Juan Lagares

Cubs Walk All Over Mets

Well, if you watched last night’s game, you got the jist of what was going to happen tonight. The Cubs dominated the Mets, and you were left looking for bright spots. 

Certainly, one was and continues to be Juan Lagares and his defense in center:

Not seen there was Lagares making the throw. His throw lead to a run not scoring on a double base running gaffe by Ian Happ and Willson Contreras. Happ’ was trying to go to third with two outs, and Contreras’ was not hustling home while watching the horror unfold. 

At the time, the play kept the game tied at 2-2. 

The Mets runs had come off a Jose Reyes keynote address off Jon Lester, and a Matt Harvey safety squeeze plating Amed Rosario. No, it didn’t make up for what happened yesterday. 
Speaking of Harvey, the best thing you can say about his start is he left under his own power.

The velocity was there, but his location wasn’t.  When he wasn’t leaving pitches in the hitting zone, he wasn’t throwing strikes. When he was pulled with one out in the fourth, he allowed seven hits, two runs (both earned), and four walks with just two strikeouts. He also left the bases loaded. 

He left them loaded for Hansel Robles, who is having a nightmare of a season. That became evident when he issued a bases loaded walk to Anthony Rizzo and then a two RBI single to Contreras.  Just like that, it was 5-2 Cubs on the way to becoming a 10-2 lead. 

But hey, Robles had a sparking stat line. His was 1.2 innings, one hit, no runs, one walk, and two strikeouts. 

He was the only pitcher with a good stat line. Chasen Bradford allowed four runs in an inning of work. He certainly wasn’t helped out when Asdrubal Cabrera let one go through the wickets. Javier Baez homered off Kevin McGowan in McGowan’s lone inning of work. Jacob Rhame surrendered 

One of the runs Rhame allowed was off a Rivera double. The former Met had quite an evening himself. Despite coming off the bench, he was 2-2 with a run, double, and two RBI. 

Jamie Callahan then had a sinilsr outing to Robles. He relieved Rhame with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth. Just like Robles, he issued a bases loaded walk to Rizzo. Albert Almora then hit a bases leading triple. Unlike Robles, he’d get hit with a charged run. 
With all the frustrations, the Mets showed some fight in the eighth. Rosario scored on a Rene Rivera passed ball. Later in the inning, Dominic Smith hit a two run homer to pull the Mets within 10-5. 

All said and done, it was a hard to watch 13-5 loss featuring Mets pitchers issuing 11 walks. It’s quite the metaphor for a team that everyone not named the Reds or Phillies have walked all over. 

Game Notes: Brandon Nimmo dat for a second straight game against a left-handed pitcher while Nori Aoki got the start in both games. 

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Cubs Show Mets How Much Better They Are

For three and a half innings, the Mets had fight, and they were actually leading the Cubs 1-0. They were in that position for unlikely reasons. 

The first is Travis Taijeron, who has struggled mightily since he was called up, delivered his first non-HR RBI as a major leaguer. That rally got started due to a Juan Lagares hustle double to start that inning. 

At the time the run was scored, you figured it wasn’t going to be enough for Robert Gsellman who was flirting with disaster only to be bailed out by some good defense and good luck. 

In the first, the Cubs had bases loaded and one out. With Willson Contreras having been ruled to have gone out of the baseline to avoid a Jose Reyes tag, Ian Happ grounded into an inning ending double play. 

The Mets turned their second double play in the third with Travis d’Arnaud throwing out Ben Zobrist after a Kris Bryant strikeout for the strike ’em out, throw ’em out double play. Before you get too excited by d’Arnaud, Zobrist was running at maybe half speed. 

Through three Gsellman was well over 60 pitches, and despite him throwing three straight scoreless innings, he was laboring. For those three innings, he bent. In the fourth, he broke. 

The Cubs tied the game on a Jose Quintana perfectly placed sacrifice bunt down the first base line. It not only allowed himself to reach safely, but he moved Jason Heyward to second. More than that, Kyle Schwarber scored on the play. 

He scored because Dominic Smith somehow got a late break and still tried to get Schwarber at the plate. Many will disagree, but trying to get Schwarber wasn’t a bad play because a better throw gets him. 

From there, the Cubs played Home Run Derby blowing the doors off the Mets. The first was a three run homer by Bryant off Gsellman. 

By the time the fourth inning was over, the Mets were down 4-1, and Gsellman had thrown 93 pitches. His final line in the loss was 4.0 innings, five hits, four runs, four earned, five walks, and four strikeouts. 

Schwarber would hit a solo homer off Tommy Milone in the fifth. Ian Happ homered off Josh Smoker in the seventh. 

In sum, the Mets would use four relievers to pitch the final four innings. All of them, Milone, Smoker, Jacob Rhame, and Chris Flexen, would pitch an inning and allow a run. They all contributed to the 8-3 loss.

If you’re looking at a positive from this loss, Asdrubal Cabrera was 3-4 with a double. However, the contributions of Reyes and Cabrera don’t mean much in what should be a 90 loss season. 

Other than Cabrera, you’re looking at Lagares and Amed Rosario each making terrific plays in the field. Short of that, there’s not much to be enthusiastic about in this loss. That is unless you think d’Arnaud throwing out a base runner and his fifth inning sacrifice fly was a big deal. 

It wasn’t. 

Game Notes: Erik Goeddel was unavailable as he was in New York seeing a doctor for dizziness and blurred vision. Nori Aoki grounded out with the bases loaded in the ninth to make it 8-3. 

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Nimmo Has Us Smiling

Whenever you see Brandon Nimmo, you see him grinning ear to ear. Well, tonight he gave Mets fans reason to smile. 

In a surprise decision, Terry Collins made Nimmo the clean-up hitter tonight. Despite, Nimmo not hitting for much power in the minors, he looked every bit the clean-up hitter tonight.  

It was a career night for Nimmo who went 3-4 with three runs, a double, two homers, and three RBI. Oh, and of course, he drew a walk. 

One of those homers was the start of back-to-back homers with Juan Lagares: 

The Nimmo performance and Lagares homer was part of what was a terrific night for the Mets. Now, it wasn’t just terrific because the Mets won 7-2; it was terrific because of who contributed to the win. 

That started with Matt Harvey. 

Harvey, starting on normal rest, took a step in the right direction. He pitched five innings allowing two runs on five hits. It was far from a perfect performance, but it was an improved one. 

We saw his slider get a little sharper as the game progressed. After allowing runs in consecutive innings to start the game, he allowed just one hit from the third inning through the fifth. Had he not been on a pitch limit, it’s likely he would have pitched the sixth. 

Once Harvey left, the Mets bullpen was very good. Josh Smoker struck out the side in the sixth. Jeurys Familia had his best outing of the year pitching two scoreless. While not a save situation, AJ Ramos closed out the game with a scoreless ninth.

At this point of the season, it’s really not about wins and losses inasmuch as its about how the Mets are playing. Tonight, the Mets won getting key contributions from important people. That made this a night that gave you reason to smile. 

Game Notes: Jose Reyes gave the Mets the lead for good singling home Dominic Smith and Kevin Plawecki in the fourth. 

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One Last Drive

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Mets Lose Game And Opportunities 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Doubleheader A Microcosm Of Mets Season 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Mets Win What Was Apparently MILB Player’s Appreciation Day

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Lagares & Nimmo Must Play Everyday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Brandon Nimmo – Mets 2018 Leadoff Hitter?

There are a number of areas the Mets need to address this offseason including both center field and lead-off hitter.  Either one of those areas could be addressed through free agency or perhaps the trade market.  However, before going down that route, the Mets should take a long look at Brandon Nimmo this season.

The 2011 first round draft pick, the first of the Sandy Alderson Era, just became the fourth rookie in Mets history to reach safely in every plate appearance.  That was also the second straight game Nimmo lead off the game for the Mets with a double.  Simply put, this is a player with the skills to be a Major League lead-off hitter.

So far this season, Nimmo has a .410 OBP in 62 plate appearances.  Dating back to last season, Nimmo has a .369 major league OBP in 142 major league plate appearances.  For sure, this is a small sample size, but Nimmo has shown the ability to get on base during his minor league career.  In fact, Nimmo’s .410 OBP last year was the best in the Pacific Coast League.

As for his defense, John Sickels of Minor League Ball wrote last year, “his defensive instincts are impressive and he is a quality defender in center field.”  Certainly, in the small sample we have seen of him, he has shown he has the tools to be a good center fielder.  He has the speed to more than adequately play the position.  His arm is strong enough to play out there.

Still, there is a some lingering doubt about the Mets faith in his ability to play there.  In his 21 major league starts, Nimmo has only started four of them in center.  During that time, the Mets have started Yoenis Cespedes, Michael Conforto and Alejandro De Aza over him in center.  Even if it is not determinative of how the Mets feel about his skills in center, it is certainly not a glowing review.  Still, with his skill set, Nimmo should benefit from the coaching from Tom Goodwin, who has shown himself to be a good Major League outfield coach.

There’s also the matter of his ability to stay on the field.  In four of the last five seasons, Nimmo has spent some time on the disabled list.  He had knee surgery in 2013, which robbed him of some of his speed.  In reality, this isn’t a matter of chronic issues, and the collapsed lung was a bit of a freak injury.  Still, if you are concerned about that, you could platoon him with Juan Lagares.

With Lagares, the Mets have an elite defensive center fielder, who cannot hit right-handed pitching.  You also have an immovable contract with him making $6.5 million in 2018 and $9 million the next.  He also has some of his own injury issues missing time in consecutive seasons with injuries to the same thumb.  Even with Nimmo having a platoon neutral bat, platooning the two players would serve to keep both fresh, and it would help the Mets get Lagares’ glove in the lineup.

However, it is more important to get Nimmo’s bat in the lineup and his glove in center field right now.  The Mets need to find out if they need to address center field and a lead-off hitter this offseason.  The Mets don’t really know if they need to look outside the organization to address those needs until they find out what they have in Nimmo.  It’s time to find that out now.

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Mets Go Young And Win Game

One of the few remaining reasons to watch the Mets is to see how the young players are progressing and whether they can be pieces for the 2018 season. One player getting an unexpected and long audition is Chris Flexen. 

Today was Flexen’s best start in the majors. This time, instead of working hard to get through five innings, Flexen pitched six good innings. 

The Diamondbacks got to him with a first inning rally capped off by a J.D. Martinez RBI single. From there, Flexen settled in, and he would run off four straight scoreless. He did get some help from Wilmer Flores, who made a nice play and a good throw home to nail David Peralta. 

He got more help from Juan Lagares in the fifth. For some reason, A.J. Pollock would test Lagares’ arm on a Martinez line-out. Even with the UCL tear, Lagares has a strong enough arm to nail runners at the plate. It should be noted if Lagares continues playing center this way, and his arm continues being this good, he needs to be in the CF conversation next year. 

With the two plays at the plate, Diamondbacks wouldn’t get to Flexen again until the sixth when Chris Iannetta homered off of him. 

Flexen got out of the inning with a respectable line: six innings, six hits, two runs, two earned, four walks, and five strikeouts. It was his first major league quality start. It was also his third career win. 

After Flexen had allowed the aforementioned first inning homer, the Mets responded in the bottom of the first. 

Brandon Nimmo led off the bottom of the first with a double off Diamondbacks starter Zack Godley. He came home on a Michael Conforto RBI single. The two would combine in the fifth to plate another run. 
There, Nimmo got the rally started with a one out walk, and he moved into scoring position on an Asdrubal Cabrera fielder’s choice. Conforto then delivered the two out RBI single. 

That single gave the Mets a 3-1 lead.  The second run came in the previous inning when Amed Rosario followed a pair of walks to Dominic Smith and Travis d’Arnaud with an RBI single. 

Smith made it 4-2 in the sixth with an absolute bomb to left-center off Jake Barrett. 

The Mets couldn’t quite deliver the knock-out punch that inning. Lagares came up with runners on first and second, and he not into a double play. Nimmo then walked against Jorge De La Rosa, but it was all for naught as Cabrera struck out to end the inning. 
Fortunately, the Mets bullpen, who was been pitching MUCH better of late, didn’t need to help. 

While Jerry Blevins struggled, Paul Sewald came on and retired five straight. AJ Ramos then came on and saved his third game as a Met. 

For tonight at least, the Mets gave their young players a shot. Not only did they play hard, they also won the game. As a Mets fan, you can certainly watch this team learn and improve over the final month of the season. 

Game Notes: With his three homers, Smith has 19 combined homers between the MiLB and MLB leaving him one short of his first ever 20 home run season. 

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