Amed Rosario
Last night, the Mets made a surprising trade obtaining AJ Ramos in exchange for minor leaguers Merandy Gonzalez and Ricardo Cespedes.
It’s an interesting trade to say the least. When looking at a pitcher like Gonzalez, he has the stuff where trading him could haunt you one day. With that said, Gonzalez will be Rule 5 eligible this offseason meaning the Mets need to add him to the 40 man roster to protect him from the draft.
It’s no guarantee the Mets would add Gonzalez to the 40 man roster, and it was certainly plausible an organization would pick him in the draft. To that end, it certainly makes sense to get something for Gonzalez instead of losing him for nothing.
The deal should also help the Mets maximize the return for Addison Reed. All the teams who were in on Ramos were in on Reed. If someone really wants a late inning reliever, the cost for Reed is likely higher than it was yesterday as there is one less viable option.
These are all well and good reasons to like this trade. However, that’s not the reason why I like this trade for the Mets. The reason why I like this trade is what it signifies.
The New York Mets are going for it in 2018.
The Mets are in the middle of a fire sale. The team is likely getting younger with rookies Dominic Smith and Amed Rosario expected to be important parts of the team. The uncertainty of David Wright continues to hang over this organization. The players returning to the roster have all had injury issues. There’s a couple of holes that need to be filled.
On of those holes is the bullpen, and Ramos goes a long way towards filling it.
With his sinker-slider repertoire, he not only has the ability to return to his All Star form, but with his working with Dan Warthen, he could be even better.
Regardless of what happens, Mets fans should be excited about this deal. It is an indication the Mets will do all they need to be a much better team in 2018. That news alone should get that Mets fans excited.
Editor’s Note: this was first published on MMO
While many Mets fans wanted Amed Rosario or Dominic Smith to be the first major call-up of the 2017 season, with Zack Wheeler‘s potentially season ending injury, that honor is going to go to Mets right-handed pitcher Chris Flexen.
Heading into the 2017 season, Flexen was added to the 40 man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, and Mets Minors rated him the Mets 20th best prospect. As noted in the prospect analysis, Flexen had all the tools to be a good starting pitcher. His fastball is the mid to upper 90s. His curveball was a devastating out pitch. What was holding him back was the refinement of his change-up, and his delivery.
With his working with both Marc Valdes in St. Lucie and Glenn Abbott in Binghamton, he has largely address those issues. The results have been astounding.
In 10 starts this year, Flexen is 6-1 with two complete games, a 1.76 ERA, 0.815 WHIP, and a 9.2 K/9. For a pitcher that spent much of his professional career struggling with control he has dropped his BB/9 from 3.4 last year to 1.5 this year. Opposing batters are hitting just .183/.217/.260 against him. Put simply, Flexen has been a dominant starting pitcher this year who has certainly earned a call to the major leagues.
When he toes the rubber on a major league mound for the first time tonight, Flexen brings not just his big right arm, but he also brings hope in what has been an otherwise dismal 2018 season.
He brings the hope Matt Harvey did when he went from a start in 2012 to starting the 2013 All Star Game. He brings the hope we saw when Jacob deGrom took an unexpected opportunity and became the 2014 National League Rookie of the Year. Noah Syndergaard and his 100 MPH gave you hope the 2015 Mets could win a World Series, and he did his part being the only Mets pitcher to win a World Series Game at Citi Field. We also had hope that hot June afternoon when Steven Matz and his grandfather become beloved figures.
All four of these pitchers turned that hope into a National League Pennant in 2015. It has been a rough road since, but the Mets are not far away from returning to that point. Seeing Flexen toe the rubber tonight, we can once again have hope and dream the Mets can return to the World Series.
Flexen has a big arm, and he has been dominating the minor leagues. He is joining a pitching staff who very well know what it is like to dominate hitters. He’s joining a pitching staff that wants to get back to that point. If he pitches well enough tonight and for the rest of the season, he may very well be a member of that rotation in 2018.
That’s what Flexen’s start tonight is. It’s hope. Hope that the 2017 season was just a one year blip. Hope the Mets have another big arm who can complete the rotation. Hope the Mets can win the World Series as soon as next year.
For those of us that forget, the New York Mets really had no interest in re-signing Jose Reyes after the 2011 season. When he signed with the Marlins in the offseason, there was a war of words between the two camps with Reyes saying he never received an offer, and Sandy Alderson saying Reyes’ agent was aware of the framework of the type of deal the Mets might be willing to do.
Since leaving the Mets, Reyes was roundly booed as a member of the Marlins, was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays, and finally had an overly brief and turbulent career with the Colorado Rockies. For reasons we all know, and need not be discussed in-depth at the moment, it led to the Rockies releasing Reyes. This also led to Reyes re-uniting with the Mets.
Last year, he was decent with the Mets helping the team make the postseason by obtaining the top Wild Card spot. The Mets brought him back as David Wright insurance, and he has struggled for most of the season. So far, Reyes is hitting .231/.293/.392. That’s good for a 79 OPS+ and a -0.8 WAR. Not to belabor what you already know, but Reyes has been a bad baseball player.
It’s bizarre we all know it, but the Mets don’t. Reyes’ 90 games played leads the Mets this season. Part of that is he hasn’t been hurt. An even bigger part of that is Terry Collins and the Mets organization won’t or can’t admit Reyes isn’t good. This is of course reflected in how the social media team has inundated us with Reyes since the All Star Break with tweets like this:
A man of the people. pic.twitter.com/Ovn5sg29Ce
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 12, 2017
Jacob deGrom is the ace. Michael Conforto is the All Star. Yoenis Cespedes is the most important player. Curtis Granderson is the role model. Addison Reed, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Jay Bruce are the players on the trade block. Yet, somehow, the Mets have made it a point to feature Reyes despite his poor play and his personal issues.
Yes, Reyes has played better of late, but he has been nowhere near as good as Conforto, Duda, deGrom, or Seth Lugo. You wouldn’t know that by looking at how the Mets promote their players.
Sure, this is a silly gripe, but when the Mets have nothing to play for this season, you tend to notice these things. Maybe if the Mets did the right thing by calling up Amed Rosario fans could focus on that. Maybe, just maybe, the team could promote him. I think we can all agree that is beneficial for everyone.
As the Mets head to the trade deadline, this team is clearly in a position to sell, and they should look to sell every player they have on an expiring deal. Certainly, if the Mets are offered a good return for Curtis Granderson, the team should trade him. But with him being 36 years old and with his being a fourth outfielder at the moment, are teams really going to offer the Mets something of value for Granderson? At this point, it doesn’t appear likely.
And in some ways that’s actually good for the Mets.
At the trade deadline, it is eminently possible, the Mets will move Jay Bruce, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Lucas Duda. If the Mets are able to move these players, it will create an opportunity for the Mets to play Gavin Cecchini, Brandon Nimmo (once he returns from the Disabled List), Amed Rosario, and Dominic Smith. It will be a small sample size, but we will find out if these players are ready to be big pieces of the Mets in 2018.
One of the ways the Mets can make their transition to the majors smoother would be to have a strong veteran clubhouse presence to show them what it takes to succeed in the major leagues. We saw how Cliff Floyd took a young David Wright under his wing, and we have seen Wright become the consummate professional. Obviously, you would want Wright to be that for another player. Unfortunately, with the myriad of health issues he faces, it is difficult seeing him be that player. With that being the case, the best player to do that for the Mets would be Granderson.
And really, who better than Granderson? In his time with the Mets, he has done everything the team has asked. He’s moved all over the batting order. The team has shifted him across the outfield. This year, they made him the fourth outfielder despite his arguably being one of the top three outfielders on the roster. This is exactly the type of guy you want around your young players. You want them speaking with Granderson. You need to have Granderson showing them what it takes to succeed in the major leagues.
It is also a reason why you want to keep Granderson beyond this season.
Re-signing Granderson not only means you’re bringing back the player. It also means you are bringing back the man. The man who does everything right on and off the field. He is a model human being that has played in New York for eight years. He should be telling players how to prepare for a game, how to deal with teammates, how to balance being a ballplayer and helping your community, and how to deal with the press. Having Granderson around will help put the young players in a position to succeed.
Another consideration is you probably need Granderson the player next year as well. Considering Granderson will be 37 next year, it is not likely he will get many offers to be a starting outfielder. In fact, he may very well get none. If that is the case, re-upping with the Mets is likely his best bet.
Since coming to the United States, Yoenis Cespedes has had chronic leg issues. We have seen that arise the past two seasons with Cespedes landing on the Disabled List. While he’s still young, Michael Conforto has been snake bitten a bit with a wrist issue last year and a bone bruise this year. Certainly, with their health issues, you want a fourth outfielder whom you can trust to play everyday. You can trust Granderson.
Look, if the Mets are blown away with a trade offer, you have to trade Granderson. If Granderson gets a starting outfielder job, especially one for a contender next year, he has to take it. With both situations unlikely, the Mets should be talking about a contract extension with a player who they need to have a profound impact next season.
Heading into the 2015 season, the Mets made the somewhat controversial move to make Wilmer Flores the everyday shortstop for a team that believed they could compete for a spot in the postseason. As the season progressed, Flores would lose his job to Ruben Tejada. From that point forward, Flores has had opportunities to prove he is a starting player in the majors.
Starting with Lucas Duda‘s back injury on May 20th last year, the entire Mets starting infield would go on the Disabled List for an extended period of time. With David Wright going out for the year on May 27th, there was a permanent spot open in the starting lineup for Flores.
For the most part, Flores earned that spot. From May 29th until his ill-fated slide into home plate on September 10th, Flores had good overall numbers that masked his extreme platoon splits. Flores hit .373/.409/.807 with three doubles, 11 homers, and 28 RBI in 88 plate appearances against left-handed pitching. Comparatively, Flores hit a meager .241/.297/.362 with nine doubles, four homers, and 19 RBI in 192 plate appearances. Put simply, with splits like that, Flores proved he was nothing more than a platoon bat.
Unfortunately, he hasn’t even been that in 2017.
So far this season, Flores is hitting .281/.311/.448 with 12 doubles, a triple, seven homers, and 25 RBI. Against, left-handed pitching, he is only hitting .292/.304/.462 with five doubles, two homers, and six RBI in 69 plate appearances. Against right-handed pitching, he is hitting better than his career numbers, but he’s still only at .276/.314/.441 with seven doubles, one triple, five homers, and 19 RBI.
The end result is a player with just a 97 wRC+. That’s not a bat the Mets can keep in the lineup, especially when Flores has a glove that shouldn’t be in the field:
| Innings | DRS | UZR | |
| 1B | 244.2 | 2 | 1.9 |
| 2B | 633.0 | -6 | -0.2 |
| 3B | 893.0 | -15 | -4.4 |
| SS | 1313.2 | -15 | -0.2 |
At this point, Flores has been in the majors for five years, and he has yet to truly make a case for the Mets to keep him around. All we get out of him is glimpses. We do not see any sustained success. That’s problematic considering the Mets are in a strange place as an organization.
The team needs to start making some decisions on some players. They need to decipher who can be a part of the next World Series Championship team. With the emergence of T.J. Rivera coupled with Gavin Cecchini, Amed Rosario, and Dominic Smith awaiting their own opportunity to prove they belong in the majors, it becomes harder and harder to keep Flores on this roster.
Still, Flores is still just 25 years old. It is quite possible he may still figure things out and become a good major league ball player. The unfortunate reality is he’s running out of time to prove it. He is already in his arbitration years, and he is due to be a free agent after the 2019 season.
Sooner or later, the Mets will have to make a decision on Flores. Is he a piece of the Mets next World Series title? Is he a guy who can become the next Justin Turner or Daniel Murphy? At this point, we don’t know, and we are running out of time to find out.
Mets uber prospect Amed Rosario has been extremely busy of late. Last weekend, he had to fly out from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Miami, Florida to be the starting shortstop in the Future’s Game. From there, Rosario would fly out to Tacoma, Washington to be the starting shortstop in the Triple-A All Star Game. Over the past week, Rosario literally played shortstop from coast to coast.
It seems everyone wants him to play shortstop for their team. That is everyone but the Mets.
As it turns out, Mets fans aren’t the only ones perplexed over why Rosario is in Triple-A. Former Major Leaguer Billy Ripken was puzzled why Rosario was in the Triple-A All Star Game instead of playing in Flushing. MLB Pipeline‘s Jim Callis pointed out Rosario is ready to be an everyday shortstop at the major league level right now.
On the very first play of the game, Rosario showed us all why he is major league ready. On a routine fly ball to medium depth left field, Rosario was in position to make the play himself. Later in the game, he stole a base against Rays prospect Mike Marjama, who has throw out 48% of base stealers this year. Overall, in a game where he was 0-4, Rosario showed the skills that will make him a special major league player.
Watching the Future’s Game and the Triple-A All Star Game, you realize there are just no excuses remaining why Rosario is not in the majors right now.
We know he can hit. On the season, he is hitting .327/.365/.474 with 16 doubles, seven triples, seven homers, and 52 RBI with 16 stolen bases. Over his past nine games, he is hitting .415/.432/.537 with a double, two triples, three RBI, and three stolen bases.
We know he’s an upgrade defensively. Mets shortstops have combined to post a -15 DRS, which is the worst in the majors. Seeing his range, and the scouting reports, Rosario has the range to play the position, and play it quite well. He would be a boon to a pitching staff that has been struggling.
And it’s not like the Mets shortstops have been making up for the poor fielding with their bats. The shortstops have combined for an 85 wRC+. That’s why their -0.4 combined WAR is the among the worst in all of baseball. Arguably, anyone would have been an upgrade. Rosario should be a massive upgrade even if he struggles out of the gate.
Between him being an upgrade and the Super Two deadline having passed a long time ago, it really is time for Rosario to come up to the majors. The Mets need his offense and defense. Rosario could also benefit from being mentored by Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera. Considering the Mets are intent on selling, the time for such an arrangement could possibly be dwindling. Between that and the Mets coming up on a soft part of the schedule now is a good time to call him up.
Now would be a good time for the Mets to find out why everyone but them want Rosario to be their shortstop.
After the Mets pulled out a 6-4 win over the Cardinals, there was hope for the team to at least take the series and leap over one team ahead of them in the race for the second Wild Card. As Noah Syndergaard will tell you, the Mets are the second half team. If you wanted a glimmer of hope, here it was.
On Saturday, there was hope. Zach Wheeler turned his season around allowing just two earned over six innings. When Jay Bruce homered to start the seventh inning, and the Mets knocked Adam Wainwright out of the game, there was a chance. Then Fernando Salas came into the game. He was dreadful as usual, and the relievers that followed weren’t much better. A one run deficit became a three run lead too much for the Mets to overcome.
From there, things fell apart. For the first time all season, Steven Matz just didn’t have it allowing five runs over 4.1 inning. The Mets offense could only muster three hits off of Lance Lynn. With that, the momentum from Friday night’s victory was gone. Quite possibly, hope for the Mets making any sort of run in the second half of the season.
Heading into the break, the Mets are 39-47 getting outscored by their opponents by 47 runs. They are 12 games behind the Nationals in the National League East. The team is 10.5 games behind the second Wild Card. Worse than that, the Mets are 5-21 against teams with a winning record.
Every time you want hope, the Mets make sure to take it away. Perhaps, it is better this way. It is time for everyone to admit this team is going nowhere. It is time to sell. It is time for Dominic Smith, Gavin Cecchini, and Amed Rosario to show the Mets what they are capable of doing. With them playing everyday, it is possible we can all begin to hope again.
If the Mets are really looking to sell, it is time to get rid of everyone that doesn’t have a contract beyond this season. This means the Mets should part ways with Jay Bruce, Lucas Duda, Curtis Granderson, Addison Reed, and Rene Rivera. Once Neil Walker is healthy enough to play, the Mets should trade him as well. With the Mets having team options on both Jerry Blevins and Asdrubal Cabrera, they should also get moved in the right trade.
But it’s not just the players. The Mets should also part ways with Terry Collins.
When Collins signed his two year contract in the wake of the 2015 World Series, Collins had indicated it could very well be his last. Even if Collins relented from that position, with each game, it becomes clearer and clearer that Collins will no longer be in the dugout for the Mets in 2018. If that is the case, the Mets should part ways with Collins sooner rather than later.
The perfect time would be as the Mets head into the All Star Break. This could allow the Mets to re-calibrate the coaching staff. Internally, the Mets have some managerial candidates.
First base coach Tom Goodwin was given the opportunity to manage in the Arizona Fall Leauge this past offseason. While he was removed from the Mets coaching staff in the offseason, Tim Teufel has remained with the organization. Both are certainly candidates for the managerial job should it ever open, and both should provide the Mets with as smooth a transition as possible.
There are also minor league managers Luis Rojas and Pedro Lopez. With the Mets likely turning to young players like Gavin Cecchini, Brandon Nimmo, Amed Rosario, and Dominic Smith, it would be helpful to have a manager with whom they are familiar to ease their transition as everyday players in the majors.
It would also serve as an opportunity to see how any of the aforementioned would serve as a manager at the major league level. If you like what you see with the replacement, you have your answer as to who should be the Mets manager in the future. If that person doesn’t perform well, you at least know you need to move on from that manager and look in a different direction.
Point is if the Mets aren’t going anywhere, they should best utilize that time. That means giving young players an opportunity to establish themselves as everyday players at the major league level. That should also mean finding out who the manager should be in 2018.
It’s time for the Mets to thank Collins for his service as the Mets manager, and possibly find a role for him in the organization. It’s time to close the chapter on his Mets managerial career, and it is time to usher in a new era of Mets baseball.
After a sweep of the Giants in San Francisco, fans could allow themselves hope for the 2017 season again. Yes, the Giants are a dreadful team, but there was a lot to like about the Mets in that series. If you dig deeper, there is still things to like about this Mets team.
Jacob deGrom is in a stretch where he has gone at least eight innings in three consecutive starts. This could be the best stretch of his career, which is certainly saying something.
Rafael Montero has now had three consecutive strong outings allowing just two earned runs over his last 14.1 inning pitched. In this stretch, he not only finally looks like a major league pitcher, he looks like a good major league pitcher.
Curtis Granderson has been the best hitting National League outfielder in the month of June (204 wRC+), and he’s been hitting .297/.408/.595 with 13 doubles, two triples, nine homers, and 23 RBI since May 1st.
Jay Bruce has been resurgent hitting .315/.358/.629 with four doubles, eight homers, and 17 RBI. He’s on pace for his first 40 home run season and just his second 100 RBI season.
While acting unprofessional about the switch to second base in the clubhouse, Asdrubal Cabrera has been nothing but professional on the field going 7-14 in the series and playing a very good second base.
Lucas Duda is flat out raking hitting .375/.474/.813 over the past week, and as we know when Duda gets hot like this, he can carry the team for a long stretch. Just ask the 2015 Nationals.
Lost in all of that is Yoenis Cespedes being Cespedes, Addison Reed being a dominant closer, and Seth Lugo stabilizing the rotation. There is even the specter of David Wright returning to the lineup. When you combine that with the Mets schedule, this team is primed to reel off nine straight wins.
If the Mets were to win nine straight, they would be just one game under .500. At that point, the Mets will be red hot heading to another big series in Washington. Last time the teams played there, the Mets took two of three. After that is a bad Cardinals team before the All Star Break.
Combine this hypothetical Mets run with a Rockies team losing six straight, and the Mets are right back in the mix with a bunch of teams hovering around .500 for a shot at the postseason. Last year, the Mets were under .500 as late as August 19th, and they still made the postseason. Throw in a potential Amed Rosario call up, and you really have things cooking. Why not this year’s team?
Well, that’s easy. The bullpen is a mess. You have no idea when Noah Syndergaard and Neil Walker can return if they can return at all. Jose Reyes is playing everyday. The route to the postseason partially relies upon Montero being a good major league pitcher, and the Mets calling up Rosario. At this point, those are two things no one should rely.
As a fan? We should all enjoy the ride for as long as it will carry us. As Mets fans, we have seen miracles. We saw this team win in 1969. We saw a team dead in the water in 1973 go all the way to game seven of the World Series. We watched a Mookie Wilson grounder pass through Bill Buckner‘s legs. We saw Mike Piazza homer in the first game in New York after 9/11.
As fans, we can hold out hope for the impossible. We can dream. Sandy doesn’t have that luxury. He needs to look at the reality of the Mets situation and make the best moves he possibly can. That includes trading Bruce, Duda, Granderson, and any other veteran who can get him a good return on the trade market.
That still shouldn’t stop us from dreaming. Who knows? Maybe Rosario, Gavin Cecchini, and Dominic Smith can led the Mets to the postseason after Sandy is done selling.
For starters, lets concede that Jose Reyes has been playing so poorly he should unseat no one for a starting position unless he was going to play for the Long Island Ducks. In turn, it also needs to be conceded Asdrubal Cabrera is no longer a major league caliber shortstop. In his interview on the topic, Cabrera admitted as much saying, “I think next year, I have to go – I have to move to another position . . . I’m fine with that.”
Cabrera needs to be fine with that as he’s not a shortstop now. His -10 DRS is the worst among shortstops with at least 100 innings played at the position. His -5.5 UZR is the second worst in the majors among players with 100 innings played at short. But it’s more than the advanced metrics. Visually, you can see he no longer has the range. His sure hands aren’t so sure anymore. His 11 errors are the third most in the majors and are four more than he had all of last year. The final indignity for him came when he had his Luis Castillo impersonation.
It was time to move Cabrera to second base. With the team having an eye towards the 2018 season, it was time to see if the team should pick up his 2018 option in the offseason to play him alongside Amed Rosario. With the team looking to sell, it was also a chance to improve his trade value.
Now, this isn’t the first time the Mets have asked Cabrera to change positions. Earlier in the year, they asked him to move to third base. He wasn’t amendable going so far as to demand the team pick up his 2018 option if they planned such a move. Rather than promote discord throughout the clubhouse, Terry Collins dropped it. The team had to know moving him to second base was going to create issues.
And it did. Cabrera demanded a trade from the team. Sure, part of it could be the Mets didn’t give him the courtesy of speaking with him first, or the team not giving him the opportunity to play some games at second base during his rehab stint in the minor leagues. Still, even with the Mets mishandling the situation, given how Cabrera responded to moving to third base, this incident was going to happen anyway.
It is better for that incident to have occurred with Reyes supplanting him than Rosario. It is hard enough for a rookie to get acclimated to playing in the major leagues. It is even more difficult with a disenchanted veteran angry you took his job. This is the same veteran you would want to mentor a young Rosario to help ease his transition. Seeing Cabrera’s actions, this was not going to happen if Rosario was the one who replaced him.
That is why having Reyes take over at shortstop made sense. Reyes is a veteran better capable of handling the situation, especially when he previously faced the same situation when the Mets signed Kaz Matsui. Let Reyes deal with the fallout now so all issues are resolved by the time Rosario is called up to the majors.
Overall, while we can quibble with how the Mets handled moving Cabrera to second base, we can all agree they made the right decision. They got to find out more about Cabrera both in terms of his ability as a second baseman and how he handles a change in his roles. More importantly, they made Rosario’s transition to the major leagues that much easier.