Robinson Cano
As part of the COVID19 measures, Major League teams have a player pool of 60 players. Those are the players a team can call up and utilize over the course of the 2020 season. One of the players in the Seattle Mariners’ pool is Jarred Kelenic.
This isn’t too surprising as many teams are carrying top prospects. This will help them develop their top guys instead of those players losing a full year of development. However, with Kelenic, we were reminded again today he could make an impact this year.
So a source sent me the video of Jarred Kelenic’s swing on the homer in live BP. The sound … pic.twitter.com/82RG82id4t
— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) July 7, 2020
Last year, in his first full pro season, Kelenic made it all the way to Double-A. This was someone who graduated high school in 2018, and now, he’s on the cusp of making it to the Majors.
That should be contrasted against the ever changing narrative behind trading him. First, it was the Mets had to keep Edwin Diaz away from the Phillies.
When Diaz faltered, and Robinson Cano looked every bit the 36 year old coming off a PED suspension, the narrative was that Kelenic wasn’t going to help anyone for five years, and the Mets are a win-now team.
With Kelenic bursting through to Double-A and the Mets not actually winning now, Brodie Van Wagenen now wants to sell he felt comfortable making the deal (and other deals) because he had his super aggressive draft strategy in mind. Honestly, that seems far more post hoc justification with Van Wagenen trying to lean into the one aspect of the GM job he’s ultimately done well.
Fact is, Van Wagenen knew his former client Cano wanted to come back to New York. His first act as the Mets GM was to try to make that happen.
As inexcusable that conflict of interest was, that’s not the worst part of this deal. Remember, Van Wagenen was an agent trying to get Cano to New York and get an extension or trade for Jacob deGrom. He wasn’t out there scouting and watching Appalachian and Gulf Coast League games.
That’s right. A novice GM with zero front office experience traded a once in a lifetime prospect in exchange for a former client. He traded one of the best regarded prospects in the game despite never actually taking the time to scout him. It’s beyond absurd.
In the end, the Mets better win soon with Cano and Diaz because the Mets are running out of justifications for this trade, and it’s very likely they will all be gone when Kelenic is in the majors.
Judging from last year and his place in the 60 man pool, that day is coming much sooner rather than later. Certainly, it’s going to be much sooner than the bogus five year selling point.
But to be fair to Van Wagenen, how could he have possibly known? After all, he would’ve actually had to scout and watch Kelenic in action.
When it comes to the Mets, there have been several bad to disastrous free agent signings. In fact, up until recently, there was a real debate over which signing was the worst.
Players like Bobby Bonilla and Kazuo Matsui never quite fulfilled his promise. Roger Cedeno was nowhere near the player he was in 1999 when he returned to Queens. Jason Bay didn’t hit for power before the concussions happened.
Oliver Perez completely fell apart when he signed his deal. Luis Castillo was terrible, and he dropped that pop up.
As bad as those were, there was Vince Coleman, who was an unmitigated disaster. Aside from his numbers falling off a cliff, he threw firecrackers at fans, injured Dwight Gooden with a golf club, and he was accused of sexual assault (charges never filed).
Looking at it, Coleman was probably the worst of the group. When you consider the long standing animosity Mets fans had towards him prior to the signing and his off the field problems, he may still have claim to that title.
However, when it comes to on the field performance, Jed Lowrie is definitively the worst ever Mets signing. We just need to look at video from the Mets summer camp yesterday to confirm that.
Jed Lowrie is participating in base running drills with his brace on. His speed is definitely not game-ready. pic.twitter.com/PyVmUqT9J4
— Deesha (@DeeshaThosar) July 5, 2020
Rewinding back to Spring Training last year, Lowrie was initially described as having left knee soreness. Time and again, the Mets downplayed the injury, and to date, they have yet to really reveal what the injury actually is.
They didn’t reveal it when he had multiple rehab assignments shut down. They didn’t reveal it when he was 0-for-7 as a pinch hitter in September. They didn’t reveal it when he came to Spring Training this year not really ready to play. Even months later, they’re still not revealing it. Worse yet, they’re downplaying it.
New manager Luis Rojas was put in the position today that Mickey Callaway failed far too often. He had to offer an out-and-out lie and make it sound believable. According to what Rojas said, Lowrie is a “full go.”
Later in the day, we saw the video running and realized there’s no way that’s true. Lowrie is not a full go, and to a certain extent the Mets talking about Lowrie ramping up to try to play without a brace is a strawman. All told, brace or no brace, this is simply a player who can’t get on the field.
The more you see the aborted rehab attempts, the lack of explanations for the injury, the mixed messages, and Lowrie’s inability to do anything but swing the bat, the more you’re reminded of David Wright. Before his send off, Wright would make similar attempts to get back, but ultimately his body wouldn’t let him. It seems the same with Lowrie.
Maybe Lowrie is different , but that’s anyone’s guess. Really, that’s all we have. That’s partially because the Mets revealed no news, and it’s because Lowrie didn’t either.
Asked what is exactly wrong with his leg, Lowrie said he doesn't want to create a distraction.
— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) July 5, 2020
Maybe telling everyone why his knee, left side, or whatever else the Mets want to call it would be more of a distraction than it is already. Maybe it won’t. Whatever the case, when you strip it all down, the Mets gave a two year $20 million deal to a guy who just can’t play.
The Mets didn’t need Lowrie when they signed him. They already had Robinson Cano, Todd Frazier, and Jeff McNeil. What they needed was arms in the bullpen, but they already allocated their budget towards an infielder who would wind up doing no more than a few pinch hitting attempts (without a hit). You could say the Mets not having those extra arms in the pen is what cost them the postseason last year.
Ultimately, Lowrie is getting $20 million from the Mets, and he can’t get on the field. The money allocated towards him could’ve addressed other deficiencies on the roster and helped pushed the Mets into the postseason. Brodie Van Wagenen signed his former client, who was too injured to even start one game, and with that Van Wagenen quite possibly made the single worst free agent signing in Mets history.
This game was tied at 3-3 in the fourth. Michael Conforto has a first inning RBI single. Robinson Cano had a third inning RBI double, and he scored later that inning.
Steven Matz allowed two more runs in the fourth before getting the hook. Any chances the Mets might’ve had of coming back to get Matz off the hook were dashed when the Phillies knocked around Justin Wilson in the eighth and Dellin Betances in the ninth.
That made the 7-3 game an ugly 11-3 loss.
The Mets jumped out quickly in this game. A Robinson Cano first inning sacrifice fly gave the Mets a 1-0 lead. They’d bust out in the second.
Jeff McNeil hit a three run homer off Vince Velasquez in the second. Later that inning, Michael Conforto hit a two run blast to give the Mets a 6-1 lead.
Jacob deGrom couldn’t hold onto the big lead, and he’s depart after five with the game tied 6-6.
The Mets were behind 8-6 in the eighth when McNeil hit an RBI single pulling the Mets within one. Later in the inning, Conforto was intentionally walked to lo ad the bases, and Wilson Ramos tied the game on an RBI groundout.
Cano hit a two RBI single off former Yankees teammate David Robertson to give the Mets a 10-8 lead.
Robert Gsellman picked up the win, Seranthony Dominguez was saddled with the loss, and Edwin Diaz recorded the save.
Why is it pitching duels always seem to disappoint? That was the case with Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer in today’s simulated game.
There was a combined five runs in the first inning. Fortunately, the Mets were ahead thanks to a Robinson Cano bases loaded two RBI single followed by a Wilson Ramos RBI single.
For deGrom, he was his typical great day game self striking out 12 Nationals over seven innings. He’d pick up the win even after allowing three runs.
Scherzer wasn’t Mad Max allowing six runs in just four innings. The Mets really went on the attack against him and the Nationals bullpen in this 8-3 victory.
Pete Alonso, Michael Conforto, and Jeff McNeil homered and combined to knock in four of the Mets runs.
Robinson Cano led off the bottom of the ninth with a double after narrowly missing a game tying homer. Starting with J.D. Davis, the Mets failed to bring Cano home to tie the game. That symbolizes how the Mets fell just short in this one.
The Cardinals scored five runs off the losing pitcher Marcus Stroman through the first three innings knocking him out of the game after 2.1 innings.
The Mets were behind 6-1 entering the sixth. To that point, a Jeff McNeil homer in the fourth was the Mets only run. They’d get back into the game on a Cano grand slam. The Mets couldn’t push another run across as they lost this game 6-5.
Yesterday, the Mets drubbed the Nationals to the tune of an 11-0 victory. Today’s game was much closer, but unfortunately for the Nationals, that was a 9-2 win for the Mets.
It was difficult to ascertain who had the better game. Was it Jacob deGrom who allowed just one earned and came within an out of a complete game?
Or was it Jeff McNeil who was 5-for-5 with three runs, a double, two homers, and three RBI?
In any event, the Mets beat up on the Nationals, especially with five runs in the eight and seven runs over the final two innings. In addition to McNeil, Robinson Cano, Yoenis Cespedes, and Michael Conforto homered.
On a side note, MLB The Show has gotten a lot wrong with deGrom, but at least here, they did showcase his day game dominance.
The Mets we’re leading 2-0 with Robinson Cano and Pete Alonso homering, but they couldn’t hold the lead after Rick Porcello allowed four runs in the fourth.
The Mets got a run back in the fifth when Alonso broke for third on a Patrick Corbin wild pitch with him scoring as Kurt Suzuki threw the ball into left.
When Sean Dolittle came on for the save in the ninth, he had the same issues against the Mets he usually does. Jake Marisnick tied the game on a sacrifice fly, and Alonso hit the go-ahead RBI single.
Seth Lugo earned the win, and Edwin Diaz picked up the save in the Mets come from behind 5-4 win.
For the first six innings, this was a pitcher’s duel between Steven Matz and Stephen Strasburg with the Mets having a 1-0 lead with Robinson Cano hitting a solo homer in the second.
Both pitchers lost it in the seventh.
In that inning, Cano had an RBI single chasing Strasburg. Yoenis Cespedes then hit a three run homer off Daniel Hudson increasing the Mets lead to 5-0.
After an Eric Thames two run homer, Matz was lifted. The Nationals pulled within one when Robert Gsellman allowed two runs.
Cano homered for the second time in the game in the eighth. That three run homer put the Mets up 8-4. That would be the final score with Matz picking up the win. Dellin Betances earned the save.
With Robinson Cano homering and Rick Porcello dealing, the Mets were tied 1-1 with the Dodgers heading into the seventh.
Amed Rosario broke the tie with an RBI single. The Mets couldn’t build off that 2-1 lead after J.D. Davis failed to deliver in the RBI situation.
Dominic Smith would in the eighth hitting a three run homer. That put the Mets ahead 5-1, and that would be the final score with Robert Gsellman picking up the win in relief.