Asdrubal Cabrera
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.
On a night surrounded with turmoil over what were largely benign comments from Yoenis Cespedes about how he wanted to return to Oakland at the end of his career, it was a player who began his career with the Mets who dominated the game.
In what has been a breakthrough season where Michael Conforto has supplanted Cespedes as the team’s best player, he put on a performance similar to what we’ve seen from Cespedes.
In the third inning, Conforto would give the Mets a 2-1 lead with an absolute bomb that almost hit the Shea Bridge:
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/888549796323184640
The Mets had trailed 1-0 before that homer due to what was an uneven performance for Steven Matz.
The A’s began the game by loading the bases with no outs. It was beginning to look like his last two poor starts. The entire tone of the inning, and perhaps the game, changed when Khris Davis hit into a 6-4-3 double play. A run scored on the play, but the rally fizzled.
Matz gave the 2-1 lead back in the fifth.
Rajai Davis single and stole second. On the steal, Davis broke early, and Matz threw to first. Lucas Duda made a perfect throw only for Jose Reyes to whiff on the tag:
https://twitter.com/mlbreplays/status/888560049752203264
It cost the Mets as Davis came to score on a Marcus Semien RBI single. Semien came into the game only hitting .151, so naturally, he went 4-5 with a run and two RBI.
Semien then scored on a Ryon Healy base hit giving the A’s a 3-2 lead.
Still, Matz would not get the loss because of a Mets sixth inning rally.
The rally began with an Asdrubal Cabrera lead-off walk. He moved to second on a Cespedes one out single. Duda then hit a grounder to the A’s first baseman Healy. It took a funny hop and hit him in the side of the head.
Healy came out of the game, and the bases were loaded. T.J. Rivera then hit a go-ahead two RBI single that became a comedy of errors. Actually, error as there was one error on the play.
On the single, Duda was thrown out by Davis trying to hit first to third. Rivera, the trail runner, went late to second. A’s third baseman Matt Chapman threw it into right field allowing Rivera to complete the Little League homer.
The Mets 5-3 lead would balloon to 7-3 as Conforto hit his second homer in the game:
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/888575204275998720
On what was another great night for Conforto, he was 2-4 with two runs, two homers, and four RBI.
The Mets would need those insurance runs as the bullpen almost had a complete meltdown in the eighth.
Erik Goeddel got the chance to shut the door, and he was ineffective. He allowed a lead-off single to Matthew Joyce, and then Josh Phegley doubled to center.
It was a play a regular center fielder makes, but Conforto is a corner outfielder by trade. In any event, there were runners on second and third, and they both came home to score on a Jed Lowrie single.
Addison Reed was then brought in for what seemed to be his second multiple inning save in three days.
Reed first walked Davis on a 3-2 pitch he swore was a strike. Key word here is swore as he began to get into a war of words with Home Plate Umpire Dan Iassogna, who was chomping at the bit for a fight. Or as Keith Hernandez put it:
Keith said Red Ass. So that was pretty cool
— The Coop (@Coopz22) July 22, 2017
Following another Semien RBI single, the A’s were within 7-5 with the bases loaded and one out. With all the left-handed batters due up for the A’s, Terry Collins took the ball from an angry Reed and gave it to a struggling Jerry Blevins.
Blevins has allowed 25 inherited runners to score, which is the fifth worst in the majors. Naturally, he would get out of that jam unscathed, and he’d pitch a perfect ninth for his first save of the season.
It was another bizarre game for the Mets on another bizarre day. At least the Mets came up on top.
Game Notes: Hansel Robles got the win after pitching a scoreless sixth. Cespedes was 3-4 with a run and a double against his former/future team.
* The headline was a joke. Please lighten up about Cespedes’ comments.
In a little more than a week, the Mets are in a position where they should be trading players like Curtis Granderson, Lucas Duda, and Asdrubal Cabrera to help the team build towards the future. This is a tricky task for any GM, and it is a task that Sandy Alderson has not had to embark upon since 2014.
Overall, Sandy’s exploits as a seller at the deadline have been well noted. In fact, through all of his trades, there are currently nine Mets on the 2017 roster who have been obtained via trade. Can you name them? Good luck!
Zack Wheeler Travis d’Arnaud Noah Syndergaard Jerry Blevins Yoenis Cespedes Neil Walker Addison Reed Jay Bruce Fernando Salas
When all hope is lost, the main reason to watch the Mets is Jacob deGrom. He started today, and he delivered.
While deGrom may not have been as dominant as he has been over this stretch, he was still great. For the first six innings, no Cardinal player reached third base. In fact, the Cardinals only reached second base twice in the game.
deGrom’s final line was 6.2 innings, seven hits, one run, one earned, one walk, and three strikeouts.
That one run shouldn’t have scored. Luke Voit had a hard hit ball to the wall Yoenis Cespedes fielded cleanly, and he had Voit dead to rights at second. Only issue is Asdrubal Cabrera didn’t bother to cover second.
Instead a run scored, deGrom got his ovation, and Paul Sewald got the Mets out of the inning.
With deGrom going like this, you knew the Mets needed one, maybe two runs to win the game.
Mets took care of that and then some. This should come as no surprise as the Mets have now averaged 7.4 runs per game over deGrom’s now seven game winning streak.
In the first, the Mets put three runs on the board and all were with three outs. A Cespedes single scored Cabrera. Lucas Duda doubled home Cespedes, and Wilmer Flores brought him home with an RBI single.
Flores getting the start was interesting, especially with the right-handed Mike Leake getting the start for the Cardinals. Perhaps it was due to T.J. Rivera making two errors yesterday. Maybe Terry Collins just wanted to give Flores a game after he’s sat for so long. Maybe it’s due to the tumors the Red Sox may have interest in him.
In any event, Flores had a good game with that RBI single and a nice play in the field:
? Wilmer! ? pic.twitter.com/Zpkl4Lc4wo
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 20, 2017
After the good first inning, the Mets had a better second inning. Michael Conforto got things started with a single, and he moved to third on a Jedd Gyorko error allowing Cabrera to reach.
Jay Bruce hit an RBI single, and Cespedes followed with an RBI double making it 6-0. After Duda was intentionally walked Jose Reyes singled home Cespedes to make it a 7-0 game.
It should’ve been a laugher. It wasn’t.
In the eighth, Sewald was pulled by Collins with two on, two out, and back-to-back lefties due up for the Cardinals. Rather than find something out about Sewald in a 7-1 game and rest his bullpen with a noon game tomorrow, Collins couldn’t help himself. He went to a completely worn down Jerry Blevins.
While Blevins has been great most of the year, he has struggled mightily since June 1st. In that time, Blevins has a 5.84 ERA and batters are hitting .269/.367/.423 off of him.
Left-handed batters Kolten Wong and Magneuris Sierra hit consecutive singles to make it 7-3. With those two singles, Blevins has now allowed 25 inherited runners to score this year, which is the fifth worst in the majors.
After Blevins walked the pinch hitter, pitcher Adam Wainwright, to load the bases, Collins had to go to Addison Reed for the four out save.
As Reed is really the only remaining reliever who is reliable left in that bullpen, it should be no surprise Reed made quick work of the Cardinals for his 16th save of the season.
With the 7-6 win, the Mets have an opportunity for the split tomorrow.
Game Notes: Josh Edgin has allowed more inherited runners to score than Blevins with 29. That’s the third worst mark in the majors.
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.
In a nine inning game, the Mets had as many errors as they had base hits (three). In consecutive innings, T.J. Rivera made errors leading to two unearned runs.
That doesn’t even begin to mention the slow motion attempt by Asdrubal Cabrera and Jose Reyes in the second which could have limited the damage to 2-0. Instead, the Mets got one out and allowed the Cardinals to score three runs in the inning effectively ending the game.
Between the lack of offense and the terrible defense, Rafael Montero took the loss. Unlike most of the losses in his career, Montero didn’t really deserve this loss. His final line was six innings, seven hits, four runs, two earned, one walk, and five strikeouts.
Certainly, Montero showed enough to more than justify the Mets giving him another start.
Aside from Montero, the only positive from tonight’s game was Michael Conforto going 2-4 with a double. If you want to really stretch things and look for positives, Hansel Robles pitched a perfect ninth with two strikeouts.
In reality, a bad Mets team was shut out by Michael Wacha (CG SHO). They’re a bad team playing disinterested baseball. Games like this usually get managers fired. Considering this is far from the first time this has happened this year, it’s safe to assume Terry Collins finishes the year as the manager.
If that’s the case, the Mets dropped the ball worse than Lucas Duda did in the seventh.
Game Notes: The Mets left side of the infield has a -27 DRS which is by far the worst in the minors.
Because nothing can ever go easy for the Mets, we got to see Yoenis Cespedes leave the game after this awkward slide in the sixth inning:
"We were just talking about the health of his legs." No kidding. pic.twitter.com/qcn4Ug9CDR
— Meditations in Panic City (@MedInPanicCity) July 16, 2017
Before that play, things could not be going better for the Mets. After yesterday’s 14-2 victory, the Mets quickly went up 8-0 in tonight’s game.
After Tyler Chatwood issued back-to-back walks to Michael Conforto and Asdrubal Cabrera to begin the top of the first, Jay Bruce would drive them all home:
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/886367979788791808
The rally continued, and the Mets would score their fourth run when Travis d’Arnaud would single home T.J. Rivera. Rivera had reached via the walk. After he walked, Chsteood came out of the game due to injury.
As if four first inning runs weren’t enough, the Mets would pile on three more in the second inning.
The second inning runs were all unearned as Bruce reached on a two out error by DJ LeMahieu. The Mets did capitalize starting with a Rivera RBI single scoring Cespedes. Bruce and Rivera would score on a Lucas Duda RBI double.
The Mets eighth run would be provided by Lugo himself:
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/886382537244913665
As you can surmise from Bruce, the Mets pulled that old shtick:
Silent treatment for Seth Lugo….very sad. pic.twitter.com/Tu9N5FQCj1
— MetsKevin11 (@MetsKevin11) July 16, 2017
Lugo’s first career home run was certainly a high light, but it was not his only highlight of the evening. Lugo went out there, and he dominated the Rockies for five innings.
The Rockies did get to him for two in the sixth with the help of Cespedes’ aforementioned divot. The double set up second and third with one out. After a Gerardo Parra sacrifice fly and a Raimel Tapia double, the Rockies pulled within 8-2.
The Rockies tacked on another run in the seventh on a Charlie Blackmon two out RBI triple. At that point, Terry Collins wasn’t taking any chances. He brought in Paul Sewald, who struck out LeMahieu to get out of the inning. That strikeout closed the books on a terrific start for Lugo.
Lugo’s final line was 6.2 innings, seven hits, three runs, three earned, two walks, and five strikeouts.
He would get the win as Sewald, Jerry Blevins, and Addison Reed would combine to pitch 3.1 scoreless.
With the scoreless work out of the bullpen, and a Reyes’ eighth inning homer, the Mets would win 9-3.
With the win, the Mets are now 8.5 games behind the Rockies for the second Wild Card, and the team is six games under .500. The team is beginning to make a run. The question right now if this is too little too late . . . especially with Cespedes having to leave the game.
Game Notes: Curtis Granderson replaced Cespedes in the sixth. The Mets have now won
If the Mets really want to go on that second half run like they’ve done the past two years, the run needs to begin now. It needs to begin now because the Mets have put themselves in a deep enough hole. It needs to happen now because the Rockies are in town.
For the Mets to get on that run, their pitching needs to be great, and Yoenis Cespedes needs to get going. Tonight, that happened.
Jacob deGrom shook off an unearned first inning run to completely dominate the Rockies. Over eight innings, he only allowed four hits, two runs, one earned, and one walk with 10 strikeouts.
The Rockies had an opportunity to score a third run in the sixth, but Cespedes nailed DJ LeMahieu at home plate. It was a typically strong throw from Cespedes, and it was a great tag by Travis d’Arnaud. The lesson as always is you do not run on the tandem of Cespedes and TdA.
Got heeeeeem! @ynscspds shows off the cannon to nail the runner at the plate. ?
9-2 #Mets | Mid-6 pic.twitter.com/F0qoQuDZP6
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 15, 2017
In addition to this throw, Cespedes was great at the plate once again going 4-6 with a run, double, and an RBI.
Two of Cespedes’ hits came in a six run third inning where the Mets knocked Rockies starter Jon Gray out of the game, and they blew the game open.
Cespedes got the inning started with a double. Both he and Jay Bruce would score on a T.J. Rivera RBI double. Rivera would come around to score on a Jose Reyes single.
The Mets would keep the rallying going loading the bases with no outs. After a deGrom strikeout, Mets All Star Michael Conforto knocked in a run with an RBI groundout. An Asdrubal Cabrera RBI single later, and the Mets were up 8-2.
From there, the Mets used a pair of homers to tack on runs:
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/886026068272062464
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/886039800356188161
Rockies reliever Scott Oberg loaded the bases in the eighth, and he walked Cabrera to bring home the 13th run. Cespedes followed with an RBI infield single to cap off the Mets scoring on the night.
It was a complete offensive onslaught where every batter in the Mets lineup reached base at least two times. That includes deGrom, who is a good hitter in his own right:
Jacob deGrom has a league leading 12 hits as a pitcher, second most is three guys with 8.
— Michael Mayer (@mikemayer22) July 15, 2017
This is the type of onslaught where you can at least dream of the Mets making a run. Certainly, there’s an opportunity ahead of the trade deadline. There’s an opportunity when the Mets playing up to their abilities like they did in tonight’s 14-2 victory.
Game Notes: This was deGrom’s seventh double digit strikeout game and 17th of his career. Nolan Arenado seemed to injure his hip running through the bag at first base, but initially stayed in the hand. Later, he was pulled. It was unknown if an issue flared or if it was due to the blowout. Josh Edgin pitched a scoreless ninth.
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.
Now that the first half of the baseball season has ceremoniously ended with the American League beating the National League in the All Star Game, it is time to see what the second half of the season looks like for the Mets.
At the moment, the Mets currently sit at fourth place in the National League East with a 39-47 record. They are 12 games behind the Nationals in the Division, and they are 10.5 games behind the Colorado Rockies for the second Wild Card. In addition to the Rockies, the Mets also trail the Cubs, Cardinals, Braves, Pirates, and Marlins.
In the second half of the season, the Mets have 68 games remaining with them split-up evenly between the home and road. At home, the Mets opponents have a combined .511 winning percentage. Their road opponents have a .499 winning percentage. The combined winning percentage of all of their opponents is .505.
The respective winning percentages are skewed by the Mets having a home series against the Dodgers and the Mets having a road series against the Astros. Taking those two series out of the equation, the respective winning percentages fall to .494 at home, .481 on the road, and .488 combined. More to the point, if the Mets can just hold their own in those six games, the Mets have a slate of winnable games in front of them.
The question is whether the Mets will have enough to win those winnable games. At the moment, the Mets are planning to sell. If there are takers, the Mets will likely part ways with Jay Bruce, Asdrubal Cabrera, Lucas Duda, Curtis Granderson, and Addison Reed. If any one of these players are moved, the Mets chances of winning games will likely take a hit. That goes double for Reed, who right now is the only reliable arm in the bullpen.
But maybe the Mets don’t sell.
Right out of the break, the Mets host the Rockies and the Cardinals. The Rockies are in the middle of a stretch that has seen them lost 13 of their last 17 games. It’s not exactly like the Rockies lost just against the best teams in baseball either. They were swept by the Giants, and they split a series with the Reds.
The Mets did just play a close series against the Cardinals. There is a legitimate reason to believe that with a different setting in Citi Field, the Mets could flip the script. That becomes more feasible when you consider the Cardinals are a dismal road team.
After that, Mets get to face the Athletics and Padres who are two of the worst teams in baseball. At that point, it is certainly possible the Mets could be in a different position come trade deadline time. Maybe the Mets will be in a position to add to the bullpen rather than decimate it with a Reed trade. As we see, they certainly have some pieces to trade to do that.
Ultimately, that has been the frustrating part of this season. The door has been open the whole time, and the Mets have yet to truly enter into a race for the postseason. The good news is there are about two weeks until the trade deadline. At that point, the Mets will have a clear direction.
They will be either gearing up for another improbable run to the postseason, or they will have a youth movement with the Mets finally giving a chance to Amed Rosario, Dominic Smith, and Gavin Cecchini.
To that end, no matter what happens over the next couple of weeks, the fans will have reason to watch in August and September. You will either have a team racing for the postseason supplemented by players coming back from injury, or they will have some young players beginning to make their mark on the league.