Kevin Plawecki
According to SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo, the Mets have inquired about Jon Niese, and the team may be interested in Mark Melancon.
Niese makes a lot of sense for the Mets. With the Mets not knowing when and if Zack Wheeler can come back this year and Steven Matz dealing with bone spurs in his elbow, it would not hurt for them to have some insurance in their starting rotation even if it is Niese, who was dreadful as a starting pitcher this year. The hope is that Niese could get back to what he was with the Mets when he is once again working with Dan Warthen. It is also possible that Niese could pitch out of the bullpen for the Mets as he did so well for them last year.
Niese was demoted to the bullpen by the Pirates, and he has made four appearance so far pitching well. He is 1-0 with a 2.16 ERA and a 1.080 WHIP.
On the other hand, it is hard to believe the Mets could also acquire the pending free agent Melancon from the Pirates even if it was a package deal to take on both Niese and Melancon. Melancon is having another outstanding year as the Pirates closer going 1-1 with 30 saves, a 1.51 ERA, and a 0.960 WHIP in 45 appearance. Either this is a ploy to drive up the price of Melancon as the Nationals are interested in him, or it’s the Mets trying to get him on the cheap by having the Pirates try to package him with Niese. It is doubtful the Mets would give up the prospects necessary to land him to have him set up for Jeurys Familia.
The Mets are apparently more interested in a bat now due to Juan Lagares‘ injury. In other news, the Mets were interested in Steve Pearce, but they have found the Rays asking price to be too high. The Mets have also inquired on Jay Bruce as insurance for Yoenis Cespedes for both this year and the next. It should be noted that the Reds turned down a Bruce for Wheeler deal last year that resulted in the Mets acquiring Cespedes for Michael Fulmer last year at the trading deadline.
The Reds are also dangling Ross Ohlendorf, Blake Wood, and Tony Cingrani in the hopes of making a deal to alleviate some payroll for next year. There are no reports that the Reds have discussed any of these relievers with the Mets in a deal that could or could not involve Jay Bruce. However, we do know that the Reds have been scouting Kevin Plawecki for some reason or another.
If the Mets were able to move Plawecki for a Cingrani or a Wood, they have to consider it as they are both having good years out of the pen. Wood has made 44 appearances going 5-1 with one save, a 3.42 ERA, a 1.500 WHIP, and an 8.6 K/9. Cingrani has made 46 appearances going 4-2 with 12 saves, a 3.20 ERA, a 1.267 WHIP, and a 6.4 K/9. Both relievers are controllable past this year, and it appears as if Plawecki may never fulfill his offensive potential with the Mets. It is worth a shot.
With the Mets having just taken two out of three from the Marlins and having gained a game on the Nationals this weekend, the pennant race is in full swing. The Mets are within striking distance of the division and both Wild Card spots. This is a team desperate to go back to the postseason and take that one step further and win the World Series. In order to accomplish that goal, they have to pursue every avenue in an attempt to make the team better. That could include Jonathan Lucory.
Over the weekend, the latest rumor in what should prove to be a week of crazy rumors was that the Mets were interested in trading Travis d’Arnaud straight up for Lucroy. The Brewers understandably said no, as Lucroy is among the top three catchers in the sport, and he has an extremely reasonable $5.25 million option for his age 31 years season. With his production and his contract, every team in baseball should be interested in him except the Giants who have Buster Posey. Still, it is interesting to see the Mets engaged with the Brewers on a trade for Lucroy, when it is going to cost them d’Arnaud and a good to elite prospect. Overall, this may say something about how the Mets feel about d’Arnaud.
Overall, it is hard to get a real feel on who the real d’Arnaud is. Part of that is his injury history. Part of that is his inconsistent play.
When d’Arnaud was first called up to the Mets, he struggled. In his first 139 games which spanned across 2013 and 2014, d’Arnaud hit .233/.299/.384 with 25 doubles, three triples, 14 homers, and 46 RBI. He was having the types of offensive struggles we have seen Kevin Plawecki have in similarly limited duty. d’Arnaud had really struggled to start 2014 hitting .180/.271/.273 through 39 games. He left the Mets no choice but to send him down to the minors. In AAA, d’Arnaud got his head straight, and he came back a much better player for the end of the 2014 season. He played in 69 games after getting recalled hitting .272/.319/.486 with 19 doubles, three triples, and 10 home runs with 32 RBI. He seemed on his way to turning the corner.
That belief was only fortified in a strong 2015 campaign. Although limited due to two injuries, d’Arnaud did hit well throughout the 2015 season hitting .268/.340/.485 with 14 doubles, one triple, 12 homers, and 41 RBI in 67 games. If he was healthy, and that is always a big if with him, d’Arnaud was on pace to hit 28 doubles and 24 homers and 82 RBI if he was able to play in 134 games, which is a fair number of games to expect a healthy 26 year old catcher to play. For what it’s worth, Lucroy has never hit more than 18 homers in a year, has averaged 22 doubles, and 82 RBI is his career high mark in his seven year career. By the way, Lucroy plays in a great hitter’s park in Miller Park whereas d’Arnaud plays in Citi Field which still plays like a pitcher’s park even with the moved in outfield fences. Simply put, it was fair to expect d’Arnaud to be every good as Lucroy this year.
It hasn’t happened that way. So far this year, d’Arnaud is hitting .246/.302/.339 with five doubles, no triples, two homers, and 10 RBI. He has missed 48 games with a shoulder injury. It makes you question whether this meager production is related to his shoulder injury, his batting eighth in the lineup most nights, his new stance that has him wrapping his hands, or maybe just maybe, he’s not as good as we thought he was going to be. It’s possible the 67 games he played last year was an outlier as the production he has put up in his other 173 major league games are more in tune with the the production he has had this year.
Personally, I believe he is the player we saw last year. He is the catcher who is an excellent pitch framer that handles a very good starting staff very well. He is a guy with good power at the position who can be a difference maker in the lineup. You don’t want to move a piece like that especially when that player is under team control until 2020. It’s one thing to do everything you can do to win a World Series. It’s another thing to trade a player like d’Arnaud who should have similar, if not better, production to Lucroy and give away a big asset along with him.
And yet, d’Arnaud isn’t the player he was supposed to be. Given the fact that the Mets pitchers are starting to reach arbitration now and free agency is just on the horizon, the window is now open even with the Matt Harvey injury. The Mets can ill afford to punt a year away when they are in contention. With that in mind, is it fair to the team and the fans to sit around and wait to find out what d’Arnaud is when there’s a player like Lucroy available who can help you win this year and the next?
It’s not an easy answer especially when that other piece that would be traded along with d’Arnaud could be moved for another piece that could be a much bigger upgrade than what Lucroy would be over what d’Arnaud may be perceived to be. Either way, it’s telling that the Mets are at least considering the swap. At a minimum, it tells you they believe d’Arnaud is not as good as Lucroy. It may also be telling you that they don’t believe d’Arnaud will ever reach his full potential.
Time and time again, we have all seen the Mets fail to get a base hit with a runner in scoring position. It should come as no surprise to anyone that the Mets woeful .207 team batting average with runners in scoring position is the worst in all of Major League Baseball. It is 53 points lower than the .260 league average and 89 points lower than the St. Louis Cardinals .296 team batting average with runners in scoring position. It gets worse. The Mets have a .288 team OPB with runners in scoring position, which is again the worst in the Major Leagues. This is 49 points lower than the league average .337 OBP with runners in scoring position, and it is 90 points lower than the St. Louis Cardinals league leading .378 team OBP with runners in scoring position.
At this point, what usually follows is a debate between traditional fans and fans that follow more of a stats based approach. Traditional fans believe hitting with runners in scoring position is a real skill set, and if a team is unable to hit with runners in scoring position, a team will be unable to score runs. Stat based fans will tell you hitting with runners in scoring position isn’t an actual skill, and like anything else, everything tends to regress to the mean. Regardless of your point-of-view, all fans tend to subscribe to the back of the baseball card concept wherein players tend to play to their seasonal averages on a year-in and year-out basis. With that common ground in mind, here are how the current Mets players have fared with runners in scoring position along with the amount of times they have come up this year with a runner in scoring position:
| Player | PA | 2016 | Career |
| Asdrubal Cabrera | 70 | .180 | .256 |
| Eric Campbell | 19 | .125 | .168 |
| Yoenis Cespedes | 70 | .254 | .301 |
| Michael Conforto | 56 | .250 | .256 |
| Travis d’Arnaud | 24 | .182 | .224 |
| Alejandro De Aza | 23 | .050 | .294 |
| Lucas Duda | 34 | .185 | .235 |
| Wilmer Flores | 41 | .297 | .270 |
| Curtis Granderson | 73 | .274 | .242 |
| Kelly Johnson | 50 | .214 | .261 |
| Ty Kelly | 10 | .111 | .111 |
| Juan Lagares | 21 | .158 | .271 |
| James Loney | 37 | .281 | .302 |
| Brandon Nimmo | 11 | .200 | .200 |
| Kevin Plawecki | 30 | .240 | .274 |
| Jose Reyes | 8 | .167 | .285 |
| Matt Reynolds | 12 | .250 | .250 |
| Rene Rivera | 31 | .259 | .235 |
| Neil Walker | 75 | .254 | .276 |
| David Wright | 38 | .226 | .293 |
* Kelly Johnson’s stats includes his 2016 stats from his 49 games with the Braves this year
While much of the ills of the season has been pinned on Campbell, Kelly, and Reynolds, the three of them have combine for only 41 plate appearances with runners in scoring position. To that end, another scapegoat, De Aza, has not hit whatsoever with runners in scoring position. These four batters have combined for 63 plate appearances which is still less than the plate appearances the either Cabrera, Cespedes, Granderson, or Walker have had individually this year.
Of that group, Granderson is the only batter who is hitting well with runners in scoring position. In fact, he is the only one who is hitting higher than his career average with runners in scoring position. Considering the fact that Cabrera has not gotten a hit with a runner in scoring position since April, it should be no surprise that he is the biggest culprit of the group.
The one encouraging sign is that most of these Mets players are underachieving with runners in scoring position. If these players finish the rest of the year producing at the rate they have done throughout their careers, this Mets team will start to score many more runs.
With homefield advantage on the line and the Mets in playoff position, Terry Collins managed the All Star Game like seemingly every other manager has previously managed the All Star Game. He put more of a premium on getting all the players in the game than winning the game. Well, everyone except his own players Jeurys Familia and Bartolo Colon. Other than the Mets players apparently being upset at this, it is hard to criticize Collins for how he managed the All Star Game. Still, there are many managerial decisions Collins has made in the first half of the season that invite scrutiny.
First and foremost, there is the way he handled Michael Conforto. First, he didn’t let him get any time playing right field in Spring Training. The end result of that was Collins putting Juan Lagares in right and Yoenis Cespedes in center on days that Curtis Granderson was given the day off. There really is no excuse for putting Lagares, possibly the defensive center fielder in the game, anywhere but center.
The other mistake is not letting Conforto hit against lefties until Madison Bumgarner took the mound. Collins was hampering his development by doing that. At the end of the day, this is the Mets best position player prospect, and in many ways, he was the second best hitter on the team. Collins was willing to sacrifice all that to get Lagares’ bat in the lineup instead of sitting an older Granderson who had the very platoon splits that worried Collins. By the way, Granderson is also 35 years old and could use the occasional day or two off. Conforto’s season began to fall apart, and he needed to be sent down to AAA. By the way, Collins is making the same mistake with Brandon Nimmo. However, it’s even worse with Nimmo as he’s doing it to get Alejandro De Aza‘s bat in the lineup.
While on the topic of developing players, Kevin Plawecki has faltered for yet another season under Collins’ tutelage. Last year, there were a number of excuses why Plawecki didn’t succeed from his being rushed to the majors to his sinus issues. This year, he had no such excuses, and he still didn’t produce. While Plawecki deserves a large amount of the blame, Collins certainly deserves some of it, especially when his position with Conforto is that he is not here to help players develop as major leaguers when the Mets have a win-now team.
Another major issue this year was Collins’ handing of Jim Henderson. Henderson was a feel good story that turned into a potential nightmare. The day after Henderson threw a career high 34 pitches, which is puzzling in its own right, Collins used Henderson to pitch in the very next game. He did it despite knowing that Henderson needed to be handled lightly due to his having two shoulder surgeries. He did it even after watching what happened with Johan Santana. Collins knew all of this, and yet he used Henderson in that spot as he said an April 13th game, the eighth game of the season, was deemed to be a must win game. Henderson’s production fell off after that, and now he is on the disabled list.
There was also his handling of Noah Syndergaard. Last year, the Mets wanted to initiate a six man rotation to alleviate some of the early innings Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom pitched early in the season. The idea was to both keep them healthy and keep them fresh for the length of the season. To be fair, Collins use of Syndergaard in any one particular start has not been egregious. However, it was curious how he shoehorned Syndergaard into a relief appearance after Syndergaard was ejected throwing at Chase Utley. The Mets had an opportunity to rest their ace until his next start. Instead, Syndergaard got the adrenaline going and was ramped up in a relief appearance on his throw day. By the way, in Syndergaard’s last start his fastball velocity dropped to 91 MPH, and he left the game with a dead arm.
Speaking of how he is handling pitching, it is amazing that Collins took part in talking Steven Matz out of opting for season ending surgery to address the bone spurs in his elbow that has clearly hampered his pitching. Not only was Collins willing to risk Matz suffering a more severe injury, he’s also willing to put a limited pitcher on the mound every fifth day. Keep in mind that since the bone spurs became an issue, Matz has been 0-3 with a 5.05 ERA and a 1.430 WHIP. His slider usage has dropped from 13% to 3% of the time. It’s always troubling when a manager doesn’t protect his players. It’s even worse when he doesn’t protect the young injured ones.
There is also the curious drop in production this team has had since May 1st. Here’s how some of the Mets best hitters have fared since that point:
| April | Since | |
| Curtis Granderson | .241/.347/.471 | .238/.335/.453 |
| Neil Walker | .307/.337/.625 | .232/.318/.345 |
| Asdrubal Cabrera | .300/.364/.400 | .249/.305/.435 |
| Michael Conforto | .365/.442/.676 | .148/.217/.303 |
Now, there are many factors to this including some of these players getting nicked up a bit. There’s something to be sad for the natural ebbs and flows of a season as well. There should be some note about the injuries to the players surrounding them. However, with all that said, these players have had a significant drop off in production under Collins’ watch. Whether it was helping them make adjustments and finding days for them to get the rest they needed, Collins didn’t do that as their manager.
There have been other issues dealing with Collins in-game management that could be highlighted as well. To be fair and balanced, it should be pointed out that Eric Campbell, Ty Kelly, Matt Reynolds, and Rene Rivera have played far more games than the Mets ever wanted or expected them to play. It’s hard to expect a manager to win under those circumstances. It should also be noted that there were significant injuries to David Wright, Lucas Duda, and Matt Harvey which have further weakened the Mets.
Through all of that, Collins still has the Mets in a position to make the postseason. If he makes better decisions, and the Mets begin playing better, they should be in the postseason, and with that pitching staff, they still have a legitimate chance to return to the World Series.
When the Mets activated Travis d’Arnaud from the disabled list, they decided to send Kevin Plawecki down to AAA and keep Rene Rivera. Obviously, Rivera is going to serve as d’Arnaud’s backup, but there is also a possibility that he could have an expanded role with the team as Noah Syndergaard‘s personal catcher. It is a move that makes a lot of sense for both the Mets and Syndergaard.
It is no secret that Syndergaard struggles holding runners on base. This became painfully obvious on April 25th when the Reds were a perfect five for five in stolen base attempts. In Syndergaard’s next start, Brandon Crawford and Matt Duffy each stole a base while he was pitching. Coming into that game, Crawford had stole 14 bases over five years and Duffy had not stolen a base all year. For his career, base runners were 27 for 30 in stolen base attempts when he was on the mound. Through May 1st, base stealers were 12/13 in five games This was something that could have become a mental issue for a pitcher that was on the brink of realizing his full potential as an ace.
After that game, Terry Collins began to have River catch Syndergaard. With In fact, Rivera has caught eight of Syndergaard’s last nine starts. In those eight starts, there have been fewer stolen base attempts. Part of this has been Syndergaard making adjustments. A larger part of that was Rivera’s arm behind the plate. While base runners are still having success on the base paths, Rivera’s presence has at least allowed Syndergaard to focus on the batter instead of being overly concerned with the running game.
Overall, Rivera’s presence is a big reason why he should be Syndergaard’s personal catcher. With the Rays, Rivera was a part in the development of Chris Archer, who is a pitcher with every bit of the potential and ability as Syndergaard. With Rivera behind the plate, opposing batters hit for a 93 OPS+ as opposed to a 100 OPS+ with other catchers. With Rivera gone this year, Archer is struggling. He is 4-9 with a 4.60 ERA and a 1.442 WHIP. Rivera has had a similar effect on Syndergaard this year. When River is behind the plate, Syndergaard has a 2.12 ERA and 1.026 WHIP. This is the lowest ERA and WHIP combination Syndergaard has with any Mets catcher who has caught him for more than one game.
Aside from the positive effect of a Syndergaard/Rivera pairing, there is another consideration. Throughout his career, d’Arnaud has had trouble staying on the field. If the Mets were to give him every fifth day off during a Syndergaard start, it might allow him to be fresher as the season progresses. As he’s fresher, he may be less prone to injury. Presumably, not having his top hitting hand abused by Syndergaard’s 100 MPH fastballs could be beneficial to d’Arnaud when he’s at bat. Overall, this could be a very successful strategy that other pitching dependent teams have used in the past.
During the Braves run with Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz, Maddux used a personal catcher. It was mostly Eddie Perez who puts up similar offensive numbers to Rivera. Maddux felt comfortable with Perez behind the plate. Judging from Maddux’s Hall of Fame statistics, it’s hard to fault him for wanting his personal catcher. Meanwhile, Glavine, Smoltz, and the rest of the Braves’ starting staff used the Braves’ starting catcher which was the offensively superior Javy Lopez. With Lopez getting those additional days off, he was stronger as the season progressed, and he put up terrific offensive numbers. Given how similarly these Braves teams are built to the current Mets team, the Mets should really consider following this model especially when you see how well a Syndergaard-Rivera pairing has worked.
For the second straight season, we have been reminded how important Travis d’Arnaud is to the Mets. We are again reminded how much the Mets need him to stay on the field.
Last year, d’Arnaud was only able to play in 67 games with the Mets due to a a broken pinkie and a hyper-extended elbow. When d’Arnaud was able to play, he hit .268/.340/.485 with 12 homers and 41 RBI. Behind the plate, d’Arnaud continued to be a good pitch framer, and he threw runners out at a league average rate. In the games, the Mets were 41-26, which is a 99-63 pace.
When d’Arnaud was injured or sat, his replacements struggled mightily. The Mets had entered with Anthony Recker with as the primary backup. However, with his being a career .185/.260/.334 hitter, the Mets knew they would have to go to somewhere else for offense. At first, the Mets turned to their former first round pick Kevin Plawecki who hit .219/.280/.296. As Plawecki did not hit, the Mets turned to Johnny Monell, who hit .167/.231/.208. As he didn’t hit, the Mets went back to Plawecki. During this time the Mets had a 49-46 record, which is an 84-78 pace. In some ways, if d’Arnaud never returned to the Mets, the team never would have made the playoffs.
With the Mets 36-32 record, that’s where the Mets are. They are on the outside looking in.
They Mets are in this position in large part because of how poorly Plawecki and Rene Rivera have hit. Plawecki is even worse than he was last year hitting .194/.301/.258. Rivera has hit .190/.273/.310. No matter who the Mets pick to play, they can be rest assured that they are not going to get any offensive production from the catcher position. That should change tonight when d’Arnaud returns to the Mets.
It has to change. The Mets need d’Arnaud to have the same impact and offensive production he had last year. If he does, it’ll go a long way towards fixing the problems the Mets are currently experiencing. It could take this team from a team on the outside looking in to a team that is once again in position to win the National League East. With the Mets pitching and bats like d’Arnaud, this team can win the World Series.
On July 31, 2015, the Mets were three games behind the Washington Nationals. The Mets had the pitching to win, but they still needed the offense. Most of the Mets best hitters were either on the disabled list or had just returned from their own stint on the disabled list. Under these circumstances, the Mets made a trade for Yoenis Cespedes. Cespedes played his first game with the Mets on August 1st. From that point until the end of the season, Cespedes would hit .287/.337/.604 with 17 homers and 44 RBI. The Mets would go from three games back in the division to winning the National League East by seven games. The Mets then set out on a magical postseason run that found them falling just short of winning a World Series.
Many have posited that but for the Cespedes’ acquisition, the Mets would not have even made the playoffs. Cespedes was credited only with raising his game, but also raising the play of his teammates. Cespedes’ production and the ensuing run the Mets went on were seen as proof positive of that fact. Unfortunately, that narrative hasn’t been proven true this year.
Last year, the Mets were 37-22 in the 59 games Cespedes was with the Mets. This year the Mets have played 68 games, and they are 36-32. Despite having played in nine additional games, the Mets still have less wins with Cespedes on the roster. The Mets are faltering despite the fact that Cespedes is producing near the same levels he produced last year. In fact, Cespedes is hitting .287/.352/.564 with 17 homers and 43 RBI this year. Last year, this production was seen as transformative. This year many are left to inquire what moves the Mets need to make to return to the postseason.
The reason for this is simple. The current Mets team is worse than the 2015 version. For example, here is the lineup from Cespedes’ first game with the Mets:
- Curtis Granderson CF
- Daniel Murphy 3B
- Yoenis Cespedes LF
- Lucas Duda 1B
- Wilmer Flores 2B
- Kelly Johnson RF
- Travis d’Arnaud C
- Ruben Tejada SS
Here is the Mets lineup from Sunday:
- Curtis Granderson RF
- Asdrubal Cabrera SS
- Yoenis Cespedes CF
- Neil Walker 2B
- James Loney 1B
- Wilmer Flores 3B
- Michael Conforto LF
- Kevin Plawecki C
No, the lineup Cespedes first appeared would undergo some tweaks as the season progressed. First, Granderson would move back to RF, and Cespedes would play CF most of the time. Additionally, Murphy played some third base, but his primary position with the team was second base. Furthermore, until David Wright returned, Juan Uribe received the bulk of the playing time at third base. Finally, in both 2015 and 2016, Conforto was the primary left fielder that played alongside Cespedes in center. With that in mind, your only conclusion can be that the 2016 Mets as currently constituted are worse than the 2015 Mets. Here are the stats:
| 2016 | 2015 | |||
| C | Plawecki | .194/.301/.258 | d’Arnaud | .268/.340/.485 |
| 1B | Loney | .279/.329/.412 | Duda | .244/.352/.486 |
| 2B | Walker | .266/.335/.477 | Murphy | .281/.322/.449 |
| 3B | Flores | .241/.308/.380 | Uribe | .219/.301/.430 |
| SS | Cabrera | .265/.325/.394 | Tejada | .261/.338/.350 |
| LF | Conforto | .270/.335/.506 | Conforto | .231/.297/.447 |
| RF | Granderson | .223/.310/.449 | Granderson | .259/.364/.457 |
Overall, other than Walker, the 2016 Mets have no real advantage over the 2015 Mets from an offensive standpoint.
Granderson and Conforto are worse versions of themselves. Cabrera has hit for more power than Tejada did last year, but Cabrera’s stats are buttressed by a strong April. Since May 1st, Cabrera has hit .249/.306/.391. As for the catching and first base situations, the Mets have been trying to keep afloat since the Duda and d’Arnaud injuries. There is no timetable on Duda’s return. The expectation is d’Arnaud returns today.
This all tells us two things. First, Cespedes really didn’t make the players around him better last year. Yes, his presence in the lineup made the Mets a better team. However, him being a Met didn’t make the other Mets better players.
That leads to the second point, which is Sandy Alderson didn’t do the job he was tasked to do. He built a Mets team that lacked sufficient depth to carry the Mets through the anticipated Wright injury (even if the injury was of a different nature), and the likely Duda injury (again the injury was of a different nature).
So yes, Cespedes was great last year, and the Mets won. Cespedes has been similarly great this year, but the results are different. The results are different because it takes a lot more than Cespedes being great to make the Mets great. We know that now. Hopefully, so do the Mets.
You can look at any aspect from this game and say the Mets have to be better. That’s always the case when you lose a game. That goes double when you lose to what may be a historically bad Braves team.
For starters, Matt Harvey regressed after three terrific starts. His location was off, and the Braves made him pay. Harvey’s final line was six innings, seven hits, four earned, two walks, and five strikeouts. Ultimately, it may not have mattered, but you have to scratch your head at Terry Collins starting Kevin Plawecki over Rene Rivera.
Now, the Mets could’ve picked up Harvey tonight as they were facing former Mets prospect John Gant and his odd windup tonight:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=r_8hONBmVSA
It looks difficult to hit, right? Well, it hadn’t been the case this year with Gant having entered the game with a 5.63 ERA and a 1.750 WHIP. Naturally, Gant turned it around tonight pitching 6.2 innings allowing only two hits, one earned, and two walks with five strikeouts.
Gant had the sinker working that makes him an intriguing prospect. It’s why the Braves did a good job getting him as one of the pieces in the Juan Uribe/Kelly Johnson trade. For what it’s worth Johnson was 0-2 with a walk against Gant.
That’s how the night went for pretty much all of the Mets except Curtis Granderson who was 2-4 while scoring the only run of the game for the Mets in the first. There were a few stop and starts over the night, but the Mets were not cashing in on their opportunities. Most notably, the Mets had bases-loaded in the seventh, and Collins turned to Wilmer Flores, who couldn’t grip a bat yesterday, to pinch hit for Alejandro De Aza, who was originally announced go pinch hit for Antonio Bastardo, as the Braves brought the lefty Hunter Cervenka. Flores struck out as it’s hard to play with one hand.
The offense and pitching wasn’t the Mets only failing. In the eighth, Yoenis Cespedes bobbled a ball in the outfield. The play allowed Chase d’Arnaud, Travis‘ brother, to score even though he had already stopped at third. It went down as an unearned run to Erik Goeddel.
As if all of this wasn’t enough, James Loney made a bush league play on the bases that led to a game ending inning ending double play. On a Plawecki grounder, Loney slide into second. His slide wasn’t enough to break out the double play, so he lunged his elbow towards Jace Peterson‘s crotch. Even though Plawecki would’ve been safe by a mile, it was correctly ruled a game ending double play.
With that, Gant had his first career win, and Harvey had his major league leading ninth loss. It was a bad loss that was hard to watch. Across the board, the Mets need to be better than this.
Here’s a list of all the Mets who got hits off the Pirates rookie phenom Jameson Taillon through the first seven innings:
Don’t worry. Yoenis Cespedes put an end to the tomfoolery by immediately grounding into the 5-4-3 double play. Taillon would pitch a career high eight innings allowing two hits, no earned, and one walk with five strikeouts. Before tonight, Taillon never pitched more than seven innings at any level. He went past that point making the Mets look foolish in the process.
Yes, the Mets are a compromised lineup without David Wright and Lucas Duda. Yes, it does hurt the offense when Neil Walker and Michael Conforto out of the lineup. However, that’s an excuse.
The Mets put out a lineup with Yoenis Cespedes and Asdrubal Cabrera, who were two high priced players free agents signed more for their offense than anything. Until this year James Loney and Alejandro De Aza were major league quality players. By the way, remember when De Aza was supposed to be the answer in centerfield? Also, the Mets had Kelly Johnson in the lineup, who the Mets thought so highly of they parted with Akeel Morris to get him (after thinking Eric Campbell was a better bench option).
The other two batters were Wilmer Flores and Kevin Plawecki. Flores was the Mets starting shortstop last year because the Mets thought he was better than players like Jung Ho Kang (more on that in a minute). Now he’s a bench piece. Plawecki was the former first round pick, who, putting it nicely, isn’t any good. He showed us how bad he was again today.
Aside from the 0-3, he was dreadful in the field. In the sixth, he dropped what should have been a foul out off the bat of Andrew McCutchen extending the at bat. Later in the inning, he bounced a an offline throw when Josh Harrison tried to steal second. The ball went into center, and Harrison went to third. Because Jacob deGrom was so good neither error hurt the Mets.
However, deGrom wasn’t perfect when the Mets needed him to be. He made a mistake that Kang turned into a two run homerun in the sixth. The final line for deGrom was six innings allowing six hits, two earned, and one walk with nine strikeouts. For any other team, this would’ve been good enough for the win. Not for this putrid Mets offense.
Jim Henderson allowed a two run home run to Starling Marte. The homer made the score 4-0, and it put the game out of reach. You know, if it wasn’t out of reach at 2-0.
Look, teams will look bad against good pitching. Mets fans have seen their pitching do this to opponents. There is no shame is being shut down by a phenom like Taillon. The problem is, lately, every pitcher looks like Taillon against the Mets.
The Mets have three big holes due to three players going down with significant injuries. Lucas Duda has a stress fracture in his back. David Wright has a herniated disc in his neck in addition to his spinal stenosis. Travis d’Arnaud has a torn rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder.
With this in mind, the Mets have to answer a few questions as the trade deadline approaches:
- Are any of the three players likely to return?
- Do the Mets have viable internal options to replace that player?
- What is out there on the trade market?
Working backwards, we see the biggest name on the trade market is going to be Jonathan Lucroy.
Lucroy is having a terrific year this season hitting .304/.361/.515 with nine homeruns and 28 RBI. It shouldn’t be a surprise that Lucroy is playing this well as he is better in even numbered years than odd numbered years since he became a full time starter in 2011. In 2012, his OPS+ was 132; in 2014, it was 131, and this year it is 132. In short, we can reasonably expect Lucroy to keep this up.
Lucroy’s just as successful behind the plate. He is a good pitch framer. He’s gunned down 42.9% of would be basestealers. Simply put, Lucroy is as much of a complete catcher as there is in the game. He’s also a massive upgrade over d’Arnaud’s replacements.
Since d’Arnaud’s last game on April 25th, Rene Rivera and Kevin Plawecki have combined to hit .190/.273/.289. While they have been good pitch framers, and Rivera has been a stabilizing force behind the plate, Plawecki and Rivera have both established themselves as poor hitting backup catchers. The Mets need a starting catcher that can hit. That was supposed to be d’Arnaud. It could be Lucroy now.
With that said, the Mets should pass on Lucroy despite his being better than any of the Mets catchers.
The reason the Mets can do this is because d’Arnaud has begun playing in rehab games, and he has had no setbacks this far. He will begin catching in rehab games soon. As per baseball’s 20 game rehab rule, d’Arnaud is set to return to the Mets on Sunday, June 26th at the latest.
Assuming he’s healthy, d’Arnaud can continue being a good overall catcher. He’s a better than average pitch framer. He’s coming off a .268/.340/.485 season. He hit three homeruns in the postseason last year. The only issue that remains is if he can throw out base stealers with his injured shoulder. With the way Mets pitchers hold on base runners, that may not be as big an issue as one might normally believe.
With his injury history, there may come a point in time the Mets decide to move on from d’Arnaud. That time may come sooner rather than later. However, now is not that time. The Mets have bigger issues.
James Loney has been a fine stopgap at first base, but he’s still only hitting .250/.302/.350. He’s not the long term solution. Wilmer Flores has done a yeoman’s job at third hitting .389/.450/.500. He is been much better with his approach at the plate. He is working the counts and starting to draw some walks. He also has an unsustainably high .500 BABIP leading you to believe he is due for a regression back to the .255/.292/.385 career hitter he is. Overall, the Mets continue to have long term holes at first and third with no one really knowing when or if Wright and Duda can return.
Accordingly, the Mets need to husband their resources so they can make a move to acquire a third and/or first baseman. That’s not Lucroy UNLESS the Mets feel comfortable paying the huge price he’ll command on the trade market to play first base . . . a position he has only played 43 games in his seven year career.
Editor’s Note: this was first published metsmerizedonline.com