Wilmer Flores
Here’s a list of all the Mets who got hits off the Pirates rookie phenom Jameson Taillon through the first seven innings:
Don’t worry. Yoenis Cespedes put an end to the tomfoolery by immediately grounding into the 5-4-3 double play. Taillon would pitch a career high eight innings allowing two hits, no earned, and one walk with five strikeouts. Before tonight, Taillon never pitched more than seven innings at any level. He went past that point making the Mets look foolish in the process.
Yes, the Mets are a compromised lineup without David Wright and Lucas Duda. Yes, it does hurt the offense when Neil Walker and Michael Conforto out of the lineup. However, that’s an excuse.
The Mets put out a lineup with Yoenis Cespedes and Asdrubal Cabrera, who were two high priced players free agents signed more for their offense than anything. Until this year James Loney and Alejandro De Aza were major league quality players. By the way, remember when De Aza was supposed to be the answer in centerfield? Also, the Mets had Kelly Johnson in the lineup, who the Mets thought so highly of they parted with Akeel Morris to get him (after thinking Eric Campbell was a better bench option).
The other two batters were Wilmer Flores and Kevin Plawecki. Flores was the Mets starting shortstop last year because the Mets thought he was better than players like Jung Ho Kang (more on that in a minute). Now he’s a bench piece. Plawecki was the former first round pick, who, putting it nicely, isn’t any good. He showed us how bad he was again today.
Aside from the 0-3, he was dreadful in the field. In the sixth, he dropped what should have been a foul out off the bat of Andrew McCutchen extending the at bat. Later in the inning, he bounced a an offline throw when Josh Harrison tried to steal second. The ball went into center, and Harrison went to third. Because Jacob deGrom was so good neither error hurt the Mets.
However, deGrom wasn’t perfect when the Mets needed him to be. He made a mistake that Kang turned into a two run homerun in the sixth. The final line for deGrom was six innings allowing six hits, two earned, and one walk with nine strikeouts. For any other team, this would’ve been good enough for the win. Not for this putrid Mets offense.
Jim Henderson allowed a two run home run to Starling Marte. The homer made the score 4-0, and it put the game out of reach. You know, if it wasn’t out of reach at 2-0.
Look, teams will look bad against good pitching. Mets fans have seen their pitching do this to opponents. There is no shame is being shut down by a phenom like Taillon. The problem is, lately, every pitcher looks like Taillon against the Mets.
The Mets have three big holes due to three players going down with significant injuries. Lucas Duda has a stress fracture in his back. David Wright has a herniated disc in his neck in addition to his spinal stenosis. Travis d’Arnaud has a torn rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder.
With this in mind, the Mets have to answer a few questions as the trade deadline approaches:
- Are any of the three players likely to return?
- Do the Mets have viable internal options to replace that player?
- What is out there on the trade market?
Working backwards, we see the biggest name on the trade market is going to be Jonathan Lucroy.
Lucroy is having a terrific year this season hitting .304/.361/.515 with nine homeruns and 28 RBI. It shouldn’t be a surprise that Lucroy is playing this well as he is better in even numbered years than odd numbered years since he became a full time starter in 2011. In 2012, his OPS+ was 132; in 2014, it was 131, and this year it is 132. In short, we can reasonably expect Lucroy to keep this up.
Lucroy’s just as successful behind the plate. He is a good pitch framer. He’s gunned down 42.9% of would be basestealers. Simply put, Lucroy is as much of a complete catcher as there is in the game. He’s also a massive upgrade over d’Arnaud’s replacements.
Since d’Arnaud’s last game on April 25th, Rene Rivera and Kevin Plawecki have combined to hit .190/.273/.289. While they have been good pitch framers, and Rivera has been a stabilizing force behind the plate, Plawecki and Rivera have both established themselves as poor hitting backup catchers. The Mets need a starting catcher that can hit. That was supposed to be d’Arnaud. It could be Lucroy now.
With that said, the Mets should pass on Lucroy despite his being better than any of the Mets catchers.
The reason the Mets can do this is because d’Arnaud has begun playing in rehab games, and he has had no setbacks this far. He will begin catching in rehab games soon. As per baseball’s 20 game rehab rule, d’Arnaud is set to return to the Mets on Sunday, June 26th at the latest.
Assuming he’s healthy, d’Arnaud can continue being a good overall catcher. He’s a better than average pitch framer. He’s coming off a .268/.340/.485 season. He hit three homeruns in the postseason last year. The only issue that remains is if he can throw out base stealers with his injured shoulder. With the way Mets pitchers hold on base runners, that may not be as big an issue as one might normally believe.
With his injury history, there may come a point in time the Mets decide to move on from d’Arnaud. That time may come sooner rather than later. However, now is not that time. The Mets have bigger issues.
James Loney has been a fine stopgap at first base, but he’s still only hitting .250/.302/.350. He’s not the long term solution. Wilmer Flores has done a yeoman’s job at third hitting .389/.450/.500. He is been much better with his approach at the plate. He is working the counts and starting to draw some walks. He also has an unsustainably high .500 BABIP leading you to believe he is due for a regression back to the .255/.292/.385 career hitter he is. Overall, the Mets continue to have long term holes at first and third with no one really knowing when or if Wright and Duda can return.
Accordingly, the Mets need to husband their resources so they can make a move to acquire a third and/or first baseman. That’s not Lucroy UNLESS the Mets feel comfortable paying the huge price he’ll command on the trade market to play first base . . . a position he has only played 43 games in his seven year career.
Editor’s Note: this was first published metsmerizedonline.com
Noah Syndergaard set the tone for the night by battling through the game.
He absolutely gutted out six innings. There was a Pirate in scoring position four of the six innings. Even with Rene Rivera behind the plate, the Pirates were 4/4 in stolen base attempts. He surrendered a career high five doubles. He allowed two in the first, and when the Mets tied the game in the fourth, he gave the Pirates the lead right back. He still hung in there. He allowed seven hits, three runs, two earned, and two walks with five strikeouts. The unearned run was the result of Neil Walker‘s error in the first. It was part of a tough homecoming for Walker:
#Mets Neil Walker has two errors at PNC Park tonight.#Pirates Neil Walker never had two errors in ANY SERIES at PNC Park.
— Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder) June 9, 2016
Neil Walker has three errors in his "homecoming" series. He never even had two during any home series with the #Pirates (h/t @Tony_Eichler).
— Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder) June 9, 2016
With the way the Mets have been going offensively lately, and with the Pirates starting phenom Jameson Taillon, Syndergaard was going to have to help himself at the plate. He did.
In the fifth, he hit a leadoff double, and Alejandro De Aza would sacrifice him over to third. Michael Conforto hit a sacrifice fly, which would tie the score at 3-3. The Mets scored their first two runs in the fourth when Ty Kelly hit his first career homerun. It was a nice parting gift for him as it appers likely he will be demoted after today’s game due to the Mets re-acquiring Kelly Johnson.
In the seventh, Jim Henderson allowed the Pirates to take a 5-3 lead with a rough inning. He allowed a leadoff walk to Andrew McCutchen. Then after Gregory Polanco just missed a homerun, he ripped a go-ahead double to right-center. He moved to third on Walker’s second error of the game, and he would score on a Josh Harrison sacrifice fly.
The Mets would battle back again. In the eighth, De Aza would get a leadoff walk, and he would score on a Conforto homerun. The Mets would then load the bases, but they would fail to get a runner home to break the 5-5 tie. Kelly would pop out to short left, and Curtis Granderson, pinch hitting for Rivera, would ground out killing the rally.
The Mets would get another chance with the bases loaded in the tenth. This time Collins pinch hit Wilmer Flores for Kelly. Flores hit a one out bloop single to give the Mets the 6-5 lead. The Mets wouldn’t score another run, but they got all they needed.
Addison Reed got the well earned win. With the Mets bullpen being a bit taxed, Collins asked him to pitch two innings. Despite a slight dip on velocity, Reed pitched two scoreless innings. It was another great outing for him in what has been an incredible year for him.
Jeurys Familia come on in the 10th and recorded his 19th straight save this year. Of course on this night, it wasn’t an easy save. Familia walked the first two batters before getting Sean Rodriguez to hit into the 6-4-3 double play. Familia walked the next batter, and Plawecki stopped the ball with his face preventing the tying run from scoring. Familia then struck out David Freese to finally end the game and the losing streak.
Overall, there was a lot to like. The Mets offense got going again. Conforto was 1-3 with a run, three RBI, a walk, and a homerun. Yoenis Cespedes went 3-5, and he scored the game winning run. The Mets snapped their nine game losing streak against the Pirates dating back to last year.
Game Notes:
Prior to tonight, the last time the Mets defeated the Pirates, Jonathon Niese was the winning pitcher. Also, Thor was still in the minors.
— Ed Leyro (@Studi_Metsimus) June 9, 2016
With the Mets injuries, it’s easy to blame the lack of offense on the Mets supposed depth. It’s true. The Mets backups have been dreadful:
- Kevin Plawecki and Rene Rivera have combined to hit .194/.291/.302 since Travis d’Arnaud played his last game on April 25th.
- Eric Campbell, Wilmer Flores, and James Loney have combined to hit .197/.231/.328 since Lucas Duda played his last game on May 20th.
- Flores and Ty Kelly have combined to hit .216/.310/.243 since David Wright played his last game on May 27th
These players haven’t done their jobs, and they have hurt the Mets. However, while the Kellys and the Campbells of the world get the blame for hitting the way you reasonably anticipate them to hit, the regulars who haven’t been hitting have not faced the same scrutiny. In fact, the Mets right now have five regulars still in the lineup and four of them are just flat out not producing:
- Asdrubal Cabrera – Since April 27th, Cabrera is hitting .227/.278/.355 with only 10 extra base hits in 151 plate appearances. Over that stretch, he is striking out in 23.8% of his plate appearances.
- Michael Conforto – Since May 1st, in what is now being infamously referenced as the Madison Bumgarner Effect, Conforto has hit .160/.224/.311 while striking out in 31% of his plate appearances. He only has seven extra base hits over this stretch. Terry Collins once had concerns with him lefties. Right now, Conforto isn’t hitting anybody.
- Yoenis Cespedes – Since May 25th, Cespedes is hitting .086/.132/.114 with no homeruns while striking out 34.2% of the time. He is once again dealing with a hip issue, and he is clearly frustrated saying he is “a little lost at the plate right now.” (ESPN).
- Curtis Granderson – Since April 30th, Granderson is hitting .180/.269/.375 while striking out 28.3% of the time. His problems have been analyzed before show he’s hitting the ball on the ground more and it getting beaten by the shift. So far, Granderson is not making the necessary adjustments.
Then again, no Met is making the necessary adjustments right now. The end result is a putrid offense that is the worst offense in the major leagues. According to Baseball Tonight, since May 12th, the Mets are the last in the majors in runs per game (2.8), OBP (.282), and strikeout rate (28%). The team is also second to last in slugging (.354). These numbers would look a whole lot worse if Neil Walker wasn’t hitting.
Overall, this isn’t the July 2015 Mets that had Campbell and John Mayberry hitting in the middle of the lineup. There are legitimate hitters in this lineup who just aren’t hitting. We can all analyze who the Mets should get to be their possible long term solutions at catcher, first, and third in the event any of those injured players aren’t able to return. However, the simple truth of the matter is that unless the players currently here start hitting it’s not going to matter if the Mets make another move at the deadline.
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.
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:
Sorry, the gap's closed today: https://t.co/ZAOFAXw8FG #Juanderfulhttps://t.co/hr1USxY5HI
— MLB (@MLB) June 4, 2016
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.
This year, the Mets intended to rely heavily upon Wilmer Flores. The Mets needed him to be the main backup at all four infield positions. Mainly, he was needed as insurance for David Wright‘s back.
Unfortunately, Flores wasn’t up for the task in the early part of the season. Flores started the year hitting a paltry .167/.242/.267 with a -0.4 WAR, 40 OPS+, and a 44 wRC+. He was struggling with his throws from second and third. He then went on the disabled list with a strained left hamstring. He was becoming an after-thought.
Part of the reason for Flores’ struggles could’ve been his irregular playing time. Now, with David Wright’s injury, there is a chance. With Wright being shut down for 6-8 weeks due to the herniated disc in his back, Flores is the obvious choice to get be the starter at third base. He’s going to get a shot to prove he’s up to the task. That’s all Flores wanted.
Flores knows this is his chance. Flores said, “You don’t want to have anybody get hurt. It happened. Since I got here, I’ve been waiting for an opportunity. It’s an opening. Knowing that you could be in the lineup, it changes everything.” (ESPN).
At least for one night, Flores looked like a changed player. On Friday, he went 2-3 with two runs, one walk, one RBI, and a double. He got a two out RBI hit, and he drew a walk to start the game winning rally. It’s the type of performance you wanted to see from him the first night he officially became the Mets short term answer at third base.
Better yet, there’s reason to believe games like Friday’s are not a mirage. Prior to that game, Flores had an unsustainably low .188 BABIP. That’s well below the league average of .300 and his career average of .264. Accordingly, it is reasonable to expect Flores to see an improvement in his offensive numbers.
Additionally, last year he got better as the season progressed. In the first half, he only hit .252/.286/.395 with a 91 OPS+. As he worked with Kevin Long, he improved. In the second half, he hit .280/.311/.429 with a 101 OPS+. His best month was August where he hit .306/.337/.506. As the year progressed, he steadily improved. It’s what promising young players do.
It’s easy to forget Flores is just 24 years old. He’s still developing as a player. He still hasn’t reached his full potential. He’s got a good coaching staff that will help him get there. Now, due to Wright’s unfortunate injury, Flores is going to get the playing time he needs to continue in his development.
This is his chance to show the Mets they don’t need to add a third baseman because he’s ready to take over. At least on one night, he took advantage of that opportunity.
The narrative going into the game was Noah Syndergaard‘s golf trip would have a negative impact on his start. It seemed to be the case when Syndergaard allowed a first inning solo homerun to Marcell Ozuna.
Instead of struggling from that point forward, Syndergaard did what he’s done all year. He dominated. Syndergaard pitched seven innings allowing six hits, two earned, and one walk with nine strikeouts. All Syndergaard needed was some run support.
Fortunately for Syndergaard, the Mets provided him with more than one run of support. That was the main difference between this game and Jacob deGrom‘s start on Wednesday. The main reason was Wilmer Flores started at third instead of Ty Kelly. In the fourth, Flores broke a 1-1 tie by getting a two out broken bat bloop RBI single scoring Yoenis Cespedes.
Unfortunately, Syndergaard would relinquish the lead in the sixth. The rally was built upon a Christian Yelich double to shortstop. Yes, shortstop. Asdrubal Cabrera, who hit a fourth inning homerun, dove and got a piece of the ball. It was just enough to slow it down so Yelich could get to second and Martin Prado could go to third. Prado would subsequently score on a Ozuna’s sacrifice fly. The Mets would need Flores to get things started again. He did.
In the seventh, Flores got a rally started by drawing a leadoff walk in the seventh. The Marlins then pulled starter Tom Koehler and brought in the lefty, Mike Dunn, to face James Loney. Loney made the Marlins pay by hitting the first pitch he saw for a homerun. It was Loney’s first homerun for the Mets and his 100th career homerun. The homerun broke a 2-2 tie.
Just for good measure, Flores got another rally started with a leadoff double in the ninth. He moved to third on a long fly ball from Loney to center. He JUST MISSED another homerun. Rene Rivera, on the other hand, didn’t. He hit an absolute bomb to left center giving the Mets a 6-2 lead. It gave the Mets a big enough lead to let them relax after losing two straight games in which they had a lead in what were tight scoring games.
Addison Reed pitched a scoreless eighth because that’s what he does. The four run lead allowed Jim Henderson to pitch a scoreless ninth thereby allowing Jeurys Familia a night off.
This was a great game for the Mets and Flores in particular. He finished the night 2-3 with two runs, one RBI, one walk, and one double. With David Wright‘s most recent injury, the Mets need Flores to step up and take over third base. He did that tonight. If he continues playing like this the Mets will be able to weather not just this storm, but also anything else that comes their way in 2016.
Game Notes: The struggling Michael Conforto was dropped from third to sixth in the lineup. He was 0-4 with two strikeouts dropping his average to .246.
Last year when David Wright went on the disabled list with a serious injury, the Mets moved Daniel Murphy to third base and recalled Dilson Herrera to play second base. This year? This year, we get Neil Walker at second with a revolving door of AAAA caliber players at third base.
Now, it should be noted that Walker has been far better than anyone could’ve imagined. With his hitting .283/.345/.522 line with 13 homeruns, he’s in the midst of a career year. He’s been everything the Mets couldn’t asked for and more. With that said, he isn’t a versatile player. According to Mike Puma of the New York Post, the Mets have reservations about moving Walker to an unfamiliar position.
This means Walker will remain at second while Herrera remains in the minors. That’s a problem.
Dilson Herrera is a superior player to Ty Kelly, Eric Campbell, and Matt Reynolds. He’s better than T.J. Rivera, who, for reasons unknown, is still not getting a shot. With his play this year, it’s fair to say Herrera is a superior option to Wilmer Flores. However, it doesn’t matter that Herrera is better than the four other options that have been and will continue to get playing time at third base. It doesn’t matter because there’s no room for Herrera to play second every day.
Herrera would be the second baseman right now if Murphy was here. It’s further evidence of how the Mets made a mistake by letting Murphy walk out the door. Better yet, Murphy’s in Washington helping a Nationals team that has a three game lead over the Mets in the NL East.
Walker’s been great player this year, but he’s still not a better fit for this Mets team than Murphy would’ve been. The reason is simple: No matter how good Walker plays this year, it won’t be worth having one of Flores, Reynolds, Kelly, or Campbell play third for long stretches of time.