Steven Matz
Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia have combined to hold the lead in 33 of 34 chances in which they have been given a lead in the eighth inning or later. Jerry Blevins, the purported LOOGY, has actually held right-handed batters to a lower batting average while pitching to a 2.08 ERA. Hansel Robles has been a veritable Swiss Army knife in the bullpen. One day, he’s pitching 3.2 innings to help preserve the bullpen after a starter gets knocked out a game early. The next, he’s coming into the game to get the Mets out of a no out bases loaded situation unscathed. With these arms, the Mets have a dominating bullpen.
However, behind these arms is a question mark. Jim Henderson has started to pitch well in his rehab assignment. However, he has been a different pitcher since his ill advised April 13th appearance. Seth Lugo has pitched six scoreless innings over three appearances. However, each of these appearances were in low pressure situations, and Terry Collins does not appear to trust him enough to try him in a pressure situation. Erik Goeddel entered the season with a 2.48 ERA, 1.000 WHIP, and a 9.0 K/9, but he has struggled this year pitching to a 4.50 ERA, 1.143 WHIP, and an 8.4 K/9. There remains intriguing options in the minors like Josh Edgin, Josh Smoker, and Paul Sewald. Between this group, the Mets could piece together a fine bullpen. However, as the Mets are in heat for playoff spot, they do not want to take any chances.
The Mets are even more committed to finding that one bullpen piece considering how the team now has some question marks in the rotation with Matt Harvey‘s season ending surgery, Steven Matz‘s bone spurs, and Noah Syndergaard‘s dead arm. According to Marc Carig, the Mets lost out on Kevin Jepsen and believe the pricetag for Brewers closer Jeremy Jeffress will be too high. Further hampering the Mets pursuit are the trades the team has made over the past year and a half. Still, they are looking to preferably add a reliever who can lock down the seventh inning thereby taking some stress off their starting pitchers. With that in mind, here are some options the Mets could pursue:
Jeremy Jeffress – As noted the pricetag should be high as Jeffress has the Brewers closer has recorded 23 saves with a 2.35 ERA and a 3.39 WHIP. He is also under team control until 2020.
John Axford – Axford has some ugly numbers this year with a 5.21 ERA and a 1.579 WHIP for the last place Oakland Athletics. However, it should be noted that his velocity is still there and he still has the same bite on his curveball. A new voice and a pennant race could rejuvenate him. It should also be noted in the postseason, Axford has a 1.42 ERA, 1.026 WHIP, and a 12.8 K/9.
Brad Hand – Like many relievers, Hand has seemingly figured things out in San Diego after having mostly struggled in his first five years with the Marlins. He has a 2.94 ERA and a 1.269 WHIP this year as opposed to the 4.71 ERA and 1.424 WHIP he had with the Marlins. Part of the reason for his success is his increased use of his slider which is a pitch that has generated a high percentage of swings and misses. Hand does profile as the type of pitcher Dan Warthen has had success with during his tenure with the Mets.
Ryan Buchter – The 29 year old career minor leaguer and Sewell, New Jersey native has taken full advantage of his first read shot in the majors with a 2.41 ERA, a 1.098 WHIP, and a 12.5 K/9 in 44 appearances. Like what Antonio Bastardo was supposed to be, he is a cross-over lefty. Like his teammate Hand, he relies upon his fastball and slider to get outs. However, unlike Hand, he throws it with greater velocity with a 94 MPH fastball and an 87 MPH slider. Again, he is the type of pitcher that typically fairs well under Dan Warthen’s tutelage.
Chris Withrow – In his first season post-Tommy John, Withrow has a 3.38 ERA and a 1.313 WHIP in 33 appearances for the woeful Atlanta Braves. He is a Mets kind of pitcher as he is a power pitcher out the bullpen that has a mid nineties fastball and a high eighties slider. He may not come cheap as he is under team control until 2020, and the Braves consider him their future closer.
Tyler Clippard – The main thing that will prevent Clippard from becoming a Met is his contract. He is in the first year of a two year $12.25 million contract that will pay him $6.15 million next year. Further diminishing the chances of a reunion is the fact that Clippard is having a career worst season with a 3.53 ERA and a 1.234 WHIP. Like with Axford, the much cheaper option, the Mets would be hoping to catch lightning in a bottle. Like with Jose Reyes, the Mets would be hoping he is energized by putting on a Mets uniform again.
Adding one or more of these players should improve the Mets bullpen. Regardless of whether or not the team adds one of these pitchers, or somebody else all together, they need Familia, Reed, Blevins, and Robles to continue pitching well out of the pen. They also need Bastardo to figure things out sooner rather than later as it is his struggles that are precipitating this bullpen search.
All Alejandro De Aza and Eric Campbell jokes aside, how many times has this Mets team played a game with a full 25 man roster at its disposal? Given the fact that Hansel Robles had to serve a two game suspension to start the season, it didn’t even happen on Opening Day.
There have been several occasions where Mets players have gotten nicked up forcing the Mets to make the decision of whether they should play with a short-handed roster for a few games or whether they should put that player on the disabled list. Time and again, the Mets have understandably gone with a short roster as it is better to be without an important player for a game or two rather than being without an important piece for a 13-15 game stretch. With the Mets in a tight race for one of the two Wild Cards and them trying to claw their way back into the race for the National League East race, they do not want to lose a player like Yoenis Cespedes for two weeks even as he is now clearly hobbled out there with his right quad injury.
Instead, the Mets will put Cespedes in left field hoping that he can manage his injury while Curtis Granderson and Michael Conforto, who had struggled in part to due a wrist injury that required a cortisone shot, try to hold down center field in the interim. Keep in mind this isn’t the first time that Cespedes has been nicked up this year. Earlier in the year, he was dealing with a hip issue that sapped him of some of his power. The Mets tried to give him a day here and there, but ultimately, they had to run him out there as he is the most important hitter in that lineup. Cespedes isn’t the only Mets player who dealt with injuries the Mets tried to navigate without a disabled list stint.
With Conforto and De Aza struggling in June, the Mets tried to avoid putting Juan Lagares on the disabled list with a torn ligament in his left thumb as the team needed his defense and his bat in the lineup. Asdrubal Cabrera has played much of the season with a knee injury that has troubled him since Spring Training. There was a stretch where Robles pitched through a sprained ankle. Steven Matz has the bone spurs in his elbow, and he could clearly benefit from a little breather to give his arm a bit of a break.
Putting teams in a position where they have to play with short-handed rosters is not good for the team. It’s not good for baseball or its fans. Regardless of your favorite team, when you sit down to watch a game, you want to see two teams at their best face-off. But that doesn’t always happen. Part of the reason is the current disabled list rules are antiquated.
The current disabled list system has been in place for 26 years. In 1990, MLB had added a 60 day disabled list to go in conjuction with the already existing 15 day disabled list. It replaced a system that had been in place for 24 years to reflect how baseball had changed.
And baseball has changed since 1990 especially with the banning of amphetamines and other PED substances. Whether true or not, it seems players get nicked up a little more frequently than they did a decade or so ago.
With that in mind, baseball should shorten the disabled list from 15 games to seven games. It should be noted baseball already has a seven day disabled list for concussions. It should be further noted there is a seven day disabled list in the minor leagues.
Speaking of minor leaguers, those players aren’t getting as much of a chance with the current 15 day disabled list. Right now, the Mets are trying to navigate through Cespedes’ quad injury while a player like Brandon Nimmo is playing in AAA. If there was a seven day disabled list, the Mets might be more inclined to utilize it so their best player could get healthy. It would give the Mets a full 25 man roster at their disposal. It would make them a better team, which in turn, would make for a better product for the fans to watch.
All that would need to happen for fans to see a better product is for baseball to implement the seven day disabled list. It already exists for concussions and the minors. It should be in place for all of baseball regardless of injury.
One thing that has become apparent with this Mets offense is they forgot there is an “S” in RISP because time and again runners find their way to second and third only to die. It was more of the same tonight.
The Mets were 0-7 with RISP. The team left seven runners on base in a game they lost 5-1. This includes, but is not limited to, the two runners left on base when Travis d’Arnaud hit into a 4-4-3 game ending double play. Coming into the night, he was hitting .190 with runners in scoring position.
This includes Neil Walker striking out in in a critical eighth inning spot where he came to the plate as the tying run. Coming into the game, he was hitting .258 with runners in scoring position. The fact that it is higher than his batting average tells you how his season has gone since April.
It includes Asdrubal Cabrera grounding into a double play killing a two on no out rally in the second with the score tied at zero. He’s now 0 for his last 28 with runners in scoring position.
The other Mets who failed to get a hit with runners in scoring position tonight were Juan Lagares (.167), Curtis Granderson (.150), Yoenis Cespedes (.259), and Jose Reyes. As usual, the Mets couldn’t score a run unless someone hit a homer. In fact, the only run the Mets scored on the night was a Wilmer Flores solo shot off Jon Lester in the seventh. Unfortunately, with the Mets not hitting with runners in scoring position, it was too little too late.
With the Mets struggles with runners in scoring position, the game was effectively over when Anthony Rizzo hit a three run third inning home run off Steven Matz. Matz’s final line would be five innings, eight hits, four earned, one walk, and five strikeouts. Again, he is not the same pitcher with the bone spurs as it is preventing him from incorporating his slider. Matz is now 0-7 in his last seven decisions.
Making things worse was a ball going through Cespedes’ wickets in the bottom of the eighth. Albert Amora hit a single to left that most likely would’ve scored Matt Szczur, who had previously hit a two out double off Erik Goeddel. Szczur could walk home easy after the ball went between Cespedes’ legs and continued all the way to the ivy. It should be noted, he had a good throw earlier in the game:
Yo.
Didn’t you see the cannon out there? https://t.co/CX7o1LF03W pic.twitter.com/3eQtONcAu3
— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) July 19, 2016
Still, there were some positives to the game other than the Flores’ home run. Seth Lugo remains unscored upon in his young career after pitching another two scoreless innings. Michael Conforto made a pinch hitting appearance, and he had a well struck opposite field single.
Other than that, it was a lost night that leaves you scratching your head about the problems with runners in scoring position. You need to be concerned about Matz’s pitching. And while it is too early to be concerned, it should be noted the Mets fell to third place in the NL East to the Miami Marlins, who also have sole possession of the second Wild Card as of tonight.
Last year, when it was apparent he was not going to be a part of the postseason rotation, Jon Niese volunteered to go to the bullpen. As it turned out, he became a valuable part of the Mets postseason bullpen.
In five of Niese’s six postseason appearances, he did not permit a run. He was nearly perfect over 4.1 innings allowing just two hits while striking out five batters. He got a big strikeout of Anthony Rizzo in Game Two of the NLCS:
He kept the Mets alive in Game One of the World Series with two huge scoreless innings in the 10th and 11th innings. He bailed Steven Matz out of a tight sixth inning while seemingly being the only Mets pitcher to get Eric Hosmer out in a big spot. In a do-or-die Game Five, he pitched a scoreless tenth. Overall, Niese was terrific in big spots, and he came through when the Mets needed him most. It really was shocking given his well-earned reputation as a head case.
In the offseason, the Mets traded him for Neil Walker, and even under the tutelage of arguably the best pitching coach in the game, Niese has been terrible going 7-6 with a 5.13 ERA, 1.574 WHIP, 80 ERA+, and a 5.49 FIP. These are easily the worst stats of his career, and as a result, Niese finds himself back in the bullpen.
Somewhat surprisingly, the Mets are interested in a reunion with Niese. They’re possibly interested with Logan Verrett failing to recapture the magic he had as a spot starter last year. The Mets have to at least contemplate Niese as Sean Gilmartin and Gabriel Ynoa have pitched poorly over the past few months. Furthermore, the Mets do not seem inclined to stretch out Seth Lugo and give him a chance to start.
Certainly, you can understand the Mets interest in Niese. However, it is still hard to imagine Niese is a better option for the rotation than the Mets internal candidates. It may be one of the reasons why the Mets are more interested in improving the bullpen than by adding Niese to the rotation. Given his performance last postseason, perhaps Niese could be the bullpen answer.
There is some evidence from this season that Niese could be a useful bullpen piece. In his first two innings of work, he has a 2.50 ERA. In his first inning of work, batters are hitting .234/.269/.375. In his second inning of work, batters are hitting .217/.308/.406. With runners in scoring position batters are hitting .250/.332/.352. When there are two outs and runners in scoring position, batters are hitting .093/.170/.140.
Looking at these numbers, it’s fair to conclude that Niese has started games well but has fallen apart from the third inning on. These numbers should improve with Niese being reunited with Dan Warthen and with him maxing out for an inning or two. If Niese were to move to the bullpen, he could have a career renaissance similar to Oliver Perez, who was another unpopular Mets lefty starter who faltered.
With that in mind, Niese could be the exact pitcher the Mets are looking to add. Once he’s in the fold, the Mets can then figure out what to do for the last spot in the rotation.
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.
In baseball lingo, a quality start is defined as a start in which a pitcher allows three earned or less in at least six innings pitched. With that said, Steven Matz did indeed have a quality start today allowing six hits, three earned, and four walks with five strike outs over seven innings. Unfortunately, with a Mets offense without Yoenis Cespedes, a quality start isn’t enough.
No, the Mets needed the Matz that existed prior to the one we saw prior to everyone knowing about him being bothered by bone spurs in his elbow. From April 17th to June 7th, Matz was 7-1 with a 1.38 ERA and a 1.006 WHIP. He was throwing a 94 MPH fastball 62% of the time, an 84 MPH change 11% of the time, an 88 MPH slider, 13% of the time, and a 78 MPH curve 14% of the time.
Since that game we saw him rubbing his elbow, Matz has maintained his velocity. However, he’s almost completely stopped using his slider. He now only throws it 3% of the time. Since he’s stopped throwing the slider, Matz has gone 0-3 with a 5.05 ERA and a 1.430 WHIP. Those numbers include today’s loss.
While Matz was pitching better than he has in over a month, the Cespedesless Mets offense continued to sputter. The only offensive support came in the form of two Jose Reyes solo homers, including his Mets all-time leading 17th home run to leadoff a game. That broke the tie he had with current teammate Curtis Granderson. Reyes was the only Met with a multi-hig game one a day where the Mets only managed four hits. Juan Lagares and Asdrubal Cabrera got the other two hits.
While the Mets were starved for offense, Daniel Murphy continued to try to make the Mets rue the day they decided not to re-sign him. Murphy hit a two run homer in the first inning. The other run was scored off a Wilson Ramos RBI single in the third. Two of the Nationals’ Mets killers did it again.
Somewhat fittingly, it was De Aza who made the last out of the game for the Mets. The Mets lost 3-2 and fell six behind the Nationals after losing three out of four and six out of seven. At the very least, the Mets are still in playoff position as the second Wild Card heading into the All Star Break.
Game Notes: Alejandro De Aza started over Brandon Nimmo with the Nationals starting the lefty Gio Gonzalez.
Steven Matz has bone spurs in his pitching elbow, and the Mets talked him out if having inseason surgery to remove them. Noah Syndergaard also has bone spurs in his pitching elbow, but it appears like it’s nowhere near as serious as Matz’s. Zack Wheeler has had a number of setbacks in his Tommy John rehab, and the best case scenario has him returning to the Mets mid to late August. Now, worst of all, Matt Harvey may have thoracic outlet syndrome.
Anyone one of these pitchers may miss an extended period of time, and the Mets replacements are less than inspiring.
First up as always is spot starter Logan Verrett who has a 5.32 ERA in his five starts this year. Sean Gilmartin has a 7.00 ERA in his limited appearances with the Mets this year. Seth Lugo had an electrifying one inning appearance before bring sent back down to AAA where he has a 6.55 ERA. Rafael Montero hasn’t been much better with his 6.31 AAA ERA and his 11.57 major league ERA. Finally, there’s 23 year old Gabriel Ynoa who may not be ready for the majors.
For a team that is built on pitching, these are not viable options. These pitchers are not carrying these Mets back to the World Series like the pitching did in 2015.
No, the Mets need a pitcher like Michael Fulmer. Fulmer has made 13 starts this year going 9-2 with a 2.11 ERA and a 1.096 WHIP. He’s throwing a 96 MPH fastball and an 89 MPH Warthen slider. If he was in the Mets rotation right now, he would arguably be the best pitcher in their rotation. At the very least, he’s top three. There’s one problem.
Fulmer’s a Tiger. Fulmer was one of 12 pitchers the Mets have traded away since the 2015 offseason. Make no mistake. Fulmer was the best of the lot.
Many have justified his departure as he was traded away to acquire Yoenis Cespedes. Cespedes would go off in August and September with an offensive display Mets fans haven’t seen since Mike Piazza was leading the Mets to back-to-back postseason appearances. The Mets would fall just short of the ultimate goal as they lost the World Series in five games.
Arguably, the Mets needed Cespedes to reach that point. However, in acquiring him, the Mets gave up Fulmer’s entire career. They gave up the very player they may need this year just to get back to the World Series. The Mets may have sacrificed their chances in 2016 and beyond for the run they made last year.
The reason is because pitching is fragile. No matter how good you think you have it there’s a bone spur, a torn collateral ligament, or a shoulder condition that can take an ace pitcher away. It’s why an organization needs as much high end pitching depth as it can get their hands on. Yesterday’s surplus becomes today’s necessity.
Fulmer was seen as surplus last year, and he was moved for Cespedes. With Harvey’s, Wheeler’s, and Matz’s medical issues, he’s now a necessity that is pitching for the Detroit Tigers.
Steven Matz had a terrific start pitching seven innings allowing only two earned on six hits and one walk with six strikeouts. The outing was all the more impressive considering he’s dealing with bone spurs in his elbow that Matz once believed required in-season surgery. Unfortunately, despite this terrific start, he’d be a hard luck loser because he made one bad pitch to Giancarlo Stanton:
.@Giancarlo818 is very strong … but you knew that. https://t.co/T2sfNGtEAx pic.twitter.com/2TLXZtHUz6
— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) July 6, 2016
Just like that Stanton turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead. From there Stanton would go on and make sure the Marlins would win the game.
Yoenis Cespedes led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk off Marlins starter Wei-Yin Chen. After the next two batters recorded outs, James Loney became the first Mets batter not named Cespedes to get a hit off of Chen. Juan Lagares then hit a sinking line drive to right that looked like it was going to tie the game:
Big G is doing it all tonight!
?: https://t.co/OkV4n7NGL1 pic.twitter.com/s2r7l1aXy4
— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) July 6, 2016
In the top of the eighth, Stanton added all the insurance the Marlins needed after he hit a three run home run off Erik Goeddel to make it 5-1 and unofficially put the game out of reach.
The main issue tonight was Chen was really good for the Marlins. He allowed only three base hits, and two of them were off of the bat of Yoenis Cespedes. The only run he allowed was Cespedes’ solo home run in the fourth. The only other Mets to reach base off of Chen was Loney with the aforementioned base hit and Curtis Granderson with a walk.
It’s easy to get hung up on Chen’s 5.11 ERA heading into tonight’s game. However, that overlooks the fact that the Mets have been hitting of late. It also ignores Chen’s lifetime 3.88 ERA and his 3.34 ERA in 2015. In essence, Chen was capable of this performance, and he just so happened to do it tonight in a Marlins’ 5-2 win.
Game Notes: Jose Reyes played his first game with the Mets since re-signing with them after his domestic violence incident. He wore his familiar number 7, and Travis d’Arnaud switched to 18. He leadoff and played third. Reyes was 0-4 with a strike out. There was not one ball hit his way.
With Reyes’ return, Matt Reynolds was demoted to AAA meaning the Mets kept Alejandro De Aza. For once, he rewarded the Mets faith by hitting a pinch hit home run in the eighth off Fernando Rodney.