Brandon Nimmo

One Last Drive

In life, we tend to get attached to and attribute meaning to bizarre things. Today, that was my car. 

Now, I hated that car. From day one, it was a nightmare. I sank more money into it than I care to admit. Driving into bad neighborhoods time and again, it was constantly dinged and scratched. Tires blown. Dents in the car. Really, I hated it. 

Even if I found the best Paintless Dent Repair in San Antonio (or wherever I happened to be at the time of the car needing repairs), it didn’t do much to lessen my annoyance with the car, except for the timely repairs, which I’m obviously thankful for.

But you know what I didn’t hate?  All the great things I did with the car. 

What started out as a car I purchased to commute to and from work became the family car.

It was the car I drive with my wife to Pre-Cana. The day after our wedding, my wife and I drove home for the first time.  

I drove that car with my then infant son to and from doctors appointments.  That includes when I had to take him for emergency room visits, and one day his surgery. 

We took that car to take him for his first day of school, his first Mets game, his ice skating classes, soccer practice, and on family vacations. We drove that car to places where we would share some of our favorite memories as a family. We drove that car everywhere. 

Every so often, he liked to get in the front seat and pretend to drive just like his daddy:


I didn’t realize it at first, but there were hints of all those moments scattered throughout the car. I realized this as I cleaned it out today so I could trade it in for the new family car. In some ways, it felt like a moment right out of The Wonder Years. 

As we cleaned out the car, there were remnants of these events. Just like we had done a thousand times, we listened to the Mets game on the radio. 

You couldn’t pick a more appropriate starter than Rafael Montero. First terrible, but now you see him in a whole new light. 

This is because Montero has been a much better pitcher of late. We saw it again from him today. He cruised through five innings allowing just the one run. 

It was the sixth he got into trouble. Like his last start, he put his bullpen into a tough situation handing them a bases loaded one out situation. Unlike AJ Ramos, Paul Sewald, who hadn’t pitched in eight days due to some physical issues, allowed all the inherited runners to score. 

Fortunately, it didn’t matter much because the Mets offense exploded against Mark Leiter. 

Most of the damage came in a six run fourth inning. Even with him not hitting lead-off, Brandon Nimmo got it all started with a single. Four hits, including a Juan Lagares double and Gavin Cecchini  RBI single, and an error later the Mets were up 9-0, and the Phillies brought in Kevin Siegrist. 

After Siegrist issued a couple of walks, Nimmo capped off the inning with an RBI single. That single gave the Mets a then 10-0 lead. 

It proved to be an insurmountable lead. That was true even for the hurt Sewald and Hansel Robles, who had another adventurous outing. 

It was the Robles outing that had me sitting in my car just a little longer. I sat in my car a little longer like I had done several times in the past. Except this time was the last time in this car. 

As Ramos got Rhys Hoskins to fly out to end the game, I had the last memory in that car. It was a rather small one, but a memory nevertheless. 

It’s now time for a new car with new family memories. This will be the car I take my next son home from the hospital in. It’ll be the car I take to drive him to his first Mets game. Hopefully, it will be the car I drive to see the Mets in their next World Series. 

Game Notes: Kevin Plawecki was 2-4 with two runs and a stolen base. 

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Mets Lose Game And Opportunities 

When you watch Mets games now, you’re not really looking for wins and losses. Mostly, that’s because you’re really only going to see losses. 

No, you’re looking for important or exciting moments. It’s even better when it comes from a player  who has a possibility of being a part of the 2018 Mets doing something important. 

Of course, that is difficult with Terry Collins as the manager. For consecutive games, Collins has set forth Jose Reyes, Nori Aoki, and Asdrubal Cabrera as the top three hitters. Of course, that’s more productive than seeing Brandon Nimmo atop the lineup. 

We can dwell a bit by bit how a 4-0 lead turned into an 8-6 loss, but frankly we shouldn’t care all that much. The team has a manager more interested in stopping a 90 or maybe a 100 loss season than doing the right thing and playing the young players. 

Collins can’t ignore the veterans, and the front office doesn’t care. Worse yet, they handed him Aoki to only further fuel his wants and needs. 

Despite the Mets focus on declining vets, it doesn’t mean we all have to focus on them.  To that end, here’s what we need to know from this Mets loss to the Astros:

  • Dominic Smith continued hitting well going 2-5 with a double and an RBI single in the first. 
  • Nimmo continued showing off his patience at the plate drawing three walks. One of them was with the bases loaded. 
  • Chris Flexen fell apart in the third blowing a three run lead. He threw 79 pitches and didn’t get into the fifth inning. 
  • Amed Rosario was 0-3 and was forced to leave the game with a finger issue. 
  • Juan Lagares continued hitting well at the plate going 1-3 with a walk and an RBI single. That and he continues to amaze in the field:

So, yes, the Mets lost. Of the young players who actually got to play, Smith was the standout. Oh, and Rosario got hurt because that’s what happens to Mets players. 

Game Notes: Aoki was 3-4 with two runs, a double, two RBI, and a stolen base. Reyes stole two bases. 

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Doubleheader A Microcosm Of Mets Season 

Well, we finally have the moment that perfectly encapsulates the Mets 2017 season. We just had to wait for the 135th game of the season and the second game of today’s doubleheader:

That’s right, Wilmer Flores fouled a ball off his face and had to leave the game. 

That moment right there is the Mets season. In fact, the whole double header was the Mets season. 

In the first game, Matt Harvey was rocked in his first game back from the DL. Yes, you did get the sense Houston seemed to relish teeing off on Harvey. More than anything, they just seemed relieved to be playing baseball. 

Harvey only lasted two innings throwing 70 pitches. His final line was two innings, eight hits, seven runs, seven earned, no walks, and three strikeouts. 

Harvey had some velocity hitting 94 MPH, but he didn’t have much else. Again, like he’s done many times in the past, he said there were mechanical issues. As history repeats itself, we know Dan Warthen lacks answers. 

After that, we got the Major League debuts of Jacob Rhame and Jamie Callahan. Rhame had the more successful debut of the two, but still, both threw some serious heat. Like Harvey, Callahan was abandoned by his defense, but he didn’t pitch well enough to make it an issue. 

The shame of Callahan’s tough outing was the Mets made a game of it after a poor Harvey start and bad Tommy Milone relief appearance (2.2 IP, 3 ER). 

Dominic Smith hit a two run fourth inning homer to cut the deficit to 7-2. In the seventh, Flores hit a grand slam to make it a 10-7 game. 
With Callahan’s poor outing, it would end at 12-8. 

Of course, with the doubleheader, we got fun with Collins making lineups. 

Despite Brandon Nimmo starting both ends of the doubleheader, he didn’t lead off once because the Mets have Jose Reyes and now have Aoki. Also, we were blessed to see Cabrera play in both ends of the doubleheader. 

The Mets were much more competitive in the second game of the doubleheader. Note, competitive, not good. 

The main problem was the Mets offense was not doing anything against Brad Peacock. In fact, when the Mets got to him in the sixth, they didn’t really get to him but to George Springer. 

Juan Lagares led off the sixth with a triple to right-center. Lagares busted it out of the box, and he appeared to have a shot at the inside-the-park home run. However, Glenn Sherlock held him up at third. 
For a moment, it seemed as if the Mets wouldn’t score. Amed Rosario, who came on for Flores, struck out, and Asdrubal Cabrera walked. The Astros then brought in Francisco Liriano to face Smith. 

To the surprise of everyone, Terry Collins didn’t PH for Smith. Perhaps that is because Flores was already out of the game. 

Smith lined a ball to Springer, which might have been deep enough to score Lagares. It didn’t matter as Springer misplayed it into a double. Because Cabrera is slower than Sid Bream right now, he didn’t score on the play. 

It wound up biting the Mets because the horrors of this season continue to repeat themselves. 

Seth Lugo cruised through five innings keeping the Astros scoreless. In the sixth, the Astros began going through the lineup for the third time, and they began teeing off on Lugo. 
The first three reached against Lugo with the Astros tying the game on a Josh Reddick RBI single. They then took the lead taking advantage of new Met Nori Aoki‘s bad arm. 

Astros third base and outfield coach Gary Pettis sent Jose Altuve. With Aoki’s throw up the line, he didn’t give Kevin Plawecki much of a chance to make the tag. Just like that, the lead was gone. 

Later, Matt Reynolds got gun shy with a shot to nail the runner at home. He took the sure out at first. With the shift being on, his being far off third allowed Marwin Gonzalez to go to third setting up his scoring on a sac fly. 

As if the indignity wasn’t enough, Reynolds lost a ball that was literally lost in the roof. The ball would drop right in front of him just out of his reach. 

Of course because baseball is cruel, a ball would once again go into the rafters:

After the rough half inning was over, the Mets were down 4-1 with all four runs being charged to Lugo. 

In the end, the Mets were swept in the doubleheader by a MUCH better team. They lost to a team representing a city who needed this distraction. Hopefully, those who are still suffering were able to take some time and enjoy these games. 

As Mets fans, we’re hard-pressed to enjoy any of this. The veterans are still playing over the prospects. The players are still getting hurt. The pitchers are still struggling. 

Game Notes: Reports indicate once the Rumble Ponies season is over, Tomas Nido will get called up to the majors. Former Met Carlos Beltran did not appear in either end of the doubleheader. He is dealing with a foot injury. 

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Votto Is Great, The Mets Are Bad

It’s a good thing the Mets had both Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera start this game.  If not for them, the Mets probably would have been shut out instead of the team losing 7-2.

Reyes got things started in the first with a double off Reds starter Robert Stephenson.  Naturally, Reyes was hitting lead-off because they need to see if he, rather than today’s clean-up hitter Brandon Nimmo, could be the lead-off hitter of the future.  Fellow prospect, and third place hitter in the line-up, Cabrera, would boost his chances of being on next year’s team with a sacrifice fly.

After the Mets fell behind 2-1, Reyes and Cabrera showed what this young team is capable of doing by hitting a pair of singles.  Reyes then scored when run producer Nimmo came to the plate and singled a ball off of the pitcher to tie the game at two.

From there, the Mets failed because they simply just didn’t have enough players who played with as much fire and passion as Reyes and Cabrera.  That was evident by the Mets going 1-11 with RISP and the team leaving eight men on base.  That would never happen with a lineup full of Reyeses and Cabreras.

The Reds initially took the lead on a Scooter Gennett two run homer in the second inning.  Gennett would later get to Jacob deGrom again in the fifth with an RBI double.

In the third, the Reds took the lead for good on an Amed Rosario miscue.  Billy Hamilton found himself on second after a lead-off single and a stolen base.  If we’re being honest, there’s just no way Travis d’Arnaud is ever going to throw out Hamilton.  Joey Votto then hit a grounder to Rosario.  Rather than take the sure out at first, which would have been the second out of the inning, Rosario rushed the play throwing off balance pegging Hamilton in the leg.  Hamilton then scurried home.

Certainly, Terry Collins can no longer justify playing Rosario at shortstop when he has both Reyes and Cabrera available to play there.  Nope, that error and a .240 batting average needs to be put on the bench so the Mets can win some games.

They weren’t going to win this one with the way deGrom struggled, or at least struggled for him.  The Mets ace would allow four runs (three earned) on six hits and three walks.  While he would take the loss, deGrom would strike out five.  With those five strikeouts, he now has 206 on the season, which is a new career high.

After deGrom’s relative struggles, we saw the bullpen struggle as well.  Jeurys Familia allowed a homer to Votto.  While you hate seeing the Mets give up a crucial homer, it was alright in this instance as Votto hit the home run for a six year old boy undergoing chemotherapy:

It’s a reminder that even with the Mets doing incredibly stupid things, the strife we face across the country, and the flooding in Houston, there are still good things and good people in this world.  To that end, Votto saved the day in what was an otherwise typically lousy and wasted Mets performance.

Game Notes: Erik Goeddel‘s struggles continue with him allowing a two run homer to Stuart Turner in the eighth.

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As Mets Always Planned, Montero And Plawecki Led Them To A Win

If you recall, there was a time when the Mets considered Rafael Montero to be a better prospect than Jacob deGrom.  Sure, it seems silly now with deGrom winning the Rookie of the Year, being an All Star, and how great he pitched in the 2015 postseason.  It seems sillier when you consider Montero has mostly been terrible with the Mets shying away from the strike zone and walking too many batters.

Recently, we have seen glimpses from Montero.  He is using that change-up, the pitch that made the Mets believe in him, more effectively.  He is also throwing strikes.  The stretch has been good, but not great.  It certainly didn’t give us any indication why the Mets thought so highly of Montero.  That was until last night’s game.

Through eight innings, Montero had allowed just one base hit to a stacked Cincinnati Reds lineup.  Even allowing for the obvious issues with the OPS statistic, the Reds lineup featured seven batters with an OPS over .800.  Two of the players, Zack Cozart and Joey Votto, were All Stars this year.  However, when you were pitching like Montero, it simply doesn’t matter.

Given the fact that you have seen Montero pitch in a Mets uniform before, it is understandable that you have to see it before you believe it.  Here is a short compliation:


Considering how Montero was pitching, you can certainly understand why Terry Collins allowed Montero to go out there for the ninth inning despite Montero having already thrown 107 pitches.  This was Montero’s night, and he earned the right to at least try to finish the game.

After retiring the pinch hitter Billy Hamilton, the Reds finally got to Montero.  Phil Ervin singled, and Cozart doubled.  With him going to the plate as the winning run, the Mets understandably intentionally walked Votto.

At that point, the Mets also put an end to 8.1 brilliant innings from Montero.  During his 117 pitch night, he had allowed just three hits and four walks while striking out eight.  The only question remaining was whether he was going to get the win.

It was a real question because the Mets had only given him a 2-0 lead with both runs coming in the first inning off of a pair of RBI doubles from Wilmer Flores and Kevin Plawecki.  By the way, if you think Montero’s emergence has been a surprise, what about Plawecki?  He has gone from a guy the Mets were probably going to seriously consider cutting from the 40 man roster this offseason to a guy who is hitting .364/.440/.591 with two doubles, a homer, and three RBI in eight games.  By the way, he also threw a scoreless inning in relief the previous night.

Getting back to the bottom of the ninth, the Reds had the bases loaded with one out.  Once again Collins eschewed Jeurys Familia in a save situation to go to AJ Ramos.  Ramos responded by striking out Adam Duvall and Scotter Gennett to end the game.

With that, the Mets now have a victory where Montero and Plawecki were key figures in the game.  In what has truly been a bizarre season, this one probably ranks up there.  If that isn’t enough for you consider this – the two have combined to throw 9.1 consecutive scoreless innings.

Game Notes: Amed Rosario got the night off.  This led the Mets to play Jose Reyes at shortstop and have him lead-off over Brandon Nimmo because that is exactly what you are supposed to do when you are trying to develop players late in the season.

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Collins Focuses On Jose Reyes Development In This Loss

Terry Collins and the Mets continue to push the envelope. With each and every game, they continue to make decisions which continue to de-emphasize player development. 

In tonight’s example, Jose Reyes hit leadoff over Brandon Nimmo. As if this wasn’t bad enough, Collins double switched Amed Rosario out of the game in the sixth. As part of that move, Collins put Reyes at shortstop. 

When you manage like this, you deserve to have Reyes thrown out trying to steal a base down four in the seventh inning. 

Seriously, if Collins is going to make sure he plays Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera, he better make sure they play good fundamental baseball. If you’re having your young players learn by watching, have them learn by watching what to do. 

Speaking of what to do and not to do, knowing Collins the way we do, he’ll take issue with Chris Flexen. 

Sure, there were many issues with Flexen’s start. How could there not when you don’t make it out of the fifth. His final line was 4.2 innings, seven hits, seven runs, four walks, and four strikeouts. 

Those four walks hurt him too. He issued two of them in the first inning to help load the bases. After a Eugenio Suarez single and a Scott Schebler grand slam, the Mets fell behind the Reds 5-1 in the first. 

Flexen again walked two batters in the fifth. Not even Adam Duvall hitting into a double play would bail him out. Scooter Gennett would hit an RBI infield single off Flexen’s leg. After Flexen walked Suarez, Collins brought in Josh Smoker. 

Smoker allowed a Schebler RBI single. Nimmo had a shot at Gennett at the plate, but Travis d’Arnaud could not corral the short hop. Once Smoker got out of the inning, it was 7-1 Reds with all runs charged to Flexen. 

However, that won’t be what irritates Collins. It will be that Flexen showed up Reyes. 

Reyes was out there playing his first career game in left field. With the injuries and the possibility Reyes could return next year in a utility role, Reyes playing left isn’t a ridiculous idea. It’s just ridiculous he would lead-off. 

Reyes took a ridiculous route to a second inning Billy Hamilton fly ball. He broke in and the ball went well over his head. A clearly frustrated and dejected Flexen threw up his hand in disappointment. 

Yes, Flexen shouldn’t show up his fielders. That goes double when you’re walking the ballpark and giving up a grand slam. Still, this is the same Reyes who never had an issue doing this himself. Again, if you’re holding out players as an example, this is the stuff that happens. 

But this is Terry we’re talking about, and we know his veterans are Teflon. That goes double for Reyes. 

The Mets would attempt to make a game of it with the help of the surprisingly not double switched out of the game Dominic Smith. 

After a Cabrera walk and a d’Arnaud double, Smith hit a two out RBI single in the sixth to pull the Mets to within 7-3. 

Smith came up again in the eighth, and he collected his first career hit off a left-handed pitcher. It set up runners on the corners with two outs. Unfortunately, Travis Taijeron would strike out to end the inning. So far in Taijeron’s career, he’s 0-9. 

The Mets would get no closer than 7-3. In fact, things would get much worse. 

While Chasen Bradford has been really good this year with a 2.38 ERA in 17 appearances, he had nothing tonight. He recorded no outs while allowing seven runs (five earned) on six hits and one walk. 

The unearned runs were due to two Wilmer Flores errors in the inning. 

With Collins having done all he could do to burn out a larger than usual bullpen during Sunday’s double header, Collins finally did the right thing by going to a position player to pitch. 

Once again, we got to see Kevin Plawecki take the mound. Like most Mets pitchers this year, Plawecki fared better with d’Arnaud behind the plate than Rene Rivera. 

Plawecki came in with the bases loaded and no outs. Phil Ervin hit into a double play. After a Hamilton double, and a Flores error allowing Cozart to reach, two  of the three inherited runners had scored. Credit should be given to Hamilton who could’ve scored on the error but chose not to run up the score. 

In a shock to everyone, Plawecki got Joey Votto to ground out giving Plawecki a story to tell his grand kids. It’s certainly a better story than the contents of his locker. 

In the end, the Mets lost 14- 4 with that all too brief ninth inning rally ending on a Flores GIDP.  Right now, it’s not about wins and losses. It’s really about developing players by playing them and having them learn from their mistakes. 

Collins favorite young player Jose Reyes certainly has a lot to think about tonight. Hopefully, he learns from this, and he gets better. Certainly, the team needs him over the next decade. 

Game Notes: Plawecki became the second Mets position player to pitch twice in a season. The first was Matt Franco in 2000. Hat tip Greg Prince:

The win snapped a Mets 14 game winning steak against the Reds. 

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Why Bother Playing When You’re Not Developing Players?

In a four game series against the Washington Nationals, here was the allocation of games started among the Mets infielders:

The focus isn’t where it needs to be.  Once again, the Mets are failing to develop their young players.  Previously, the excuse was you can’t develop young players when you’re trying to win a World Series.  This team isn’t winning a World Series, and still, we are not seeing young players in the lineup getting the time they need to develop.

Terry Collins isn’t letting Smith play against left-handed batters.  He’s bouncing Flores around the infield instead of giving him a place to focus on and improve.  He puts Reyes atop the lineup whenever he gets an opportunity rather than let Brandon Nimmo establish himself as a Major Leauge lead-off hitter.  The list goes on and on and on . . . .

Hopefully, the Mets find out what they need to know about this Cabrera and Reyes. Hopefully, they take full advantage of the development time, and they show they are ready to be the big pieces for the Mets over the next decade.

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Didn’t Exactly Miss This Game

Terry Collins benched Dominic Smith against Gio Gonzalez, and he batted Brandon Nimmo eighth. 

Michael Conforto and Yoenis Cespedes gone for the season. 

Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera played over Gavin Cecchini. 

Michael Taylor nailing a slower than molasses Cabrera at home by a healthy margin:


Robert Gsellman certainly didn’t look like a guy who cared whether his manager thought he needed to improve. 
The first inning rally got started on an error from him, and he threw a wild pitch allowing a run to score. Before the inning ended it was 4-0 Nationals. 

It was a gorgeous sunny day outside, and my son wanted to go play baseball outside with me. 


To paraphrase Peter Gibbons, “I wouldn’t say I missed the last eighth innings, Bob.”

No, not even with Wilmer Flores going 4-4 with a run, double, home run, and three RBI. 

Judging from the 9-4 final score, I made the raise decision. 

Game Notes: Travis Taijeron made his Major League debut going 0-4. Jeurys Familia made his first appearance since returning from the disabled list. He pitched one inning allowing three runs on four hits and two walks. 

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Mets Win What Was Apparently MILB Player’s Appreciation Day

With the Nationals getting in at 6:00 A.M., Dusty Baker put out a lineup that looked like the Nationals Triple-A affiliate with Daniel Murphy. For their part the Mets put out a similar looking lineup because, well, the Mets are bad and injured. 

If you think it couldn’t get worse for the Mets, it did. In the top of that first, Yoenis Cespedes pulled up lame running to third base. Once again, Cespedes left the game with a leg injury. 

The shame of the play was the Dominic Smith single hit the second base umpire. It was a dead ball costing him an RBI, and it helped kill a Mets first inning rally. 

At that point, the Mets already had a 1-0 lead. Once again, Brandon Nimmo lead off a game by getting on base. He would come home to score on an Asdrubal Cabrera RBI single. 

The Mets would then load the bases with one out against Nationals starter A.J. Cole. With Travis d’Arnaud and Amed Rosario striking out, the Mets would come up short. 

Speaking of short, the Mets had an insanely short bench tonight. The team had just a three man bench with one of those players being backup catcher Kevin Plawecki. 

This was mostly the result of the soul crushing Michael Conforto injury, and the Mets having no viable options on the 40 man roster. With Jeurys Familia being ready to return after his rehab stint, the Mets chose to activate him instead. 

The end result was the Mets having a two man bench when Matt Reynolds came in to pinch run for Cespedes. 

Fortunately, it wouldn’t matter as Jacob deGrom was his deGrominant self. For a while, it seemed like he could get a no-hitter tonight. He certainly had the stuff, and the Nationals had the lineup. 

Still, your heart was in your throat during the game with deGrom. First, he is a Mets pitcher. Second, the Mets luck somehow got worse. Third, he was fouling balls off his leg, and he seemed to pull up lame legging out an infield single in the second. 

By some miracle, deGrom was healthy, and he was able to get the win. His final line was 7.2 innings, five hits, one run, one earned, one walk, and 10 strikeouts. 

In Matt Grace‘s second inning of work, the Mets went to work. It started with a Juan Lagares lead-off double. While many were contemplating the bunt, Terry Collins let Reynolds swing away, and Reynolds rewarded Collins’ faith with an RBI single. 

Cabrera followed with a double setting up second and third with no out. Collins again showed a young player some faith, and he was again rewarded. Collins left Smith in to face the left-handed Grace, and Smith delivered with a sacrifice fly to give the Mets a 3-0 lead. 

The Nationals chipped into that lead. It surprisingly came from two rookie players with two outs in the eighth. First, it was an Andrew Stevenson double. Then it was an Adrian Sanchez RBI single. 

With Murphy coming to the plate as the tying run, Collins went to Jerry Blevins, who got a huge strikeout to end the inning. 

In the ninth, Nimmo created a run. He reached with a one out single, and he put himself in scoring position with his first career stolen base. He then scored on a Lagares RBI single making it a 4-1 game. 

Even with Familia back from the disabled list, Collins stuck with AJ Ramos as the closer.  Even when Ramos struggled, Collins had Paul Sewald warming instead of Familia. 

He was greeted with an Adam Lind homer to dead center to make it 4-2. 

Things got interesting when Wilmer Difo followed the Lind homer with a double. Ramos then gave us all a heart attack hanging one to Anthony Rendon, who just hit one foul. Instead, he walked Rendon setting up first and second with one out. 

Things got really troubling when Ramos walked Matt Wieters to load the bases. For some reason while this was all happening, Collins sat Sewald and had none of his other fifty relievers in his bullpen warming up. 

Nimmo came in and would catch a Difo rope, and he made the perfunctory throw home.   While that was happening, Rendon strayed too far from second, but Witt the throw home, Rendon had time to get back. 

It ultimately didn’t matter as Ramos struck out the final batter of the game to preserve the 4-2 win and deGrom’s 14th win of the year. 

Normally, with a game like this, you would leave the game feeling good about the Mets. deGrom was great, and he recorded his 200th strikeout of the season. Nimmo looks like a lead-off hitter reaching base three times, and his stealing his first career base. Lagares’ bat got going. The young Mets beat the Nationals. 

However, there is still a hangover with Conforto’s injury and uncertain future. On top of that, Cespedes is once again on the shelf. 

Really, this team continues to finds ways to make things more depressing. 

Game Notes: For Player’s Weekend, the players were allowed to put nicknames on their jerseys. For the newer call-ups, there apparently wasn’t enough time to get them a nickname jersey. With respect to Nimmo, his choice, “You Found Nimmo” wasn’t permitted due to potential Disney copyright violations. 

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Lagares & Nimmo Must Play Everyday

After learning Michael Conforto is going to need shoulder surgery, there is no longer any doubt he is going to miss the remainder of the season.  Unfortunately, Conforto is not going to hit that 30 home run threshold he was ever so close to hitting.  He might’ve got there if he entered the season as the starter.  As we all remember, he had to wait for his injuries to create an opportunity for him.  Now with him being injured, there is going to be an opportunity created for two other players – Juan Lagares and Brandon Nimmo.

Lagares was once considered the Mets center fielder of the present and the future.  After winning the 2014 Gold Glove, he entered the 2015 season as the Opening Day starter and the proud owner of a five year $19 million contract extension.  Lagares would regress on the field and at the plate leading to the Mets obtaining Yoenis Cespedes at the trade deadline.

Since the 2015 season, Lagares’ glove has returned, but he can’t stay on the field.  Two years in a row, Lagares has suffered thumb injuries knocking him out for a long duration.  But when he is on the field, he has been great.  Currently, he is ranked third in the majors with a 12 DRS in center despite playing less than half the innings of anyone else in the top 10.  It should come as no surprise he ranks first in the majors with a 30.4 UZR/150.

The question with Lagares is and continues to be his bat.  In his 60 games played, he is just hitting .246/.294/.357.  He’s also not hitting well against LHP like he typically does.  Still, there is a little over left in the season where Lagares can work on his offensive game where he could at least hit enough to justify putting his glove in the lineup everyday.  Or at a minimum, find out if he can indeed be part of a platoon.

The perfect choice for a platoon partner for him would be Nimmo.

The Mets 2011 first round draft pick is developing into a prototypical lead-off hitter.  In 34 games this season, he has a .391 OBP, and in his brief major league career, he has a .361 OBP.  In his nine games hitting in the lead-off spot, Nimmo is hitting .241/.353/.414 with two doubles, a homer, and four RBI.  This is a short sample size for sure, but it should be noted he was a good lead-off hitter with the Las Vegas 51s.  Over parts of the past three seasons in Triple-A, Nimmo has a .403 OBP, which his having the best OBP in the Pacific Coast League last year.

The question for Nimmo is whether his bat will truly translate to the majors.  Yes, his patience and his knowledge of the strike zone has and will translate well.  However, the question is whether he would hit enough to justify him playing everyday.  This is his chance.

Between Lagares and Nimmo, they needed an opportunity to play everyday to show the Mets they could be considered the team’s center fielder next year.  They have it now, and now the Mets can make a better educated decision this offseason as to whether Nimmo and Lagares could be part of the solution or whether the team needs to go out there and obtain a Lorenzo Cain.

Of course, the key to all of this is Terry Collins putting both Lagares and Nimmo in the lineup everyday.  There are no excuses now with the team no longer having any more major league quality outfielders on the 40 man roster.

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