Jay Bruce

Assessing The Addison Reed Trade

In assessing how the Mets fared in the Addison Reed trade, let’s start with the obvious.  The fact Sandy Alderson was able to turn Miller Diaz and Matt Koch into a great run with Reed plus Red Sox prospects Stephen Nogosek, Jamie Callahan, and Gerson Bautista was absolutely phenomenal.  No, it doesn’t rank up there with Noah Syndergaard, Travis d’Arnaud, and Wuilmer Becerra for R.A. Dickey, but nevertheless, it was a coup.

Still, the question remains whether Sandy got a good return for the 2017 version of Reed.

Let’s start with this.  Since joining the Mets, Reed has been one of the best and more versatile relievers in baseball.  He has deftly handed the seventh, eighth, and ninth inning.  His 142.0 innings pitched since joining the Mets is fifth in baseball, and his 2.09 ERA over that stretch is great. Intuitively, you may not believe Reed is a top reliever in baseball, but he was.  From 2016 to the present, Reed posted the sixth best fWAR in the majors (3.5).  Aside from Kenley Jansen and Andrew Miller, who we all know are otherworldly right now, Reed is as good, if not better than any reliever in baseball.

Looking over the list of potential free agents, Reed could have arguably been considered one of if not the best reliever on the free agent market.  With that being the case, it was likely worth gambling and giving him the qualifying offer putting his value at a second round pick or the equivalent.

Looking at the Mets haul, they most likely received that.  The trio of arms all throw in the upper 90s.  With respect to Nogosek and Bautista, they both have a good but inconsistent slider, and there are some control issues.  If they figure it out, and realistically speaking, they are in the right organization to do so, the Mets have two potential late inning relievers.  With Callahan, they have a near MLB ready reliever who can generate a high number of strikeouts and could be ready to help the Mets as soon as next year.  To that end, the Mets certainly did receive a second round equivalent.

Where the debate becomes dicey is when you ask the question whether the Mets could have done better.

For starters, there is no real way of knowing that.  We are not privy to the general back-and-forth between general mangers.  We also don’t know if there was a theoretical better offer the Mets rejected because they liked the players the Red Sox offered more.

We should also consider, last year, the Yankees seemingly built an entire farm system (hyperbole) by trading Miller and Aroldis Chapman.  Each trade fetched the Yankees two of their trade partners’ top five prospects.  In terms of Gleyber Torres, it got them one of the best prospects in baseball.

With Reed arguably being the top reliever on the market with at least eight teams interested, it makes you question how the Mets walk out of a deal without an organization’s top five prospect.  The counter-argument is the prices this year are not the same as they were last year.  In the end, we have no idea if this was the proverbial best trade, and the reviews on the trade have been all over the place.

Ultimately, I find the trade underwhelming, and I do question the Mets motives a bit.  If you look at their recent moves, they have all been bullpen driven.  Lucas Duda was moved for Drew Smith.  The team went out and obtained AJ Ramos.  Now, the Mets got an arguably low return for a trio of fireball throwing relievers.  I’m not so sure the Mets approached this trade deadline with the intent on rebuilding the minor league system as much as they were intent on rebuilding their bullpen.

In the end, if the Mets goal was really to build the bullpen in the trade market, they have to back that up by spending real money in the free agent market to back up their decisions.  If they don’t do this, they may not have only lost out on the possibility on maximizing their returns for the pieces they did move, they may also miss out on the 2018 postseason.

No One Wanted The Mets Position Players

Entering the trade deadline, the Mets had eight players who were impending free agents and another two who could be free agents if the Mets declined their 2018 options.  Despite the Mets looking to get something in return for each of these prospects, they walked away from the trade deadline having made just two deals:

Lucas Duda for Rays minor league reliever Drew Smith

Addison Reed for Red Sox minor league relievers Stephen Nogosek, Jamie Callahan, and Gerson Bautista

If you are going to question why the Mets didn’t do more look no further than their 48-55 record.  Simply put, the teams in contention didn’t have much interest in the players who have led the Mets from potential World Series contenders to also-rans.

Sure, there will be people who point out it was not a robust market for position players.  That’s true, but it did not prevent the White Sox from moving Melky Cabrera, the Athletics from moving Adam Rosales, or for that matter, the Mets from moving Duda.  This brings about the question over why teams weren’t interested in the Mets pieces.  For each player, there is a different answer:

RF/1B Jay Bruce

2017 Stats: .263/.326/.523, 19 2B, 27 HR, 72 RBI, 2.3 WAR

When assessing why teams aren’t interested in Bruce, one thing to keep in mind is team’s don’t covet home runs much in the same fashion they once did.  Remember, Chris Carter went from winning the National League home run title last year to being a non-tendered free agent with little interest on the free agent market.  So, yes, the 27 homers are good, but they do not completely define a player’s value.

Keep in mind, Bruce is no longer considered a good defensive player.  While, it should be noted his 8 DRS and 2.6 UZR are good defensive numbers, it is coming off a season where he posted a -11 DRS and a -8.9 UZR.  To the eyes, Bruce does look a step slower in right.

As for the rest of the value, Bruce has shown himself to be a first half player who tapers off in the second half.  To that end, he hit .250/.281/.500 in July.  Potentially, this could be the beginning of a prolonged slump like we saw Bruce have with the Mets last year.  Certainly, other teams noticed that as well, and they might be scared off by how poorly he performed when asked to change teams mid-season.

INF Asdrubal Cabrera

2017 Stats: .260/.339/.404, 15 2B, 9 HR, 30 RBI, SB, -0.4 WAR

In 2017, Cabrera got hurt, and when he was asked to move off shortstop, a position where he has posted a -9 DRS and -4.7 UZR, he balked.  First, he demanded his option be picked-up, then he demanded a trade.  Things like that don’t go over well when you have shown yourself to have a lack of range at three infield positions, and you are not hitting well at the plate.

OF Curtis Granderson

2017 Stats: .224/.330/.446, 20 2B, 3 3B, 13 HR, 38 RBI, 3 SB

To a certain extent, the relative lack of interest in Granderson is surprising.  After a slow and painful start, he has been a much better player since June 1st hitting .258/.404/.558.  He’s also accepted a role on the bench without being an issue in the clubhouse.  As a pinch hitter this year, he is hitting .267/.421/.533.  If your team has an injury, you know he can capably fill in at three outfield positions.  He’s also a tremendous clubhouse presence.  Ultimately, this tells us teams were scared off by his age and his $15 million contract.

INF Jose Reyes

2017 Stats: .226/.289/.387, 17 2B, 6 3B, 9 HR, 38 RBI, 13 SB, -1.0 WAR

Let’s start with the obvious.  Adding Reyes to your team is a potential PR nightmare.  The Cubs thought it worthwhile for Aroldis Chapman, but it is likely no one is going down that road with a below replacement level player.  As noted, the main issue is Reyes has been bad this year.  Even with the recent surge, he still hasn’t been great this year, and there was zero interest even before he was hit on the hand.

C Rene Rivera

2017 Stats: .232/.277/.374, 4 2B, 6 HR, 20 RBI

Rivera’s reputation as a defensive catcher and pitching whisperer has taken a bit of a hit this year.  Whatever the reason, he did not have the same touch with pitchers like Robert Gsellman like he did last year.  Also, while he is throwing out more base runners, he has taken a significant step back as a pitch framer.  Overall, he still has a good defensive reputation and is a good backup catcher, but he hasn’t excelled in the areas where he excelled in year’s past.

2B Neil Walker

2017 Stats: .266/.347/.455, 13 2B, 2 3B, 9 HR, 34 RBI, 0.9 WAR

If Walker stayed healthy, there may have been some semblance of a trade market for him.  When he has played he has hit, but he has only played in 63 games as a result of a partially torn left hamstring.  This was a year after he had season ending back surgery.  Between the injury history and his $17.2 million salary, the lack of trade interest in him is certainly understandable.

Looking at the above, it is understandable why there was at best tepid interest in the Mets trade pieces.  That is why they are still on the Mets roster.  However, this does not preclude an August trade.  To that end, Mets fans were all disappointed the Mets weren’t able to moved Marlon Byrd at the 2013 non-waiver deadline.  Twenty-seven days later, Byrd was traded with John Buck for Dilson Herrera and Vic Black.

Hopefully, not moving these players is just a temporary set-back.  Hopefully, the failure to move these players does not prevent the Mets from calling up Dominic Smith and Amed Rosario to the majors.

Conforto Homers Twice In Comeback Win

This was a Mets game that went from promising to false hope, to utter surprise, to more often same, to sheer shock, and finally joy. 

The Mets were off to a quick lead thanks to homers from Jay Bruce and Michael Conforto:

https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/891129995120316417

The homer must’ve been extra special as he was back in his hometown in front of his friends and family.

The Mets lead grew to 4-0 when Wilmer Flores hit a third inning sacrifice fly scoring Asdrubal Cabrera. Cabrera found himself on third because while advancing to second on a Ariel Miranda wild pitch, catcher Mike Zunino hit him with the throw. With no one guarding third, Cabrera was able to get there without a play. 

For an ever so brief moment, this seemed like enough for Rafael Montero, who started the game terribly. Through the first four innings, Montero had allowed just one hit – a homer by Zunino. It all came crashing down for him in the fifth. 

There were some reasons why. Montero was facing the Mariners the third time through the order. He was getting squeezed a tad by the home plate umpire. As Keith Hernandez pointed out, Rene Rivera was not calling a good game. No matter what the reason, the biggest issue was Montero stopper executing. 

Montero loaded the bases with no outs, and he threw a wild pitch allowing a run to score. It was definitely a wild pitch, but it’s also true Rivera didn’t get down completely to block that pitch. 

Montero then walked Jean Segura to re-load the bases, and Robinson Cano hit a sacrifice fly to pull the Mariners within one. Montero then issued another walk, this one to Nelson Cruz, to re-load the bases. At this point, Terry Collins did what he had to do, and he pulled Montero. 

Unfortunately, Josh Edgin didn’t get the job done. He allowed a two run RBI single to Kyle Seager. With that, the Mets 4-1 lead became a 5-4 deficit. 

Through the work of Hansel Robles and Jerry Blevins, the Mets remained within a run. 

The Mets got that run back when Conforto hit not just his second homer of the game, but his second homer of the game against a lefty. This time it was Marc Rzepczynski

This led to the Mariners bringing in a friendly face – David Phelps.  Entering the game, Phelps had a career 6.09 ERA against the Mets. The ERA would go up. 

Cabrera and Bruce each singled, and Flores hit what could’ve been a double play ball due to his lack of speed. With Flores just barely beating the throw, the inning continued. 

Neil Walker would go the other way with the ball hitting an opposite field RBI single against the shift. Flores would then score on a Curtis Granderson RBI single off the glove of Mariners first baseman Danny Valencia. The single gave the Mets a 7-5 lead. 
Like we’ve seen with Paul Sewald on a few occasions this year, he got himself into some trouble. With the Mets having used both LOOGYs, Collins stuck with his young reliever in this spot. 

After a Jarrod Dyson sacrifice bunt, the Mariners had runners at second and third with one out. 

Sewald escaped the jam striking out Zunino and getting Segura to strike out.

This set the stage for what may very well be Addison Reed‘s last save opportunity as a Met. 

With a Ben Gamel grounder eating up Walker, it appeared as if this could be another tense outing. Reed settled down, and he erased Gamel inducing Robinson Cano to hit into a 4-6-3 double play. After a Nelson Cruz fly out, Reed had his 19th save of the year. 

It was a good win. At a minimum, it shows even with the Mets selling this team is still playing hard. 

Game Notes:  Lucas Duda homered in his first game with the Rays. The Mets obtained AJ Ramos in a deal with the Marlins. Segura tried his best to get on base by pretending to get HBP (overturned by review):

Flexen’s Tough Debut

This was about a bizarre a debut as you will possibly see. Unfortunately, that wasn’t always a good thing for Chris Flexen

On the third pitch of his Major League career, he allowed a homer to Manuel Margot. The inning would continue, and the Padres would have runners on the corners with one out. That’s when Travis d’Arnaud would help his young pitcher with two outstanding tags:

The first was off a nice play from Flexen to field a Cory Spangenberg safety squeeze. d’Arnaud then blocked the plate and get the tag down on Carlos Asuaje

During the next at-bat, Spangenberg broke for second. With d’Arnaud throwing through, Wil Myers broke for home. Wilmer Flores made a strong albeit slightly offline throw.  In one motion, d’Arnaud caught the throw and just tagged Myer’s hand before his foot touched the plate. 

The second inning didn’t go as well for Flexen. 

The Padres loaded the bases with no outs, and Margot struck again hitting a double to the wall. Luis Torrens originally stopped at third, but he came home to score as Asdrubal Cabrera forgot how the pick up a baseball. For reasons that cannot be explained, Michael Conforto got charged with the error. 

Flexen was able to navigate out of this inning, and he pitched a good third. With his having thrown 69 pitches, and his turn due up, Terry Collins lifted him. 

Flexen’s final line in the loss was three innings, five hits, four runs, three earned, four walks, and two strikeouts. 

The young pitcher was shaky in the first couple of innings, and by the time he settled in, his manager went elsewhere. Hopefully, he will get one more start to prove himself. 

With Flexen out, Collins went to Tyler Pill despite Pill having thrown two innings yesterday. It came back to burn the Mets as a gassed Pill allowed three runs to give the Padres a 7-1 lead. 

In another bizarre twist, the Mets used both Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz as pinch hitters. This was due to Lucas Duda getting traded and T.J. Rivera

The real shame in all of this is just with one or two different things happening, the Mets might’ve won this game. Case in point was the seventh inning outburst. 

With the Mets down 7-1, Yoenis Cespedes hit an RBI double leading the Padres to pull starter Luis Perdermo and bring in Jose Torres.  Torres immediately balked home a run, and then allowed a home run to Jay Bruce pulling the Mets to within 7-5. They’d get no closer. 

After the homer, it was 7-5 Padres. The Mets would get no closer giving the rookie his first major league lost in his first career start. 

Game Notes: Flexen became the first Mets pitcher to make the jump from Double-A to the majors since Mike Pelfrey in 2006. 

Defense Matters, That’s Why The Mets Lost 

Here’s the game in a nutshell. Steven Matz didn’t have it, and the Padres defense made the 85 Bears look like a sieve. 

The Padres were hitting Matz hard right from the jump when Manuel Margot hit a two run homer to give the Padres a 2-0 lead. 

After a scoreless second, the Padres jumped all over Matz again scoring four runs. Matz didn’t get help from his defense. Case in point was the Cory Spangenberg grounder. 

Jose Reyes couldn’t pick it up cleanly, and he made an ever so slightly offline soft toss to Wilmer Flores. It wasn’t a particularly difficulty play for either middle infielder, but neither could complete the play. Only because it was home town scoring, it was ruled a “single.”  

This was Reyes’ second RBI of the night with him singling home Jay Bruce in the second inning. 

After that third inning, Matz was done. His ugly final line was three innings, nine hits, six runs, six earned, no walks, and four strikeouts. Honestly, Matz probably wasn’t even that good. 

The Mets did have a chance to get back in this game in the sixth inning. 

The Mets loaded the bases with one out against tiring Padres starter Jhoulys Chacin with Lucas Duda coming to the plate. Padres Manager Andy Green went to the left-handed Buddy Baumann to face Duda.

Duda hit a deep enough fly ball, but the combination of Hunter Renfroe‘s arm and Asdrubal Cabrera‘s lack of speed, there would be no sacrifice fly. Cabrera would score when Baumann walked Reyes pulling the Mets to within 6-2. 

Craig Stammen came in to pitch to Rene Rivera, who hit a hot shot up the middle. Allen Córdoba made a nice play on the ball, which could’ve been a two RBI single, and got Rivera at first to end the inning. 

With Reyes and Córdoba, we really witnessed what a difference defense makes. Then again, we saw it all game long with this Padres defense, especially with both Margot and Jabari Blash making sliding catches to rob Michael Conforto of a couple of hits. 

The Mets did pull within 6-3 when Flores homered to center:

https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/890432456020688896

Even with the homer, the Mets couldn’t catch up to the Padres. Maybe the Mets would’ve had a chance if they had better defense, but the Mets were content to punt on defense this year. It’s haunted them many times. Tonight was the latest example.

Game Notes: Erik Goeddel, Tyler Pill, and Hansel Robles combined to pitch five scoreless innings out of the pen. Pill will likely be demoted tomorrow to make room for Chris Flexen, who is scheduled to make his MLB debut tomorrow. 

Mets Must Trade Jay Bruce

Looking at the numbers, Jay Bruce is having one of his better seasons as a professional and a much better season than most expected with his nightmare stint with the Mets last year.  So far, he has played in 91 games hitting .264/.328/.523 with 25 homers and 67 RBI.  If he were to finish the season with the Mets, he may very possibly challenge the Mets single season home run mark of 41 shared by Todd Hundley and Carlos Beltran.  He should not get that chance.

Simply put, the Mets have to trade Jay Bruce at the trade deadline.

The 30 year old right fielder is a free agent at the end of the season.  Given the fact the Mets are not going anywhere this season with or without him, there is no reason to hold onto him.  There’s even less reason when you consider the Mets are probably better off without him next year.

Heading into next year, the Mets will have Yoenis Cespedes and Michael Conforto firmly set in the Mets outfield for the next three years.  During their tenure with the Mets, both players have shown they are capable of handling center on a short term basis, but both players have also shown they should not be playing center field on a full time basis.  With respect to Cespedes, it is clear neither side wants him moving back to center.

On Conforto’s part, he seemingly wants to play the position.  On the surface, he appears serviceable at the position with a 225.2 innings at the position, Conforto has a 0 DRS and a 1.2 DRS.  Given his work ethic and his athletic ability, he could improve those numbers.  However, he’s not likely to improve them to the point where he’s a good enough defender at the position.

Ultimately, the Mets need a good center fielder.  Their Mets center fielders, including Conforto, have posted a 0 DRS, which is 18th in the majors.  The Mets are in the bottom half of the league defensively at an important defensive position.  That has been a common theme with this team.  This is a bad defensive team that has been bad at key defensive positions.

This has had a direct result on the struggles on the pitching staff.  As a team, the Mets pitchers have allowed an absurdly high .320 BABIP, which is dead last in the majors.  Yes, the pitching staff has had some issues, and yes, the left side of the infield, which is atrocious with a -29 DRS contribute to this.  Another contributing factor is the lack of a true center fielder who can cover the amount of ground a major league center fielder needs to cover.  Again, the Mets center fielders are 18th in the majors.  The team needs an upgrade.

Part of that is finally finding out what Brandon Nimmo can provide.  At a minimum, the Mets need to see if he can platoon with Juan Lagares next year.  For that to happen, the Mets need to trade Jay Bruce to free up some playing time for Nimmo.

If Nimmo can handle the job, great.  If not, the Mets could decide to go with Lagares, or they can look outside the organization for players like Lorenzo Cain.  The one thing they cannot do is bring back Jay Bruce.

Bruce has been a good player for the Mets, he has been healthy, and he has done all the team has asked him to do.  The reward for that is to send him to a contender.  It’s not to bring him back on an overpriced deal or to risk getting stuck overpaying him on a qualifying offer next year.  Bringing him back is only going to cement the Mets defensive problems, and it is going to lead to another season like this.  No one should want that, Jay Bruce included.

Accordingly, it is time the Mets put defense front and center, and move on from Jay Bruce.

Reed Makes Easy deGrom Win Shaky

When the Mets have Jacob deGrom pitching, they look like one of the best teams in baseball. Not only does deGrom shut down the opposition, but his presence on the mound seems to wake up the Mets bats. That was true again today in San Diego. 

The lone mistake deGrom made in the evening was a pitch Hunter Renfroe hit atop the Western Supply Co. Building. At that point, the impressive home run was little more than a footnote in another deGrominant start. 

deGrom’s final line was eight innings, five hits, two runs, two earned, two walks, and eight strikeouts. He’s now won eight straight starts. 

It was a footnote because the Mets scored more than enough runs off Padres starter Clayton Richard. The scoring against him started with Wilmer Flores:

https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/889674702175784960

Coming into the game, Flores only at-bat against Richard was a homer. This at-bat made two straight homers. 

In the third, it looked like Yoenis Cespedes was going to break his long home run drought. Instead, it hit the CF wall, and Cespedes pulled in for an RBI triple scoring Asdrubal Cabrera.  Cespedes then scored on a Jay Bruce RBIsingle through the drawn in infield. 

In the fifth, Michael Conforto got the rally started with a one out double. After Cespedes was walked intentionally, Bruce hit his second RBI single to give the Mets a 4-0 lead. 

After the Renfroe homer, the Mets would get the run back. 

Jose Reyes hit a two out infield single, and he stole his 500th career stolen base. He then scored on a Travis d’Arnaud RBI single. 
With the Padres knocking in another run in the eighth, it created a save opportunity for Addison Reed. Things got interesting with a second Renfroe homer. 

It got more interesting with Manuel Margot and Hector Sanchez hitting back-to-back singles to get the tying runs on with just one out. Jabari Blash JUST missed a homer with the ball going foul and just missing the pole. 

Reed settled down, struck out Blash, and got the final two outs to save the 5-2 game. 

It may have been just a mirage with this being a deGrom start, but the Mets look good again just as they’re selling. 

Game Notes: Zack Wheeler was put on the DL with an arm injury. Tyler Pill will be in the bullpen for now, and Chris Flexen will be called up on Thursday to take his spot in the rotation. 

Mets Need(ed) More From Montero

After what has largely been a disappointing career for Rafael Montero, it certainly seems odd to ask him to have a better final pitching line than seven innings, seven hits, three runs, three earned, one walk, and four strikeouts.  Considering where he’s been in his career, this line seems like nothing short of a miracle.  Certainly, you would take that line from Jacob deGrom and be quite happy.

However, it is not the pitching line yesterday that is at issue.  It was the way those three runs scored.

You hate to see the Mets fall down 1-0 early with Montero allowing a solo home run to the second batter of the game, Marcus Semien.  By the way, the sooner that guy gets out of New York, the better.  After entering the series as a .151/.300/.247 hitter with no multi-hit games, he went off on the Mets.  In the series, Semien was 7-13 with a homer, three RBI, and two stolen bases.

Even with the Mets falling behind early, the team would tie it with Michael Conforto hitting his 19th home run of the season off Atheltics starter Daniel Gossett:

https://twitter.com/TheRenderMLB/status/889201912360439808

Right after that game-tying third inning home run, Montero would allow the Athletics to jump right back ahead in the top of the fourth.  The pitch Khris Davis hit out was middle-middle meaning Montero just failed to execute.

The Mets would rally back in the sixth inning to once again tie the score.  Jay Bruce would hit a lead-off single, move to third on a T.J. Rivera double, and he would scored on a Jose Reyes RBI groundout.  Wilmer Flores walked to continue the rally, but Rene Rivera could not punch home that go-ahead run.  It would cost the Mets as Montero would go right back out there and allow the Athletics to take the lead again.

This time, Montero allowed a solo homer to Matt Chapman.  Again it was a poorly executed pitch over the heart of the plate to a player with plus power.

Overall, Montero allowing just three runs over seven innings is the latest sign of his turnaround from enigma to a major league caliber starting pitcher.  It’s also impressive that even with him allowing these homers he didn’t melt down.  He went right back to working to get the next out.  With him pitching like this, there definitely will be a spot for him on the 2018 Mets roster.

However, while Montero is making these strides, he needs to begin making that next step.  That step is shutting down the opponent when your team either ties the game or take the lead.  Make no mistake, the Mets loss on Sunday was on the Mets offense for not producing against a poor Athletics starter.  However, Montero played a role in allowing those home runs to come at the worst points imaginable.

So yes, Sunday was a step forward for Montero, but it was not as big a step forward as we may want to believe.

Game Notes: This could have been the final home game for Curtis Granderson (0-3, BB), Bruce (1-4, BB, K), and Lucas Duda (0-4, K) as a Met.  Conforto was 2-4 with the homer.

Last Home Game For Some Mets

As the Mets take the field today against the Oakland Athletics, they will play their last home game before the trade deadline.  With the Mets looking to sell, this will likely be the final home game for many of the Mets players.  If so, it has been a fun ride.

Lucas Duda – Duda has had an interesting Mets career.  He was the right fielder for the Johan Santana no-hitter.  He won the first base job from Ike Davis.  He become a power bat in the middle of a Mets lineup that went to the World Series.  He is a grand slam in the NL East clincher.  He hit a three run homer in the NLCS clincher.  He made a bad throw allowing Eric Hosmer to score.  Overall, he has been an underrated Met, who became one of the team’s rare power threats at the position.

Curtis Granderson – Granderson has been the consummate professional, and he was the first major free agent to come to the Mets in the Sandy Alderson Era.  He kept the Mets afloat in the 2015 season as the team dropped like flies around him.  All three homers in the World Series gave the Mets a lead.  He had a great September last year leading the Mets charge to the Wild Card. He accepted a bench role this season.  He has been a great Met and an even better man doing more for the community than perhaps any Mets player we have ever seen.

Asdrubal Cabrera – It was his hot hitting bat that helped the Mets get the top Wild Card.  After years of poor shortstop play, he was a steadying force.  Things have not gone as well this year, but he is now doing all he can do to help the team.

Addison Reed – Reed was a shot in the dark when the Mets grabbed him before the waiver trade deadline in 2015.  From there, Reed became the Mets best reliever, and perhaps the best reliever in baseball over that timeframe.  He went from 7th inning reliever to a pennant winner to a dominant 8th inning guy last year to a lights out closer this year.  He is the biggest trade chip, and he’s most likely going to be the first player gone.  When he goes, he will leave behind a spot in the bullpen that will be near impossible to fill.

Jay Bruce – It is a testament to Bruce that he is having a career year this year after playing some of his worst baseball when he first put on a Mets uniform last year.  He’s on pace for his first ever 40 home run season, and he has given the Mets a reason to consider trying to bring him back.

Jerry Blevins – The lanky Blevins is perhaps the least likely player to be traded of all that are on trading block due to his team option.  If he goes, out the door goes the player who has made more appearances out of the bullpen than anyone this year.  With him would go a terrific LOOGY out of the pen who pitched his best baseball in a Mets uniform.

There are other players we do not reasonably anticipate to go, which makes watching today all the more important.  For any of the aforementioned players as well as some other players like Wilmer Flores, this will be the last time they will wear the home jerseys at Citi Field.  Each one of these players have given us reason to cheer.  Hopefully, they get an extra big cheer today.

Flores Walks Off An Game That Seemed Off The Wheeler

The problem with Zack Wheeler is we don’t know why he is struggling so mightily.  Is it because he hadn’t pitched in over two years due to his Tommy John surgery?  Is it because there is some injury he and/or the Mets are hiding?  Is this just him being the same pitcher he has always been in his career?

The right-hander has not won a game since May 20th losing his last five decisions.  He has not pitched past the sixth inning since June 7th.  No matter what you want to look at, he just hasn’t been good.

Tonight would be no exception.  On the second pitch of the game, Matthew Joyce would hit a homer to give the Athletics a 1-0 lead.  When Wheeler then walked Marcus Semien, you knew it was going to be a rough night for Wheeler.

In that poor first 36 pitch first inning, Wheeler allowed four runs on three hits and four walks.  He allowed the aforementioned homer and a double to Bruce Maxwell.  He put his team well behind the eight ball, and he put them further behind as he grooved a 92 MPH fastball over the heart of the plate to Matt Chapman, who hit a long home run.

Not to belabor the point, but if Wheeler is throwing 92 MPH fastballs, something is wrong here.  Something’s really wrong when you’re walking an American League pitcher.  With this diminished stuff and his continued control issues, he didn’t give the Mets much of a chance.  His final line was five innings, seven hits, five runs, five earned, four walks, and six strikeouts.  He needed 1oo pitches to just get through the fifth.

The Mets looked dead in the water, but fortunately for once their bullpen kept them in the game.  The Mets would get a scoreless inning from Josh Smoker and two scoreless from Josh Edgin.  It didn’t look like this work would matter much as A’s starter Sean Manaea was straight dealing.

That was until the sixth inning.  After a Wilmer Flores double, Jay Bruce would put the Mets on the board:

https://twitter.com/TheRenderMLB/status/888930030058967040

Unlike the old adage, the homer did not kill the rally.  Jose Reyes tripled, and Travis d’Arnaud brought him home with an RBI single.  Curtis Granderson then came into the game as a pinch hitter.  Granderson hit a grounder that would normally have been an inning ending double play.  Because the A’s had the shift on, it gave Granderson an opportunity to beat the throw to first.  That would allow d’Arnaud to score the third run of the inning, and it would give Michael Conforto an RBI opportunity.

Since Conforto was called-up to the majors, he was given little chance to prove he could hit left-handed pitching.  For some reason, he was benched against them until it almost became a self fulfilling prophecy.  However, with all the injuries, the Mets have not had the same ability to bench him against lefties. During this season, Conforto has proven those previous decisions to be just plain silly, and he did it again tonight.

On the night, Conforto would go 2-5 with a double and one RBI.  That double and RBI came in this sixth inning at-bat when he hit an opposite field double scoring Granderson from first pulling the Mets to within 5-4.

The Mets would then get a chance in the eighth.  After a T.J. Rivera lead-off single, it looked as if the Mets had things cooking with Reyes at the plate.  Reyes has been hitting well of late, and he was great in tonight’s game.  Overall, he was 2-4 with two triples and a run.  This at-bat was not one of those two triples as he hit into a double play.

d’Arnaud, who was having a great game of his own going 3-3 on the night, got the two out double over the head of A’s center fielder Rajai Davis.  The Mets then announced Lucas Duda as a pinch hitter, and the A’s countered with the left-hander Daniel Coulombe.  Duda stayed in on the pitch, and he hit a single up the middle easily scoring d’Arnaud and tying the game.

After a Hansel Robles scoreless ninth, it set the stage for another Flores tears of joy moment:

https://twitter.com/JFialkow305/status/888949318719242240

The last time Flores hit a walkoff homer, it helped propel the Mets into the National League East title.  This homer the Mets have a four game winning streak, but it may still be too little too late.  Still, that does not mean we should enjoy this 6-5 win any less.

Game Notes: With the trade rumors swirling, Asdrubal Cabrera started the game at third base.  This was Robles’ second win in as many days.