Wilmef Flores

Jorge Polanco Signing Makes Sense

The New York Mets made their first significant sogning of the offseason agreeing to a contract with former Seattle Mariner Jorge Polanco. This is a move met with derision from most, but it’s a move that makes sense for the Mets.

First and foremost, Polanco is a bat. Last year, he had a 132 wRC+. If you’re looking to replace Pete Alonso’s career 132 wRC+, the Mets have done that.

Yes, Alonso has historically been the more reliable bat, and he’s coming off a better year. That said, Polanco has been a 116 wRC+ or better in five of the last seven seasons while hitting in more difficult ballparks.

All told, Polanco can hit. This is a plus. Even better, Polanco can DH. That’s important for a Mets team who never adequately filled that role since the abomination of the universal DH.

There’s also been discussion of Polanco potentially learning to play first base. That’s led to many invoking Ron Washington’s famous line from Moneyball.

The irony here, of course, is Polanco is replacing the homegrown legend of Alonso like Scott Hatteberg was replacing Jason Giambi. The parallels continue as Alonso and Giambj were both truly terrible defensive first basemen.

However, when looking at the transition to first, Hatteberg isn’t the comp for Polanco. Hatteberg was a catcher, and Polanco was a middle infielder.

On that front, we have old friend Wilmer Flores. He was a poor middle infielder who has been good at first. He had a 7 OAA at the position.

There’s also Nomar Garciaparra. His injuries eventually forced him off shortstop and move to first. When healthy, Garciaparra proved to be quite a good first baseman.

Looking at players who need to move out of the middle infield, they do tend to be good first baseman. For Polanco, the floor is as low as it gets.

Alonso had a -9 OAA in consecutive seasons. His throws to first were comically bad and was a factor in Kodai Senga’s injury and second half collapse. Admittedly, the Mets will miss his scoop ability,l. Remember, at that, Alonso was the best in the game.

Taking everything into account, Polanco has a legitimate chance to be better than Alonso defensively. He could also be close offensively, which may result in Polanco being a better overall player.

This is not about replacing Alonso’s homers. It’s about replacing global production. There are many ways to get to a 132 wRC+.

And again, if he can’t play first, Polanco is the DH. Last season, the Mets DHs had a collective 102 wRC+. A position that was purely designed for offensive production was a league average bat. They ranked 20th in offensive production at the position.

No, Polanco was not the flashy name, but he might’ve just been the right name. Considering his offensive production and his reputation as a good clubhouse presence, he could be exactly what the Mets need.

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A Bizarre Split Doubleheader 

You knew it was going to be a strange day when Keith Hernandez showed up during the first end of the doubleheader wearing an Underdog shirt:

  

We would then see Noah Syndergaard give up an unearned run in the second when Syndergaard made an errant throw allowing Yadier Molina to score. The Cardinals scored a run that inning without a ball leaving the infield. Perhaps stranger than that was seeking Jedd Gyorko hit a two run bomb to left the following inning to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead. For the day, Syndergaard would pitch six innings allowing three runs, two earned, and three walks with eight strikeouts. 

Of course, all of the Mets offense would come off a Rene Rivera two run homer in the fourth. After that hilarity would ensue. 

There was Curtis Granderson of all people throwing out a runner at the plate (with the really throw from Kelly Johnson). It’s bizarre that the Cardinals sent Matt Adams, who just might be slower than James Loney. It’s even stranger when you consider that earlier in the game the human windmill Tim Teufel held Jose Reyes at third when he could’ve scored off a Yoenis Cespedes two out double. 

Speaking of Cespedes, he had quite the juggling act in the outfield in the sixth: 

Then there were the curious decisions like Terry Collins keeping Wilmer Flores on the bench while sending James Loney and Johnson up to bat in the eighth against Cardinals lefty Kevin Siegrist. They weren’t able to muster a rally. 

The Mets would start a rally in the ninth with a Granderson leadoff single off new Cardinals closer Seung-hwan Oh. That rally would end when Granderson tagged up on Cardinals center fielder Tommy Pham after a deep Cespedes fly out:

After a Loney fly out, the Mets lost 3-2. The second game of the doubleheader would be much calmer, but it would still nevertheless be strange. 

For starters, the spark plug of the Mets offense in the game was Alejandro De Aza. De Aza would go 1-1 with a double, a walk with two runs. Even more bizarre is that he would be driven in both times by Asdrubal Cabrera. 

In the third, Cabrera followed a De Aza double with a double of his own striking an 0 for his last 697,597,475,491 streak (actually, it was 0-32). In the fifth, Cabrera would hit a sac fly to score De Aza from third. 

The other run would score when Loney hit into a fourth inning double play scoring Flores. Flores was on third because he hit a leadoff double, and he moved to third when Randal Grichuk flat out dropped a ball in right field off the bat of Neil Walker. Considering how he’s been playing lately, it’s just about the only way Walker can reach base. He would go 0-2 with a walk on the night. 

These three runs were enough for Bartolo Colon who was terrific tonight after pitching to a 7.36 ERA and allowing batters to hit .338/.386/.662 against him over his last three starts. Naturally, on this night, Colon only allowed one earned on three hits with no walks and eighth strikeouts. Of course, he would out pitch Syndergaard tonight in the Mets 3-1 win. 

Finally, in the sixth inning, things began to calm down. Collins made a curious decision to allow Colon to bat in the sixth with the bases loaded and two outs. Collins eschewed the chance to blow the game open. 

Then in the eighth and ninth, Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia shut down the Cardinals to preserve the win. 

After all that craziness, the Mets and Cardinals split the doubleheader. The end result was nothing changed between them in the Wild Card standings. The Mets stayed a half game up on the Cardinals with the runner game tomorrow. 

Game Notes: Josh Smoker was called up to be the 26th man in the second game of the doubleheader. He would not make an appearance. 

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Walker, Conforto, and the Offense Is Back

The Mets unexpectedly had Neil Walker and Michael Conforto return from injuries today.  

Walker would go 2-4 with a run, three RBI, a double, and a homer. Conforto would go 2-4 with a run, an RBI, a homer, and this catch in the first to save a run:

Walker and Conforto would then go back-to-back in the third. However, Walker and Conforto were not the story of the third inning. It was Bartolo Colon who somehow hit a double:

If that wasn’t enough, Colon would score on a Yoenis Cespedes sacrifice fly. This sequence had to be more improbable than Colon’s homerun. 

The Mets would hit three homeruns on the night including Curtis Granderson‘s leadoff homerun. It was his 17th leadoff homer with the Mets breaking a first place tie with Jose Reyes.  The three lefties homeruns off Pirates starter Juan Nicasio wasn’t shocking:

As we’ve seen, the Mets are practically unbeatable when they hit that many homers in a game. Tonight was no different. 

It did get interesting in the ninth. Addison Reed allowed a leadoff homer to Andrew McCutchen followed by a double to Jung Ho Kang. Terry Collins wasted no time in going to his closer Jeurys Familia. Familia recorded his 22nd save out of 22 save chances preserving a 6-4 win. 

Game Notes: Wilmer Flores left the game after getting hit on the left hand with a pitch. The x-rays were negative. Kelly Johnson replaced him. Colon pitched 7.2 innings allowing seven hits, two earned, and no walks with with strikeouts. 

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