J.D. Davis
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Looking at the New York Mets injury situation, which hit a nadir when Kevin Pillar was hit in the face, they need all the help they can get.
Honestly, looking at things, they need J.D. Davis back.
Part of the reason is Jonathan Villar‘s struggles. Yes, he is in fact struggling. So far this year, Villar has an 87 wRC+ at the plate, and at third base, he has a -2 DRS and -1 OAA.
There’s also the current pinch hitting options. Patrick Mazeika is a feel good story, but he has a 76.1 exit velocity, and that’s even with the homer.
Now, Mazeika’s presence has allowed the Mets to go to James McCann and Tomas Nido as pinch hitters. While McCann delivered last night, he’s struggled mightily at the plate.
Also, for what little it’s worth, Nido has not been a good pinch hitter in his career. That said, he probably should get more time behind that plate, but that’s a discussion for another day.
The Mets are getting something from Jose Peraza right now, but he’s still not putting up great numbers. There should be very genuine interest in Johneshwy Fargas and Khalil Lee, but it’s apparent the Mets don’t believe either is truly ready.
Breaking it all down, the Mets need help. Yes, Davis is the worst defender in the majors. Yes, his offensive production to date has been nearly entirely BABIP and juiced ball reliant.
Taking all that into account, he’s needed at the moment. He can at least stand at third and in left. He will give you an honest at-bat. Where the Mets are right now, that is sorely needed (pun intended).
Hopefully, Davis’ rehab game goes well permitting the Mets to active him sooner rather than later. At this point, with the way things are going, we can only imagine who else gets injured between now and the later.
The New York Mets went to Tampa Bay flying high, and now, their winning streak is over, and they over wounded . . . literally. It was about as bad a weekend as they’ve had all season:
1. For all the talk of depth, it is very difficult to overcome the loss of Michael Conforto, Jeff McNeil, and Brandon Nimmo. Those are arguably your three best hitters.
2. The Mets “Bench Mob” has done their job, but you do wonder how long they can hold on as the regulars are injured and don’t appear set to get back to their healthy forms soon.
3. In terms of injuries, Marcus Stroman hasn’t been the same since his hamstring issues.
4. With Joey Lucchesi struggling in his current role, the Mets have to question what exactly he is. Is he a starter which gives you maybe four innings? Is he a long reliever? Seriously, what is he?
5. You really do have to question why Lucchesi is constantly allowed to fail when the Mets could just call-up Jordan Yamamoto. Seriously, he can’t be any worse.
6. Again, the Mets trading Steven Matz has come back to bite them. They simply didn’t have the rotation depth to just part with a legitimate starter.
7. David Peterson had a great start just when he needed to have a great start. That said, he needs to get through the bottom third of that Rays lineup unscathed.
8. This isn’t the postseason. You simply cannot have relievers warming up all the time. Teams need to navigate a 162 game schedule, and that is made all the more complicated by last year’s shortened season.
9. Not every loss is Luis Rojas‘ fault, and that loss was certainly not on Rojas. The Mets ran into Tyler Glasnow, they didn’t hit with runners in scoring position, and then their bullpen didn’t perform up to standards.
10. Just like Peterson had to get through the bottom of that lineup, Trevor May has to get out Manuel Margot in that spot. Margot is terrible against right-handed pitching, and he is terrible with two outs and runners in scoring position.
11. With Jacob deGrom going down, the Mets are in danger of running through their bullpen depth by the end of May.
12. At some point, James McCann is going to have to do something. His offense hasn’t come along, and even worse, his framing numbers have been terrible. Maybe, this is his year of adjustment, or maybe, he needs more rest than he’s getting. Whatever it is, with all the Mets injuries, the team needs him to figure it out now.
13. While he’s played a flashy third base, Jonathan Villar has been predictably poor over there. So far, he has a -2 DRS and a -1 OAA. It’s hard to see how he keeps playing everyday when J.D. Davis is ready to return.
14. Who knows how long he can keep it up, but Patrick Mazeika is becoming the fell good story of the season. When he finally gets his first hit, it’s a homer.
15. Fair or not, the Mets need more from Pete Alonso, Dominic Smith, and Francisco Lindor. They’re good enough to carry this offense with the other injuries.
16. Alonso has hit a lot of special homers in his young career, but homering in his hometown had to mean a little bit more to him. Hopefully, that homer sparks a hot streak at the plate which this team so desperately needs.
17. It’s insane to think Jose Peraza has been this good so far. Right now, the Mets have no other option than to just see how long he rides this wave.
18. The Mets are fortunate the NL East can’t get out of their own way right now. They get swept by the Rays, and they still stay in first place.
19. For all the criticism over Lindor and the ratcoon joke, Joe Girardi outright refused to answer questions about his issues with Jean Segura. While some may want to think that’s the better way of handling it, it’s hard to see how that helps brings the team together and fire up the fanbase like the ratcoon joke did.
20. Injured or not, the Mets begin an important stretch with series on the road against the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins. Fortunately, they’re going to put their best foot forward with Taijuan Walker on the mound.
Game Recaps
Mets Lost Due to Glasnow and Clutch Rays Hitting
With Joey Lucchesi proving he can’t be a Major League starter, the Mets have been forced to go with bullpen days when his turn comes up in the rotation. The problem is the Mets can only hide him for so long.
After Drew Smith allowed an unearned run in his first two innings as the opener, the ball would be given to Lucchesi. All the Mets would need from him is a solid outing because they had a lead.
In advance of Lucchesi entering the game, the Mets hit two homers against Shane McLanahan. The first was a three run shot by Jose Peraza in the second.
? JOSÉ PERAZA FOR THREE! #LGM pic.twitter.com/6vYJFhrWrm
— New York Mets (@Mets) May 15, 2021
The second was Pete Alonso in the third. That one must’ve been really special as it came in his hometown.
Pete knew it, we all knew it. ☄️ pic.twitter.com/vHrtzilZWs
— New York Mets (@Mets) May 15, 2021
Lucchesi pitched a clean third, but he’d get into trouble immediately in the fourth issuing a leadoff walk to Yandy Diaz. Joey Wendle doubled, Manuel Margot singled, and Willy Adames doubled. With that, the 4-1 lead was gone.
After two outs, Sean Reid-Foley “relieved” Lucchesi. Austin Meadows doubled, and Randy Arozarena singled. With that, the Rays put up a five run inning. The Mets would be chasing the rest of the game.
After having a three strikeout game, Francisco Lindor got the Mets closer with a solo homer in the top of the eighth. That’s as close as the Mets would get.
.@Lindor12BC cuts into the deficit. ? #LGM pic.twitter.com/Gsez73DoQW
— New York Mets (@Mets) May 15, 2021
The problem with bullpen games like these is everything needs to work. If there’s one hiccup, the wheels come off. That’s what happened with Lucchesi, and it happened again when Jacob Barnes loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth.
Luis Rojas brought in Jeurys Familia to get the Mets out of the jam. Instead, Diaz and Wendle would slam the ball into the turf for doubles clearing the bases and putting the game out of reach.
When all was said and done, the Rays had a six run inning, and they cruised to a 12-5 win. After winning seven in a row, the Mets lost two straight, and their bullpen is showing some signs of weakness.
Game Notes: Jake Hager made his big league debut against the team who once drafted him in the first round. Khalil Lee was sent down. J.D. Davis will begin a rehab stint.
The New York Mets seemingly have a million different issues thus far, but as we saw in their sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks, it is not stopping them from winning games:
1. The biggest issue the Mets have right now is the health of Jacob deGrom. Fortunately, his MRI was clean, and even better, the team is taking a cautious approach by putting him on the IL.
2. The Mets are getting next to nothing from their starting rotation right now, and it is not stopping them from winning games because the bullpen has been phenomenal. There is a lot of credit due to Jeremy Hefner, Jeremy Accardo, and Luis Rojas for not only getting the most out of them, but also for putting them all in positions to succeed.
3. If Edwin Diaz is bailing the Mets out of innings, and he is getting five out saves, this Mets team is going to be completely unstoppable.
4. The Mets are in first place right now without Noah Syndergaard, Carlos Carrasco, Seth Lugo, and Brandon Nimmo. It is high time the narrative on Rojas shifts from over his head to being a good manager. At this pace, he may emerge as a real Manager of the Year candidate.
5. We don’t know what happened between Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor in that tunnel, but we do know it has not stopped them from turning absolutely incredible double plays.
6. The coverage of the “ratcoon” story was all the more puzzling when you consider everything the press looked the other way on when the Wilpons were in control. Apparently harassment of women and interfering with medical decisions didn’t need the serious reporting a fight between teammates warranted.
7. The press feeling insulted by Lindor “lying” to them is tough to take. After all, J.D. Davis lied to their faces about his involvement in the Astros sign stealing scandal, and they didn’t seem to remotely care.
8. At the moment, it seems like Tomas Nido is outplaying James McCann. The problem for any organization is determining whether Nido is superior to McCann or if McCann just needs some additional time to return to his expected form. Many times, it is decisions like these which define a season.
9. The Mets are getting a lot of production out of their bench. As noted, Nido is actually outplaying McCann. We also see Kevin Pillar playing very well in all aspects over the last few weeks. If he can keep this up, he is going to make decisions very difficult for the Mets.
10. If Dominic Smith is going to continue to struggle at the plate and in the field, and Pete Alonso is going to continue to play defense this well, it is going to be very difficult to find Smith playing time. The hope is the firing of Chili Davis could help turn around his season.
11. Once again, Michael Conforto appears to be a very good baseball players, and we are starting to see him pick it up defensively. It just goes to show you not to over rely or overreact to players have slow starts.
12. Jonathan Villar had a golden opportunity to claim himself an everyday job with Davis and Luis Guillorme injured. With his struggles at the plate and seeing him let a pop up fall, he’s cementing himself as a pure bench option.
13. With Villar’s struggles and Albert Almora flat out not hitting, if you look forward, perhaps the Mets could look to bring back old friend Asdrubal Cabrera for bench help for the postseason. Yes, this classifies as getting ahead of ourselves, but we should be embracing the excitement of the moment.
14. David Peterson is certainly making things easy on what the Mets should do when Carrasco and Syndergaard are ready to return from the IL.
15. One of the most bizarre things happening right now is Patrick Mazeika‘s penchant for pinch hit RBI where he doesn’t actually deliver a hit. So far, he has had an extra innings fielder’s choice and a bases loaded walk.
16. One of the biggest shames of the ratcoon fallout is seeing Mazeika not get celebrated for his first career walk off hit.
17. It’s not only funny to see Trevor Bauer up in arms over the Los Angeles Dodgers struggling, but it is downright hilarious he is being outpitched by Taijuan Walker so far this season. And yes, that is happening with Walker having a better ERA+ and FIP than Bauer.
18. For all the problems with the Mets offense, with their pitching, they only need to get to four runs. When that has happened this year, the Mets are 15-2.
19. The Mets do have a negative run differential, but that is partially fueled by their 12 run loss against the Cubs. If you take that game out of the equation, they would have a positive nine run differential, which would be good for sixth in the NL. Put another way, aside from one game, they’ve been in the upper echelon of the NL.
20. The Mets being able to play games has clearly been good for them. They’re getting into a rhythm offensively and defensively. As we see them play more and more games, we can see them get better and better. They’re in first place now, and who knows just how far they will go from here.
Game Recaps
Francisco Lindor and Mets Show Some Fight
The New York Mets had not lost a home series or been swept once this season. That was until the Boston Red Sox came to town:
1. The best way to sum up Jacob deGrom‘s greatness is a bad start is one run over six innings.
2. In four starts, deGrom is 2-2 with a 0.51 ERA. That’s beyond absurd.
3. The long story short is if deGrom doesn’t shut ’em out and hit one out, he’s going to lose the game.
4. That may not be a deGrom thing anymore. The Mets offense has been that bad lately.
5. This isn’t exactly by chance. The Mets are following the pattern of teams who previously retained Chili Davis as hitting coach.
6. As noted and will continue to be noted, Francisco Lindor is a slow starter. If you’re booing him over that, you’re an idiot.
7. Also, imagine booing him when he makes a great play to turn an unassisted double play.
8. Speaking of defense, Pete Alonso has been great at first. While we note the diving play, that stretch on the James McCann throw was excellent.
9. With the Mets offense the way it is, making bad pitching look great, they need all the great defense and pitching they can get. Fortunately, the pitching has been great leading the league in FIP.
10. Keep in mind, this is before Carlos Carrasco, Seth Lugo, and Noah Syndergaard come off the IL. That’s how good the pitching has been.
11. Mets really need to navigate this Brandon Nimmo hip issue because he’s the one consistent bat in this lineup. He’s also playing well in center.
12. Jeff McNeil homered and was dropped in the lineup. It’ll be interesting to find out what Sandy Alderson comes up with to bench McNeil again and/or drop him in the lineup again.
13. Mets held the best offensive team in 2021 to three runs TOTAL over two games. Somehow, the Mets were swept over the two game set.
14. With the Mets pitching and hitting this way, it’s reminiscent of the summer of 2015. The only difference is these Mets are healthy and the other batted Eric Campbell and John Mayberry in the heart of the lineup. These Mets are healthy.
15. It’s way too soon to panic or overreact, but the Mets problems have gone from bad to worse. That said, there is still plenty of time to turn things around.
16. The at-bats by Michael Conforto and J.D. Davis at the end of the second game where literally as bad as you can get. They were swinging at pitches in the dirt.
17. Jeurys Familia and Trevor May have been nearly unstoppable since their struggles in their first appearances. Miguel Castro has been unstoppable all year.
18. Jerry Blevins seemed to be a casualty of the dumb three batter rule when he announced his retirement. Same goes for former Met Oliver Perez who was designated for assignment by the Indians despite pitching well.
19. As Joe Girardi was rightfully flipping out over Genesis Cabrera hitting Bryce Harper in the face and Didi Gregorius in the ribs, he has no issue putting Jose Alvarado on the mound who threw consecutive dangerous up and in pitches to Conforto. If you’re going to be upset about hard throwers with zero control endangering batters, don’t put one on the mound yourself.
20. Despite what people want to tell you, the Mets are going to be fine. They’ll finish April near or at first, and they’re primed for a big May.
In the second inning, Jacob deGrom allowed doubles to Xander Bogaerts and Christian Vazquez to give the Boston Red Sox a 1-0 lead. That qualified this as a bad deGrom start.
Overall, deGrom “only” struck out nine and “only” pitched six innings. His punishment for allowing the one run on just three hits and one walk and for his failing to get a hit himself was a loss.
While deGrom was having an “off-night,” which by the way is better than anyone else’s best, the New York Mets offense was making Nick Pivetta look like deGrom.
Pivetta entered the game with a 3.48 ERA and 1.355 WHIP while walking nearly as much as he struck out. That made him unhittable to this Mets lineup. His final line was 5.0 IP, H, 0 ER, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K.
It’s not like Pivetta was having the game of his life either. He was throwing hittable pitches. The problem is the Mets can’t hit those right now.
The Mets also couldn’t do anything against the Red Sox bullpen. What makes this so maddening was the Mets pitching was PHENOMENAL.
After deGrom, Aaron Loup, Trevor May, and Edwin Diaz each pitched a scoreless inning. The four pitchers combined to allow one run over nine with one walk and 15 strikeouts.
It was just a lame effort all around. Things were at their worst when Michael Conforto and J.D. Davis struck out on pitches in the dirt and in front of the plate. That’s not just how this night went. It’s been like this for a while now, and it needs to change.
The Mets have been swept for the first time this season, and they lost their first home series. They’re also under .500. At least no one in the NL East is really playing any better.
Game Notes: Jerry Blevins was at the game after announcing his retirement. Francisco Lindor was booed again.
If we hearken back to the 2018 season, the New York Mets were languishing, and Todd Frazier landed on the IL for the first time in his career. Jose Reyes was just flat out terrible, Wilmer Flores was at first, and David Wright, well, he wasn’t an option. Down in Double-A Binghamton, Jeff McNeil was flat out raking. He just kept hitting and hitting and hitting.
The answer seemed obvious to everyone. Everyone, that is, except Sandy Alderson and the New York Mets. When pressed on calling up McNeil to play third base, the answer was McNeil was a second baseman only. Of course, the irony there was McNeil was the Binghamton Rumble Ponies Opening Day third baseman.
Back then, it was difficult to ascertain how much of personnel decisions were driven by Jeff Wilpon, whomever Wilpon decided to listen on any given day, or Alderson. Whatever the case, McNeil would eventually get the call-up, prove himself, and he would go on to have an All-Star season in 2019.
Since 2019, things have gone quite uneven for McNeil as it has for the rest of us. In the end, what we do know with McNeil is he is an exceptionally gifted contact hitter, and he is a fiery player who you could trust defensively at four different positions.
According to Baseball Savant, McNeil has a career 3 OAA at second, 3 OAA at third, and -1 OAA in left field. DRS has a much better picture with McNeil having a 5 DRS at second, 6 DRS at third, and a 3 DRS in left field. All told, McNeil is not a Gold Glove, but he is a very solid defender at multiple positions.
As noted, McNeil could hit. Entering this season, McNeil had a 139 wRC+. Since his debut, he has been the 13th best hitter in the majors, and he trailed only Brandon Nimmo among Mets players. All told, McNeil has established himself as a very good, versatile, and valuable Major League player. Despite that, we are seemingly back at square one with McNeil.
With the acquisition of Francisco Lindor, and his preference to hit near the top of the lineup, McNeil was dropped from the top two spots, where he thrived, to sixth and seventh in the lineup. Perhaps it was the drop in the lineup, the new baseball, the delay to the season, the typical influence Chili Davis has on his teams, the pandemic, or just the normal ebbs and flows of the season, but McNeil has struggled.
The thing is, he didn’t quite struggle right away. In fact, to start the season, McNeil was tattooing the ball. Unfortunately, he was not getting any luck. Balls he normally hit for singles and doubles weren’t falling in anymore. The Mets reaction to that was to sit him after the Mets first two games of the season.
That has become an emerging pattern for McNeil. So far, the Mets have played 17 games, and McNeil has only started in 14 of them. The only projected starter who has started in fewer games is J.D. Davis, but that was only because Davis landed on the IL after getting hit by a pitch early in the season.
Davis is somewhat illustrative of the problem here. Davis has again been a nightmare defensively. He’s already a -2 DRS and a -1 OAA at third. He made errors directly impacting his team and leading Taijuan Walker and David Peterson to have shorter starts. The end result was just one game off, where he still appeared as a pinch hitter, and he was put right back in the lineup.
For some reason, Davis is able to work through his problems despite them not being fixable. For McNeil, this is very clearly a blip, but he keeps getting relegated to the bench. Instead of getting to see more pitches and get into a rhythms, the Mets are doing to the opposite. In fact, they’re just setting him up to continue to struggle.
Perhaps, this is just Alderson resting back on previous biases towards players from his first stint with the Mets. Taking a broader look, Dominic Smith has had some similar struggles getting into the lineup. In fact, the Mets have begun using him as a platoon bat. That’s despite him being one of the Mets best hitters against left-handed pitching.
To some extent, McNeil is also being used as a platoon player. For example, he was also not in the lineup against Patrick Corbin. More likely, McNeil is just being punished for struggling. For some reason, he is not going to be permitted to struggle and figure things out at the plate while others can go out there being butchers in the field costing the Mets games.
Make no mistake, how the Mets are handling McNeil is a very big problem. They are taking one of their best players, and they are crossing him up further. They are not putting him in a position to succeed in terms of where he hits in the lineup and in terms of getting to play enough to get into a rhythm and figure things out. Whatever the reason for the McNeil benchings, they have to stop, and they have to stop now.
Well, after the first series of the season was canceled due to COVID19, the Washington Nationals and New York Mets finally got to play in a series. The Mets would win yet another home series and stay above .500:
1. Jacob deGrom is already the second best pitcher in Mets history, and in short order, we will consider him the second best Mets player to ever wear a Mets uniform. In fact, he may already be there.
2. To put in context just how great deGrom is, he’s set the record for most strikeouts to start a season, and he has passed Tom Seaver in Mets ERA and ERA+. Yes, he has been so great he has put himself in Seaver territory.
3. Seeing deGrom hit, you are reminded pitchers can actually hit and help themselves at the plate. The fact other pitchers don’t do it is their own failing, and it is not a good argument for the universal DH.
4. deGrom has driven in and scored more earned runs than he has allowed.
5. Marcus Stroman had one bad day. There is nothing more that should be read into it.
6. We saw Robert Gsellman step up, and he has looks ready to be a solid contributor to the bullpen. Overall, the bullpen has picked it up across the board, and they seem to be outperforming the early season expectations. In some ways, this could be attributable to Jeremy Hefner who had a similar effect in Minnesota as an assistant pitching coach.
7. Once again, Taijuan Walker was really good, and he appears to be the steal of the offseason for the Mets. Notably, when starters are going deep into games, that also helps the bullpen.
8. Michael Conforto‘s defense is still worrisome, especially his arm, but he appears to be getting going at the plate. We saw him hit his first homer of the season, and we saw him get extra base hits on back-to-back days for the first time all season.
9. For reasons that defy expectation, this Mets front office seem to believe more in J.D. Davis than Jeff McNeil. Davis can cost Mets consecutive games with his glove, and they give him on brief rest, but McNeil has some struggles at the plate, and they refuse to try to put him where he thrives in the lineup or let him work through it.
10. Albert Almora doesn’t play much, but when he does, he makes an impact. He scored from first in a pinch running opportunity earlier in the season, and he robbed Kyle Schawarber of an extra base hit as we have only seen Juan Lagares do previously.
11. Jonathan Villar has contributed quite well in the games he has played, and he has earned his playing time. It is really curious why the Mets won’t sit Davis for him, but they will sit McNeil. It’s also curious what Luis Guillorme has to do to get into the lineup.
12. The Mets sat Dominic Smith against a left-handed pitcher again despite his being one of their best hitters against left-handed pitching. Again, better players sit so Davis can be force fed into the lineup.
13. While Sunday was a really good game defensively, the Mets defense continues to be atrocious, second worst in the National League by DRS, and the Mets show little to no interest in playing their best defensive players.
14. It needs to be mentioned again. Jacob deGrom is doing things we haven’t seen since Seaver, and we may never get to see greatness of this level in a Mets uniform again for quite some time, if ever. He is that good, and he is going to be the player we tell our children and grandchildren about for years to come.
15. The Mets better not fail deGrom the way they did Mike Piazza and David Wright. They need to make sure he wins a World Series in a Mets uniform.
16. Brandon Nimmo is very quietly emerging as one of the best players in baseball. He is an on-base machine, and we see his defense steadily improving. This is someone using all the information at his disposal to be better. He should be an All-Star, and at some point, we may need to have serious MVP discussions about him. Then again, that award should go to deGrom.
17. The state of umpiring in the majors may be at its worst. We see calls routinely blown, especially by the home plate umpire. Needless to say, if Nimmo takes a pitch, it’s a ball.
18. Pete Alonso is really heating up at the plate, and we have seen him just demolish homers.
19. Put aside the offense, the work James McCann and Tomas Nido have done behind the plate has been nothing short of phenomenal. They are getting their pitcher the calls they need, and they are playing all around great defense. If McCann can start hitting like we know he can, watch out. Hopefully, that RBI single on Sunday for McCann was a start.
20. Listening to the game on the radio really makes you miss Josh Lewin. No one really wants to hear Francisco Lindor needs to run out foul balls or Nimmo is swinging at pitches because he’s finally confident at the plate. The Mets can and should do better than that, but in some ways, that’s an allegory for their season so far.