League Manager of the Year, but that is another story for another day.
On the eve of Opening Day, there was a Washington Nationals player who tested positive for COVID, and through contact tracing, an additional four Nationals players were put into quarantine. Since that first test, four other Nationals players have tested positive, and the Opening Day game between the Mets and and the Nationals has been postponed indefinitely.
Again, if there were five Mets players injured and unavailable on Opening Day, the Mets would have been forced to play the game. They would have been put in the position over whether they call up players or roll with the players they had available. Understandably, COVID is different than a torn hamstring, but not really in terms of player availability.
Because of COVID concerns, Major League Baseball has allowed teams to carry a taxi squad of five players with them on road trips. When not on road trips, those players are at the team’s alternate site. Put another way, Major League teams are supposed to have five players ready to be called up to play at a moment’s notice if there is a COVID issue. Coincidentally, that number coincides with the amount of players the Nationals had out.
Now, there are reports Max Scherzer, the Opening Day starter, was away from the team. So, we know he was available. Past him, we really don’t have any idea who could or could not play. On a related note, Nationals GM Mike Rizzo said their entire team is in quarantine. Again, while there are reports both teams could play on Saturday, in reality, if the entire Nationals team is in quarantine, there is really no knowing when they will be able to play.
That puts the Mets at a significant disadvantage to start their season. The Mets were setting their rotation where they did not have to use a fifth starter early on in the season. That helped alleviate the loss of Carlos Carrasco, and it did give them a preview of Joey Lucchesi, who may be destined for the bullpen once Carrasco and Noah Syndergaard are ready to return. Again, this was the Mets plan, but now, they can’t execute their plan because the Nationals players got infected with COVID at a time when none of the other 29 teams had any issues.
The answer can’t be for the Mets and Nationals to cancel an entire series. This would have the Mets dormant for half a week before they have to travel to play a Phillies team who has already been playing. This is how you create injuries and problems. Again, if the Mets suffer injuries as a result of this, no one is postponing their games until that players is healthy.
Really, Major League Baseball has to have a better answer than to shut down a healthy team abiding by COVID protocols. The Nationals should be forced to call up their Triple-A team to play if that what is necessary. On that note, there is no Triple-A baseball until May. These are games on the schedule, and the weather is permitting them to play.
Instead, the Mets are going to have to scrap their plans for the rotation, be forced to play cold against teams already warmed up, and they are going to have to force games in later in the season when we are already concerned about pitchers being able to sustain the 2021 season after the 2020 shortened season.
This is ridiculous, and Major League Baseball has to have a better response than postponing games and kicking the rock down the road. Of course, they don’t, so they are going to put the Mets in a precarious position now and in the future. And we know if anyone gets injured as a result of this recklessness, the Mets will play that game even if it means someone playing out of position the way d’Arnaud once did.
The 2021 season is going to be an interesting one. We are coming off of a pandemic shortened season, and Major League Baseball is once again messing with the baseball. That does make predictions all the more difficult. Despite that, here are the predicted division winners:
AL East – Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays have exciting young talent with more pitching than people realize. They are helped out by the fact the Tampa Bay Rays took a significant step back with their pitching, and the New York Yankees just have too many question marks in their rotation and now in their bullpen to claim the division title.
AL Central – Chicago White Sox
Even with Eloy Jimenez injured and out for most of the season, they still have terrific starting pitching, and they have a deep lineup. The guess here is Tony La Russa actually works out, but we also shouldn’t discount him imploding everything. That should be enough to hold off the Twins and the Indians who seemingly just get pitching out of nowhere every season.
AL West – Los Angeles Angels
With Shohei Ohtani ready to be unleashed as the true two way star he can be, the Angels are a much better team. Keep in mind, this team still has Mike Trout, and they’ll get a full season of Anthony Rendon. On top of that, it looks like they may actually have starting pitching. That may just be enough to hold off Matt Olson and Matt Chapman in Oakland as well as the Houston Astros who appear at the end of their run.
Wild Cards – New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics
MVP – Mike Trout
Cy Young – Lucas Giolito
NL East – New York Mets
As noted earlier, the Mets have the best team in the division. That includes their having the best pitcher in Jacob deGrom and the best shortstop in Francisco Lindor. They also have the money, resources, and willingness to outlast and outbuild the other teams in the division.
NL Central – St. Louis Cardinals
The Nolan Arenado acquisition was just that important, and really when we look at this past offseason, they seemed to be the only team trying. Well, them and the Milwaukee Brewers who took advantage of the weird offseason market to nab Jackie Bradley Jr. Other than those two, the other teams did little for anyone to take them seriously.
NL West – Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers won the division, and they went out and arguably improved their team by adding Trevor Bauer. They have a great manager in Dave Roberts, and they have the best player in the National League in Mookie Betts. No matter how much the Padres did this offseason, and it was significant, there is little reason to believe over the course of a 162 game season anyone could overtake them.
Wild Cards – San Diego Padres and Philadelphia Phillies
MVP – Mookie Betts
Cy Young – Jacob deGrom
Postseason
AL Wild Card – Yankees over Athletics
ALDS – White Sox over Yankees, Blue Jays over Angels
ALCS – White Sox over Blue Jays (MVP: Tim Anderson)
NL Wild Card – Padres over Phillies
NLDS – Dodgers over Padres, Mets over Cardinals
NLCS – Mets over Dodgers (MVP: Michael Conforto)
World Series – Mets over White Sox (MVP: Jacob deGrom)
Maybe this is just the excitement which comes from Opening Day. Certainly, that is amplified by new ownership, the Francisco Lindor extension, and Jacob deGrom taking the mound. However, taking everything into account, this New York Mets team is the best one we have seen since 2015 and probably 2006.
Like most times the Mets are good, they are going to be led by pitching. Their starting staff is great, and when healthy, it is the best in baseball. Part of the reason why is deGrom is still the best pitcher in baseball. Behind him right now is Marcus Stroman. Stroman has made adjustments and added new pitches, and he looks set for a career year. That is really saying something considering he has been a gamer his entire career, and he was the World Baseball Classic MVP.
Noah Syndergaard and Carlos Carrasco may be the two most underrated pitchers in baseball. Looking at their FIP, they pitch at or near an ace level. In this rotation, they may be no better than third or fourth starters. It’s not just doing deGrom-Stroman-Syndergaard-Carrasco. This is one of the deepest rotations in all of baseball.
Behind that quartet is Taijuan Walker who was once a top 100 prospect, and he seems poised to take a big step forward after using analytics to help him improve. After Walker, the Mets have David Peterson, Joey Lucchesi, and Jordan Yamamoto, each of whom could be around a three in most rotations. For the Mets, they will eventually be on the outside looking in.
They are all going to be better pitchers because they have the tandem of James McCann and Tomas Nido behind the plate. Both of these players are strong catchers who are excellent pitch framers. Having catchers like that behind the plate make good pitchers even better. When your starting pitching is great and operating at a high level, you are going to win a lot of games.
This is paired with an incredible lineup. They Mets have an embarrassment of riches on that front. Consider Francisco Lindor, Michael Conforto and Jeff McNeil have each been All-Star lead-off hitters, and they aren’t even the Mets best lead-off hitter. That’s Brandon Nimmo. With that group plus Pete Alonso and Dominic Smith, their 1-6 of their lineup can and probably should be hitting in the middle of the order.
Now, this Mets team isn’t perfect. Far from it. The first problem is their bullpen. The good news on that front is between Edwin Diaz and Trevor May, they have the last two innings covered well. The hope is at least one of Dellin Betances, Miguel Castro, or Jeurys Familia can figure it out to become that seventh inning reliever. That is at least until Seth Lugo is good to return. When that happens the Mets bullpen will be in great shape.
Another factor there is the Mets have some other interesting options. Sooner or later, Drew Smith will be healthy and ready to rejoin the bullpen. It should also be noted when the Mets have their full rotation, someone like Lucchesi can move down to the bullpen where his churve could be a weapon on par with Lugo’s curveball.
The other issue is the defense. Simply put, having J.D. Davis at third is unacceptable. He can’t remotely field the position. Having Dominic Smith behind him makes the left side defense one of the worst in baseball. To that, they may not be the worst in the division with the Atlanta Braves probably being worse with Austin Riley and Marcell Ozuna.
It’s very possible Brandon Nimmo can succeed with positioning in center. After all, he’s had positive OAAs in center most of his career, and he does have the speed for the position. Jeff McNeil seems more comfortable at second, and while Alonso has his defensive issues, he is quite adept and receiving throws around first.
While the lineup has serious defensive issues, the bench does not. Luis Guillorme is a Gold Glove caliber defender. Albert Almora and Kevin Pillar are also quite good. With the lead, we can and should see Luis Rojas run all three out with Smith moving to first base. When that happens, the Mets defensive alignment turns from questionable to really strong.
Therein lies the key. Aside from health, Rojas is going to be the biggest key to this Mets season. He is going to need a deft touch as to when to utilize his defensive replacements. He and Jeremy Hefner are also going to have to get their rotation healthy through the season, which is all the more challenging because of the shortened season last year. They are also going to have to find the right mix in the bullpen while making sure they don’t overuse their best relievers.
Right now, the Mets have the right mix to have a great season. They also have an owner willing to invest in the team, and they have Sandy Alderson in charge, who we know will not be shy making a key trade or two to improve this Mets roster.
Looking at the Braves, their pitching has durability issues, and their defensive issues may be worse than the Mets. The Phillies don’t have the starting pitching, and their bullpen was a disaster last year. The Marlins are young and not deep. The Nationals still don’t know what they are going at key positions on the field.
Taking everything into account, the Mets are the best team in the National League East. If Rojas is up to the task, and there is every reason to believe he will be, the Mets are well poised to return to the postseason again and let their pitching take them back to the World Series.
There are reports the deadened ball efforts may not have gone as planned with the new balls looking all the more juiced. That could really benefit J.D. Davis who had a really good second half in 2019 with the juiced ball.
Add to that, his working with Francisco Lindor and Gary Disarcina at third. Certainly, Lindor’s range helps him defensively as he has less ground to cover. We already saw some of the positive results this Spring Training.
When you look at Davis, you see a player who is in a position to succeed. He’s in a deep lineup, and there are players around him who are going to make him a better player. Between that and his willingness to do whatever he needs to do to succeed, no one, especially me, should be counting out his ability to have a great 2021 season.
One of the unspoken parts of the Francisco Lindor extension discussions was Steve Cohen and the New York Mets had the opportunity to add another Hall of Famer to the franchise. With the 10 year/$341 million contract, the Mets did just that.
This is what the Mets were able to do with Mike Piazza. Depending on how future votes go, the same can be said for Keith Hernandez and Carlos Beltran.
Point is, it doesn’t matter where your career began. What matters is where you spent the bulk of your career and had the greatest impact. With a 10 year deal, Lindor will be in line to wear a Mets cap on his Hall of Fame plaque.
Make no mistake, Lindor will be a Hall of Famer.
Consider for a moment, the average Hall of Fame shortstop has a 43.1 WAR7 and a 55.3 JAWS. So far, through five-and-a-half seasons, Lindor is at a 27.9. If he continues his 5.3 WAR/year production over his first five years, he’ll hit a 37.4.
That’s right behind the 43.1 mark. However, it should be noted Lindor is entering his prime. He’s entering his prime after already establishing himself as a 30 home run, 100 RBI shortstop.
That’s Alex Rodriguez and Cal Ripken Jr. territory. In fact, with each passing year, he continues to put himself on Ripken’s level.
Shortstops with 125+ HR and 8+ dWAR before their age-27 season:
• Cal Ripken Jr.
• Francisco Lindor pic.twitter.com/4OxSlb4wWE— Danny Vietti (@DannyVietti) March 31, 2021
#Mets Francisco Lindor has played 777 career games.
Through first 777 games:
Francisco Lindor – .285/.346/.488
896 hits, 344 extra-base hits, & 138 homersCal Ripken Jr. – .292/.355/.489
873 hits, 320 extra-base hits, & 125 homersLindor tops Ripken in stolen bases, 99 to 8.
— Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder) January 7, 2021
Now, Lindor is with a New York franchise where his profile will be even higher. He’s also at a place more invested in analytics and getting the right data to players to help them perform at their peak. In some ways, Lindor finds himself in the position Gary Carter once did.
New York will be the place Lindor shows just how much of a leader he is. He’ll show his enthusiasm and love for the game on a bigger stage. God willing, this will be the place he leads the Mets to the World Series.
When all this happens, there will be no doubt Lindor should have his number retired, and he will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He will wear a Mets cap on his plaque.
All that will be made possible because Steve Cohen stepped up to give Lindor the extra million more than Fernando Tatis Jr. received. It was possible because Cohen understands value. It was made possible because Cohen purchased the Mets.
Opening Day starts a new era in Mets history. It’s no longer just the start of the Steve Cohen Era. It’s now the start of the Francisco Lindor Hall of Fame Era in Mets history.