Keith Hernandez
One of the reasons the Mets went out and obtained Jay Bruce at the trade deadline is the team felt they needed another power bat in the lineup other than Yoenis Cespedes. Unfortunately, that trade hasn’t panned out well with Bruce hitting just .192/.271/.315 with just four homers and 11 RBI in 36 games as a Met. Worse yet, the Mets gave up Dilson Herrera, who could’ve taken over as the second baseman when Neil Walker required season ending back surgery and Wilmer Flores injured his neck.
Bruce’s struggles could be alleviated if the team was getting production at first base. However, James Loney has similarly struggled. Since the All Star Break, Loney is hitting .249/.276/.329 with only eight extra base hits in 51 games. These numbers are even worse when you consider Terry Collins has done all he could do to help Loney offensively by playing Flores at first against left-handed pitching. Worse yet, Loney’s reputation as a Gold Glove caliber first baseman has been greatly overblown. While defensive metrics for first base can be seen as imperfect, and cannot be fully trusted in a single season sample size, Loney has a -3.2 UZR and 0 DRS. Combining that with the prior two seasons, Loney has averaged a -2.4 UZR and a -1 DRS. Overall, these numbers speak to Loney’s lack of range and his failure to stretch on balls thrown to first base.
The solution to both of these problems would be Lucas Duda. In 2014, Duda beat out Ike Davis to become the Mets first baseman. In his two seasons as the Mets first baseman, Duda was a .249/.350/.483 hitter who averaged 28 homers and 82 RBI. Entering the season, Bruce was a .248/.319/.462 hitter who averages 26 homers and 80 RBI. Accordingly, Duda was a better power hitter and “run producer” who also got on base at a higher clip. Naturally, Duda far surpasses Loney has a hitter.
Defensively, Duda’s poor defensive reputation really rests on one bad throw in the World Series. Over his career, he has a 2.5 UZR and an 11 DRS. Over the two seasons he was the everyday first baseman, Duda averaged a 0.1 UZR and a 5 DRS. Using these advanced metrics, Duda is a much better defender than his reputation suggests, and he is a better defender than Loney. More importantly, as Keith Hernandez consistently pointed out over the past few seasons, Duda cheats to get to each and every ball thrown by an infielder. He stretches as far out as he can to help the Mets get the out calls on the close calls at first base.
Offensively and defensively, Duda is exactly what this Mets team needs for the stretch run and the postseason. Unfortunately, Duda suffered a stress fracture in his lower back. With a few setbacks during his rehabilitation, Duda was supposed to be gone for the season.
As it turns out, he wasn’t. Duda was able to get enough stationary bike riding and batting practice in for the Mets to feel comfortable activating him from the disabled list on Saturday. Even better, he got the surprise start on Sunday.
He would go 0-2 with a strikeout looking rusty at the plate. He was eventually lifted for Asdrubal Cabrera when the Twins brought in the left-handed Buddy Boshers to pitch the sixth. In the field, Duda was back to his normal form stretching out to give his team the best chance possible to get the base runner.
Getting on the field was a good start. However, if the Mets are going to make a run in the postseason, they will need Duda’s bat. There are 13 games left in the season for him to get into form. Hopefully, Collins will give him every opportunity to get going before the Wild Card Game.
If so, we have seen a hot Duda bat carry the Mets for long stretches. It just might carry the Mets to the World Series.
On a team that traditionally kills the Mets, Christian Yelich is the ultimate Mets killer.
It started in the second inning when he robbed Jacob deGrom:
At the time, the Mets had Jose Urena on the ropes with two outs and the bases loaded. Between last night and tonight, the Mets have loaded the bases four times, and Kelly Johnson is the only one who has gotten a base hit.
In the following half inning, Yelich struck again hitting an RBI single off deGrom scoring Ichiro Suzuki giving the Marlins a 1-0 lead.
In this series, the Mets responded each time the Marlins took a lead, but not tonight. It would be the Marlins who struck next, and once again Yelich would be in the mix.
In the top of the fifth, Yelich got the rally started with a two out single. He would come around to score on a Jeff Francouer double. Francouer would score off a Xavier Scruggs double.
That would be it for deGrom. His final line was five innings, six hits, three runs, three earned, four walks, and six strikeouts. Considering he has struggled recently and the Mets skipping a start, it was hard to tell if he was rusty or if he’s just lost right now. Whatever it is, the Mets need him, and he hasn’t been able to help.
In the sixth, the Mets would narrow the gap with a Jay Bruce solo home to to make it 3-1.
Yelich would once again be a factor. So would Terry Collins.
Despite a well rested bullpen and newly acquired Fernando Salas available, Collins would push Josh Smoker to pitch a second inning. Smoker didn’t record an out in the seventh, and he gave up an opposite field home run to Yelich giving the Marlins a 6-1 lead. It was Yelich’s third opposite field home runs in as many days.
Credit should be given to Keith Hernandez here. During the Yelich at bat, he noted how well Yelich goes the other way, and he noted Smoker should pitch Yelich inside. Smoker didn’t.
Salas would then make his Mets debut pitching a scoreless inning.
The Mets would build a rally in the eighth. Curtis Granderson and Johnson would lead off the inning with opposite field singles off Nick Wittgren. Bruce followed suit hitting an opposite field RBI single.
Don Mattingly would bring in Kyle Barraclough. Wilmer Flores battled back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk loading the bases bringing up Michael Conforto. Barraclough threw him nothing but breaking pitches, and Conforto hit into the 1-2-3 double play. Despite going 2-4 with a double reaching on an error and making a nice play in the field, knowing Collins, Conforto won’t play in another game this year.
Yoenis Cespedes, who didn’t start the game due to the slick field conditions, would pinch hit for James Loney. He struck out to end the inning and the rally. Again, the Mets couldn’t score a run with the bases loaded.
To the Mets credit, they didn’t go down without a fight. Travis d’Arnaud led off the inning an infield single thanks in part to a lacksadasical Dee Gordon. Asdrubal Cabrera, who also sat due to field conditions, hit his first career pinch hit home run making it 6-4. The Mets would get no closer.
Fittingly, the last three batters would all fly out to left with Yelich getting all three put outs. On the night, Yelich was 3-4 with two runs, four RBI, one walk, a homer, and a sparkling defensive play in center. He was the lone Marlin who came to beat the Mets this series, and he finally accomplished his goal tonight.
With the loss, the Mets missed an opportunity to gain some ground on the idle Cardinals, and yes, for the delusional fan, the idle Nationals.
Game Notes: For some reason or other, Rene Rivera played first tonight even with Ty Kelly getting recalled with the expanded rosters.
For an organization known for its pitching, it should come as no surprise that the Mets have had their fair share of good closers. What may come as a surprise is that Jeurys Familia might just become better than them all.
The Mets first notable closer was Tug McGraw. His contributions extend well past his coining the phrase “Ya Gotta Believe!” Up until the 80’s, in a time when managers began to pitch to the save rule, McGraw was the Mets all-time leader with 86 saves. He is also the only Mets to be a closer to for a team that won a World Series and a Pennant. In 1969, he shared closing duties with Ron Taylor. In 1973, he was not only the man, but in many ways, the vocal leader of the team. The only record McGraw has remaining in the record books is most innings pitched by a Mets reliever with 792.2 innings over his nine year Mets career.
The next Mets closer to appear in multiple postseasons was Jesse Orosco. When discussing Orosco, there are always three things you need to mention: (1) he was part of the return the Mets received when they traded Jerry Koosman to the Twins; (2) Keith Hernandez warned him not to throw a fastball to Kevin Bass (he didn’t); and (3) his glove has still not landed. After his eight year career was over, Orosco was both the Mets all-time leader in saves (107) and the Mets single season saves leader (31 in 1984). To this day, he remains the only Mets closer to save a World series clinching game.
Orosco would eventually be surpassed by John Franco on both the saves list and the Mets all-time saves list. Somewhat ironically, Franco’s entrance song was Johnny B. Goode as his ninth inning appearances were always a high wire act. Still, throughout all of it, Franco has more saves by any left-handed closer in history with 424, and when he retired he was third on the all-time list trailing only Lee Smith and Trevor Hoffman. Franco recorded 276 of those saves with the Mets. His 276 saves are the Mets record by a fairly wide margin.
In fact, Franco leads Armando Benitez by 116 saves on the Mets all-time list. Coincidentally, Benitez is the man who replaced Franco as the Mets closer in 1999. With the Mets having made consecutive postseason appearances in 1999 and 2000, Benitez remains the only Mets closer to pitch in consecutive postseasons. While Mets fans loved to hate him, Benitez did show flashes of complete and utter dominance. As of right now, his 43 saves in 2001 still remains the Mets single season record.
However, that record is in jeopardy. Last year, Jeurys Familia, in his first season as the Mets closer, tied Benitez’s single season record. This year, he has tied it again en route to him most likely breaking the tie with Benitez. With Familia having saved 43 games for consecutive seasons, he has already set the mark for most saves by a Mets closer in consecutive seasons. Even with Familia only having been the Mets closer for one plus seasons, he now ranks fifth all-time with 92 saves as a Met. With 16 more saves, he will jump both Orosco and Billy Wagner to put him third all-time.
If the Mets current charge continues, he could join Benitez as the only Mets closer to appear in back-to-back postseasons. If the Mets get into the postseason, anything is possible including seeing Familia join Orosco as the only Mets pitcher to earn a save to close out the World Series.
That’s just the thing with Familia. He’s already a great closer, and he’s already writing his name all over the Mets record books. As long as he is the Mets closer, anything is possible. It’s also possible that we could be watching the best closer in Mets history.
Yoenis Cespedes and Asdrubal Cabrera are supposed to come off the disabled list, but that doesn’t mean that the Mets are getting healthy for the stretch run. Not in the least. Seth Lugo will make his first career start as Steven Matz is going to miss tonight’s start due to his bone spurs. Sorry, he is going to miss the start due to shoulder discomfort.
Matz started feeling shoulder discomfort the day after his last start. Matz felt this shoulder discomfort after having gone 7.1 innings in his prior start and throwing 120 pitches over six innings the start before that. In his last start, Matz had all but scrapped his slider, and he started relying more on his curveball as a weapon to get batters out.
It is important to note the Mets pitched Matz because they believed there was no structural damage. As Sandy Alderson said, “Continuing to pitch will not cause any structural damage. We will continue to monitor his situation, but at this point it’s a function of if he can tolerate the discomfort while continuing to pitch.” (New York Post). It should also be noted that, according to Jon Heyman, the Mets talked Matz out of getting surgery to remove the bone spur. Instead, the Mets decided it was best to have their young lefty try to pitch through the pain and help the Mets win another World Series.
One thing that stood out in Matz’s last start was how everyone seemed to believe he turned a corner. Not just this season, but possibly his career. Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez talked a few times about how important it was for young players to learn the ability to pitch while being hurt, while having pain. As Darling would say, pitchers always have pain, and therefore, they need to learn how to deal with it if they are going to take that next step.
That begs the question – was Matz pitching through pain or was he pitching through injury? Matz is going to miss this start, and according to Terry Collins, he may very well miss his next start as well. What if Matz pitching with the bone spurs led to his shoulder injury? There will be many theories bandied about, but at the end of the day, no one knows quite for sure. However, what we do know is that the Mets best chances to win both this year and the years going forward is keeping their starting pitchers healthy. They haven’t been healthy this year.
For what it’s worth, after his last start, Matz didn’t feel there was an issue saying, “My arm’s been feeling great. I have no complaints there.” (Newsday). Except, now he does, and we don’t know why. The only thing we do know is that the Mets pressured him into pitching with an injury in his elbow, and now, they are sitting him with a shoulder injury.
You knew it was going to be a strange day when Keith Hernandez showed up during the first end of the doubleheader wearing an Underdog shirt:
We would then see Noah Syndergaard give up an unearned run in the second when Syndergaard made an errant throw allowing Yadier Molina to score. The Cardinals scored a run that inning without a ball leaving the infield. Perhaps stranger than that was seeking Jedd Gyorko hit a two run bomb to left the following inning to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead. For the day, Syndergaard would pitch six innings allowing three runs, two earned, and three walks with eight strikeouts.
Of course, all of the Mets offense would come off a Rene Rivera two run homer in the fourth. After that hilarity would ensue.
There was Curtis Granderson of all people throwing out a runner at the plate (with the really throw from Kelly Johnson). It’s bizarre that the Cardinals sent Matt Adams, who just might be slower than James Loney. It’s even stranger when you consider that earlier in the game the human windmill Tim Teufel held Jose Reyes at third when he could’ve scored off a Yoenis Cespedes two out double.
Speaking of Cespedes, he had quite the juggling act in the outfield in the sixth:
Then there were the curious decisions like Terry Collins keeping Wilmer Flores on the bench while sending James Loney and Johnson up to bat in the eighth against Cardinals lefty Kevin Siegrist. They weren’t able to muster a rally.
The Mets would start a rally in the ninth with a Granderson leadoff single off new Cardinals closer Seung-hwan Oh. That rally would end when Granderson tagged up on Cardinals center fielder Tommy Pham after a deep Cespedes fly out:
Stop it, Pham. https://t.co/QUYrvtDqs6 pic.twitter.com/3sl2LVk3MG
— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) July 26, 2016
After a Loney fly out, the Mets lost 3-2. The second game of the doubleheader would be much calmer, but it would still nevertheless be strange.
For starters, the spark plug of the Mets offense in the game was Alejandro De Aza. De Aza would go 1-1 with a double, a walk with two runs. Even more bizarre is that he would be driven in both times by Asdrubal Cabrera.
In the third, Cabrera followed a De Aza double with a double of his own striking an 0 for his last 697,597,475,491 streak (actually, it was 0-32). In the fifth, Cabrera would hit a sac fly to score De Aza from third.
The other run would score when Loney hit into a fourth inning double play scoring Flores. Flores was on third because he hit a leadoff double, and he moved to third when Randal Grichuk flat out dropped a ball in right field off the bat of Neil Walker. Considering how he’s been playing lately, it’s just about the only way Walker can reach base. He would go 0-2 with a walk on the night.
These three runs were enough for Bartolo Colon who was terrific tonight after pitching to a 7.36 ERA and allowing batters to hit .338/.386/.662 against him over his last three starts. Naturally, on this night, Colon only allowed one earned on three hits with no walks and eighth strikeouts. Of course, he would out pitch Syndergaard tonight in the Mets 3-1 win.
Finally, in the sixth inning, things began to calm down. Collins made a curious decision to allow Colon to bat in the sixth with the bases loaded and two outs. Collins eschewed the chance to blow the game open.
Then in the eighth and ninth, Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia shut down the Cardinals to preserve the win.
After all that craziness, the Mets and Cardinals split the doubleheader. The end result was nothing changed between them in the Wild Card standings. The Mets stayed a half game up on the Cardinals with the runner game tomorrow.
Game Notes: Josh Smoker was called up to be the 26th man in the second game of the doubleheader. He would not make an appearance.
Before yesterday’s game about the only thing Edgardo Alfonzo and Wilmer Flores had in common was the fact that they were Venezuelan born Mets infielders. Other tha that, they could not be more different.
Fonzie was about as clutch a hitter the Mets have ever had. The reputation began in his first ever postseason at bat where he homered off Randy Johnson. In his second at bat, he hit a grand slam off Bobby Chouinard. It was part of an NLDS that saw him hit three homers. The Mets needed each one of them as Mike Piazza was injured in that series.
Fonzie’s clutchness was part of what has made him the best second baseman in Mets history. In fact, as per WAR, he’s the seventh best Met ever over players like Piazz, Jose Reyes, and Keith Hernandez. Overall, Fonzie hit .282/.367/.445 with a 113 OPS+ as a Met. He was a Gold Glove caliber second baseman (even if he never won one) that was part of the Best Infield of All Time. Overall, he was a great Met that accomplished many great things.
One of them was going a perfect six for six with three homers, a double, six runs, and five RBI. No one expected Fonzie to match Fonzie’s August 30, 1999 performance. Of all the Mets you could imagine, you’d probably go through a lot of names before you come up with Wilmer Flores.
Wilmer Flores etches his name in @Mets history with 6-hit performance.https://t.co/vRXSCzkIhP #MLBmemorybankhttps://t.co/1rirM2rdMV
— MLB (@MLB) July 4, 2016
In his short career, Flores has been known as the guy who was miscast as a shortstop. The Mets have told fans about his offensive potential, but he’s still only a career .249/.288/.379 hitter with an 85 OPS+. He’s only playing everyday now because of David Wright‘s discectomy and fusion. In fact, most of Flores’ career has been forgettable except for the time he cried on the field:
The only real highlight had been his home run after the deal sending him and Zack Wheeler for Carlos Gomez fell through:
Flores has another highlight now with his 6-6, three run, four RBI, two home run performance. It was a moment that all could appreciate, even Fonzie:
Really cool: Edgardo Alfonzo just called to congratulate Wilmer Flores on joining him in the 6-for-6 club. #Mets
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) July 3, 2016
It might’ve been unlikely for Fonzie to do it, which makes it next to impossible for Flores to do it. And yet, Flores did do it. Flores had found his way into Mets fans’ hearts when he didn’t want to leave. He is now forever in the record books.
From time to time, if you listen to the Mets telecasts close enough, you will hear Keith Hernandez tell the story of his 1975 season. After getting called-up and playing well in 1974, he thought he was in the majors for good. That wasn’t the case. In 1975, he was hitting .250/.309/.362 in 64 games. He left the Cardinals with little other choice but to send him down to the minors, and they did.
Initially, Hernandez was humiliated by the moment. However, he took advantage of the opportunity. Down in the minors, he got his swing right. He came back to the majors in 1976, and he he hit .289/.376/.428. He was back in the majors, and he was back for good. Hernandez would go on to win the 1979 batting title and MVP Award (shared with Willie Stargell). He had a bat to match his unparalleled defense. From that adversity, Hernandez would become a champion as a member of the 1982 and 1986 World Series teams. In total, Hernandez put together a borderline Hall of Fame career. It is something he might not have done had he not ever gone to the minors. As he has said, it was the best thing that ever happened to his career.
If you listen to Mets telecasts closely enough, you will also notice that Hernandez is a huge fan of Michael Conforto. You will also notice Conforto is struggling mightily like Hernandez did in 1975.
It was not too long ago that Conforto seemed to be a budding superstar. Having never played above AA, Conforto was called-up to the majors last year to hit .270/.335/.506 in 56 games. He hit two home runs in Game 4 of the World Series. He started this season off hitting .365/.442/.676 with four homers in April. The question then wasn’t whether he was major league ready, the question was how high his ceiling could possibly be. It seemed that Conforto was a likely All Star, possibly more. Then the calendar turned to May.
Since May 1st, Conforto has hit .157/.212/.321. There could be a multitude of reasons why this has happened from major league pitchers figuring him out and Conforto failing to make the needed adjustments to the cortisone shot Conforto needed in his wrist. Bottom line is Conforto has gone from playing at an All Star level to being a player who belongs in the minor leagues. Considering the fact that Terry Collins wants to “shake things up” it may be a signal that the Mets are willing to demote Conforto. It may not be the worst thing for Conforto or the Mets.
Conforto can go to Las Vegas and get himself right. He can spend time down there not only working on his swing but also his approach at the plate. Furthermore, hitting in a hitter’s haven like the Pacific Coast League could do wonders for a player that has been struggling for well over a month in the majors. We all saw how well this worked for Travis d’Arnaud back in 2014. He came back a much better player after his time in the minors. We also saw the positive effects of such a demotion with Keith Hernandez.
In the interim, the Mets could choose to give Alejandro De Aza some additional playing time to see if he can start playing like the player they thought he was when the Mets signed him in the offseason. The Mets could decided to turn to Brandon Nimmo who has been raking in AAA. Maybe, just maybe, the Mets could allow Conforto to start taking grounders at first considering James Loney is not the long term answer and no one knows when Lucas Duda can return from the disabled list.
Ultimately, this could be the best thing that has happened to both Conforto and the Mets. If the Mets have designs on returning to the World Series, they are going to need Conforto, who, when right, is the most complete hitter on the team. While he’s finding his stroke in the minors, Nimmo could get his chance to see if he is indeed ready to play in the majors. If Conforto is able to pick up first base, then the Mets could keep Nimmo in left when Conforto is ready to return to the majors. It might be time to send Conforto to AAA for not only his own good, but also for the good of the Mets.
After all, it worked for Keith Hernandez.
After Terry Collins stated he doesn’t believe the prognosis of Lucas Duda‘s back is good, it has caused many to speculate on how the Mets will proceed in fulfilling the first base vacancy. Many of those thoughts are creative as the Mets may need to get creative to fill the void. Unfortunately, most of the suggestions will not work. Here’s why:
Move Michael Conforto to 1B
The thinking here is Michael Conforto was deemed to have all the tools to be a great 1B by his biggest fan – Keith Hernandez. This move would allow Juan Lagares and Alejandro De Aza to platoon in CF while moving Yoenis Cespedes to LF.
Admittedly, this sounds great. It’ll improve both the offense and the defense. However, the problem is the Mets never even sought to have Conforto to play RF. Why should we now believe they’re willing to move him to the infield mid-season. They’re not.
Move Alejandro De Aza to 1B
This one makes sense as De Aza is languishing away on the bench. He went from a platoon player to a fifth outfielder with the Cespedes signing. However, he hasn’t played there in over a decade, and he has just recently started working with Tim Teufel to get acclimated to first. He needs more than a week to get ready.
Slide David Wright to 1B
The idea here is David Wright is better suited to first now with his back and throwing issues. In actuality next to catcher, first is the last position Wright should play. The amount of twisting and stretching involved is harder on the lower back and would only exacerbate his stenosis. Furthermore, even if he could play first base, all you’ve accomplished is reshuffling the deck chairs as you’ve now moved the hole to third instead of first.
Slide Neil Walker to 1B
In this scenario, the Mets move Neil Walker to first and call up Dilson Herrera to play second. The argument is this is exactly what the Mets would do if they had Daniel Murphy.
The problem with that thinking is Walker isn’t Murphy. Walker has never played first base in the majors. He last played first in AAA in 2009 and that was only for seven games. It’s not fair to expect him to be able to slide over with no preparation. It’s also not fair to add more things to his plate while he’s in the midst of a bad slump.
Move Asdrubal Cabrera to 1B
The thought is Asdrubal Cabrera was once a utility player who is capable of playing multiple positions. In addition, the Mets have Matt Reynolds on the roster who is a SS. There are two problems here. First, Cabrera is one of the few Mets producing day in and day out. You don’t want to mess with that especially when he’s never played first. Second, Reynolds was in the middle of a slump in AAA, and he hasn’t shown any signs he’s getting out of it in his limited major league duty.
Move Kevin Plawecki to 1B
This is a holdover from Spring Training when the Mets were looking for ways to keep both of their young catchers in the lineup while letting Duda sit against lefties. Doing this now would also open up more playing time for Rene Rivera, who has shown himself to be a terrific catcher.
The problem is this really damages your offense. Kevin Plawecki has hit .203/.300/.291 this year. Rivera is a career .209/.258/.329 hitter. It’s one thing to have either one of them in the lineup. It’s a whole other thing to have both of them in the lineup.
Call Up Dom Smith
The thinking here is if the Mets don’t have the answer at the major league level, they should go into the minor leagues to solve their problems. Who better than one of, if not the, best Mets prospect. The problem is he’s just not ready. He’s only played 41 games in AA. While the obvious counter-argument is Conforto, it must be noted, Conforto was much further along in his development offensively.
Call Up Brandon Nimmo
The thought process here is Brandon Nimmo is absolutely raking in AAA right now. He’s on an eight game hitting streak that’s seen him hit .364/.462/.636 with three doubles, three triples, and six RBI. While he has played CF almost exclusively, he should be athletic enough to play first. While these are valid points, it should be noted he’s never played first, and like with Conforto, the Mets do not appear inclined to let either one play first.
Trade for Yangervis Solarte
Yangervis Solarte makes a lot of sense for the Mets. He can not only play first, but he can also play third. In his career, he’s also played at second, short, and left. In essence, he’s a much better version of Eric Campbell. In his first full major league season last year, he hit .270/.320/.428. He’s hitting .250/.379/.375 this year. This is all the more impressive when you consider he plays most of his games at Petco.
Here’s the rub. The Padres have no incentive to trade him. He’s not arbitration eligible until 2017, and he can’t become a free agent until 2020. If the Mets were inclined to even trade for Solarte, it’s going to come at a high cost, and the Mets most desirable trade assets were traded away last year. No, if the Mets do make a move your looking at the In the interim, the Mets can inquire about the Kelly Johnsons and Ike Davises of the world.
Overall, that’s the issue. The Mets don’t have what it takes right now to address the first base position internally or externally. Although, the idea of having Travis d’Arnaud work at first during his rehab assignment is intriguing given his shoulder problems and injury history (hat tip Brian Mangan). However, short of that happening, it’s more of the same for the Mets.
This means Campbell is your everyday first baseman until Flores comes off the DL. At that point, the Mets will probably go with Flores until Duda is healthy. Ultimately, Duda needs to be the answer there because in reality any other solution is unrealistic or just a question mark.
Aside from the fact that Curtis Granderson didn’t hit a homerun, Opening Day sure felt like a repeat of the 2015 World Series. As the late Yogi Berra would say, “It’s déjà vu, all over again.” We had the following:
- Yoenis Cespedes failing to make a routine play in the outfield leading to a run;
- A good Matt Harvey effort getting wasted;
- The Royals taking advantage of a poor Mets defense;
- Michael Conforto being really impressive; and
- The Mets losing.
For all the debating over the course of the offseason regarding Terry Collins leaving in Harvey, we got a taste of what Game 6 would’ve looked like. It wasn’t pretty. It really highlighted what the Royals did well, and the Mets did poorly.
The main difference between these teams is fundies (as Keith Hernandez puts it), defense, and a little bit of luck. Cespedes drops an easy out off the bat of Mike Moustakas, and he later scores on a single past Asdrubal Cabrera, who showed off his limited range at short on the play. Eric Hosmer‘s bunt stays fair while Juan Lagares‘ goes foul. Yes, it would lead to a run. Alex Gordon hits one off the end of the bat falling just out of the reach of Lagares to score a run. It was as frustrating as the World Series.
Since the Mets lost, let’s start with the bad. Mainly, it was David Wright. He couldn’t hit a fastball. He was 0-4 with a walk and two strikeouts. The last strikeout was in the ninth with the tying run on third. He made a couple of plays in the field, but he was able to get absolutely nothing on his throws. While it’s still early, and you don’t want to overreact to anything. However, with Wright’s back, I’m not sure it overreacting.
Also, the home plate umpire wax terrible. He was calling strikes in the area where Noah Syndergaard goes when he’s standing 60′ 6″ away, but over the plate was called a ball. Even worse than that was the ESPN brand new telecast. They delayed the start 40 minutes for an already late 8:00 start. They did inane segments like “The Mendoza Line” and Aaron Boone imitating batting stances. Even better, there were all-in on the Royals. When the Mets got something going in the 8th, they were being Royals-esque.
This is also Opening Day – a time when anything is possible. A time when we are supposed to be full of hope. There were definitely reasons for hope.
Harvey was good. The stat line wasn’t pretty with him allowing four runs (three earned) with eight hits, three walks, and only two strikeouts in 5.2 innings. However, his stuff looked good, and he really wasn’t helped by his fielders.
Conforto was 2-2 with a double and two walks. Last year was a fluke. He’s a much better player than he showed he was last year. Another good sign was the Mets offense that was asleep for almost all of Spring Training, woke up in the 8th and made it a game. The rally was highlighted by a Lucas Duda two run bases-loaded RBI single.
Sadly, the 8th inning rally fell short as the new double play combination make the outs killing the rally. In the ninth, we yet again saw Wade Davis and record the save, stranding the tying run on third, and locking down the 4-3 win. It was as frustrating a loss as you could’ve imagined. However, the Mets can build off of this. There was nothing you can point to tonight that would make you believe the Mets aren’t World Series contenders.
It’s time to dust themselves off. Continue to work on things during their off day, and go to the next ace in the fold in Game 2.
When you are the Captain of a team, you’re the designated leader of the team. As the leader, you are tasked with leading both in and out of the clubhouse. At least publicly, you need to have your teammates back.
Looking at his quotes from David Lennon’s Newsday article regarding Matt Harvey‘s media silence, David Wright doesn’t have his teammate’s back with the media:
“Ask Matt,” Wright replied trying to stifle a grin. “If he’s talking to you.”
We tried again a minute later. This time the question was about Harvey thriving on the controversy, maybe even performing better under these types of circumstances. Wright smiled.
“I am not Matt Harvey’s mouthpiece,” Wright said. “I imagine playing in the big leagues, getting a chance to pitch on Opening Day, should be motivation enough. So I expect him to go out there and pitch well.”
I’m not suggesting Wright was malicious here. What I am suggesting is it’s a bad moment for him. He’s grinning while talking about Harvey’s media boycott. He’s declaring he’s not Harvey’s mouthpiece.
You know what we didn’t see here? Quotes about how his teammate was treated unfairly. Maybe as a leader of the team, Wrighf could’ve not spoken to the media at all. Maybe he could’ve had his teammate’s back after the way the media treated Harvey. Sometimes being a Captain is about biting your tongue. Wright should’ve gone to Keith Hernandez for some advice on how to handle the situation.
Back in 1989, the beginning of the end of the Mets terrific run, Darryl Strawberry tried to start not one, but two fights with Hernandez at picture day. At the time Strawberry was upset with Hernadez because he did not support Strawberry’s threats to walk out in the team over a contract dispute. Hernandez supported Strawberry’s request for a new contract, but he also advised that it was a mistake for Strawberry to threaten the front office.
These quotes, the fact that Strawberry was seated next to Hernandez, and probably some of Strawberry’s other demons came to a head. Despite the media being there, Strawberry tried to fight him twice.
After the altercations, the media finally caught up with Hernandez. What did the twice attacked Keith Hernandez have to say about the incident? He simply stated, “It was unfortunate, but we will be fine.” Strawberry was unhinged and tried to attack him twice, and Hernadez simply swept it under the rug.
You couldn’t blame Hernandez if he went off on Strawberry there, but he didn’t. He did what a Captain does. He didn’t make it a bigger deal. At least publicly, he gave no indication of any prior or lingering problems. He at least tried to make things easier for his teammate. It’s what Wright should have done.
There was no one forcing Wright to talk to the media. No one was forcing him to say he wasn’t Harvey’s mouthpiece. These were Wright’s choices. With these choices, he was quoted in an article about how Harvey needs to talk to the media, about how he’s going to make things harder for his teammates. Whether intentional or not, whether or not it was malicious, Wright came off as the good guy, and Harvey came off as small and petty. Wright looked like the good teammate while Harvey looked like the bad teammate.
A Captain has to know better. Furthermore, Wright has been in New York for 12 years. He has to know better. With his responses, he gave the media yet another story about Harvey.
Wright has been a terrific Met. He’s been great with the media and fans. He wasn’t a good Captain or teammate yesterday. Hopefully, he will get better because his teammates need a Captain who will stand up to a tough New York media, not feed it with more stories about his teammate.