Zack Wheeler

Taijuan Walker, Not Marcus Stroman, Cheated Out Of Gold Glove

Watching the 2021 New York Mets, you saw two of the best fielding pitchers you’ll ever see in Marcus Stroman and Taijuan Walker. Neither one will win a Gold Glove.

There’s a lot to unpack here. That goes double when you consider Stroman made the absolute best plays we saw a pitcher make all season. That’s not hyperbole. Stroman was a Wizard.

He went behind the back on Joshua Fuentes. He went Derek Jeter against Brandon Belt. He chased down Juan Soto.

Make no mistake. There’s no better fielding pitcher. None. The problem is this isn’t a career award. It’s for 2021 only.

Because of that, Stroman was deservedly, albeit shockingly, not named as Gold Glove finalist. While you can make a case for him, when you look at the data, Stroman ranked just 14th among qualifiers in DRS.

In terms of DRS, Max Fried and Zack Wheeler were the top two qualifiers. That makes them deserving finalists for the Gold Glove. While Zach Davies did not qualify, he had a 6 DRS, which tied him with Fried and put him one up on Wheeler.

Given his strong DRS ranking, you can understand why he was a finalist. That is, until, you realize Walker was better. In fact, Walker with his 7 DRS was the best fielding pitcher in the National League.

The problem might’ve been Walker didn’t have enough innings in time. According to Tim Ryder of The Apple, Walker only had 138.2 innings through the first 142 games of the season. He needed 142.0 leaving him 3.1 innings short.

Being diplomatic, this is stupid. There are 162 games in a season, and for an inexplicable reason, they cut off 20 games to make an arbitrary end point. It robbed Walker of an award rightfully his.

Consider that Davies, who qualified by the arbitrary point threw 11 fewer innings than Walker. There’s also the matter of chances.

In 2021, Walker had 51 chances. That’s 16 more than Davies. That’s three more than Wheeler. It’s five more than Fried.

That’s right. Walker made more plays, and he was a better fielder. He had the best DRS while making more plays in the field. Not giving him this award makes the award a sham.

In reality, that’s what this is. It’s a sham. The best fielding pitcher in 2021 wasn’t even eligible for the award because of an arbitrary cut off date before the season ended. As a result, Walker was cheated out of an award rightfully his.

There needs to be a way to fix this. You can’t have a pitcher with the most plays and best DRS not winning the Gold Glove. There’s no justifying it, and Taijuan Walker is owed an apology.

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Chaim Bloom Wouldn’t Have Traded Jarred Kelenic

There was always a lot of baseless narratives surrounding the New York Mets not hiring Chaim Bloom. We’ve heard that he was going to seek a rebuild instead of trying to win a World Series. We also saw assertions he was definitely going to trade Jacob deGrom.

Of course, no one knew this as fact. Yet, because those were the purposeful leaks in support of Brodie Van Wagenen, the myths have persisted. The other evidence presented was how Bloom traded Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers. That persisted despite trading Betts being a condition precedent for any incoming general manager.

So, Bloom did what he was told to do. The end result of that was a dreadful 2020 season wherein the Red Sox finished the season in dead last in the AL East. Of course, there were mitigating circumstances. First and foremost, it was a pandemic shortened season. Mostly, Chris Sale missed the season due to Tommy John, and Eduardo Rodriguez suffered COVID induced myocarditis. You’re not winning with 2/5 of your rotation missing like that, especially in a 60 game season.

What happened from there was Bloom went to work. He brought in players like Enrique Hernandez and Hunter Renfroe. In his first full season at the helm, Bloom built a 92 win Red Sox team. That team beat the New York Yankees in the Wild Card Game, and they just defeated the defending pennant winners, the 100 win Tampa Bay Rays, to advance to the ALCS.

Meanwhile, the Mets hired Brodie Van Wagenen, who needlessly ravaged the Mets farm system. He did it for the glory of missing the postseason twice. He did it because he had no idea what he was doing. Now, the Mets have to live with the outright dumb and amateur decisions. That includes Zack Wheeler pitching with the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Mets being saddled with Robinson Cano‘s contract, after he had his second PED suspension, while Jarred Kelenic had a big September for the Seattle Mariners. Of course, Cano’s contract is back on the books and Kelenic had a breakout just as Michael Conforto hits free agency.

Knowing what we know of Bloom, we really don’t know if he trades deGrom. After all, while he traded Betts, he didn’t look to move other Red Sox superstars, like J.D. Martinez, in the name of rebuilding or saving money. What we do know is Bloom did acquire a very good player in Alex Verdugo, who has been a key contributor to a Red Sox team now in the ALCS.

We also know from his history, he wouldn’t have traded Kelenic. The reason is he is not stupid. In fact, he’s brilliant. It’s how he built the core of that Rays team who won 100 games and is coming off a pennant, and it is how he built a Red Sox team which beat his old team in the ALDS. So sure, continue on with the false narratives about how Bloom would’ve traded deGrom while the Mets are trying to figure out how to fix what’s broken, and the Red Sox are winning.

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Mets Must Extend Qualifying Offer To Noah Syndergaard

In the second game of the doubleheader, Noah Syndergaard took the mound pitching just one scoreless inning. While it was Syndergaard, it wasn’t exactly as we knew him.

His fastball topped out at 96 MPH, not 100. He was only allowed to throw fastballs and change-ups. He only pitched one inning.

And yet, he still struck out two of the three batters he faced. He showed good command throwing nine of his 10 pitches for strikes. In all, even a shadow of Syndergaard was extraordinarily effective.

The start, stunt or not, was just part of the process back from Tommy John surgery. While you’d hope he’d be further along, he’s not. That doesn’t make him an outlier. In fact, it’s just the way Tommy John rehab seems to go with Mets pitchers.

Zack Wheeler immediately comes to mind. He missed two seasons due to his surgery. He was ineffective the first half of his first season back. Since then, he’s been pitching at an ace level, and he’s in the mix for the Cy Young this season.

If Wheeler had his way, he’d be doing it with the Mets. He didn’t get that chance because Jeff Wilpon and Brodie Van Wagenen are idiots who have no sense of loyalty. Fortunately, they’re gone and are not in a position to handle Syndergaard and his desire to return:

The lesson here is Wheeler. We also saw this season with Marcus Stroman the benefit of bringing back a very good pitcher on the qualifying offer despite a year of inactivity.

When you have the wallet, and Steve Cohen has the biggest one in baseball, you keep talent. You keep talent who wants to be here. You keep Noah Syndergaard.

When Syndergaard is healthy, he’s an ace. He’s a big game pitcher. This is a pitcher built for New York. He’s a pitcher who can get you to the World Series.

In all honesty, there’s zero arguments to not offer him the qualifying offer, which he would presumably accept. Seriously, there are none. Worst case scenario is he can be an effective pitcher in whatever the role.

The upside is he’s the ace he is. You don’t turn that down for what would be a one year deal. That’s Wilpon level stupidity. We’re past that.

The Mets must keep Syndergaard.

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Mets Path To 2021 Postseason

With 14 games remaining in the season, the New York Mets are seven games back in the loss column of the Atlanta Braves for the division, and they are six in the loss column back of the St. Louis Cardinals for the final Wild Card spot. Long story short, the postseason is a near impossibility, and yet, a path actually remains.

The Cardinals, despite being red hot, have a difficult end of the season. They play seven more against the Milwaukee Brewers, and they have a pivotal series against the San Diego Padres this weekend. Now, the Cardinals are aided by having seven games against the Chicago Cubs to offset some of that.

The Cincinnati Reds have the easiest path and seem well poised to grab the second Wild Card. Putting aside three against the Los Angles Dodgers, they play the Pittsburgh Pirates six times and the Washington Nationals three times. Yes, they do have three against the Chicago White Sox, but the White Sox have already rapped up the division and are really getting ready for the postseason.

Going back to the Padres, it is hard to see how they’re not done. After the Cardinals, they play the San Francisco Giants six times and the Los Angeles Dodgers three. Now, this is where things get a bit interesting for the Mets. The Padres do host the Braves for a west coast series.

The Braves do not have an easy end of the season schedule. They’re heading out for a late in the season west coast trip. First is the Giants, and then after a respite against the Arizona Diamondbacks, they have a four game set in San Diego. They then end the season at Citi Field. The Mets mission is to somehow get to that last weekend at least three back in the loss column.

It’s not an easy road. The first thing which really needs to happen is a pair of sweeps. The Giants need to sweep the Braves, and the Mets need to do the same to the Philadelphia Phillies. For the Mets, that’s much easier said than done with the Phillies having Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, and Kyle Gibson lined up. There’s also the matter of Bryce Harper, who is playing at an MVP level.

After a pair of sweeps, the Mets would be four back in the loss column with 11 to play. In that stretch, they’d have to finally take care of the Miami Marlins in a pivotal September series. They’d have to bury a reeling Boston Red Sox team in Fenway Park, and they’d have to hold their own against the Milwaukee Brewers.

In many ways, the Mets season will hinge upon their play against the Marlins and Brewers. It may also hinge on their ability to get something, anything from Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom at the end of the year. Looking at this, you may be very well inclined to say the Mets really have no shot.

The honest answer is there isn’t much of one, but in some bizarre way, there is still a realistic (albeit arduous) path to the postseason. All we can hope for at this point is the Mets are up for this challenge. The Mets team we saw play the Yankees were, but the one who played the Cardinals weren’t. We’ll find out which team we’re getting when Taijuan Walker squares off against Wheeler.

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“Don’t Just Believe, Know” Can Become “Ya Gotta Believe!”

Back in 1973, Tug McGraw got himself in a little bit of hot water with New York Mets Chairman of the Board when he responded to the pep talk with the “Ya Gotta Believe!” chant. It irked Grant, who was a renown miser, but here’s the key thing with McGraw – he backed it up.

At that point, McGraw was having a career worst year. From July 11 until the end of the season, McGraw made 28 appearances pitching an astounding 69.1 innings.

Over that stretch, McGraw was 5-2 with 14 saves, a 2.21 ERA, and a 1.067 WHIP. He would pitch 3.0 innings on the final game of the season earning the save as the Mets won the division by a game.

McGraw went forth and backed it up with a terrific postseason. In fact, it was probably one of the finest postseason performances from a Mets reliever. Overall, he was 1-0 with two saves and a 1.98 ERA.

While his earlier jeering battle cry fell flat and irked the Mets front office, his backing it up made it a well known and beloved Mets battle cry.

This is a similar situation Pete Alonso now finds himself.

The Philadelphia Phillies just swept the Mets knocking them from first place to third. It’s part of a maddening 1-9 stretch which has seen the Mets fall to just one game over .500 as this team looks like they’re going to completely fall apart.

Making this all the worse was the most recent loss was a complete hit two hit shut out at the hands of former Met (who wanted to remain a Met) Zack Wheeler. Fans have not been this dejected all season.

The very last thing Mets fans wanted was some Pollyanna pep talk from the fan favorite telling everyone everyone is fine. Well, that’s what they got from Alonso:

This feel exceedingly flat. That goes double with Alonso going 0-for-11 in the series with five strikeouts. One of those strikeouts came in the ninth when he represented the go-ahead run.

Really, Alonso has been terrible of late. Over his last 16 games, he’s hit .140/.269/.316. His not hitting has coincided with the Mets collapse.

Todd Zeile was irked by the comments. He wanted to see more accountability and a more honest assessment of the situation. This echoed Mets fan sentiment. Being honest, it was a very mild account of how fans felt.

There’s a problem with the sentiment from Zeile and others. They were expecting Alonso to be someone he’s not. What we got from Alonso was who he is.

Alonso is where he is due to the belief he has in himself. He’s the player he is because his focus isn’t just on process, but more to the point, not getting too low. He’s the living embodiment of McGraw’s mantra.

Now, it’s really up to Alonso to back it up just like McGraw did. If he takes off and the Mets do win this division, fans will have a much different reaction to the comment.

If the Mets win the division, “Don’t Just Believe, Know” will become a fitting sequel to “Ya Gotta Believe!”

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Third Place Mets

Well, on the bright side Taijuan Walker pitched reasonably well for the New York Mets. The pitcher who has really struggled in the second half had his first quality start since June 25.

That said, the king balls continue to be a real issue for him. This time, Jean Segura, J.T. Realmuto, and Bryce Harper each hit solo shots off of him.

That was more than enough for the Philadelphia Phillies as Zack Wheeler completely and utterly dominated the Mets in a two hit complete game shut out.

If not for Brandon Nimmo, who was 2-for-4 with a double, the Mets get no-hit. Frankly, the Mets probably deserved to be no-hit. Besides Nimmo, there was just one walk, and the Mets combined to strike out 11 times.

To add insult to injury, trade deadline acquisition Javier Báez left the game with an injury. The Mets are saying he’s day-to-day, but at this point, they’re saying it is relatively meaningless.

With the Atlanta Braves also winning today, the Mets dropped to third. For a team 1-9 over their last 10 games, there’s no telling just how much worse it’ll get.

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20/20 Hindsight: Mets Couldn’t Take Full Advantage Of Phillies Bullpen

For once, it was nice watching another team struggle through a bad bullpen, but you still would’ve hoped the New York Mets made more of their opportunity against that dreadful Philadelphia Phillies bullpen:

1. Deepest condolences go out to Marcus Stroman who lost his grandmother.

2. The fact Stroman pitched through the pain of losing a loved one is another in a long series of how no one should ever question his heart or dedication. Again, this is the type of player and person the Mets want to keep around past this season.

3. Corey Oswalt has been really good and looks well poised to take over the role Robert Gsellman once had. That’s good because it doesn’t look like Gsellman is coming back anytime soon.

4. That spark Michael Conforto provided the Mets offense sure seemed short lived.

5. On that note, the Mets offense is aware they don’t have to wait for the ninth for a rally, right?

6. It’s really difficult to pinpoint what’s wrong with Jeff McNeil other than bad luck. His batted ball numbers are extremely similar to previous seasons. With that being the case, they just need to stick with him.

7. The Mets really need to switch McNeil with Luis Guillorme defensively. Aside from struggles in a COVID impacted season, McNeil is a good third baseman. Guillorme is other worldly at second and not so great at third. It’s time to fix this.

8. Zack Wheeler dominating the Mets is just another example of just how impossibly bad Brodie Van Wagenen was as a GM.

9. Just imagine if the Mets had Wheeler behind Jacob deGrom. They’d be absolutely impossible to beat in a postseason series. It would really be on the level of 2001 Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling.

10. deGrom is so amazing two earned over six innings is considered a bad start. When your worst is better than 99% of the league’s best, you know deGrom’s season is beyond hyperbole.

11. The Mets have a bit of a Pete Alonso problem. He’s just nowhere near his 2019 form, and he just seems to be getting further away. More troubling is the struggles hitting at home.

12. That’s not exclusive to Alonso. The Mets also have a Dominic Smith problem, and basically [INSERT PLAYER] problem. McNeil was noted above, and Conforto’s power had seemingly disappeared.

13. Brandon Nimmo appears nearing his return, and the Mets offense seems to need him. That’s problematic considering there are more than enough bats already in this lineup.

14. When Nimmo does return, Billy McKinney needs to stay on the roster. He’s earned his spot and has significantly outperformed Albert Almora.

15. Mark Vientos and Carlos Cortes are flat out raking in Double-A and need to be moved to Syracuse ASAP. They need to be ready to help this roster if needed come August and September.

16. David Peterson had a strong start. He needs to start stringing them together.

17. Francisco Lindor had a huge game winning hit, and he increasingly looks like the player he was in Cleveland.

18. There’s been focus on Guillorme’s batting average, but he’s got a terrific .403 OBP. Considering he’s an eighth place hitter, you can’t ask for more than that. That goes double when he just finds a way on base in the late innings.

19. It’s funny. The Mets have gone 6-6 in a 12 game stretch against the NL East, and their 4.5 game lead is now 4.0 games. The only real change now is the order of the trans behind them.

20. At some point, the Mets need to go on a run. To that, Noah Syndergaard does say the Mets are a second half team . . . .

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Neon Moment Of The Week: Clutch Conforto

This was the toughest week so far for the New York Mets this season. Their woes with RISP reached new levels of despair, and the Philadelphia Phillies felt awfully comfortable trying to push them around.

After Jose Alvarado threw two at Michael Conforto and Dominic Smith gave him a mouthful the last series these two teams squared off, Alvardo struck out Smith in a big situation. Alvarado disrespected Smith, and the benches emptied.

They lost that game, but the Mets were fired up. We saw that when they grabbed a 4-0 first inning lead against Zack Wheeler. The problem is it ended there, and the Phillies got back into the game.

While this was not a “must win” game, the Mets needed to make a statement. They needed to show they do have the mental toughness to win these games. They needed to show the Phillies they will not be pushed around or disrespected.

In the ninth, Conforto came up against Hector Neris. This is the same Conforto who was booed during this season, and his ability to hit in the clutch has always been questioned. He would silence everyone with one big swing:

That was a game the Mets needed to have. In some ways, with the way the season has played out, they probably needed the hit all the more. Getting that hit and getting that win makes this the Neon Moment of the Week!

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I am very appreciative Athlete Logos has agreed to participate in this feature. If you like his work as much as I do, please visit his website to enjoy his work, buy some of his merchandise, or to contract him to do some personal work for yourself (like I have).

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Clutch Conforto

The New York Mets responded to the loss and Jose Alvarado‘s disrespect by jumping out to a 4-0 lead. It all started with a Francisco Lindor HBP, and there were big RBI doubles by Michael Conforto and Pete Alonso.

The Mets had a chance to build from there, but James McCann grounded into a double play. That hurt because Zack Wheeler was pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies. You get what you can get in the first because he’s much stingy later in the game.

That was the case here. After that first inning, Wheeler shut down the Mets over the next six innings. That gave the Phillies a chance to get back into the game.

Now, Taijuan Walker pitched well but not quite well enough.

The Phillies jumped on him in the second. After a Nick Marton double, there were runners and second and third with no outs. The first run scored on an Andrew Knapp RBI groundout. Walker was close to getting out of the inning further unscathed, but Wheeler helped his own cause.

Walker went on cruise control after that allowing just a walk heading into the sixth. That’s when the Phillies started going through the third time through the lineup. It came to bite him and the Mets when Alec Bohm hit a game tying two run homer.

From there, two things happened. First, the Mets bullpen stepped up again and pitched well. Aaron Loup and Trevor May pitched a scoreless inning apiece to ensure the game was tied heading into the ninth.

In addition to the bullpen stepping up, the game went haywire. It wasn’t haywire in the way it went with Alvarado throwing at people and trash talking. Rather, it all hell broke loose.

In the seventh, Brandon Nimmo swung at a pitch, missed, and he came out of the game with an injury. He’d be replaced by Kevin Pillar. Pillar’s strikeout was attributable to Nimmo. Nimmo wasn’t the only Met to leave the game with a hand injury.

Loup was double switched into the game with Jonathan Villar taking over at third. There wasn’t an obvious play which caused it, but he left the game with a sprained hand.

In that inning, we’d see an absurdly bad umpire call. Matt Joyce hit a grounder towards Lindor, who went to tag Andrew McCutchen, and missed. It didn’t matter as the umpire ruled it was a double play.

McCutchen was ruled to have run outside the baseline. He didn’t, but it’s not reviewable because the replay system is completely broken.

Bryce Harper, who couldn’t play because he was hit in the face by a Genesis Cabrera pitch, was thrown out of the game.

In any event, Hector Neris entered the game for the Phillies in the ninth. On the second pitch he threw, Conforto hit a go-ahead homer:

With the Mets ahead 5-4, Edwin Diaz entered the game looking for his third save of the season. Now, this is a spot where Diaz had issues in the past. Not tonight. He mowed down the Phillies in order to preserve the win.

This was a big response to the loss and disrespect last night. It was a big win with Conforto getting a huge hit, his second homer of the season. Now, they need to make this stick by winning tomorrow.

Game Notes: Luis Guillorme landed on the IL, and Jose Peraza was called up in his place. Nimmo was diagnosed with a left index finger contusion.

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David Peterson Out-Duels Zack Wheeler

This should have been a pitching mismatch with Zack Wheeler dueling against David Peterson. The disparity was widened due to Peterson’s struggles against the Phillies in his young career.

Instead, Peterson threw the best game of his young career.

Over six innings, Peterson would limit the Phillies to one run on two hits and no walks. He’d strike out an astonishing 10 batters. The only blemish was a Jean Segura homer in the fifth.

Peterson needed to be this good because Wheeler was fantastic as well. The key with good pitchers like him is to jump on them early before they get in a groove.

Brandon Nimmo, who seemingly can’t make an out anymore, led off the game with a single. Francisco Lindor and Dominic Smith followed with a pair of singles to put the Mets up 1-0 without recording an out.

The Mets chances of blowing it wide open early was stymied when Pete Alonso hit into a double play. The bright side was a run scored to make it 2-0.

It was 2-1 heading into the seventh when Luis Rojas tabbed Jeurys Familia. With Miguel Castro and Trevor May realistically unavailable, this was a good spot to see if Familia could grab big innings again.

Familia would walk J.T. Realmuto to start the inning, and Realmuto would go to second on a fielder’s choice. Segura followed with an infield single putting runners at the corners. On the play, Linder tried to pick Realmuto off third to no avail.

When Didi Gregorius was announced as a pinch hitter, Rojas went to Aaron Loup. Loup did his job getting the ground ball to induce the inning ending 6-6-3 double play.

Loup had his best game with the Mets. After getting the inning ending double play in the seventh, he retired the Phillies 1-2-3 in the eighth striking out two.

While the Mets bullpen was at work, Joe Girardi got a little greedy with Wheeler pushing him to start the seventh. After retiring Nimmo, Lindor and Smith got back-to-back hits setting up runners at the corners.

After 108 pitches, Girardi finally lifted Wheeler for Sam Coonrod. Coonrod got Alonso out, but Lindor would score on the sacrifice fly giving the Mets a 3-1 lead.

The top of the Mets lineup was fantastic tonight. The top three batters combined to go 8-for-14 with three runs, a walk, and an RBI.

The Mets added some more insurance runs in the eighth. Michael Conforto led off the inning by getting hit on the elbow . . . again. Astoundingly, Conforto’s elbow has been hit by four pitches, and he’s gotten three hits with his bat. James McCann made JoJo Romero pay by hitting his first homer as a Met:

Edwin Diaz came on in a non-save situation in the ninth, and he closed the door on the Mets 5-1 victory. Mets are now the only team in the NL East two games over .500, and they don’t seem like they’re looking back.

Game Notes: Nimmo leads the majors with a .583 OBP. There is rain in the forecast putting tomorrow’s game in jeopardy.

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