Wilmer Flores
Despite the spinal stenosis, David Wright was playing well in 2016. He was hitting .226/.350/.438 with seven homeruns and 14 RBI. He had hit homeruns in three straight games before it was discovered he had a herniated disc in his neck. It was a cruel setback for a player who has worked so hard to get back to this point. It leaves everyone questioning if this is the straw that will break the camel’s back. If it is, or if Wright needs another lengthy stint on the disabled list, the Mets are going to have to find a long term solution to third base.
Internal Options
Wilmer Flores. Going into this season, the Mets tabbed Flores to be the main backup at four infield positions. With Wright needing days off here and there due to the spinal stenosis, it was presumed Flores would play a lot of third base. At the outset, Flores appears to be the player who will get the first crack at the position. However, if he continues hitting .167/.231/.267, the Mets are going to be forced to turn in another direction.
T.J. Rivera. Eric Campbell already had his shot, and he hit .159/.270/.222 leading him to be designated for assignment. Matt Reynolds had a brief call-up and he hit .100/.182/.100 in limited duty. The revolving door has now brought us to Ty Kelly, who is hitting .167/.231/.167 in limited duty. While this triumvirate has been given the opportunities and failed to hit, Rivera stays in AAA hitting .364/.399/.535. Sooner or later, he’s going to get a shot to play in the majors with the way he has been playing.
Gavin Cecchini. The former Mets 2012 first round pick is currently hitting .308/.390/.400 in his first season in AAA. The issue is in his minor league career, Cecchini has only played SS. If he gets called up, the Mets would have to choose between playing him at a position he has never played before or making him the SS while Asdrubal Cabrera moves to third, where he has only played one inning in his major league career.
Dilson Herrera. The Mets could elect to call-up Herrera to play second while sliding their second basemen to third like they have the past few seasons. The issue here is Herrera is not raking in AAA the way he usually does, and Neil Walker hasn’t played third base regularly in his big league career, and he hasn’t played there in six years.
External Options
If you are going to make a move at this point, you are really only going to be able to obtain a player from a team that is completely out of the pennant race, or a player that has been designated for assignment. With the current two Wild Card format, a safe line of demarcation is any team 10 games or more out of first place is out of contention. Looking over the standings, that would mean the Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers, Cincinnati Reds (who have nothing of value), and the San Diego Padres. Of course, due consideration should be given to the Oakland Athletics, who are always ready, willing, and able to make a trade.
Trevor Plouffe. Plouffe is one of the many reasons the Twins are having a down year as he is hitting .246/.273/.369. For his career, he’s a .245/.307/.417 hitter. As such, he’s not going to resolve any of the Mets offensive problems. Also, as per UZR and DRS, he has only been an adequate defensive third baseman meaning he doesn’t have the superior defense to carry his bat.
Eduardo Nunez. The former Yankee is having a nice year for the Twins hitting .340/.367/.507 in 42 games. This year he has mostly played third and shortstop. In the event Wright does come back, Nunez can be a valuable utility player. The main issue with the 29 year old Nunez is that he will not be cheap as he still has a couple of cost controlled years before he becomes a free agent in 2018.
Kelly Johnson. Johnson was a valuable bench piece for the Mets last year hitting .250/.304/.414. The benefits are you know he can play in New York, and he should not be expensive. The downside is he’s hitting .218/.279/.307 this year.
Gordon Beckam. While Beckham has never quite lived up to the hype, he is having a good year this year as a utility player for the Braves playing second, third, and short. The career .244/.307/.374 hitter is hitting .293/.393/.446 this year for the Braves. Maybe it’s the small sample size of 30 games, maybe it’s the change to the National League, but Beckham is a better offensive player this year.
Aaron Hill. Hill is having a tremendous year as the Brewers’ third baseman this year hitting .275/.351/436. He’s also capable of played second in his career. The main sticking point with Hill is his salary. He is earning $12 million this year with the Arizona Diamondbacks paying $6.5 million of that. If the Mets were to obtain Hill, they would have to take on the prorated portion of the $5.5 million the Brewers are paying him or part with additional prospects to get the Brewers to eat some of that salary.
Brett Wallace. Wallace is a left-hand hitting third baseman. He has bounced around as he has never reached his full potential at the plate. He has also been a below average fielder wherever he has played, including third base. He seems to have found a home as a Padre these past two seasons. This year he is hitting .219/.379/.381. The issue with him is he’s still a cost-controlled player just entering his arbitration years.
Yangervis Solarte. Former Met Roger Cedeno‘s nephew, Solarte, is hitting .300/.397/.600 this year while playing mostly third base. He is a versatile player with a good bat. He is only making $525,000 this year, and he’s not arbitration eligible until 2017. If you want him, you’re going to have to pry him away from the Padres. Remember, this is the same Padres front office that rejected Michael Fulmer for Justin Upton. Solarte would be a great fit for the Mets, but it is unlikely the Mets are going to be willing to pay the price of what it’ll take to acquire him.
Ruben Tejada. Simply put, Tejada is a major league caliber player that is better suited to playing shortstop. He was a career .255/.320/.323 hitter on the Mets. He played poorly with the Cardinals hitting .176/.225/.235 before being released. He’s better suited for the bench than he is as the third base option. Even if he’s not the third base solution the Mets should claim him and put him on the bench.
Jed Lowrie. Lowrie is in the midst of a good season hitting .309/.351/.360 for the Athletics. He is capable of playing second, third, or shortstop. However, he has little power, and he is in the middle of a relatively large contract that pays him $7.5 million this year and $6 million next year with a team option/buyout in 2018.
Danny Valencia. Valencia is having a terrific year this year hitting .333/.370/.558 while playing third base for the the Athletics. He has an extremely reasonable $3.15 million salary this year. However, that is part of the problem. He has a reasonable salary this year, and he is under team control until 2018. Given the way Billy Beane does business, he will be extremely expensive.
Overall, that is the problem. If Wright is really going to miss a significant amount of time for the second straight season, the Mets are going to need a real long term solution. If the Mets enter the trade market and pay high prices for good, quality players like Solarte and Valencia. For the most part, you are looking to trade with a Brewers franchise you cancelling a trade with last year, or a Padres or Athletics team that really drives a hard bargain. That leaves the Mets in a very difficult situtation. Therefore, for the time being, the most prudent course might be to see if Flores can handle the position defensively and offensively. If he doesn’t the Mets will need to make a big trade just like they did last year. If that time should come, hopefully, they will have the pieces necessary to make that happen.
Editor’s Note: this was also published on metsmerizedonline.com
The Mets walked 13 times . . . THIRTEEN . . . and only scored one run in a 13 inning game they lost 2-1.
The Mets once again trotted out an ugly lineup reminiscent of July 2015. David Wright is still unavailable with the neck injection, so Terry Collins decided to go with Ty Kelly over Wilmer Flores. Yoenis Cespedes was out of the lineup as he informed Terry Collins he needed a day off. It was an ugly lineup reminiscent of a July 2015 lineup. It doesn’t help that Michael Conforto is still struggling. With today’s 0-6 with the golden sombrero, Conforto is now one for his last 21. With that said, the Mets had to win the 2015 way. They needed deGrom to be dominant. He was, but it wasn’t enough.
Jacob deGrom‘s velocity continued to tick up a bit with him getting it back up to the 95 MPH range on occasion. He had a season high 10 strikeouts. He had allowed only three hits and no runs over six, and he was at 92 pitches, and due up to lead off in the seventh inning. Terry Collins let him go back out there.
For the second day in a row, Todd Frazier hit a homerun. He tied the score at 1-1.
That matched the Mets offensive output. James Loney got a second inning rally started by walking. He moved to second on a Juan Lagares sacrifice bunt (really looked more like a bunt for a base hit, but that’s official scoring for you). Rene Rivera then came up and hit a one out RBI single to make the score 1-0. It was the first time Loney reached base and scored a run as a Met.
The Mets tore through their bullpen, including but not limited to, an injury to Hansel Robles. Logan Verrett came in, and he eventually gave up the winning run in the 13th in a rally started by a double hit by Matt Albers, an American League relief pitcher.
It was a bad loss capping off a poor 2-4 home stand. The Mets bench is inexcusably bad even with the injuries. The Mets need to make some moves.
Game Notes: Don Draper took his hatred of the Mets to the next level by sending Roger out there to interfere with Melky Cabrera resulting in interference being called costing Loney a chance at bat. It is the four year anniversary of Johan Santana’s no-hitter.
In what was presumably a cost-cutting measure, the Mets released Ruben Tejada during Spring Training. As a result, the Mets started the season with Eric Campbell on the Opening Day roster and suspect organizational depth behind him.
When Lucas Duda went down with a stress fracture in his low back, the Mets depth issues were exposed. Campbell has started in 14 of the Mets past 18 games. He’s hitting .182 on the season. The only reason why he’s playing every day is because Wilmer Flores is on the DL and the Mets other two options, Matt Reynolds and Ty Kelly, are even more underwhelming than Campbell. The Mets needs to get better and soon.
The obvious, and most likely answer, is Flores, once he comes off the DL. Assuming he does turn around his thus far disappointing season and take over the first base job in Duda’s absence, the Mets still need to replace his role as super sub. The Mets still need someone who can play semi-regularly at third when David Wright sits. Campbell, Reynolds, and Kelly are not the answer. None of them are capable major league starters. None of them are as good as Tejada.
As per ESPN’s Mark Saxson, Tejada was designated for assignment by the Cardinals giving them 10 days to trade him, release him, put him on waivers, or outright him to the minors (which he could refuse). Therefore, there’s a 10 day window (or more) where Tejada is available. The Mets should re-acquire him.
If Tejada were to come back, the Mets bench would be drastically improved. In his last two years with the Mets, he averaged 118 games while hitting .249/.340/.330. He played second, third, and short. While working with Kevin Long last year, he hit .287/.362/.362 in the second half. He wrestled the starting shortstop position away from Flores, the same Flores the Mets are relying upon heavily this year.
This year, the Mets don’t need Tejada to take over the shortstop position. Instead, the Mets need to strengthen their bench with capable major league players. The only obstacle to adding Tejada would be money, and at the prorated amount of $1.5 million, which was half of the contract the Mets had tendered him, money shouldn’t be an obstacle. No, there are no reasonable excuses for the Mets to pass on Tejada.
Tejada will soon need a place to play, and the Mets need major league players. The Mets should bring back Tejada.
Due to Wilmer Flores’ injury and David Wright’s spinal stenosis, Eric Campbell has played in 21 games so far this year. Believe it or not, that’s the least amount of games by anyone on the team who is not on the DL.
It may not feel that way because Campbell had played much more frequently. While he appeared in 10 games in April, he did not start one game. In May, he’s already played 11 games, and he has started in nine of them. Here’s the strangest thing of all with Campbell – he’s actually playing fairly well.
In May, where Campbell has received the bulk of his playing time, he’s hitting .231/.375/.269. Yes, his batting average and slugging percentage is quite low, but as evidenced by his OBP, Campbell is getting on base. Also, he’s playing good defense at first and third base. We have already seen him make diving stops to stop extra base hits. Overall, Campbell is playing very well for the guy at the end of your bench.
That’s the issue. Campbell isn’t at the end of the bench anymore.
No, with Flores on the DL, Campbell has overtaken Flores’ super utility role. Campbell has also outperformed Flores. Before Flores went on the DL, he was hitting a paltry .180/.255/.280. Flores has also struggled with his throws from second and third. Accordingly, Campbell has been a better bench option than Flores.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, it should be noted Campbell is out performing some of the regulars. In May, Campbell’s .375 OBP is tops amongst infielders and second on the team to Yoenis Cespedes. He’s out slugging Neil Walker . In sum, right now, Campbell is not the Mets worst option either in the field or at the plate.
This goes a long way to explaining the Mets troubles scoring runs. The Mets have averaged 2.74 runs per game in May. Opponents have out scored them by 18 runs. The Mets are 8-11 so far this month. Therefore, while there are problems like with Matt Harvey’s struggles on the mound and Jacob deGrom’s velocity, the biggest problem right now is the struggling Mets offense that isn’t getting on base enough and isn’t scoring runs.
The Mets starters need to get better . . . at least better than Eric Campbell as there should never be no point in the season where you can say Campbell has been one of the Mets better offensive players.
Right now, the Mets are in a prolonged offensive slump. It seems like every Met not named Yoenis Cespedes is having problems at the plate. Here’s how bad things are. Here are the triple slash lines for every Mets infielder (except Matt Reynolds) since the West Coast trip began:
- .176/.300/.235
- .227/.320/.273
- .152/.243/.273
- .129/.325/.258
- .200/.250/.267
- .235/.278/.294
Look at this list. Now, go and pick out which player is Eric Campbell. No, it’s not all Campbell. Yes, those are the real stats. Yes, each of the Mets infielders has been presented in that grouping. Take a look again and pick out which one is Eric Campbell.
The answer is number 2.
The other players were Lucas Duda (#1), Neil Walker (#3), David Wright (#4), Wilmer Flores (#5), and Asdrubal Cabrera (#6).
Campbell’s numbers are not too far off his career slash line of .230/.319/.321. What’s interesting about that is every Mets infielder is hitting like Eric Campbell right now. Not surprisingly, Eric Campbell is the best version of himself. Since the West Coast trip, Campbell is second among Mets infielders in batting average, OBP, and slugging.
He’s even added a few nice defensive plays. He had the diving stop at third for the final out of the game on Mother’s Day. He made two nice defensive plays at first last night including robbing Daniel Murphy of an extra base hit in what was then a tied game. So no, Eric Campbell isn’t the problem. He’s performing about as well as you can reasonably expect the last man on your bench to perform.
No, the problem is everyone on the Mets infield is performing like they’re Eric Campbell.
We can all talk about the Mets striking out too much. We can talk about their supposed over reliance on the homerun. We can talk about their problems hitting with RISP. We can talk about all of that at length. However, we first need to find out how the Mets entire infield hits like Eric Campbell now.
There is no such thing as a bad time to get called-up to the majors. Everything about the majors is better. The money. The travel. The women have long legs and brains. Mostly, it’s what you’ve worked for your entire life.
You don’t want to blow your shot. It’s why now may not be the best time for Matt Reynolds to get called-up.
In Reynold’s last 10 games, he’s hit .175/.214/.275 with no homers and four RBI. He has struck out 15 times. That means Reynolds has struck out 37.5% of the time over his last 10 games. He’s 0-1 in stolen base attempts. After this slump, Reynolds is now hitting .238/.303/.369. Simply put, Reynolds has not played well enough to earn a promotion.
However, he’s getting the promotion because it’s a numbers game. Wilmer Flores is on the DL, and the Mets need a reserve infielder that can play second, third, and short. Reynolds is the only minor league player on the Mets 40 man roster who can do that. So now with Reynolds playing the worst ball he ever has, he’s getting called up.
This is his shot to impress. Considering who the Mets manager is, he’s going to have to impress if he’s going to have a future with the Mets.
Terry Collins has some shortcomings as a manager. The first is he typically relies heavily upon his veterans. The second is that he’s quick to put players in his doghouse. We’ve seen it this season with Collins potentially dangerous use of Jim Henderson rather than using Rafael Montero.
Montero has been in Collins’ doghouse for being injured last year and not pitching effectively this Spring Training. Collins only used Montero when he absolutely had to use him and no more. Montero didn’t produce in his limited chances, and he moved into Collins’ doghouse.
Right now, Reynolds is scuffling. He’s going to get very limited chances, especially with six of the next nine against the Nationals. When Reynolds does get his shot, it’s going to leave a huge impression with his manager. If he gets a basehit, Collins may be inclined to use him more. If he doesn’t get hits, Collins will bury him on the bench. If and when he’s recalled, Collins will again bury him on the bench.
Whether it’s fair or not, Reynolds’ performance will have a big impact on the rest of his Mets career. With the way he’s been playing lately, this chance could not have come at a worse time.
Yesterday’s 0-3 with a strikeout certainly isn’t going to help his cause.
Editor’s Note: this was first published on metsminors.net
At what point does T.J. Rivera finally get his shot?
In his minor league career, Rivera has hit everywhere he’s gone. In his minor league career, he’s hit .320/.367/.423. For the past three years, he’s played Winter Ball hitting .307/.361/.445. Bottom line is Rivera has hit everywhere he has played in his entire minor league career. He had gotten better each and every year. For example, he’s hitting .330/.360/.524 in Triple-A right now.
Even with Rivera hitting so well and improving, it seems like the undrafted 27 year old may never get his shot.
He didn’t last year. The Mets were more comfortable with a struggling Dilson Herrera. They were more comfortable with Danny Muno. They didn’t protect him in the Rule 5 draft despite his offensive production. The Mets were able to keep him because no one thought he was worthy of a Rule 5 pick. Seeing what the Braves put on the field, it makes you question what are we missing with Rivera?
There is a tendency to scout a player’s minor league statistics. The belief is that if a player can hit in the minors, they can hit in the majors. The inverse of that is deemed to be true as well. However, there are many more factors at play like level of competition, approach at the plate, level of experience and age compared to the competition, etc. When taking a totality of the circumstances, a player who hits well in the minors but isn’t deemed good enough to hit in the majors is tagged as a AAAA player.
Is that the case with Rivera? Is he really just a AAAA player? That would be the most logical explanation as to why he still hasn’t gotten his shot.
To answer that, we need to look at what he is. Rivera is a utility player that can play second, third and short. In reality, given his range and arm strength, he’s best suited to second base. Overall, no matter where you play him, he’s not that great defensively. Despite his relative versatility, it’s Rivera’s bat that would carry him to the majors.
As discussed above, Rivera has hit everywhere. There’s good reason for that. He’s a disciplined hitter. He has a good compact swing, and he’s a gap to gap line drive hitter. He doesn’t generate much power, but he’s capable of the occasional double. In short, Rivera shows the skills to be able to get on base no matter what the level.
What we don’t know if that ability will ever translate. At the major league level, the Mets have Wilmer Flores and Eric Campbell. Campbell, in particular, is what Rivera aspires to be. Campbell can play a multitude of positions. He doesn’t generate much power, but he has shown the ability to get on base. So long as Campbell gets on base, the Mets aren’t sending him down.
In the event Campbell ever gets sent down, it’s highly unlikely Rivera ever gets the call. He’s buried at the upper levels of the Mets minor league system behind guys like Herrera, Matt Reynolds, and Gavin Cecchini. Worse yet, Rivera isn’t on the 40 man roster thereby further decreasing his chances of ever getting a shot.
Unfortunately, it appears Rivera may never get his shot with the Mets. He may never get an opportunity to show he has the tools to hit and get on base in the major leagues. It’s a testament to a deep Mets farm system. It’s an indictment of the rest of baseball, who apply AAAA tags to players without ever giving them a chance that they’ve earned.
T.J. Rivera has earned a shot to play in the major leagues. Hopefully, he will get that shot someday.
Editor’s Note: this was first published on metsminors.net
Last time Jacob deGrom started a game in Dodger Stadium, it was Game 5 of the NLDS. That entire night deGrom was on the ropes. He didn’t have his best stuff. However, he fought through it seemingly with nothing but guile.
Tonight was eerily reminiscent of that night.
The Dodgers were hitting deGrom hard. The lefties were hitting him especially hard. The Coward and Corey Seager led off the game with opposite field doubles in the first. Utley scored on Seager’s double, and Seager scored on an Adrian Gonzalez sac fly. It was 2-0 after one. deGrom would be in and out of trouble most of the game, but the Dodgers wouldn’t score another run.
Part of that was the Mets playing some real good defense behind deGrom. In the second, David Wright dove and stopped a would be Yasiel Puig RBI single. Wright made a poor throw allowing Puig to reach first safely, but the run did not score. In the fourth, Asdrubal Cabrera reached behind him on a ball that ricocheted off the glove of deGrom, made a nice stab, and barely threw out Utley. Eric Campbell made a nice stretch on the play. In the fifth, Cespedes did this:
Yoenis Cespedes' throw to nail Adrian Gonzalez reached 91.1 mph and covered 232 feet, according to Statcast.
— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) May 11, 2016
Overall, deGrom would pitch seven innings allowing eight hits, two earned, and no walks with four strikeouts. Unlike last time, he handed the ball off to the Mets bullpen instead of Noah Syndergaard.
Unfortunately, deGrom got a no decision because Alex Wood didn’t repeat his NLDS performance. He would only allow four hits, two runs (one earned), and two walks with nine strikeouts. In the NLDS, he only went two innings allowing four hits, four earned, and this:
The Mets had no bat flips off Wood. Instead, the Mets would need some help from Utley to score. It was quite ironic how skittish Utley was around second base in the third inning. With Cespedes on first, Wilmer Flores hit a ball up the middle. Utley made the snag, but he flipped it to no one. No, it’s not Seager’s fault for failing to cover second. It’s Utley’s fault because he’s pure evil. The ensuing batter, Michael Conforto, hit the ball to Utley, who threw a potential double play ball into left field. Cespedes would score on the play. Flores would later score on a Kevin Plawecki RBI single.
The game would eventually become a battle of the bullpens, and surprisingly, the Mets would lose despite having the much better bullpen. Hansel Robles gave up a two out walkoff homerun to Trayce Thompson. The Mets lost 3-2. It snapped the Mets three game winning streak.
Game Notes: Terry Collins had Lagares in RF because he apparently hates good defensive OF alignments. Plawecki is heating up and finally taking advantage of his opportunity. Both Lagares and Cespedes slipped on first base on pickoff attempts. Lagares slipped off leading to an out. Cespedes twisted his ankle but stayed in the game. Cabrera was hit by a pitch for the fifth time this year.
Given the Mets offseason moves and roster construction, a lot was going to be asked of Wilmer Flores. He had to be the main backup at all four infield positions. He had to learn first base. He had to be the power bat off the bench. He had to be a platoon option at second base in the event Neil Walker continued his career struggles against lefties. He had to be the Mets insurance for David Wright‘s back.
So far this year, Flores is hitting .159/.229/.273 with an OPS+ of 36 and a wRC+ of 39. His main issue is he can’t hit the fastball. Even worse, he’s not hitting breaking balls. Overall, he’s just not hitting. Put if this way: he has as many homeruns as Bartolo Colon.
He’s also not fielding. According to UZR and DRS, he’s only played well at first and short. He’s struggling with his throws from second and third. He’s not good at the plate. He’s not good in the field. He’s a -0.4 WAR player thus far. He’s having a nightmare of a season. He’s failing miserably.
Worse yet, the Mets need him.
Wright’s stenosis isn’t going away. Walker hasn’t hit lefties his entire career. Neither has Lucas Duda. The Mets need Flores to play for one of them at least once a week. When he’s not starting, Flores is the Mets lone power bat on the bench. He’s an important player on the team. So far, he’s not up to the challenge.
The only thing saving him is he has no options left. This means players like Matt Reynolds and T.J. Rivera will stay in the minors despite having earned a call-up. Instead, Eric Campbell, who is coming off a good game, may need to play more. Until Flores figures it out, Campbell may be the Mets best infield option. No one planned on that happening.
No, the plan was for Flores to play an important role. For now, Flores still has that role. However, if he continues playing this poorly that role is going to have to someone else. That switch may need to happen sooner rather than later.