Matt Harvey
During MLB Tonight, former players were asked to compare themselves to current major league players. During John Smoltz‘s segment, he compared himself with a Mets pitcher who had Hall of Fame talent . . . Zack Wheeler.
During his breakdown, Smoltz noted he and Wheeler have both had Tommy John surgery. He also broke down how both he and Wheeler had the inverted W (which is really an M) and had the same landing point. There’s another comparison Smoltz failed to mention. They were both overshadowed by other Cy Young/Hall of Fame caliber pitchers in the same rotation.
Just like Smoltz was overshadowed by Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, Wheeler has become overshadowed by Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, and Noah Syndergaard. Some would even argue he’s been surpassed by Steven Matz.
For Smoltz, it didn’t matter he was overshadowed. He built himself a Hall of Fame career. He was 213-155 with 154 saves, a 3.33 ERA, and a 1.174 WHIP. He won a Cy Young Award and was an eight All Star. He was an incredible postseason pitcher taking his game to the next level. He was 15-4 with a 2.67 ERA and a 1.144 WHIP.
Now, Wheeler is not on this level. So far in his career, he’s 18-16 with a 3.50 ERA and a 1.339 WHIP. That doesn’t mean he can’t improve. He’s a four pitch pitcher with a 96 MPH fastball and a 89 MPH slider. He’s got the stuff to dominate. He just needs better control and pitch location. Once he does that, the results will come.
All Wheeler had to do is make adjustments. As Smoltz noted in the segment, he consistently made adjustments in his career to get better. With each adjustment, Smoltz would improve.
Making the right adjustments is the final piece to the puzzle. If he can do it, he can have a long dominating career like Smoltz. The awards and accolades will come no matter how much another ace overshadows him.
With the Mets recent winning streak and just overall better play, the only issue was Matt Harvey‘s slow start and his mechanics. Four pitches into the game, Zack Cozart hit a homerun. Ivan DeJesus followed with a single. It looked like Harvey was going to struggle again.
Then the Harvey of old emerged. He struck out the next five batters and retired six straight. His fastball was topping 97 MPH. The Reds would cease making hard contact against him. As impressive as that was, the third inning was all the more impressive.
The bases were loaded with one out after two soft singles and a Neil Walker error. Harvey then struck out Eugenio Suarez, and he got Devin Mesoraco out on a soft liner up the middle. Walker made a nice diving play up the middle there to redeem himself after his earlier error. Walker would then redeem himself in the bottom of the third:
9 for Neil! @NeilWalker18 hit his 9th HR of the season. That ties a #Mets record for the most HRs in April. pic.twitter.com/zCIf1andLQ
— New York Mets (@Mets) April 28, 2016
Walker’s homerun would put the Mets up 3-1. The other two runs were scored in the first. Alejandro De Aza, starting in place of Curtis Granderson, scored an unearned run when Lucas Duda reached on a two base error. Duda scored on a Walker RBI single.
Harvey ran into trouble again in the fifth. The Reds hit two infield singles leading to a run scored making it a 3-2 game. Harvey then induced Mesoraco to hit into an inning ending double play. At this point, Terry Collins would’ve been justified pulling Harvey there. He was in line for the win. The defense behind him was sloppy all night. Harvey hasn’t been good so far this year in the sixth. Instead, Collins sent him back out there. He might have had to with a somewhat taxed back end of the bullpen.
Harvey rewarded Collins’ faith by getting a 1-2-3 inning. Harvey’s final line was six innings, seven hits, two earned, one walk, and seven strikeouts. He threw 102 pitches. Most importantly, he got the win. Now, Harvey may not be all the way back yet, but he took an important step. It’s definitely a game to build on.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Mets blew it open against the Reds dreadful bullpen. Eric Campbell, pinch hitting for Harvey, drew a walk. De Aza followed with a walk of his own. Michael Conforto then stepped up to the plate. What was strange was in a 3-2 game with two outs in the inning, the Reds didn’t turn to a lefty. They paid for it when Conforto hit opposite field double to left-center. It was Conforto’s ninth double in 18 games played.
Jim Henderson came on for Harvey in the seventh because it was the seventh inning. He had a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. After Collins’ earlier overuse of him, it appears Henderson is settling back in. Hansel Robles pitched the eighth inning (as he should). He too pitched a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. That’s 15 strikeouts in ten innings pitched for Robles this year. Addison Reed, pitching for the fifth time in six games, pitched the ninth and recorded his first save of the year. He also recorded a 1-2-3 inning except he only had one strikeout. Mets pitching had 12 strikeouts in total.
The Mets have now won six in a row and 11 of their last 13. Shockingly, this was the Mets first series win at home this season. Now after the easy stretch is over, the Mets have tomorrow off (because it’s a Thursday in April), and they welcome the Giants for a weekend series.
Game Notes: In 12 of the Mets 20 games, they have struck out 10+ batters. Yoenis Cespedes was given another night off with his leg contusion despite hitting a homerun last night. Granderson was just given the day to rest. De Aza started in right with Juan Lagares in center.
Before the game, Matt Harvey declared he figured out his mechanical problems, and that he was back. He took no chances as the Mets ore the traditional road grays instead of the blue alternates he prefers. The Mets need him to be back because he has not resembled the Matt Harvey we’ve seen:
Harvey in his career:
Bases empty: .199/.247/.296
Men on: .252/.302/.365 https://t.co/SqB05IV6Hd— Michael Mayer (@mikemayer22) April 22, 2016
First inning, Harvey came out guns blazing. He got three quick outs, including one strikeout. After the first, it was a struggle. It could’ve been the same problems he’s had all year. It could’ve been the delay due to the need to change home plate umpires due to the home plate umpire getting injured on a foul tip. In any event, Harvey’s pitches were up. His velocity was generally down (about 1-2 MPH), and the Braves were making solid contact.
Fortunately, the Braves were only able to score runs in the second. The first was an RBI single by old friend Kelly Johnson. Another run would score off an RBI double by Mallex Smith. Harvey would be in trouble most of the night. He would’ve allowed more runs in the fifth but for Yoenis Cespedes’ arm:
N'uh uh says the ?? of @ynscspds. #Metshttps://t.co/iwIPlyq0QU
— New York Mets (@Mets) April 23, 2016
Keith Hernandez was right. He missed the cut-off man, but it was a near perfect throw that got the runner. It reminded me of Major League when Lou Brown essentially said to Willie Mays Hayes to never do it again.
Cespedes also left his impression at the plate with his seventh game with an extra-base hit. In the seventh, he hit an RBI double to score David Wright, who hit an opposite field one out double himself. Cespedes came up gingerly after sliding awkwardly into second. It should’ve been a standup double, but he didn’t break it out of the box presumably thinking it was a homerun. A noticeably uncomfortable Cespedes stayed in the game despite the a Mets having a 6-2 lead. He would eventually have to be pulled:
Juan Lagares had already taken the field for the bottom of the eighth before the rain delay started. Yoenis Cespedes was leaving game.
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinMedia) April 23, 2016
Curtis Granderson was responsible for the other five. In the second, Granderson hit his first grand slam as a Met. In his very next at bat, he hit a solo shot off of Braves’ starter Bud Norris. Granderson looks to be rounding into his 2015 form after a tough start.
Blame @cgrand3 for the ☔️. He's brought a lot of it tonight. #GrandSlam #SoloHR pic.twitter.com/NOhszhy788
— New York Mets (@Mets) April 23, 2016
The Mets’ bullpen would come through to get Harvey his first win of the year. Antonio Bastardo pitched 1.2 innings before needing to be pulled with runners on first and second. Jim Henderson only faced one batter – it was the seventh after all- and he allowed an RBI single to Adonis Garcia. Jerry Blevins came on and ended the rally by striking out A.J. Pierzynski. Blevins was the only one to get Pierzynski out all night.
After about an hour rain delay, Addison Reed came on to pitch the eighth. Originally, it was supposed to be Blevins, but the rain eliminate that option. Reed pitched a scoreless eighth despite a throwing error from Asdrubal Cabrera.
Jeurys Familia had a save opportunity in the ninth because God has a good sense of humor. With Cespedes out if the game, Terry Collins allowed Michael Conforto hit against Eric O’Flaherty. Conforto hit a soft liner to the shortstop, and Juan Lagares was doubled off of second for the inning ending double play. It didn’t matter. Familia pitch a scoreless ninth to preserve the 6-3 win.
In any event, Harvey struggled. He only pitched five innings allowing seven hits, two earned, one walk and five strikeouts. He fought through it. He still had work to do, but at least he has a win under his belt.
Game Notes: Freddie Freeman got his first hit in 20 at bats against Bastardo, who Collins was trying to pitch for two innings. While Harvey was struggling, Travis d’Arnaud tried talking to Harvey in the dugout. A visibly frustrated Harvey wanted none of it.
On another note, Ricky Bones was the pitching coach. Dan Warthen missed the game because he was attending his mother’s funeral. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Warthen family at this time.
The Mets hired Kevin Long as their hitting coach to help a team that wasn’t hitting. Subsequently, they hired Pat Roessler as the assistant hitting coach. Roessler was hired because of his previous relationship with Long. So far, they’ve worked extremely well together.
Long and Roessler work hand-in-hand to help the Mets batters. For example, they worked in tandem to help Lucas Duda hit lefties last year. It’s helpful to have another voice to bounce ideas of of when trying to help a hitter. When your message isn’t getting through, it’s helpful to have another voice to help deliver the same message. Having both coaches this allows Long to watch video between innings to see both his pitcher’s mechanics and how the Mets’ batters are getting pitched. It also allows Long to delegate Roessler to work with the pitchers on their hitting.
Perhaps it’s time the Mets add an assistant pitching coach to the staff.
This is no slight against Dan Warthen. He is in charge of what is the best pitching staff in baseball. He has not shown anything to lead you to believe his message isn’t getting through or that he should be replaced. With that said, wouldn’t it be beneficial for Warthen to have an assistant coach he trusts and feels comfortable working with help with the pitching staff?
Let’s take Matt Harvey‘s start on Saturday. For the first 4.1 innings, he dominated. Then the wheels came off. For his part, Harvey believes he’s struggled with his command since the season began. As reported by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, Warthen believes it was as simple as Harvey falling into bad habits in a pressure filled inning:
“You get into a pressure situation, you do fall back into bad habits,” Warthen said. “Essentially, that’s what happened today. This has been Matt’s biggest bugaboo since I’ve had him.”
There are two important things to note here. First, Warthen knows the problem and the solution. Second, Warthen doesn’t know quite how to get Harvey to stop falling into the trap. Quite possibly, this is where a second voice could come into play.
One thing that can’t be discounted is perhaps Harvey was just lucky for the first 4.1 innings. For a player who averages 96+ MPH with his fastball, he was sitting at 94 MPH against the Indians. This is a player who averaged 9.5 strikeouts per nine coming into the season. This year he’s at 4.7, and his season high was the four he had against the Indians. It’s possible the mechanical quirk might’ve been perceptible to an assistant coach watching video in the clubhouse as opposed to a pitching coach watching from the dugout.
Now, the Mets do have a bullpen coach in Ricky Bones. However, he can only help so much. The bullpen coach primarily works with relievers and spends the game in the bullpen. Before and after games, he can be a sounding board for Warthen and/or another voice to help a struggling pitcher if needed. With that said, Bones job as the bullpen coach prevents him from running into the clubhouse to watch video of a pitcher’s last half inning to see the pitcher’s mechanics and his batters are approaching their at bats.
That job would best be done by an assistant pitching coach.
There’s another factor to keep in mind. Warthen is a 63 year old pitching coach with bad hips. He missed some time last year after being brought to the hospital with an accelerated heartbeat. No one knows how much longer he will want to or be able to stay on as the Mets pitching coach. As the organization clearly thinks very highly of Warthen, wouldn’t it make sense for him to groom his successor?
It’s time for the Mets to add an assistant pitching coach.
On Wednesday, Logan Verrett pitched six scoreless innings against at the Miami Marlins. Verrett allowed three hits, two walks, and six strikeouts. It was a remarkable start for a pitcher who was never supposed to be here.
Heading into the 2015 season, the Mets declined to put Verrett on the 40 man roster thereby exposing him the the Rule 5 draft. He was selected by the Orioles, who waived him when it was apparent he was not making their team. He was picked up by the Rangers, who made their Opening Day roster.
In very limited duty for the Rangers Verrett struggled. He pitched nine innings in four appearances with a 6.00 ERA and a 1.667 WHIP. Verrett was offered back to the Mets, who accepted him back and sent him to Triple-A.
Verrett first came up with the Mets in June to help an exhausted bullpen. He would pitch 12.1 innings over the course of six appearances. He had a sterling 0.73 ERA and 0.649 WHIP. Batters were only able to hit .100/.178/.100 against him. He recorded his first save. Despite this stellar performance, he would be sent back down to the minors to make room for Jenrry Mejia, who was returning from his first PED suspension.
In Verrett’s second stint with the Mets in August, he would further prove his value. With the Mets needing to keep their young pitching staff fresh for the postseason, especially Matt Harvey, Verrett was called upon to make some spot starts. In his first start, he threw eight shutout innings in Coors Field of all places. He would follow that up with a couple a relief appearances and another strong spot start against the Marlins.
In total, Verrett would pitch in 14 games with the Mets making four spot starts. He was 1-1 with one save, a 3.03 ERA, and a 0.879 WHIP. In a season of incredible performances from a myriad of players, it’s easy to overlook Verrett’s contributions.
Then again, it’s been easy to overlook Verrett. In an organization that seemingly churns out nothing but pitchers throwing 95 MPH plus striking people out left and right, Verrett uses all four of his pitches, including a 91 MPH, to get outs. While each and every Mets draft pick gets attention, he simply flew under the radar honing his skills and becoming a better pitcher. Perhaps that is why he became the first ever draft pick from the Sandy Alderson regime to play in the majors.
In 2016, Verrett made the Opening Day roster, and he’s back to doing what he does best – pitching in whatever role the Mets need. In his spot start in place of the ailing Jacob deGrom, Verrett threw six shutout innings. Not only did he help prevent the Mets from getting swept by the Marlins, but he also pitched somewhat deep into the game to give a fatigued Mets bullpen some rest.
As we know, the Mets never intended to have Verrett start that game. Frankly, no one thought he would pitch a game for the Mets. However, because the Mets got lucky with the Orioles and Rangers overlooking how good he truly was, like the Mets once did themselves, Verrett is pitching in the majors showing the world what a truly talented pitcher he is.
No one is going to overlook him ever again.
React to last night’s loss the way you want. No matter what your reaction may be, we can all agree that the Mets have some work to do. This includes the pitching staff.
Before last night’s loss, the Mets lead the National League in ERA. After Steven Matz‘s dud last night, the Mets are now ranked sixth. They went from a 2.08 ERA to a 3.40 ERA. It’s a warning of overlying on small sample sizes. It’s also a reminder that it’s really about the process. While it’s a results oriented business, the pitching coach needs to focus on things like the pitcher’s mechanics and not his ERA.
In that respect, Dan Warthen has some work to do as three of his starters have some mechanical issues.
Steven Matz
Last night, Matz was terrible. There are a number of things you can point to as the reason like the long layoff. However, as Kevin Kernan reported in the NY Post, Matz’s mechanics may have been to blame:
He looks like a young guy who needs a month in Triple-A to clean up some things,” one veteran scout at the game told the Post.
Looking at last night’s game, there was no doubt Matz needs some work. He wasn’t fooling anyone last night, and the Marlins were on top of his pitches. Preferably, Matz can do that work with Dan Warthen instead of Triple-A. Regardless of where he does it, Matz needs to need to get himself right.
Jacob deGrom
The talk throughout Spring Training was Jacob deGrom‘s fastball ranging between 91 – 93 MPH. That is down from the 96 MPH fastball he averaged last year. There were a number of reasons posited why that was the case from him starting getting ready for the season later to him saving bullets for the regular season to him getting nicked up a couple of times during Spring Training.
In his first start of the season, deGrom was still averaging 92 MPH. Some said there was no need for caution because he looked dominant at times even without the extra MPH on the fastball. Some later speculated it might’ve been the result of his lat injury. However, on the April 11th edition of MLB Tonight, Pedro Martinez stated that deGrom was dropping his arm angle. It was his belief that if deGrom fixed his arm angle the extra MPH could return to deGrom’s fastball.
Matt Harvey
This season is supposed to be the season for Matt Harvey. He’s another year removed from Tommy John surgery. He’s got his slider back. The only thing he had to worry about was going out there and dominating like he did in 2013.
It hasn’t started out that way. Harvey was 8-0 in April coming into this year. This year he’s 0-2 with a 4.63 ERA and a 1.463 WHIP. At times, he seems to have difficulty locating pitches. Harvey isn’t blaming his bladder problems. As Neil Best of Newsday reports on Opening Day, it’s a mechanical issue:
“I felt alright,” Harvey said. “There were times I felt fine and other times when it was hard finding a rhythm and getting my release point.”
After Sunday’s loss to the Phillies, Harvey’s day changed on one pitch he left out over the plate. Again, as Kevin Kernan of the NY Post reported, it was a mechanical issue as, “Harvey said he didn’t get the arm extension on the killer 1-2 slider.” As Kernan further reported the coaching staff is concerned enough for Dan Warthen to start “studying film to see what the issue is with Harvey.”
Dan Warthen is going to study film for at least three of his starters. Fortunately, it is still early in the season. The Mets have plenty of time to figure things out. The pitching is going to be there, and yes, the offense will as well. However, while the offense is figuring things out, the Mets need their pitching. As we saw last year, this Mets staff can keep even the most abysmal of offenses afloat. As we saw last year, the Mets pitching can carry them to the World Series.
It’s the Mets pitching that is going to win them the World Series this year.
Editor’s Note: this article first appeared on metsmerizedonline.com
The season has gotten off to a rocky start and increasingly, it is becoming apparent that there are two types of Mets fans – Optimistic and Pessimistic. Here’s the breakdown:
Optimistic: the Mets won in 1969 and 1986. They win in years which have a 6 in them. It’s 2016!
Pessimistic: Tell that to the 1962 – 1968 Mets and the 1976 Mets. Also, someone probably should’ve told that to Carlos Beltran when he didn’t swing the bat.
Optimistic: The ’86 Mets began the year 2-3, and they lost two games to the Phillies.
Pessimistic: The 1992 Mets were also a high profile team people thought were World Series contenders that opened the year 2-3. By the way, the 1986 Phillies were a decent team. The 2016 Phillies are horrendous.
Optimistic: Yoenis Cespedes seemed to get off the snide. He went 2-4 with a homerun and two RBI.
Pessimistic: He’s still batting only .200, and did you see him drop that ball in Kansas City?
Optimistic: The Mets have the best ERA in baseball.
Pessimistic: Matt Harvey has been terrible. It’s only a matter of time before we discover Jacob deGrom needs surgery or he will be out half the year. By the way, the Mets have the best ERA, faced an awful Phillies team, and they’re still under .500.
Optimistic: The bullpen has been off to a terrific start.
Pessimistic: You must’ve missed yesterday’s game when Addison Reed melted down like it was Game 5 of the World Series.
Optimistic: David Wright has looked good to start the year.
Pessimistic: His throws have been terrible, and he’s already had to miss a game.
Optimistic: Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera have looked great up the middle.
Pessimistic: Anything would’ve been an upgrade. By the way, they’re not hitting, and it hasn’t translated to wins. Speaking of wins, the Nationals are 3-1. Coincidentally, they have Daniel Murphy, the guy who carried the Mets in the postseason, is a National. He’s hitting .462/.611/.923.
Optimistic: This team is built to win the World Series, and I’m going to enjoy every single part of the ride.
Pessimistic: I don’t know what team you’re watching.
Last year, we were all spoiled by Matt Harvey‘s return from Tommy John surgery. Even if it took him almost a full season to find his slider, he pitched well, and he was healthy all year. We forgot that he had major surgery and issues can arise during either the surgery or rehabilitation period.
We forgot about former Mets like Jason Isringhausen, who had three Tommy John surgeries. We forgot about Jeremy Hefner, who was rehabbing from his Tommy John surgery at the same time as Harvey. During his rehab, something went wrong, and he had to have a second Tommy John surgery. Mets released him, and now he’s working his way back to the majors through the Cardinals’ organization. Harvey made us forget about all that could go wrong.
Now, there are reports that Zack Wheeler needed to have minor surgery to remove a stitch that didn’t resolve from his Tommy John surgery. He’s going to need two weeks off to allow the wound to heal. He’s now at least two more weeks further away from pitching in the 2016 season.
It’s a reminder that while we all look forward to Wheeler toeing the rubber again, it’s far from a foregone conclusion that’ll happen. There’s still every possibility that Wheeler could have another setback on his road back. In reality, until further notice, Bartolo Colon is the Mets’ fifth starter. Overall, anything the Mets get from Wheeler this year is an unexpected bonus.
We forgot all of that during Harvey’s 2015 season. We’re now reminded of it again. Let’s all wish Wheeler a speedy recovery and wait for the day that he’s once again pitching for the Mets . . . whenever that might be.
Between 1984 – 1990, the Mets finished in second place or better. Over the course of these seven seasons, the Mets averaged 95 wins. Without question, this was the best stretch in Mets history. It’s strange to think that any point in time your team averages 95 wins over the course of five seasons, you are disappointed. However, as Ron Darling expained to Mike Francesa, he feels “very disappointed” that the Mets didn’t accomplish more.
While Dariling’s feelings are understandable, and many Mets fans would agree with him, there are a number of reasons that we can point to as the reason why the Mets didn’t win more. Rick Sutcliffe went an amazing 16-1 after the Cubs acquired him helping them win the division in 1984. The Mets had to contend with a really good Cardinals team year in and year out. The Mets were snakebit with injuries during the 1987 season. The Mets ran into Orel Hershiser, who had one of the greatest seasons for a pitcher ever in 1988, in the NLCS. However, truth be told Davey Johnson managed a horrific series. In 1989, the team was in transition, and in 1990, the Pittsburgh Pirates were just better and were embarking on their own run. All of these reasons are valid, but the main reason everyone points to would be the drug problems, namely with Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry.
There’s another reason why those Mets teams only got one shot at a World Series – the postseason format. Back in that time frame, the only teams that went to the postseason were the division winners. In today’s game, it would be unheard of a team winning 98 games not only missing the postseason, but also missing the postseason by three games. If you apply, the current postseason rules and divisional formats to the 1980’s, the Mets would have had won the NL East for all seven of those seasons. Its possible that instead of talking about the 1986 World Series, we’re talking about the Mets’ dynasty. It’s possible the Mets would’ve won multiple World Series during that stretch. It’s also possible that like the Braves in the 90’s, the Mets would only win one World Series, and we would be left questioning what happened.
Whatever may be the case, it’s apparent that those Mets teams did not get as many chances to reach the postseason as this current Mets team will. Last year, the Mets won the NL East with 90 wins. From 1984 – 1990, the Mets only won the NL East in the two seasons they won 100 games.
There is no reason for this Mets team to only go to the postseason twice with their current core group of players. Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, and Noah Syndergaard are under team control until 2019. Young players like Michael Conforto already contributing, There are big prospects like Dilson Herrera and Amed Rosario who we should see within the next few seasons at Citi Field contributing to what is already a World Series contending team. Without being too unreasonable, I believe this Mets team is set to contend for a longer period of time than Ron Darling’s Mets’ teams. To expect that seems unreasonable, but when you consider the young talent already on the team and in the pipeline, it’s certainly possible.
So before the Mets play their home opener today, they’re going to raise 2015 National League Champions flag. As we saw again that postseason, there is a lot that can happen along the way that can help you advance in each series. If not for Daniel Murphy having a game for the ages, and the Dodgers being unable to hit deGrom despite him having nothing, the Mets lose in the NLDS. The Mets are instead raising at 2015 National League East flag. So no, the 2016 season is not World Series or bust, nor in retrospect is the Mets only winning one World Series from 1984 – 1990 really disappointing.
With that said, I don’t blame Ron Darling for feeling the way he does. I won’t blame the current Mets players from feeling the same way about 2015. There is a World Series championship in the Mets clubhouse. Whether that is in 2016 or later, we do not know yet. Right now, I will say that as long as this Mets group wins one World Series, I won’t be disappointed because I will have been able to see something that has only happened twice in the Mets 54 year history. No matter what happens in 2016, it promises to be a special season, and I can’t wait to watch each and every minute of it.
Lets Go Mets.