Yoenis Cespedes
With the Mets trading Lucas Duda to the Tampa Bay Rays, we bring an end to the Mets career of one of the better Mets in their history, and we also see the beginning of the end of an era of Mets baseball.
Duda was a player with a promising bat the Mets that first Omar then Sandy tried to get into the lineup. With players blocking his path to his natural first base position, Duda would be moved to the outfield. Duda would be standing there ins what was then a fairly cavernous right field when Johan Santana threw the first no-hitter in Mets history. Lost in that game was Duda homering in the sixth to put the game away.
Despite Duda being in the outfield during one of the biggest moments in Mets history, it became increasingly clear he wasn’t an outfielder. He belonged at first base. The fact he even forced a competition for the spot with Ike Davis was impressive. Duda did all he could to wrestle that spot from Davis, and he finally showed the Mets what he could do hitting 30 home runs in 2014. He had more in store in 2015.
When people have typically written about the 2015 season, they usually credit with Yoenis Cespedes for winning the National League East. This overlooks how Duda almost single-handedly pulled the Mets into first place in 2015:
In that pivotal series that saw the Mets go from second to first place, Duda was 8-9 with a double, three homers, and five RBI. With Mets fans debate over whether Duda was clutch or not, this series should answer the question in the affirmative.
As we know that season would eventually end in heartbreak. Duda played his part throwing away the ball in Game 5 allowing Eric Hosmer to score the tying run. It was hard to watch, and unfortunately, it masked all the good he had done that season including his grand slam in the division clincher and his homer effectively sealing the pennant:
These are many of the many great things Duda has done in a Mets uniform. He was the second Mets player in history to hit three home runs in a game at home. Shockingly, he was second to Kirk Nieuwenhuis. Speaking of homering at Citi Field, Duda leaves the Mets as the all-time leader in home runs at Citi Field.
Hitting homers was one of the things Duda did well. This year, he passed notable Mets like Edgardo Alfonzo, Kevin McReynolds, and Todd Hundley to finish his Mets career with the seventh most in Mets history. Depending on whether you view Dave Kingman as an outfielder or first baseman, Duda’s 125 Mets homers are either the most or second most for a Mets first baseman.
There were many great moments with Duda, but none of the aforementioned moments were my favorite. My favorite Duda moment was a seemingly meaningless Spring Training Game in 2015.
One night, I was sitting up watching the game with my then one year old half watching a Spring Training game when Duda ripped a double leading to an enthusiastic Gary Cohen call to the effect of “LUCAS DUDA rips an RBI double . . . .” My son immediately latched on and began screaming Duda, and he wanted to see Duda play more and hit more. As that season wore on, he became more and more interested in baseball, and he would learn the Mets players. First one he’d learn:
That was a magical year as both a father and a Mets fan. I’d get to see the Mets go to the World Series for the third time in my life, but it would be the first time I’d get to experience it with my son. I still remember him trying to stay up to watch the games with me. I remember him getting me a Duda jersey for Father’s Day and getting the Duda growth chart at one of the Mets games. Even with Duda gone, we will still use it. I also remember him going crazy during that World Series cheering for the Mets:
Duda leaving does not only mean we are saying good bye to a good player who began his career with the Mets. We are also saying good-bye to a part of a Mets era. It was an era that saw the Mets go from a frustrating team a team that came so close to winning a World Series.
On a personal note, I see Duda leaving as part of the ever changing realization that my son is no longer a baby – he’s now a little boy. He doesn’t just snuggle up with me at bedtime trying to watch Mets games, he now goes outside and plays baseball with me.
It was time to move on, especially with Dominic Smith waiting in the wings. Still, as Curtis Granderson would point out, you just want to hold onto all of these moments just a little longer:
Like Granderson, I still want to hold on to not just Duda, but all of these memories. In reality, it’s time to move on to bigger and better things. With that said, I enjoyed each and every minute Duda was a Met (except for that throw), and I appreciate all he has done in a Mets uniform. He was a class act, who was always there to answer questions in even the hardest of times. On a personal note, he helped make another great fan. He deserves another opportunity to win a World Series, and I hope he does get that ring.
Good luck Lucas Duda.
This was about a bizarre a debut as you will possibly see. Unfortunately, that wasn’t always a good thing for Chris Flexen.
On the third pitch of his Major League career, he allowed a homer to Manuel Margot. The inning would continue, and the Padres would have runners on the corners with one out. That’s when Travis d’Arnaud would help his young pitcher with two outstanding tags:
Two clutch plays from d'Arnaud in the 1st! ? pic.twitter.com/8dHX8rZGRf
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 28, 2017
The first was off a nice play from Flexen to field a Cory Spangenberg safety squeeze. d’Arnaud then blocked the plate and get the tag down on Carlos Asuaje.
During the next at-bat, Spangenberg broke for second. With d’Arnaud throwing through, Wil Myers broke for home. Wilmer Flores made a strong albeit slightly offline throw. In one motion, d’Arnaud caught the throw and just tagged Myer’s hand before his foot touched the plate.
The second inning didn’t go as well for Flexen.
The Padres loaded the bases with no outs, and Margot struck again hitting a double to the wall. Luis Torrens originally stopped at third, but he came home to score as Asdrubal Cabrera forgot how the pick up a baseball. For reasons that cannot be explained, Michael Conforto got charged with the error.
Flexen was able to navigate out of this inning, and he pitched a good third. With his having thrown 69 pitches, and his turn due up, Terry Collins lifted him.
Flexen’s final line in the loss was three innings, five hits, four runs, three earned, four walks, and two strikeouts.
The young pitcher was shaky in the first couple of innings, and by the time he settled in, his manager went elsewhere. Hopefully, he will get one more start to prove himself.
With Flexen out, Collins went to Tyler Pill despite Pill having thrown two innings yesterday. It came back to burn the Mets as a gassed Pill allowed three runs to give the Padres a 7-1 lead.
In another bizarre twist, the Mets used both Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz as pinch hitters. This was due to Lucas Duda getting traded and T.J. Rivera.
The real shame in all of this is just with one or two different things happening, the Mets might’ve won this game. Case in point was the seventh inning outburst.
With the Mets down 7-1, Yoenis Cespedes hit an RBI double leading the Padres to pull starter Luis Perdermo and bring in Jose Torres. Torres immediately balked home a run, and then allowed a home run to Jay Bruce pulling the Mets to within 7-5. They’d get no closer.
After the homer, it was 7-5 Padres. The Mets would get no closer giving the rookie his first major league lost in his first career start.
Game Notes: Flexen became the first Mets pitcher to make the jump from Double-A to the majors since Mike Pelfrey in 2006.
During last night’s game, we got to see the full experience of what it has been like watching Yoenis Cespedes in a Mets uniform. Much like he did in 2015, we got to see Cespedes make an immediate impact in the first inning with a home run off of Padres starter Kyle Lloyd:
https://twitter.com/TheRenderMLB/status/890034579041636353
After the Padres played some Home Run Derby of their own with Hunter Renfroe and Allen Cordoba each hitting a pair of third inning home runs off Seth Lugo, the Mets were trailing 3-1. For Renfroe, it was his second homer in as many at-bats against the Mets, and it was his third homer in three days. Thank God he plays in the NL West.
After the Mets pulled themselves within a run in the fourth with Travis d’Arnaud getting another two out RBI in this series, it was time for Cespedes to go back to work and help take this game over.
Cespedes joined the doubles hit parade in the fifth. After Curtis Granderson and Asdrubal Cabrera led off the inning with a pair of doubles, Cespedes followed with one of his own to give the Mets a 4-3 lead.
It was just one of those nights where things weren’t going to be easy. After Lugo surrendered a lead-0ff single to Matt Szczur, Cabrera didn’t get down low enough to field what should have been a Jose Pirela ground out. This set up first and second with no outs. Both runners would advance on a deep Carlos Asuaje fly out. Lugo did his best to limit the damage by allowing just one run to score on a Wil Myers sacrifice fly.
Lugo’s final line was six innings, eight hits, four runs, three earned, no walks, and one strikeout. He got the win in large part because of Cespedes.
The game winning runs came on what was about as bizarre as a Little League home run as you are ever going to see:
Yoenis Cespedes tried to check his swing, he instead hit a Little League homer. #Mets (? @MLB) pic.twitter.com/8rhUyB8yaf
— RealClearSports (@RealClearSports) July 26, 2017
Where do you begin with this one? The check swing triple? Myers throwing the ball away when there was no play at third? Cespedes’ head first slide into home? The offline throw from Cory Spangenberg? Or was it that Hector Sanchez failing to both catch the ball and tag Cespedes? It was the typical comedy of errors you see in your standard Little League home runs, but with Major League Baseball players.
With the triple, Cespedes found himself a single short of the cycle – the easiest one to get. Cespedes didn’t get that chance.
Despite Gary Cohen trying to assure us Michael Conforto was coming into the game in left field in a double switch so Terry Collins could get two innings out of Paul Sewald, we all knew better. Cespedes left the game with leg problems, which were later described as a quad tightness. Who knows how many games he will miss if any.
With Cespedes being the dominant figure in the game, putting the Mets on his back offensively, and leaving the game with a leg injury, Mets fans got the full Cespedes experience. Or at least very close to it as we did not get to see Cespedes unleash his cannon of an arm.
From there, Collins went to Addison Reed, who must be on fumes, in the ninth. The closer, who the Mets are trying their best to keep up his extremely high trade value, had another shaky ninth. He allowed a Dusty Coleman two out RBI double to bring the Padres to within 6-5. Much like he did last night, Reed then shut the door to preserve the victory.
With the win, the Mets are now just four games under .500, and they are nine games behind the Colorado Rockies (seven in the loss column) for the second Wild Card. Of course, this all means little when Cespedes leaves yet another game with a leg injury.
Game Notes: Conforto was initially out of the lineup to give him a day off.
Looking at the numbers, Jay Bruce is having one of his better seasons as a professional and a much better season than most expected with his nightmare stint with the Mets last year. So far, he has played in 91 games hitting .264/.328/.523 with 25 homers and 67 RBI. If he were to finish the season with the Mets, he may very possibly challenge the Mets single season home run mark of 41 shared by Todd Hundley and Carlos Beltran. He should not get that chance.
Simply put, the Mets have to trade Jay Bruce at the trade deadline.
The 30 year old right fielder is a free agent at the end of the season. Given the fact the Mets are not going anywhere this season with or without him, there is no reason to hold onto him. There’s even less reason when you consider the Mets are probably better off without him next year.
Heading into next year, the Mets will have Yoenis Cespedes and Michael Conforto firmly set in the Mets outfield for the next three years. During their tenure with the Mets, both players have shown they are capable of handling center on a short term basis, but both players have also shown they should not be playing center field on a full time basis. With respect to Cespedes, it is clear neither side wants him moving back to center.
On Conforto’s part, he seemingly wants to play the position. On the surface, he appears serviceable at the position with a 225.2 innings at the position, Conforto has a 0 DRS and a 1.2 DRS. Given his work ethic and his athletic ability, he could improve those numbers. However, he’s not likely to improve them to the point where he’s a good enough defender at the position.
Ultimately, the Mets need a good center fielder. Their Mets center fielders, including Conforto, have posted a 0 DRS, which is 18th in the majors. The Mets are in the bottom half of the league defensively at an important defensive position. That has been a common theme with this team. This is a bad defensive team that has been bad at key defensive positions.
This has had a direct result on the struggles on the pitching staff. As a team, the Mets pitchers have allowed an absurdly high .320 BABIP, which is dead last in the majors. Yes, the pitching staff has had some issues, and yes, the left side of the infield, which is atrocious with a -29 DRS contribute to this. Another contributing factor is the lack of a true center fielder who can cover the amount of ground a major league center fielder needs to cover. Again, the Mets center fielders are 18th in the majors. The team needs an upgrade.
Part of that is finally finding out what Brandon Nimmo can provide. At a minimum, the Mets need to see if he can platoon with Juan Lagares next year. For that to happen, the Mets need to trade Jay Bruce to free up some playing time for Nimmo.
If Nimmo can handle the job, great. If not, the Mets could decide to go with Lagares, or they can look outside the organization for players like Lorenzo Cain. The one thing they cannot do is bring back Jay Bruce.
Bruce has been a good player for the Mets, he has been healthy, and he has done all the team has asked him to do. The reward for that is to send him to a contender. It’s not to bring him back on an overpriced deal or to risk getting stuck overpaying him on a qualifying offer next year. Bringing him back is only going to cement the Mets defensive problems, and it is going to lead to another season like this. No one should want that, Jay Bruce included.
Accordingly, it is time the Mets put defense front and center, and move on from Jay Bruce.
When the Mets have Jacob deGrom pitching, they look like one of the best teams in baseball. Not only does deGrom shut down the opposition, but his presence on the mound seems to wake up the Mets bats. That was true again today in San Diego.
The lone mistake deGrom made in the evening was a pitch Hunter Renfroe hit atop the Western Supply Co. Building. At that point, the impressive home run was little more than a footnote in another deGrominant start.
deGrom’s final line was eight innings, five hits, two runs, two earned, two walks, and eight strikeouts. He’s now won eight straight starts.
It was a footnote because the Mets scored more than enough runs off Padres starter Clayton Richard. The scoring against him started with Wilmer Flores:
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/889674702175784960
Coming into the game, Flores only at-bat against Richard was a homer. This at-bat made two straight homers.
In the third, it looked like Yoenis Cespedes was going to break his long home run drought. Instead, it hit the CF wall, and Cespedes pulled in for an RBI triple scoring Asdrubal Cabrera. Cespedes then scored on a Jay Bruce RBIsingle through the drawn in infield.
In the fifth, Michael Conforto got the rally started with a one out double. After Cespedes was walked intentionally, Bruce hit his second RBI single to give the Mets a 4-0 lead.
After the Renfroe homer, the Mets would get the run back.
Jose Reyes hit a two out infield single, and he stole his 500th career stolen base. He then scored on a Travis d’Arnaud RBI single.
With the Padres knocking in another run in the eighth, it created a save opportunity for Addison Reed. Things got interesting with a second Renfroe homer.
It got more interesting with Manuel Margot and Hector Sanchez hitting back-to-back singles to get the tying runs on with just one out. Jabari Blash JUST missed a homer with the ball going foul and just missing the pole.
Reed settled down, struck out Blash, and got the final two outs to save the 5-2 game.
It may have been just a mirage with this being a deGrom start, but the Mets look good again just as they’re selling.
Game Notes: Zack Wheeler was put on the DL with an arm injury. Tyler Pill will be in the bullpen for now, and Chris Flexen will be called up on Thursday to take his spot in the rotation.
For those of us that forget, the New York Mets really had no interest in re-signing Jose Reyes after the 2011 season. When he signed with the Marlins in the offseason, there was a war of words between the two camps with Reyes saying he never received an offer, and Sandy Alderson saying Reyes’ agent was aware of the framework of the type of deal the Mets might be willing to do.
Since leaving the Mets, Reyes was roundly booed as a member of the Marlins, was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays, and finally had an overly brief and turbulent career with the Colorado Rockies. For reasons we all know, and need not be discussed in-depth at the moment, it led to the Rockies releasing Reyes. This also led to Reyes re-uniting with the Mets.
Last year, he was decent with the Mets helping the team make the postseason by obtaining the top Wild Card spot. The Mets brought him back as David Wright insurance, and he has struggled for most of the season. So far, Reyes is hitting .231/.293/.392. That’s good for a 79 OPS+ and a -0.8 WAR. Not to belabor what you already know, but Reyes has been a bad baseball player.
It’s bizarre we all know it, but the Mets don’t. Reyes’ 90 games played leads the Mets this season. Part of that is he hasn’t been hurt. An even bigger part of that is Terry Collins and the Mets organization won’t or can’t admit Reyes isn’t good. This is of course reflected in how the social media team has inundated us with Reyes since the All Star Break with tweets like this:
A man of the people. pic.twitter.com/Ovn5sg29Ce
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 12, 2017
Jacob deGrom is the ace. Michael Conforto is the All Star. Yoenis Cespedes is the most important player. Curtis Granderson is the role model. Addison Reed, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Jay Bruce are the players on the trade block. Yet, somehow, the Mets have made it a point to feature Reyes despite his poor play and his personal issues.
Yes, Reyes has played better of late, but he has been nowhere near as good as Conforto, Duda, deGrom, or Seth Lugo. You wouldn’t know that by looking at how the Mets promote their players.
Sure, this is a silly gripe, but when the Mets have nothing to play for this season, you tend to notice these things. Maybe if the Mets did the right thing by calling up Amed Rosario fans could focus on that. Maybe, just maybe, the team could promote him. I think we can all agree that is beneficial for everyone.
On a night surrounded with turmoil over what were largely benign comments from Yoenis Cespedes about how he wanted to return to Oakland at the end of his career, it was a player who began his career with the Mets who dominated the game.
In what has been a breakthrough season where Michael Conforto has supplanted Cespedes as the team’s best player, he put on a performance similar to what we’ve seen from Cespedes.
In the third inning, Conforto would give the Mets a 2-1 lead with an absolute bomb that almost hit the Shea Bridge:
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/888549796323184640
The Mets had trailed 1-0 before that homer due to what was an uneven performance for Steven Matz.
The A’s began the game by loading the bases with no outs. It was beginning to look like his last two poor starts. The entire tone of the inning, and perhaps the game, changed when Khris Davis hit into a 6-4-3 double play. A run scored on the play, but the rally fizzled.
Matz gave the 2-1 lead back in the fifth.
Rajai Davis single and stole second. On the steal, Davis broke early, and Matz threw to first. Lucas Duda made a perfect throw only for Jose Reyes to whiff on the tag:
https://twitter.com/mlbreplays/status/888560049752203264
It cost the Mets as Davis came to score on a Marcus Semien RBI single. Semien came into the game only hitting .151, so naturally, he went 4-5 with a run and two RBI.
Semien then scored on a Ryon Healy base hit giving the A’s a 3-2 lead.
Still, Matz would not get the loss because of a Mets sixth inning rally.
The rally began with an Asdrubal Cabrera lead-off walk. He moved to second on a Cespedes one out single. Duda then hit a grounder to the A’s first baseman Healy. It took a funny hop and hit him in the side of the head.
Healy came out of the game, and the bases were loaded. T.J. Rivera then hit a go-ahead two RBI single that became a comedy of errors. Actually, error as there was one error on the play.
On the single, Duda was thrown out by Davis trying to hit first to third. Rivera, the trail runner, went late to second. A’s third baseman Matt Chapman threw it into right field allowing Rivera to complete the Little League homer.
The Mets 5-3 lead would balloon to 7-3 as Conforto hit his second homer in the game:
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/888575204275998720
On what was another great night for Conforto, he was 2-4 with two runs, two homers, and four RBI.
The Mets would need those insurance runs as the bullpen almost had a complete meltdown in the eighth.
Erik Goeddel got the chance to shut the door, and he was ineffective. He allowed a lead-off single to Matthew Joyce, and then Josh Phegley doubled to center.
It was a play a regular center fielder makes, but Conforto is a corner outfielder by trade. In any event, there were runners on second and third, and they both came home to score on a Jed Lowrie single.
Addison Reed was then brought in for what seemed to be his second multiple inning save in three days.
Reed first walked Davis on a 3-2 pitch he swore was a strike. Key word here is swore as he began to get into a war of words with Home Plate Umpire Dan Iassogna, who was chomping at the bit for a fight. Or as Keith Hernandez put it:
Keith said Red Ass. So that was pretty cool
— The Coop (@Coopz22) July 22, 2017
Following another Semien RBI single, the A’s were within 7-5 with the bases loaded and one out. With all the left-handed batters due up for the A’s, Terry Collins took the ball from an angry Reed and gave it to a struggling Jerry Blevins.
Blevins has allowed 25 inherited runners to score, which is the fifth worst in the majors. Naturally, he would get out of that jam unscathed, and he’d pitch a perfect ninth for his first save of the season.
It was another bizarre game for the Mets on another bizarre day. At least the Mets came up on top.
Game Notes: Hansel Robles got the win after pitching a scoreless sixth. Cespedes was 3-4 with a run and a double against his former/future team.
* The headline was a joke. Please lighten up about Cespedes’ comments.
It is nice to see the Mets win a game because the other team had mental lapses in the field, poor managerial decisions, and had a bullpen blow a late lead and finally the game. Through the first 82 games, that seemed to be the Mets specialty. Today, in what was mostly a lethargic afternoon game, the Mets got bested by the Cardinals in something they had seemingly mastered.
Through the first 4.2 innings, Seth Lugo had a no-hitter going. Somewhere someone must’ve taken notice and said something because Greg Garcia hit a double for the Cardinals first hit of the game. Still, things were in good shape for the Mets because Lugo erased Garcia, and the team had a 1-0 lead.
That lead came because Lucas Duda hit a second inning homer against Cardinals starter Lance Lynn:
https://twitter.com/TheRenderMLB/status/888078198524841984
The sizzling hot Duda has homered three times over his last five games. Duda was also good in the field saving his infielders from a few errors. Most notably, his scoop of a bad T.J. Rivera throw in the seventh saved a run. Hopefully, one of the teams that needs a 1B/DH, and there are more of them than people will lead you to believe, have taken notice.
That 1-0 lead evaporated in the sixth. After a one out walk to Matt Carpenter, Tommy Pham, who has been killing the Mets of late, doubled him home to tie the score. Once again, Lugo settled in, shut the door in the sixth, and he pitched a scoreless seventh.
The Mets hurler deserved the win with his outstanding performance, but will have to settle for a no decision. His final line was 6.2 innings, four hits, one run, one earned, one walk, and five strikeouts. With him and Lynn out of the game, it became a battle of the bullpens, and a battle of wits between the managers.
With Erik Goeddel getting the last out of the seventh, Terry Collins turned to him to pitch the eighth. It’s hard to fault Collins when everyone else in the bullpen is terrible, but the decision backfired when Pham hit a 3-1 pitch out of the park to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead. With the way this game was going, and with how poorly the Mets have played of late, it seemed like this was how the game was going to end.
That was until Mike Matheny thought it was a good idea to let the left-handed Brett Cecil pitch to Wilmer Flores in the eighth. Everyone and their mother knows Flores crushes left-handed pitching. Matheny either didn’t know that, or didn’t care. That decision cost him as Cecil hung one to Flores:
https://twitter.com/TheRenderMLB/status/888108826888556544
From there, the Mets turned to the one reliever in their bullpen that they can have confidence – Addison Reed. Reed did his job pitching a scoreless ninth thereby giving the Mets a chance for a walk-off victory.
The ninth inning rally started with Michael Conforto drawing a lead-off walk against Trevor Rosenthal. It was another excellent game for Conforto that has gone unnoticed. On the day, the Cardinals allowed eight baserunners (six hits and two walks). Conforto accounted for four of those with him going 2-2 with two walks on the day.
Conforto would be erased on the basepaths on what initially appeared to be a double play ball off the bat of Yoenis Cespedes. Credit should be given to Cespedes for busting it down the line and keeping a runner on base. It paid off as he went first to third on a Rivera single. He would then score on what should have been the last out of the inning:
https://twitter.com/TheRenderMLB/status/888108826888556544
That Jose Reyes “single” was the improbable winner that sent Mets fans home happy, and it enraged Cardinals first baseman Matt Carpenter:
I love Matt Carpenter. The look on his face, exasperation as he yelled "Trevor!" was priceless. Furious and rightly so. #STLCards #Mets
— Mike Vaccaro (@MikeVacc) July 20, 2017
It was nice to be on the other side of one of these games this year. It was also nice to earn a split in the series. Even if the Mets aren’t going anywhere, it is still always a joy to beat the Cardinals. At the very least, it was a pleasure helping ensure they didn’t get the sweep they needed to get back into an NL Central race that is suddenly in flux.
Game Notes: Neil Ramirez was designated for assignment before the game to make room for Josh Smoker on the roster.
When all hope is lost, the main reason to watch the Mets is Jacob deGrom. He started today, and he delivered.
While deGrom may not have been as dominant as he has been over this stretch, he was still great. For the first six innings, no Cardinal player reached third base. In fact, the Cardinals only reached second base twice in the game.
deGrom’s final line was 6.2 innings, seven hits, one run, one earned, one walk, and three strikeouts.
That one run shouldn’t have scored. Luke Voit had a hard hit ball to the wall Yoenis Cespedes fielded cleanly, and he had Voit dead to rights at second. Only issue is Asdrubal Cabrera didn’t bother to cover second.
Instead a run scored, deGrom got his ovation, and Paul Sewald got the Mets out of the inning.
With deGrom going like this, you knew the Mets needed one, maybe two runs to win the game.
Mets took care of that and then some. This should come as no surprise as the Mets have now averaged 7.4 runs per game over deGrom’s now seven game winning streak.
In the first, the Mets put three runs on the board and all were with three outs. A Cespedes single scored Cabrera. Lucas Duda doubled home Cespedes, and Wilmer Flores brought him home with an RBI single.
Flores getting the start was interesting, especially with the right-handed Mike Leake getting the start for the Cardinals. Perhaps it was due to T.J. Rivera making two errors yesterday. Maybe Terry Collins just wanted to give Flores a game after he’s sat for so long. Maybe it’s due to the tumors the Red Sox may have interest in him.
In any event, Flores had a good game with that RBI single and a nice play in the field:
? Wilmer! ? pic.twitter.com/Zpkl4Lc4wo
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 20, 2017
After the good first inning, the Mets had a better second inning. Michael Conforto got things started with a single, and he moved to third on a Jedd Gyorko error allowing Cabrera to reach.
Jay Bruce hit an RBI single, and Cespedes followed with an RBI double making it 6-0. After Duda was intentionally walked Jose Reyes singled home Cespedes to make it a 7-0 game.
It should’ve been a laugher. It wasn’t.
In the eighth, Sewald was pulled by Collins with two on, two out, and back-to-back lefties due up for the Cardinals. Rather than find something out about Sewald in a 7-1 game and rest his bullpen with a noon game tomorrow, Collins couldn’t help himself. He went to a completely worn down Jerry Blevins.
While Blevins has been great most of the year, he has struggled mightily since June 1st. In that time, Blevins has a 5.84 ERA and batters are hitting .269/.367/.423 off of him.
Left-handed batters Kolten Wong and Magneuris Sierra hit consecutive singles to make it 7-3. With those two singles, Blevins has now allowed 25 inherited runners to score this year, which is the fifth worst in the majors.
After Blevins walked the pinch hitter, pitcher Adam Wainwright, to load the bases, Collins had to go to Addison Reed for the four out save.
As Reed is really the only remaining reliever who is reliable left in that bullpen, it should be no surprise Reed made quick work of the Cardinals for his 16th save of the season.
With the 7-6 win, the Mets have an opportunity for the split tomorrow.
Game Notes: Josh Edgin has allowed more inherited runners to score than Blevins with 29. That’s the third worst mark in the majors.
As the Mets head to the trade deadline, this team is clearly in a position to sell, and they should look to sell every player they have on an expiring deal. Certainly, if the Mets are offered a good return for Curtis Granderson, the team should trade him. But with him being 36 years old and with his being a fourth outfielder at the moment, are teams really going to offer the Mets something of value for Granderson? At this point, it doesn’t appear likely.
And in some ways that’s actually good for the Mets.
At the trade deadline, it is eminently possible, the Mets will move Jay Bruce, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Lucas Duda. If the Mets are able to move these players, it will create an opportunity for the Mets to play Gavin Cecchini, Brandon Nimmo (once he returns from the Disabled List), Amed Rosario, and Dominic Smith. It will be a small sample size, but we will find out if these players are ready to be big pieces of the Mets in 2018.
One of the ways the Mets can make their transition to the majors smoother would be to have a strong veteran clubhouse presence to show them what it takes to succeed in the major leagues. We saw how Cliff Floyd took a young David Wright under his wing, and we have seen Wright become the consummate professional. Obviously, you would want Wright to be that for another player. Unfortunately, with the myriad of health issues he faces, it is difficult seeing him be that player. With that being the case, the best player to do that for the Mets would be Granderson.
And really, who better than Granderson? In his time with the Mets, he has done everything the team has asked. He’s moved all over the batting order. The team has shifted him across the outfield. This year, they made him the fourth outfielder despite his arguably being one of the top three outfielders on the roster. This is exactly the type of guy you want around your young players. You want them speaking with Granderson. You need to have Granderson showing them what it takes to succeed in the major leagues.
It is also a reason why you want to keep Granderson beyond this season.
Re-signing Granderson not only means you’re bringing back the player. It also means you are bringing back the man. The man who does everything right on and off the field. He is a model human being that has played in New York for eight years. He should be telling players how to prepare for a game, how to deal with teammates, how to balance being a ballplayer and helping your community, and how to deal with the press. Having Granderson around will help put the young players in a position to succeed.
Another consideration is you probably need Granderson the player next year as well. Considering Granderson will be 37 next year, it is not likely he will get many offers to be a starting outfielder. In fact, he may very well get none. If that is the case, re-upping with the Mets is likely his best bet.
Since coming to the United States, Yoenis Cespedes has had chronic leg issues. We have seen that arise the past two seasons with Cespedes landing on the Disabled List. While he’s still young, Michael Conforto has been snake bitten a bit with a wrist issue last year and a bone bruise this year. Certainly, with their health issues, you want a fourth outfielder whom you can trust to play everyday. You can trust Granderson.
Look, if the Mets are blown away with a trade offer, you have to trade Granderson. If Granderson gets a starting outfielder job, especially one for a contender next year, he has to take it. With both situations unlikely, the Mets should be talking about a contract extension with a player who they need to have a profound impact next season.