Kevin Plawecki

Mets Bullpen Had One More Escape Act

As Lou Brown said, “Ok, we won a game yesterday. If we win today, it’s called ‘two in a row.’  And if we win again tomorrow, it’s called ‘a winning streak’ . . . .  It has happened before!”  That’s where Matt Harvey . He’s on a streak of good starts. 

On May 30th, he pitched seven innings allowing two hits, no runs, and one walk with six strikeouts. On June 5th, he pitched seven innings allowing four hits, one earned, and no walks with three strikeouts. Tonight, he pitched six innings allowing two hits, one earned, and two walks with eight strikeouts. That’s three straight starts allowing one run or less. That’s vintage Harvey. 

Harvey did get some help in the third when replay overturned a run:

https://twitter.com/mlbreplays/status/741439922691706881

Initially, the umpires ruled Aaron Hill got in under Kevin Plawecki‘s tag. Upon replay, it was ruled Hill was out, and the run was taken off the board. The Brewers would have to wait until the fifth to score. 

Ex-Met Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a one out triple to right, and he would score on Ramon Flores‘ sacrifice fly to left field. It was going to take a good throw to get Kirk out, but Alejandro De Aza was not up to the task. First, it got caught in his glove. Next, he double clutched. Finally, the throw was up the first base line. It was just one part of a bad game for De Aza. 

In the first, he erased a Curtis Granderson leadoff walk by hitting into a double play. In the fifth Brewers starter, Junior Guerrera, intentionally walked Granderson to load the bases with two outs to face De Aza. De Aza grounded out meekly to second. Overall, he was 0-5. 

Overall, the Mets batters weren’t hitting well. Even when Kelly Johnson hit a double in first at bat back with the Mets, he followed it up with a TOOBLAN.  With no force play, he was slow (somewhat frozen) on a ball hit to the shortstop. He was tagged out, and Harvey was nailed at first ending the inning. 

FINALLY, in the sixth the Mets gave Harvey some run support after not giving him any run support in 15 innings. Yoenis Cespedes did this:

He hit a laser to right center tying the game at 1-1. Unfortunately, that was all the run support Harvey would get as Nieuwenhuis did this to Johnson:

Harvey had a great start and a no decision.  It would become a battle of the bullpens. It was a battle of escape acts. 

Hansel Robles entered the game in the seventh, and it appeared like his struggles were going to continue. It was first and second with no outs with the newly minted Mets killer Nieuwenhuis at the plate. Robles struck him out, and then he got the next two batters to fly out to get out of the jam. Antonio Bastardo followed up with a 1-2-3 eighth. 

Jeremy Jeffres did his Robles’ impersonation in the ninth by getting out of a bases loaded no out jam. First, Plawecki popped up to second. Neil Walker pinch hit for Bastardo and struck out looking. Granderson then meekly grounded out to second. 
It was then Jim Henderson‘s turn for the Houdini act. He issued a one out walk to Jonathan Lucroy, who was pinch run for by Keon Broxton. Broxton would easily steal second, and he would go to third on a comedy of errors. Plawecki would bounce the ball 10 feet short of second, and the ball would go through Johnson’s legs allowing Broxton to go to third. After a walk to Chris Carter, he struck out Nieuwenhuis on three straight pitches, and he got Hill to ground out to end the inning. 

Henderson was then pressed for a second inning out of the pen despite his injury history. The reason was unavailable after pitching three innings in today days, and Logan Verrett will start tomorrow due to the doubleheader. After walking the leadoff hitter Flores, Henderson had to leave the game with what appeared to be a blister. That made it Jerry Blevins turn to get out of the jam. 

After a sac bunt, Blevins had a runner on second with one out, and he threw a pitch in the dirt. Flores took off for third, and he made it safely for a split second. Matt Reynolds, who was double switched into the game when Blevins entered the game, kept the tag on Flores, so when Flores oversold third, he was out. Rally over. 

Wilmer Flores then cleared the Flores’ good surname in the 11th. He ripped a one out double pushing Asdrubal Cabrera to third. After Johnson was intentionally walked, the Mets found themselves in the same situation as they did in the ninth – bases loaded and no outs. Plawecki fouled out, and then all hell broke loose. 

Reynolds hit a sharp liner at Jonathan Villar, who dropped it. He flipped the ball to Scooter Gennett, who stepped on second while Flores was standing there. By Gennett stepping on the bag, Johnson was out, but the Brewers didn’t know it.  They didn’t know it because the second base umpire somehow called him safe. They got Johnson, who was already out, in a rundown. While this was happening Cabrera scored making it 2-1. Keith Hernandez put it best when he said everybody had to do back to school. 

Jeurys Familia then came in and recorded his 21st save in his 21st chance to end all of this tomfoolery. 
Game Notes: Harvey is the all-time leader for winless starts in which he’s allowed one run or less through a pitchers first 78 starts. It gets better:

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Granderson Leads the Way

Curtis Granderson was all the offensive support Bartolo Colon would need. 

Colon pitched seven innings allowing eight hits, one earned, and no walks with two strikeouts. He also helped himself by picking off Scooter Gennett in the third. 

Colon got into some trouble in the seventh. Old friend Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a two out double to right just missing a homerun. Then Neil Walker took a sharply hit groundball off the chest. Nieuwenhuis was hustling all the way, and he would score right before Kevin Plawecki could apply the tag. It narrowed the score to 2-1. The Mets would get out of the inning when Plawecki’s one hop throw just beat Hernan Perez. It was a great tag by Asdrubal Cabrera off a tough throw to handle. 

The offense was essentially Granderson just like it was most of last year. He had the keynote address and a double in the third setting up the second run of the game. He scored the second run of the game off a Yoenis Cespedes RBI single. On the night, Granderson was 2-3 with two runs, a double, a homerun, and an RBI. Granderson’s double was particularly impressive because it went opposite field. 

The Mets blew it open in the eighth. The Mets loaded the bases with no outs, and Plawecki got a two RBI single through the drawn-in infield. The Mets could’ve had more, but Wilmer Flores pulled a TOOBLAN. With the play right in front of him, he kept going.  The ball was cut-off, and Wilmer was out on the basepaths. 

Lost in the TOOBLAN is how well Flores is hitting of late. He was 3-4, and he is hitting .476 over the last seven games. Another piece of good news was seeing Juan Lagares enter the game for defense. It was even better seeing him stretch a single into a double in his lone at bat. However, his sliding into second headfirst with a torn ligament in his thumb was cringeworthy. 

It was also cringeworthy seeing Matt Reynolds pinch hitting for Walker. It’s not a good sign especially after Walker took that hot shot off the chest. The good news there was Reynolds had another good pinch hit. He had an RBI pinch hit single scoring Lagares to make it 5-2. 

Even more cringeworthy was Terry Collins  decision to bring Addison Reed into the game after he pitched two innings yesterday. He would allow Gennett to hit an RBI double making it a 4-2 game. It would break his 15.1 inning scoreless streak. Jeurys Familia would close it out with a 1-2-3 inning with 2 strikeouts. He’s now a perfect 20/20 in save chances this year. Dating back to last year, he has 36 consecutive saves. 

Overall, it is nice to get some games in against bad teams to allow the Mets to get back on track. The Mets are now 4-0 against the Brewers, and they have now won two in a row. 

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Akeel Morris Was the Price of Not Re-Signing Kelly Johnson

For the second straight year, the Mets entered the season with questionable depth.  The result of the questionable depth last year was the Mets were forced to raid their minor league pitching depth to build a bench and a bullpen.  Overall, the Mets traded away Robert Whalen, John Gant, Casey Meisner, Michael Fulmer, Luis Cessa, Dawrin Frias, Miller Diaz, and Matt Koch.  The end result was a National League Pennant and only one player under contract beyond 2015.

The Mets had the whole offseason to make sure that didn’t happen again.  They didn’t.  The team decided not to re-sign Kelly Johnson, and they waived Ruben Tejada.  The end result was the Mets started the year with Eric Campbell on the 25 man roster.  Keep in mind, the 2015 Mets which supposedly had less depth had Campbell in the minor league system.

Unfortunately, Campbell did not reward the faith the Mets placed in him.  Campbell hit .159/.270/.222.  The Mets were forced to move on from him.  Next up was Ty Kelly, who the Mets signed to a minor league deal over the winter, and Kelly hit .111/.200/.111.  Another option was Matt Reynolds, who is still up with the team, who is currently hitting .167/.231/.167.  By the way, the Mets have now made it readily apparent they are not going to give T.J. Rivera a shot.  Long story short there are kiddie pools with more depth than what the 2016 Mets had this season.  Accordingly, the Mets were in a position where they were forced to make a move to improve their depth.

Today, the Mets traded away Akeel Morris for Kelly Johnson.  This is the same Kelly Johnson the Mets thought Eric Campbell was better than in the offseason.  This is the same Kelly Johnson who is currently hitting .215/.273/.289 this year.

Again, the Mets could have signed him in the offseason and not forfeited a prospect in return.  Either the Mets thought Campbell was a better player and were wrong, or they made a money decision.  There is roughly a $1.5 million difference between Campbell’s and Johnson’s salaries, and the Mets did release Tejada before the season in an effort to save money.  Keep in mind, the Mets not only obtained Campbell in the deal, but as per Jon Heyman, the Mets also received some money in the deal as well.  Because of the Mets penny wise pound foolish decisions, the Mets once again had to dip into their minor league system to address their poor depth.

This time the cost was Akeel Morris.  Last year, Morris was terrific in his 23 appearance in AA.  He went 0-1 with a 2.45 ERA and a 1.091 WHIP.  This year, for the first time in his major league career, he is struggling.  In his 22 appearances, he is 2-2 with a 4.62 ERA and a 1.382 WHIP.  Lost in those stats is Morris’ stuff.  He can get his fastball up to 95, and he has a good changeup.  With his ability to strike people out, he could have been a late inning reliever.  With the development of another pitch, like the Warthen slider, he would be. If he does reach his potential, it will be with another organization as the Mets decided they desperately needed someone who is hitting worse than Kevin Plawecki this year.

Regardless of his struggles, Johnson is an upgrade over what the Mets have been playing lately. Johnson may also benefit from returning to a team where he played well last year.  If Johnson does play well, it’ll be a reminder the Mets should not have let him sign elsewhere in the offseason.  It will be a reminder that the mistake the Mets made a mistake in thinking Campbell was the best choice for the bench. Ultimately, the cost of that mistake is the career of Akeel Morris.

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Twin 3-1 Losses Isn’t Niese

You knew it was going to be a long day when Jon Niese dominated the Mets in game one of the doubleheader. 

Niesepitched seven scoreless innings allowing two walks while striking out two. This unrecognizable man even recovered shrugged off an error turning a Steven Matz double into a triple by getting the next couple of batters out to escape the jam. For his part, Matz battled through five innings allowing eight hits, two earned, and two walks while striking out eight. 

It wasn’t a good outing for Matz, but he fought through it and limited the damage as much as he could. The problem is he got no help. The Mets didn’t score until Curtis Granderson hit an eighth inning homerun. Before that homer, Granderson was 2-53 as a Met against the Pirates (not an exaggeration). Granderson’s homerun was too little too late what would be a 3-1 loss. 

The nightcap was more of the same with another 3-1 loss.  

Terry Collins trotted out the same lineup as the first game, with the exception of the requisite swap of starting catchers, hoping for a change. Instead he got more of the same. It was made all the worse by the loss coming against a Juan Nicasio whose 4.75 ERA does not appear long for the Pirates rotation, especially with Jameson Taillon‘s much anticipated major league debut tomorrow. 

Overall, Nicasio pitched five innings allowing three hits and one earned with two walks and seven strikeouts over five innings. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he pulled off a successful butcher boy in the fifth setting up the third run of the game. Nicasio pulled the bunt back and singled off the glove of Jacob deGrom. The play moved Chris Stewart to third. He later scored on a John Jaso double. 

Like Matz, deGrom didn’t have his best stuff, but he mostly kept the Pirates at bay. He pitched six innings allowing six hits and three runs with no walks and no strikeouts. Like Matz, the Mets offense abandoned him. The only run scored was on a Kevin Plawecki RBI single scoring Michael Conforto in the fifth. 

There’s just no sugar coating it. The Mets offense was, and has been, putrid. They played 18 innings, and they only collected nine hits while scoring two runs. They went down 1-2-3 in nine of the 18 innings. 

Asdrubal Cabrera was 0-8, and he hasn’t had a hit in last 14 at bats. Yoenis Cespedes was 0-7, and he’s 3-36 in his last 11 games. Michael Conforto was 1-6, and he’s been hitting .160 since the end of April. These are three important bats in the lineup. Even without the Mets injuries, the Mets still need these guys to hit. They’re not, and their struggles are magnified because the Mets need them more than usual. 

Simply put, if they’re not hitting the Mets aren’t winning. They didn’t hit today, and the Mets were swept in both ends of the doubleheader. 

Notes: About the only good thing that happened today was Neil Walker got loud ovations before his first at bat of both ends of the doubleheader. It was a classy move for a classy player. Eric Campbell was the 26th man in the second game of the doubleheader. He didn’t play. 

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Don’t Move Travis d’Arnaud

The other day, Travis d’Arnaud began his rehabilitation assignment playing DH for High-A St. Lucie. It’s interesting he started at a position other than catcher as many people believe d’Arnaud should be using this time to transition away from catcher.

There are sound reasons for this decision. d’Arnaud has been injury prone, and catcher is a position where a player tends to get many nicks, bumps, and bruises. With the torn labrum, d’Arnaud is going to have even more issues throwing out more base stealers than he is perceived to have. Finally, with the Lucas Duda and David Wright injuries, the Mets may need long term solutions to those positions.

Despite all of these reasons, it would be an incredibly poor decision to move d’Arnaud out from behind the plate.

First, d’Arnaud’s torn labrum shouldn’t affect his ability to catch and call a game. Throughout his career, d’Arnaud’s strength has been as a receiver and a pitch framer.  Yes, his torn labrum could affect his ability to throw. However, his throwing would be a bigger issue from third base.

Additionally, moving d’Arnaud doesn’t help the Mets offensively. In d’Arnaud’s absence, Kevin Plawecki has hit .203/.302/.298, and Rene Rivera has hit .194/.310/.361. Right now, the Mets have James Loney at first, who is a career .285/.338/.411 hitter, and Wilmer Flores at third, who is a career .251/.288/.382 hitter. Simply put, the Mets are better off with d’Arnaud, Loney, and Flores in the lineup.

Overall, the Mets need d’Arnaud back with the Mets as soon as possible. They need his bat in the lineup to improve the lineup. He helps this team, and this pitching staff most, when he is behind the plate.  He needs to stay there.

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All Hands Were on Deck

David Wright is gone for who knows how long. Yoenis Cespedes was scratched right before the game with a hip issue. When you don’t have the big bats in your lineup, you’re doing to need everyone to pitch in to try to help secure the victory. 

As usual, Juan Lagares provided Gold Glove defense:

It was an important catch as the game was 3-2, and that hit could’ve put the game out of reach. Instead, the Meys got new life. 

That’s when James Loney made his contribution. Loney led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a passed ball. Loney then scored on an RBI single by surprise starter Michael Conforto. Conforto has been struggling badly of late, but today he was 1-3 with a run scored, a walk, and two RBI. Conforto later scored on an RBI pinch hit single from Matt Reynolds. Reynolds had to pinch hit for Lagares, who left the game with an apparent injury, which may or may not have been related to that amazing catch. 

Seemingly every Met contributed to this 6-4 win. Wilmer Flores was 3-4 with a run and a walk. Neil Walker scored two runs, and Asdrubal Cabrera scored one as well. He also stayed in a game where everyone seemed to get knicked up a bit. Bartolo Colon pitched in and out of trouble allowing only one run over five. Jerry Blevins, with a little help from Lagares, bailed out Hansel Robles in the sixth. Jim Henderson pitched a scoreless 0.1 innings, and Addison Reed pitched a scoreless eighth. Alejandro De Aza had a two out, two run double in the the ninth. Jeurys Familia recorded his 18th save. As you can see, pretty much everyone contributed to this win, save Kevin Plawecki. 

  
He has an error in the second when he took a throw from Flores and couldn’t find homeplate with his foot or tag the runner. In the top of the third, he hit a double and was immediately picked off second. In the eighth, he couldn’t get down a sacrifice bunt. It was a tough say for him on what was a terrific day for his teammates. 

So long as the Mets role players and lesser starts keep stepping up like this, this is going to be a special season. 

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This Isn’t Terry Collins’ Fault

Yesterday was about as frustrating as it gets.  The Mets only scored one run in 13 innings despite drawing 13 walks.  The natural reaction is to try to figure out where things went wrong, to try to figure out why this happened.  There are many plausible and reasonable explanations.  However, when seeking out an answer to what is currently ailing the Mets, Terry Collins is not one of them.

Yes, Terry Collins has his faults as a manager.  He sticks with veterans too long.  He has a tendency to mismanage the bullpen.  He mismanaged the World Series so poorly he might’ve cost the team an opportunity to win the World Series.  There are many things wrong with him as a manager.  However, you cannot blame him for the current state of the Mets’ offense.

Terry Collins is not to blame for Travis d’Arnaud going down with a rotator cuff injury leaving him with the choice of the light hitting Kevin Plawecki or Rene Rivera each and every night.  Terry Collins is not to blame for Lucas Duda‘s pre-existing back issue or his subsequent (if unrelated) stress fracture.  He’s also not to blame for David Wright‘s spinal stenosis or the herniated disc in his neck.  You can’t blame Terry Collins that his had to start someone from the triumvirate of Eric Campbell, Ty Kelly, or Matt Reynolds at third base.  You can’t blame Terry Collins that the Mets had to go out and get James Loney, a player released by the Tampa Rays before the season began, to fill-in at first base.

Overall, the manager’s job is to get the best out of his players.  It is not to suddenly turn Kevin Plawecki and Ty Kelly into capable major league hitters.  That’s unfair and unreasonable.

While there is plenty of blame to go around for the offense, it’s not on Collins.  In fact, you could argue that given the current state of the offense, Collins is exactly the manager you want in charge of the Mets.  The Mets faced similar issues last year while Collins was at the helm.  He had a young starting rotation going out there putting terrific start after terrific start just hoping the offense could score a run or two to get them the win.  This is the type of environment that coiuld’ve fractured a team.  It’s the type of environment when players could start getting frustrated and take those frustrations out on the field.  Instead, Terry Collins held that team together until the team got healthy and Sandy Alderson could get reinforcements in place.  A year later, the Mets are in the same exact position.

So, overall, Terry Collins is not to blame.  In fact, he has shown that he is the exact manager you want in place right now.  The World Series?  Well, that’s a whole other matter.  Let’s get through this rough patch first before discussing that point.

 

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2016 May Report Card

The Mets entered May 15-7, in second place, and a half game behind the Nationals. The Mets finished May 14-15 and two games behind the Nationals.

The month saw some key injuries and their depth getting exposed. Below are the first month grades for each of the Mets players. Bear in mind, these grades are on a curve. If a bench player gets an A and a position player gets a B, it doesn’t mean the bench player is having a better year. Rather, it means the bench player is performing better in his role.

Position Players

Travis d’Arnaud (Inc). Due to a rotator cuff injury, d’Arnaud hasn’t played one game this month, and no one knows when he’s going to start a rehab assignment. Given the questions about his durability, this grade could’ve been an F.

Kevin Plawecki (F)  Plawecki hit .197/.284/.303 in May. He’s once again established he’s either not ready or incapable of being an everyday catcher in the majors.

Rene Rivera (C). Like Plawecki, Rivera hasn’t hit well. He hit .167/.286/.292 in the month. However, his grade is much higher as he’s been a good veteran presence behind the plate who has worked very well with Noah Syndergaard. Rivera has also neutralized the opponent’s running game.

Lucas Duda (D). Duda only hit .192/.300/.404 in May. We don’t know if these numbers are the result of his lower back stress fracture or not. With that said, you’re judged by your performance on the field, and he wasn’t good.

James Loney (Inc). He played in only one game. It’s too soon to judge.

Neil Walker (C). Walker came crashing back to Earth. In May, he hit .238/.326/.381 while hitting four homeruns. He also missed some games with a shin injury.

David Wright (C). Wright continued to strike out frequently in May. He still hit .215/.346/.462 with five homers.  His grade was downgraded because he’s been dishonest about his health. The only thing we care about now is whether the injection in his neck worked.

Asdrubal Cabrera (C-). Like his double play partner, Cabrera’s play was much worse in May. Cabrera hit .268/.308/.406 in May.

Wilmer Flores (D). Flores took a small step forward in May. He hit .250/.300/.357. He also missed some time on the DL exposing the bench.

Eric Campbell (F). Campbell had a decent West Coast Trip, but with that said, he’s been abysmal otherwise with him hitting .167/.281/.241. As a result of his poor play, the Mets designated him for assignment.

Matt Reynolds (D-) It’s a small sample size, but he hit .100 in his eight games. He was so bad, he couldn’t outlast Campbell or Ty Kelly. The only reason this isn’t an F is Reynolds stepped in for an ailing Cabrera one day, and he played decently.

Ty Kelly (F). He was called up due to injuries, and the only reason he stays on the roster is he’s a switch hitter.

Michael Conforto (F). Conforto is struggling for the first time in his career, and as his .167/.242/.349 line will attest, he’s having trouble figuring it out. He eventually will. However, the Mets need him to do it sooner rather than later.

Yoenis Cespedes (A). Cespedes has been everything the Mets could ask for and more. He’s showing that August was him turning a corner and not some hot streak.

Curtis Granderson (C-). Like seemingly every other Mets hitter not named Cespedes, Granderson struggled in May. His grade is higher due to the five homeruns, including the one walk off the other night. He’s also gotten hit lately. Hopefully, he’s turned a corner.
Juan Lagares (A).  His bat, even with a low OBP, seems to be getting better. Between that and his Gold Glove defense, he’s going to soon start forcing his way into the lineup more.
Alejandro De Aza (F). Hard to kill a guy who went from platoon to a 5th OF through no fault of his own.  With that said, when he does play, he doesn’t hit.

Pitchers

Matt Harvey (D). His nightmare of an April got worse in May. This isn’t an F as his last start was vintage Harvey. It looks like he may be back.

Jacob deGrom (B). Surprisingly, he was winless in May. Also, we may be seeing the effects of his decreased velocity with his ERA going up and his WHIP going down.

Noah Syndergaard (A). He followed a dominant April with a dominant May. He also hit two homeruns. It’s not an A+ because he didn’t actually hit Chase Utley.

Steven Matz (A).  Matz has been on a roll all month making him not only the odds on favorite for the Rookie of the Year Award but also making him a serious contender for the All Star team.  Even in last night’s blip, he still left the game in position to get a win.

Bartolo Colon (C+).  He’s been what he’s always been – good against bad teams and struggles against good teams.  There were more good teams on the schedule this month, so we saw him pitch to a higher ERA.  Bonus points for his first homerun.

Logan Verrett (F).  After a month of bailing the Mets out, it was Verrett who needed to be bailed out with a 6.46 ERA and a 1.761 WHIP.

Jeurys Familia (B).  He’s still perfect in save chances, but the last week he was shaky in non-save situations.  He blew a four run lead in one game, and he earned the loss after pitching poorly in a tied game.

Addison Reed (A+).  As good as he was in April, he was even better in May.  He has consistently been the best reliever in the Mets bullpen.

Jim Henderson (B-).  While his ERA has ballooned this month, his peripherals show that he’s still pitching pretty well.  He is starting to get exposed a bit by pitching too much to lefties and by getting a little more work than he was probably read to take on at this point.

Hansel Robles (B).  Robles was actually having a better May than April until the past week happened.  He’s gotten touched up the past two games by the long ball.  It’s something to keep an eye on going forward.

Jerry Blevins (B).  While his ERA has steadily gone done over the course of May, he has been hit a little harder.

Antonio Bastardo (C). Bastardo entered the season without the faith of his manager, Terry Collins, and it appears that he is in the same position.  Throughout his career, Bastardo has struggled with giving up walks, and he’s had that issue re-emerge this month.

Rafael Montero (Inc.).  Montero didn’t pitch in the majors this month.  One thing that is telling is even with Harvey’s struggles, the Mets never seriously considered him to pitch in the rotation or bullpen.

Sean Gilmartin (A).  Gilmartin had a brief return to the Mets due to some short outings from their starters.  Gilmartin did what he excelled at last year – pitching well no matter what the role the Mets gave him.

Terry Collins (B).  It was a tough month for the Mets all around.  However, this month the Mets seemed to finally get Harvey right, and Collins made sure to protect David Wright from himself.  As usual, Collins had his share of baffling lineup and bullpen decisions.  With that said, he still has the Mets in the thick of things.

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Time for Rene Rivera

Yesterday, Matt Harvey may have turned his whole season around. His velocity, command, and swagger were back. Much of it had to do with the Mets finally spotting his mechanical flaw and fixing it. Another factor that wasn’t mentioned yesterday was it was the first time Rene Rivera caught Matt Harvey. 

Rivera is a veteran journeyman catcher. He’s a great receiver that calls a good game. He is adept at both pitch framing and throwing out base stealers. He has a cannon throwing 34.4% of would be basestealers, which is second only to Yadier Molina among active catcher with 250+ stolen base attempts.  From behind the plate, Rivera controls the game. He is a calm and steady presence back there. 

This is what a young pitching staff needs more than anything. It’s what Gary Carter did for the 86 Mets. It’s what Rivera did for the Rays. 

With the Rays, Rivera had been part of the development of their young pitchers, specifically Chris Archer. With Rivera behind the plate, Archer limited batters to a 93 OPS+. With all the other catchers, who have caught him, batters have a 100 OPS+ against Archer. The young Archer was just a better pitcher with the veteran behind the plate. 

We’re seeing it again with Rivera and Noah Syndergaard. In the limited time, they’ve worked together, Syndergaard has limited batters to an 87 OPS+. In the four games, they have been combined, Syndergaard has a 1.54 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP. Part of that is Rivera controlling the game behind the plate. Part of that is Rivera controlling the running game allowing Syndergaard to just focus on the batter. 

The results with Archer and Syndergaard show Rivera’s value. We may have seen it again with Harvey yesterday. Seeing how Rivera handles a young staff, it’s hard to justify not playing him everyday. 

In fact, the only excuse is his offense. He’s a career .209/.258/.329 hitter with a 64 OPS+.  This year, he’s hitting an even worse .148/.281/.259 with a 50 OPS+. Given the Mets offensive problems, it’s hard to justify putting this bat in the lineup everyday. Unfortunately, Plawecki isn’t a stumbling block. 

For the second straight year, Kevin Plawecki has struggled in Travis d’Arnaud’s absence. He’s hitting .196/.292/.272 with a 57 OPS+. He’s actually worse than he was last year when he had the excuse of getting called to the majors too soon and experiencing dizzy spells during games. Right now, Plawecki is showing the Mets that he either belongs in the minor leagues, or he is nothing more than a backup catcher. 

Given the comparable OPS+ figures, Rivera and Plawecki are effectively the same person at the plate. With that said, the Mets should play the catcher who is better and handling a pitching staff and controlling the running game. There is no doubt that is Rene Rivera. It’s time for the Mets to make Rivera the everyday catcher until Travis d’Arnaud returns. 

Editor’s Note: this was also published on metsmerizedonline.com

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Glass Half Full Loss

Going into last night’s game, you’d be hard pressed to find reasons to be optimistic. 

Clayton Kershaw was squaring off against Bartolo Colon. David Wright missed another game with a neck issue, which mean another Eric Campbell start. To make matters worse, the Mets fell behind Kershaw 2-0. There was really now reason to believe the Mets could come back to tie the game. 

And yet, they did. 

In the sixth, Asdrubal Cabrera homered off Kershaw. In the eighth, the Mets had Kevin Plawecki on first with two outs.  Fortunately, Kershaw was lifted from the game leaving Curtis Granderson to face the lefty Adam Liberatore. Granderson hit a game-tying triple. The Mets showed some fight and came back against the best pitcher in baseball. 

Yes, Jeurys Familia struggled in the ninth. He took the loss after allowing two runs on two hits and two walks.  The Mets lost 4-2.  It was frustrating that Familia had a second straight tough night, but at the end of the day, Familia will be alright. This was just a blip on the radar. 

The biggest take away is that a weak Mets lineup fought back against the best pitcher in baseball. It gives you hope for optimism no matter how frustrating the ninth inning might’ve been. 

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