Carlos Carrasco

Examining 2022 Mets Collapse

When seasons don’t end the way you want or expect, people look for a reason or a scapegoat. To wit, the New York Mets announced both Billy Eppler and Buck Showalter were returning next season. On the one hand, it would seem obvious that was the case, but there was a collapse, so it was best to state it outright.

Certainly, both Eppler and Showalter have their fair share of the blame for what happened. However, it is much deeper and much more layered than that.

The seminal moment most Mets fans point to is Starling Marte‘s hand injury in the September 6 game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Ask a Mets fans, and they staunchly believe the Mets win the division if Marte doesn’t get hurt. To a certain extent, there is truth to that.

After all, it meant more Tyler Naquin, who was terrible in September batting .185/.232/.308. He was so poor he was left off the postseason roster despite his terrific numbers against Yu Darvish, a pitcher the Mets never hit.

Looking at Naquin, that should have us revisit the Eppler point. There was a post hoc analysis of the Mets trade deadline moves (which were debated in real time). Prior to the Daniel Vogelbach trade, Mets DHs had a 79 wRC+. From Vogelbach’s firsts game with the Mets to the end of the season, that mark improved to a 102 wRC+.

However, that was mostly Vogelbach. Against left-handed pitching. Darin Ruf had a 20 OPS+ with the Mets. Mark Vientos and Francisco Álvarez were throw into pennant races and struggled. Notably, Gary Cohen was highly critical of the Mets decision making process noting how the Mets didn’t call them up when there was a chance during the season and put too much on them.

To that point, the Atlanta Braves called up Michael Harris and Vaughn Grissom well in advance of September games, and they got much better production. As an aside, the Braves are again extending their young core while the Mets aren’t, but that’s a separate discussion for another day.

All of the above is a worthwhile discussion, however, it is still not getting to the root cause. The Mets collapse began at Citi Field against the Washington Nationals. The Mets would lose two out of three games. It was part of the Mets worst stretch of the season.

From September 3 to September 14, the Mets were 5-6 against the Washington Nationals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Miami Marlins, and Chicago Cubs. During that stretch, the Mets three game lead shrunk to a half game. Over a stretch where the Mets could put the division away, they put the division back in play allowing the Braves to sweep the Mets forcing the Mets to the Wild Card.

Fast-forward for a second to the Atlanta Braves series. There were a number of problems in that series. Chief among them was the starting pitching failed. Figuring out how to prevent this from happening again requires diagnosing how that happened. The answer may be unsatisfying to some, but it is as simple as fatigue.

Carlos Carrasco pitched a combined 121 2/3 innings over the previous two seasons. He would pitch 152 this season. At the 64 inning mark this season, Carrasco had a 3.52 ERA and was averaging 5 2/3 innings per start. After that, he had a 4.30 ERA averaging under five innings per start.

He had one of the Mets bad losses in September. On September 27, he allowed four runs to the Marlins over three innings. That was one of many games the Mets wanted back.

Taijuan Walker again had a poor second half, but he did salvage it a bit in September. Still, he faltered against the Pirates, and he took the loss against the Milwaukee Brewers. Both were big spots, and he and the Mets wish they had those games back.

Of course, neither Carrasco nor Walker were the biggest culprits, the ultimate blame seems to be directed at Chris Bassitt. Last year, Bassitt pitched 157 1/3 innings, and he had only thrown over 100 innings one other time in his career.

After his September 7 start, he hit the 161 1/3 inning mark. At that point, he had a 3.24 ERA while averaging a little over six innings per start. After that, Bassitt fell apart against the Cubs and Braves. He was very good against bad teams in the Pirates and Oakland Athletics.

Max Scherzer dealt with oblique issues. Jacob deGrom had a blister issue. Neither would ever admit it impacted their performances, but essentially, they were compromised pitchers. When you build a team on starting pitching, you can’t have all five starters limping to the finish line. That is exactly what the Mets had.

Unfortunately, they did not have the hitting to overcome this. That was apparent in Atlanta when they scored all of seven runs. Over the final month of the season, in their losses, they averaged 2.5 runs per game. Part of this was the Mets approach at the plate.

The Mets hit 171 homers this season ranked 15th in the majors. Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor accounted for 38.6% of the Mets home run production. The next highest was Eduardo Escobar with 20, and he hit almost half of them in September. Essentially, for most of the season, if Alonso and Lindor weren’t hitting it out of the park, no one was.

Combine that with very questionable managing from Buck Showalter in Atlanta and the postseason, and you have a 101 Mets team who fails to win the division. You have a Mets team who gets one hit in an elimination game.

With the Mets, it was no one thing. It was exhausted starting pitching who faltered. It was an offense overly reliant on two players. It was a manager who struggled in bad games making poor decisions in big games. And yes, it was a front office who failed to fully address the teams deeper issues at the trade deadline.

When all was said and done, this was a team built to sustain the rigors of the regular season. However, it was not prepared and built to last deep into the season and go deep into October. We didn’t realize it at the time, but it is difficult to overlook now.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This was originally published on MMO

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Mets 2022 Projected Postseason Roster (Final)

There was an in initial and second version of the potential New York Mets postseason roster. With the Wild Card Series upon us, it’s time for a final projection.

With respect to this projection, it’s focusing on just the Wild Card Series where the Mets will need a maximum of three starters. With that caveat in mind, here’s the final projection:

CATCHERS (3)

Álvarez’s final two games should be enough to make the roster. The only question is with McCann hitting again, does he supplant Nido as the guaranteed starter.

INFIELDERS (5)

No changes or surprises here. Of course, with injuries, McNeil might just be an outfielder for the postseason.

OUTFIELDERS (3)

Starling Marte is the only wild card here. If he’s good enough to go, he’s going to take someone’s spot. That’ll either be Gore or Vientos.

DH (2)

Marte’s and Darin Ruf‘s injuries basically guarantees Vientos’ spot. He won’t start with Álvarez likely to go against Blake Snell, but we may see him in a big pinch hitting spot.

STARTERS (5)

We know the Game 2 starter debate (start deGrom), and we know Bassitt starts the other game. Chances are, they want both Carrasco and Walker available for long relief even if it would make sense to leave at least one off for this very short series.

BULLPEN (8)

This picture became a lot more clearer. Trevor Williams threw too many innings in the season finale to be considered. We may see him in the next round.

Givens is healthy, and Rodriguez has pitched well of late. Smith is back in the late inning mix.

Really, choosing the bullpen went from difficult to easy over the past week, The important arms are healthy and ready to go.

In the end, we can only hope Buck Showalter deploys his arms well. If so, the Mets win this series.

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2022 Mets Postseason History

The last time a current New York Mets player was in the postseason, Jacob deGrom took the ball in Game One of the 2015 NLDS in the first step of their journey to the pennant. We saw deGrom set the tone with 13 strikeouts over seven scoreless to pick up the win.

It was part of a great postseason for deGrom. If they had an NLDS MVP, it would’ve been his. Overall, he was 3-1 with a 2.88 ERA that postseason racking up 29 strikeouts.

Believe it or not, deGrom is the only Mets player remaining from that 2015 team. The Mets made it to the postseason the following year, but Seth Lugo was left off the Wild Card Game roster. However, that does not mean deGrom is the only Mets player with postseason experience. Here is a look at how the other Mets have fared.

Chris Bassitt

Stats: 1-0, 3.27 ERA, 1.455 WHIP, 0.8 BB/9, 7.4 K/9

Bassitt would receive two starts in the 2020 postseason for the Oakland Athetics. He was great against the Chicago White Sox picking up the win and evening the series. One note here is the Mets may be looking for him to pitch a Game 2 in the Wild Card Series again.

Mark Canha

Stats: .138/.212/.241, HR, 3 RBI

This century, the Athletics have been defined by quick postseason exits. That is what Canha has experienced being part of teams who lost the Wild Card Game in consecutive years and never advancing to the ALCS.

Carlos Carrasco

Stats: 0-1, 3.86 ERA, 1.286 WHIP, 4,.5 BB/9, 10.3 K/9

Carrasco would miss Cleveland’s pennant run with a broken right hand. Cleveland would lose in the ALDS in each of the ensuring years, but Carrasco did what he could to prevent that pitching well in his one start in each series.

Eduardo Escobar

Stats: .357/.357/.429, 2B

Escobar’s postseason experience is all of five games. While he amassed five hits, he didn’t have much of an impact for two teams that were quick exits.

Mychal Givens

Stats: 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.0 BB/9, 11.6 K/9

Givens lone postseason appearance came in that epic 11 inning Wild Card Game against the Toronto Blue Jays forever defined by Zack Britton not appearing in the game. Givens was brilliant in the game helping save the Baltimore Orioles by pitching 2 1/3 scoreless after Chris Tillman was knocked out in the fifth.

Terrance Gore

Stats: .000/.000/.000, 5 SB, CS

Gore is known as a lucky rabbit’s foot having been a part of two World Series winning teams. However, he has been more than that. He has been a pinch runner extraordinaire stealing five bases. One interesting fact is his one caught stealing was upon review when it was determined he slightly came off the bag against the Houston Astros in the 2015 ALDS.

Francisco Lindor

Stats: .263/.327/.463, 4 2B, 5 HR, 12 RBI, SB, 3 CS

Lindor has had huge moments in the postseason. In 2016, he had a .979 OPS in the ALCS, the only LCS he has played in his career. In his last postseason appearance, the 2018 ALDS, Lindor was great against the eventual pennant winning Houston Astros with a 1.273 OPS.

Starling Marte

Stats: .167/.231/.306, 2 2B, HR, RBI, SB

Like Canha, Marte played for a Pittsburgh Pirates team known for not being able to advance in the postseason. What is remarkable with Marte is this is the second straight postseason series he will not be able to appear in his career due to injury.

Trevor May

Stats: 0-0, 0.333 WHIP, 0.0 BB/9, 6.0 K/9

May was part of those Minnesota Twins, so you knew they weren’t getting past the New York Yankees. That Twins team also didn’t get past the Houston Astros. May was not remotely to blame pitching three scoreless innings in two separate postseasons.

James McCann

Stats: .167/.286/.167

In the 2020 season which led to McCann getting a big contract with the Mets, he did not have an impact in the inaugural Wild Card Series.

Tyler Naquin

Stats: .161/.188/.226, 2 2B, 3 RBI

As a rookie, he was part of that Cleveland team who came as close as any team could to winning the World Series. Unfortunately, Naquin did not do much that postseason or in his postseason career.

Adam Ottavino

Stats: 0-1, 5.40 ERA, 1.714 WHIP, 5.4 BB/9, 7.7 K/9

Ottavino really struggled in the 2019 postseason; however, Ottavino was overworked. He would appear in seven straight games to diminishing returns. In his postseason, with the 2021 Boston Red Sox, Ottavino was terrific allowing just one earned in five appearances.

Darin Ruf

Stats: .091/.091/.364, HR, RBI

Ruf’s first postseason experience came in the NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers last season. The highlight for Ruf was hitting the game tying homer in the sixth off Julio Urias in a game the Giants ultimately lost. It should be noted Ruf will most likely not be appearing in the Wild Card Round due to injury.

Max Scherzer

Stats: 7-6, 3.22 ERA, 1.104 WHIP, 3.6 BB/9, 11.2 K/9

Remarkably, this will be the ninth postseason series for the Mets Game One starter. In his young days with the Detroit Tigers, he had flashes of brilliance. In 2019, he had a 2.40 ERA for the eventual World Series Champion Washington Nationals. Last year, he was great for the Dodgers until fatigue set in during his last start.

Daniel Vogelbach

Stats: .167/.286/.333, 2B

Vogelbach did not have much of an impact for Milwaukee Brewers teams who were quick outs in consecutive seasons.

Taijuan Walker

Stats: 0-1, 36.00 ERA, 18.0 BB/9, 27.0 K/9

Walker has made only one postseason start, and that came in the 2020 pandemic season. The Dodgers jumped all over him in the first, and he and the Arizona Diamondbacks never recovered.

Buck Showalter

Record: 9-14

Showalter will always be defined in the postseason by not using Britton in the American League Wild Card Game. Previous to that, he had been defined by his teams doing better with a different manager in the ensuing postseason.

Much of the reason is Showalter has made a number of curious to baffling decisions in the postseason. It’s not just Britton.

It was leaving in David Cone after the Ken Griffey Jr.. homer, and then trusting Jack McDowell in extras. It was using Bobby Chouinard against Edgardo Alfonzo. And yes, it was not using Britton.

Showalter’s teams have only won one postseason series. He had his best chance of going to the World Series in 2014 where the Orioles were swept by the Kansas City Royals.

Right now, none of this matters. He has a Mets team built to win the World Series. If this Mets team does in fact win, no one will care about his previous failures, and Showalter will have the last piece to what would then be a Hall of Fame managerial career.

 

 EDITOR’S NOTE: This article will also appear on MMO.

 

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Mets Projected Postseason Roster

While the division is still up for grabs, the New York Mets are definitively headed to the postseason. While their opponent remains to be seen, we can start looking at who will be on the roster. After all, the Mets have begun doing that themselves by playing Mark Vientos in addition to taking looks at starters Tylor Megill and David Peterson in the bullpen.

While September rosters are at 28, rosters will drop back down to 26 for the postseason. So with that, at least two players currently on the roster will not be on the postseason roster. With that in mind, here’s a look at who is currently a lock to make the postseason roster.

CATCHERS (2)

Believe it or not, Francisco Alvarez could potentially be added to the postseason roster. However, that’s only in the event of an injury to McCann or Nido and another to Michael Perez. Put another way, we’re going to see McCann and Nido all postseason.

INFIELDERS (5)

There are no surprises here. This is obviously the starting infield with the Escobar/Guillorme platoon. Of course, Marte’s health will impact if Guillorme and Escobar play everyday with McNeil in right field against right-handed pitching.

OUTFIELDERS (3)

The obvious caveat here is Marte. If he is good to go, there are four outfielders who will be good to go. However, at the moment, we do not know how or if Marte can play through the pain. Keep in mind, that broken middle finger is inhibiting his ability to throw.

DH (1)

Simply put, Darin Ruf is not doing enough to secure a spot on the postseason roster, and the same goes for Vientos at the moment. The Mets obviously brought Gore in for the sole purpose of being a pinch runner, but his spot may be in some doubt with the Mets platoon strategy. Marte’s health may very well impact who is carried to be the right-handed DH with Marte himself being a possibility.

STARTERS (5)

We now the top three will be deGrom, Scherzer, and Bassitt. At the moment, it looks like the Mets will have to decide between Carrasco. Whichever they pick, it would be an absolute shock if the Mets do not put the other starter in the bullpen for the postseason.

BULLPEN (4)

There are a name or two here that may very well be here, but at the moment, this is the only group that can be considered a lock. Yes, it is a surprise that’s it after a long season and multiple opportunities for upgrades.

With all the aforementioned players, the Mets have 20 players who are locks for the postseason roster. Per MLB roster rules, the Mets (or any team) can only carry up to 13 pitchers. At the moment, the Mets have nine pitchers considered as locks. As a result, the Mets can add up to four more pitchers leaving them to add two position players.

POSITION PLAYER BUBBLE

If Marte is healthy and ready to go, he will be on the postseason roster. However, the Mets have to be very careful here. If they carry Marte in the first round series, and he can’t go that puts them in a very precarious spot. That means they’re going to be down a player for the round, lose Marte for the ensuing series if he needs to be replaced on the roster, or both.

Marte’s availability is the biggest question mark, and it may be the biggest issue with how the roster is comprised.

For example, Gore was brought here solely to pinch run in the postseason. However, if Marte is still working his way back, the Mets just may roll the dice and use Marte for the role and revisit it again for the next series. If Marte can’t play the field but can DH, that takes Ruf and Vientos completely out of the picture.

Essentially, what Marte can and can’t do will dictate which two players will make the roster. Ideally, the Mets probably want to carry Marte and Gore, but we will see if that is a possibility. Of course, we can’t rule out the possibility, the Mets carry just 12 pitchers with a reliever going to the bullpen to allow the Mets to carry Marte, Gore, and one of Ruf/Vientos.

RELIEF PITCHER BUBBLE

As noted above, we can see the Mets carry 3-4 pitchers from this group. Keep in mind, who the Mets carry from this group may be somewhat opponent dependent.

Right off the bat, the Mets would carry Givens, but he is on the COVID IL. Until he is activated, we are not quite sure if he can be carried on the postseason roster, at least not in the first round. Assuming for a second Givens is available, things get interesting.

Realistically speaking, the Mets will carry Rodriguez even though he has been bad all year. Of course, Lucchesi is a wild card here. However, if we don’t see him pitch in the Majors soon, there is just no way the Mets can carry him on the postseason roster.

If the Mets want two left-handed relievers, they are definitively going to carry Rodriguez and Peterson (short of Lucceshi being good to go). If they carry both, and Givens is healthy, that may just be a full bullpen depending on what the Mets want to do from a position player perspective.

To a certain degree, that squeezes Williams off the postseason roster. That is unfair and dubious considering he has been one of the Mets best pitchers all season. That said, if you’re carrying your best pitchers, Williams has been that all season.

Theoretically, Megill of Co-No fame would be left off the roster. At the moment, Megill is trying to prove he can be utilized in the bullpen.

Overall, this all hinges on Marte’s health. The role if he can play, if he can play role at all, can dictate just how the Mets are able to comprise their postseason roster. Right now, there are eight games for players to secure their place on the roster leaving a number of moving pieces and decisions yet to be made.

 

 

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Mets Should Move Taijuan Walker To Bullpen

It doesn’t have to be today. It doesn’t have to be this week. It’s certainly not a punishment. However, sooner or later the Mets should move Taijuan Walker to the bullpen.

Simply put, after Carlos Carrasco’s latest gem, he needs to be the fourth starter in the postseason. This is far more Carrasco winning a job than it is Walker losing it.

Over his last 11 starts, Carrasco has allowed two runs or fewer. Over this stretch, he’s 7-2 with a 2.12 ERA, 1.230 WHIP, and a 9.4 K/9. He’s pitching great, and the Mets need their best pitchers in the postseason.

Walker has again struggled in the second half, but he was great in his last start. We have seen him rise to the occasion and needs to be part of the equation, so the Mets should start looking to put him in the best place to succeed.

To a lesser degree, the Mets are doing this with David Peterson. He’s being removed from the rotation and being put in the bullpen. It’s no secret that it’s to see if he can be a left-handed reliever in the postseason.

Of course, Peterson is in a significantly different spot than Walker. First and foremost, Peterson was filling in for Max Scherzer, and Scherzer is set to come off the IL on Monday.

However, it is illustrative. When the time is right, start putting players in the roles they will be come postseason. Peterson will be a reliever, and so will Walker.

Obviously, winning the division comes first, and clearly Walker is one of the Mets five best starters. He will likely prove that again in his start against the Pittsburgh Pirates. From there, he’s on turn to face:

  • 9/21 at Milwaukee Brewers
  • 9/28 vs. Miami Marlins
  • 10/4 vs. Washington Nationals

Certainly, the Mets want him making that Brewers start. After that, it may be best to remove him from the rotation.

By having Trevor Williams take his spot in the rotation, that would free up Walker to pitch out of the bullpen in that pivotal series in Atlanta.

In terms of attempting to win the division, having Walker at the ready could prove huge. If a starter is knocked out, he can jump in and eat innings or keep the team afloat. He’s also capable of getting the big strikeout or generating a ground ball for a double play.

Looking at the whole picture, this should be Walker’s penultimate start of the season. After Milwaukee, moving Walker to the bullpen aides in winning the division and preparing for the postseason.

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Mets World Series Hopes Hinge On Scherzer

After three straight embarrassing and inexplicable losses, the New York Mets seem back on track. They swept the doubleheader and destroyed the Pittsburgh Pirates in the process.

That was not the only good news. In fact, the Mets got plenty of good news.

Starling Marte has a non-displaced fracture and is day-to-day. Tylor Megill is dominating out of the bullpen in his rehab assignment. Drew Smith is set to start his own.

Then, there’s the Max Scherzer news. In many ways, the reaction is based on your perspective:

The irony of Scherzer saying it’s not week-to-week is he’s on the 15 day IL. That’s literally two weeks and a day. By nature, that’s weeks.

Admittedly, that’s semantics. What truly matters is Svherzer is good to go after those two weeks. As with Carlos Carrasco, he’s not really going to be given a shot to make a rehab start.

Backdating it to September 4, Scherzer can return September 19. The Mets would have 14 games remaining. With a five man rotation and wanting to save billets for the postseason, that’ll mean Scherzer had two starts remaining.

That’s not a lot of time, so Scherzer will have to make do. He needs to use those starts do get fully up to speed because the Mets World Seriew hope now hinge on that right arm.

Chris Bassitt had stepped up in the second half. Conversely, Walker and Carrasco have been nicked up and have struggled. The Mets can’t go with them both in the postseason.

The Mets need Scherzer being the Curt Schilling to deGtom’s Randy Johnson. That’s an untouchable top two, and with Bassitt, it might just be unbeatable. However, that hinges now on Scherzer.

The offense has come and gone. That may happen in the postseason (as it usually does. That puts the onus on the starters.

The starters are up to the task, but only if they’re healthy and ready to go. Right now, they’re not. We need to see in two weeks.

If Scherzer is Scherzer, this Mets team could be the World Series favorites. If not, it may be one-and-done. We will find out soon.

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Mets Imploding

Down by two to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the bottom of the eighth. Buck Showalter sends Bryce Montes de Oca to the mound.

If you want to crystallize everything going wrong with the New York Mets right now, that paragraph does it. The Mets can’t outscore the Pirates, and in a crucial spot, they have a rookie who had all of 0.2 innings to his career to the mound.

The Mets biggest need at the trade deadline was the bullpen. Billy Eppler walked away with only Mychal Givens. It was inexcusable then, and it’s all the more now.

Eppler was betting on injured players, and he wanted to move players from starting to the bullpen. With players like Tylor Megill and Joey Lucchesi, both situations applied.

When you look at this Mets team, they’re just imploding, and nothing is working. In many ways, this is why Showalter was hired. The Mets wanted a season leader to ensure things like this would never be an issue.

This is the same Showalter who used Tommy Hunter for the third time in four days. Much like how he did that very recently with Adam Ottavino, the ensuing homer wasn’t a shock.

For whatever reason, Showalter hasn’t been that calming presence. We see a lot of that with Pete Alonso’s struggles and noticeable frustration on the field.

There’s a lot of panic everywhere. We saw that with Carlos Carrasco getting a start without so much as throwing one rehab inning in the minors.

A lot of this is outside Showalter’s control much like with Willie Randolph in 2007. In 2007, Randolph got a huge chunk of the blame. So far, Showalter is dodging that criticism even with his recent very questionable bullpen management.

Showalter isn’t the reason Max Scherzer left his last start early with a re-aggravated left side. He’s not the reason Luis Guillorme and Brett Baty went down. He’s not the reason Starling Marte got hit in the hand and had to leave the game.

The trade deadline acquisitions stopped hitting. Really, everyone not named Eduardo Escobar, Brandon Nimmo, and Marte stopped hitting. Oh, and Marte is hurt.

Whatever the case, the Mets lost three in a row against teams on pace to lose over 100 games. Worse yet, each of those losses were by six runs. More than anything, that’s completely unacceptable.

It’s one thing to slump. It happens to everyone. Everyone loses to bad teams. However, there is no excuse to being non-competitive against flat out horrid teams.

Right now, the Mets are imploding. The good news is there’s still plenty of time to right the ship, and they’re still in first place (for now). All it takes, is a big start or hit to turn things around and get the Mets back on track.

Fortunately, Jacob deGrom takes the mound in the doubleheader. After that, we shall see.

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Jose Butto – What To Expect

With Carlos Carrasco on the IL, Taijuan Walker battling back spasms, and a doubleheader, the New York Mets are recalling Jose Butto. He will make his Major League debut against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Butto entered the season as MMN’s 11th ranked prospect. After the Chris Bassitt trade with the Oakland Athletics, he moved to the top 10 by Opening Day.

At the moment, Butto is a two pitch pitcher still searching for that third pitch. As of now, it’s an inconsistent curve. In the long run, it would seem a slider would work better with his repertoire and 3/4 arm slot.

That’s the bad news. The good news is he has a lethal fastball/change-up combination. He has above-average command of both pitches, and there is about a 10 MPH difference.

The fastball is around the mid-90s topping out around 90 MPH. Both the fastball and change generate both a high spin and swings-and-misses.

In 20 starts and two relief appearances for Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse, Butto has a 10.2 K/9 while striking out 26.2% of the batters he’s faced. At the moment, the K/9 is on pace for a career high, and the strikeout percentage would be the second best of his career.

In previous seasons, he’s shown better control. That especially goes to last year when he had a 2.2 BB/9. That’s creeped up to a 3.4 this year. However, with the strikeouts and .245 batting average against, he has been effective.

With the walks up and still predominantly being a two-pitch pitcher, Butto has averaged just under five innings per start. That carries the caveat of the Mets being cautious with young starters to begin the season, and his being lifted after one inning in his last start to prepare for his Major League debut.

Overall, he’s 6-6 with a 4.12 ERA, 1.312 WHIP, 3.4 BB/9, and a 10.2 K/9.

While there is still some debate over whether he’s a reliever or starter in the long term, that fastball/change combination is Major League caliber. For now, he gets his chance against the Phillies. From there, we’ll see.

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Mets Series Loss To Braves Not Remotely A Concern

For the first time this season, the New York Mets lost a series to an NL East opponent. With it being the second place Atlanta Braves, it may be cause for concern.

Don’t be.

If we go back over the series, this was really a fluke and bad luck. This really had nothing to do with the Braves being better or the Mets being exposed.

In the first two games, Carlos Carrasco and Taijuan Walker were injured. That lead to the Braves beating Adonis Medina and RJ Alvarez.

Medina won’t be anywhere near a postseason roster, and Alvarez has already been designated for assignment. Walker isn’t on the IL, and as already noted, with David Peterson and Trevor Williams, the Mets are fine from a starting pitching perspective.

The Mets responded by winning with Max Scherzer. It was closer than expected, and the rain delay likely played a part. Still, the Mets win with Scherzer, and the Braves still can’t hit Edwin Díaz.

The finale, well, it was a frustrating loss reminiscent of the late 1990s. It was also a series of flukes.

The game was 2-2 when Jacob deGrom left the game with one on and two outs in the seventh. Yes, but the Braves made an inspired call with a hit-and-run, but boy, was that a fluke play.

It was a pitch off the plate that just got through the shift. Tip your cap, yes. Great execution, certainly. Still, a fluke play.

That doesn’t remotely compare to the ninth. Francisco Lindor hit a lead-off single. He then should’ve had second stolen. That was until Pete Alonso swung at the first pitch.

Lindor had to hold up. It could’ve been caught. Getting doubled off effectively ends the game. His view is blocked, and he erred on the side of caution.

It should’ve been Lindor at second with Alonso at the plate. It could’ve been first and third with no outs. Instead, it was runner at first with one out. It was the slower Alonso too.

Again, fluke play. Arguably, this was born of poor execution with Alonso being way too aggressive.

Fluke or not, these two plays defined a maddening loss. It was also what the Braves needed to finally beat the Mets in a series this year.

Again, it took two pitcher injuries and two fluke plays. That’s what it takes for the Braves to take down the Mets.

The Braves won. Good for them. It still doesn’t change the fact the Mets remain the much better team who only lost due to a series or events near impossible to repeat.

Mets are still vastly superior and will easily win the NL East.

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Mets Starting Pitching Will Be Fine Without Carrasco, Walker

In back-to-back games, the New York Mets saw Carlos Carrasco and Taijuan Walker to injury. We would also see the Mets lose both of those games.

With Carrasco, it was very bad news. He has an oblique strain which takes about a month to heal. Depending on how he heals, his season may be in jeopardy.

With respect to Walker, it’s the second time in three starts he’s had an issue. This time, it was back spasms. At this point, there’s no telling when he can return.

Losing both pitchers hurts as both have been very good for the Mets this year. They’ve been the mainstays and stabilizing forces for a rotation which has dealt with more than their fair share of injuries.

That is exactly how we know the Mets rotation will be fine in their absence.

In all due respect to Carrasco and Walker, they’re not Jacob deGrom or Max Scherzer. We didn’t see deGrom until August, and Scherzer was down for all of June and part of May.

Carrasco and Walker stepping up were part of the reason. That was just part of it as the Mets needed pitchers to step up in the vacated rotation spots.

First and foremost, David Peterson has been in-and-out of the rotation due to a myriad of pitcher injuries. In his 14 starts, he’s 5-2 with a 3.17 ERA, 1.225 WHIP, and a 10.5 K/9 while averaging five innings per start.

In sum, Peterson has shown himself to be a more than capable fifth starter with real upside. While he’s a step back from Carrasco and Walker, he’s a credible Major League starter who has flashes of brilliance.

Trevor Williams has served just about every role for the Mets. That includes emergency starter, spot starter, and fifth starter.

Wiliiams has been much better in the bullpen. As a starter, he’s pitched at least five innings just three times in eight starts. He has a 4.67 ERA as a starter with a drastically reduced strikeout rate.

That said, his last start was his best. On July 7, he shutout the Miami Marlins over seven innings while limiting them to just two hits. Ultimately, he has the ability to have a good to great start.

There’s also the Tylor Megill factor. The Mets had announced he was moving to the bullpen, but that was before these most recent injuries.

Overall, the Mets have credible starters to jump into Carrasco’s and Walker’s spots. We know the Mets have pitchers who can pitch well. In the end, that’s why there’s no reason to panic.

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