2016 Mets

[Knicks411]

That was an exciting game. Familia is bringing back Jose Lima (RIP) memories with making every save interesting.

I still can't bring myself to cheering for Reyes. I won't boo him but I just can't cheer him. On another note..what the hell was he thinking fielding that bunt at third. Let the ball go foul.

The trade market has been nonsense so far but if I'm the Mets I search for a short term rental in OF or 3b (Beltran/Nunez and Y. Escobar) and off one of their SS prospects. This would also free up Reyes to play more of utility role than an everyday player.

I think the OF is already crowded as it is.

I still like Danny Valencia at third base though

 

[SUFaninNJ]

Since there isn't a Cubs thread, I'll ask this hear. Anyone know how long Heyward's contract is for? He's sucked this year for the Cubs. I'd rather see Almora out there than him.

 

[Briancuse]

Since there isn't a Cubs thread, I'll ask this hear. Anyone know how long Heyward's contract is for? He's sucked this year for the Cubs. I'd rather see Almora out there than him.

I think he has 7 years left, Don't know what the Cubs were thinking.

 

[SUFaninNJ]

He had a decent rookie season with the Braves and he has been average at best since then. They've got Schwarber and Soler on the DL now, and they still have others who could (should) play ahead of him. Luckily many of the Cubs players have the flexibility to play multiple positions so no one sits for more than a day. Would love for them to pick up another SP.

 

[SUFaninNJ]

Ok, nice throw. He can stay a little longer. A hit once in awhile wouldn't be a terrible idea either.

 

[Briancuse]

Ok, nice throw. He can stay a little longer. A hit once in awhile wouldn't be a terrible idea either.

You Jynxed it.

 

[OrangeFoo]

Man I just have such a hard time getting behind the Mets this year... THEY.JUST.CANT.HIT.

And they have zero assets to make trades with. I think their pitching will let them stay over .500 for the year especially given they are playing a pretty soft schedule the back half of this year but I don't see them doing anything as long as their RISP average is hovering right above the mendoza line as a team (worst since the 1964 padres apparently who were an expansion team that won 54 games that year).

Not to bash Terry but how much of this is his fault for never ever calling a hit and run when he has a man on 3rd with less than 2 outs? I just don't understand how they play such a passive brand of ball.

 

[OrangeFoo]

It looks like the Mets didn't even bother showing up for today's getaway game.

If the weekend series against Miami goes badly the season could unravel pretty quickly. It might be time to talk about whether Matz should get his bone spur taken care of so that he's ready for next year. Big Sexy is now just Big. Thor can't seem to got past 6 innings. The bullpen has big time holes. No one can hit.

 

[Briancuse]

It looks like the Mets didn't even bother showing up for today's getaway game.

If the weekend series against Miami goes badly the season could unravel pretty quickly. It might be time to talk about whether Matz should get his bone spur taken care of so that he's ready for next year. Big s e xy is now just Big. Thor can't seem to got past 6 innings. The bullpen has big time holes. No one can hit.

We aren't going to beat anyone with Cespedes out of the lineup, the offense just isn't good enough, and Colon against the Cubs is a bad matchup.

 

[Knicks411]

I don't know if it's a hangover from last year or what, but my expectations are real low for the rest of the year. The schedule gets pretty light and I don't expect them to fall out of the playoff race, but the division almost seems out of reach, so I dunno. One game playoff in a best case I guess.

 

[OttoMets]

During spring training, I kept reminding myself that the Mets have never followed a pennant with a great season - how will they implode this year?

For one thing, my friends' cracks about Terry Collins -- which I defended him against last summer -- weren't so far off. He does some weird stuff.

But it's mostly a personnel problem (well, that, and the organization's ridiculous aversion to small-ball). Someone should've recognized that Wright's likely never going to be an above-average player again; should've come up with the money to bring Murphy back. And I still have no faith in Cespedes (though he's been solid, on the whole).

None of that solves the speed problem, but I'd be a lot more content with a D'Arnaud, pu pu platter, Walker, Murphy, Cabrera infield than what we've run out there since opening day. Clear guys like Granderson (who I like, but he's another Wright at this point) after the season, see how Nimmo and Conforto develop, and maybe sign some outfield speed to complement them (not another De Aza...again, What were they thinking?).

Instead, we've got a bunch of mismatched pieces.

 

[HakAttack]

Again, let's not overreact. We're one game out of a playoff spot the last week in July after losing one of our aces for the season, two more that are pitching compromised, and three regulars in the lineup missing either the entire season or close to it. (Wright, Duda, d'Arnaud).

And yet we're still in it.

 

[Knicks411]

Again, let's not overreact. We're one game out of a playoff spot the last week in July after losing one of our aces for the season, two more that are pitching compromised, and three regulars in the lineup missing either the entire season or close to it. (Wright, Duda, d'Arnaud).

And yet we're still in it.

I agree with that. Like I said, I think they're probably going to stay in the race. I'm just not as emotionally invested right now as I was last season.

During spring training, I kept reminding myself that the Mets have never followed a pennant with a great season - how will they implode this year?

For one thing, my friends' cracks about Terry Collins -- which I defended him against last summer -- weren't so far off. He does some weird stuff.

But it's mostly a personnel problem (well, that, and the organization's ridiculous aversion to small-ball). Someone should've recognized that Wright's likely never going to be an above-average player again; should've come up with the money to bring Murphy back. And I still have no faith in Cespedes (though he's been solid, on the whole).

None of that solves the speed problem, but I'd be a lot more content with a D'Arnaud, pu pu platter, Walker, Murphy, Cabrera infield than what we've run out there since opening day. Clear guys like Granderson (who I like, but he's another Wright at this point) after the season, see how Nimmo and Conforto develop, and maybe sign some outfield speed to complement them (not another De Aza...again, What were they thinking?).

Instead, we've got a bunch of mismatched pieces.

Cespedes has been pretty much awesome.

I agree with some of what you said, disagree with other things. And I'll cop to thinking before the season this team looked real strong and obviously that hasn't worked out.

1) Wright- 100% agree you could not have expected him to get through the season. In hindsight obviously you bring Murphy back, and there was even the argument at the time to do so and have him to cover for third when the inevitable Wright injury happened. But it's hard for the Mets to pay Murphy $13-14 million a year and not be an every day player when the season started. And the Walker for Niese trade has worked out pretty well. But they should have had a better plan in place for Wright getting hurt
2) They really had no backup plan at first for a Duda injury. Loney has been ok, but it took them a while to get him, and we had to endure a lot of Eric Campbell AB.
3) Honestly, the biggest real problem this year has been hitting with men in scoring position. And I don't think that's something you can project. Granderson has a 270 OBP and a 197 slugging (!) with RISP this year. That's one extra base hit all year. Last year he had a 433 OBP and a 516 Slug with RISP, for his career 337/442. Cabrera has a 286 OBP and a 213 Slug with RISP, for his career 325 OBP and a 383 Slug. Duda has a 294 OBP and a 222 Slug, career 377/434.

So I don't know. No one could have projected those guys to hit this bad with RISP. But it's happened. I assume it will revert as the season goes on, but maybe it doesn't. So h ere we are.

 

[OttoMets]

I agree with that. Like I said, I think they're probably going to stay in the race. I'm just not as emotionally invested right now as I was last season.



Cespedes has been pretty much awesome.

I agree with some of what you said, disagree with other things. And I'll cop to thinking before the season this team looked real strong and obviously that hasn't worked out.

1) Wright- 100% agree you could not have expected him to get through the season. In hindsight obviously you bring Murphy back, and there was even the argument at the time to do so and have him to cover for third when the inevitable Wright injury happened. But it's hard for the Mets to pay Murphy $13-14 million a year and not be an every day player when the season started. And the Walker for Niese trade has worked out pretty well. But they should have had a better plan in place for Wright getting hurt
2) They really had no backup plan at first for a Duda injury. Loney has been ok, but it took them a while to get him, and we had to endure a lot of Eric Campbell AB.
3) Honestly, the biggest real problem this year has been hitting with men in scoring position. And I don't think that's something you can project. Granderson has a 270 OBP and a 197 slugging (!) with RISP this year. That's one extra base hit all year. Last year he had a 433 OBP and a 516 Slug with RISP, for his career 337/442. Cabrera has a 286 OBP and a 213 Slug with RISP, for his career 325 OBP and a 383 Slug. Duda has a 294 OBP and a 222 Slug, career 377/434.

So I don't know. No one could have projected those guys to hit this bad with RISP. But it's happened. I assume it will revert as the season goes on, but maybe it doesn't. So h ere we are.

Cespedes, I just can't get on the bandwagon. When he's hitting well, it's fun to watch. But he gives up so many at bats. Great arm, but he can be rough to watch in the field (when he lost that ball in the ivy and gave up on it so quickly the other day, I had flashbacks to spring training). Seems fragile, so frustrating to watch him misplay that ball so badly (again) and then pull up lame with the quad strain last week. He just doesn't look natural out there, and it's doubly bad when he hurts himself doing it. He's like the baseball Mike Gbinije, athletic with a lot of talent, but something doesn't quite fit.

Interesting numbers re RISP. Like you, I assume this would revert to (or toward) the mean. Then again, Granderson's old, Cabrera's not far behind, and Duda's Duda (plus, I don't expect much out of a guy with back problems). We'll see.

 

[Knicks411]

Cespedes, I just can't get on the bandwagon. When he's hitting well, it's fun to watch. But he gives up so many at bats. Great arm, but he can be rough to watch in the field (when he lost that ball in the ivy and gave up on it so quickly the other day, I had flashbacks to spring training). Seems fragile, so frustrating to watch him misplay that ball so badly (again) and then pull up lame with the quad strain last week. He just doesn't look natural out there, and it's doubly bad when he hurts himself doing it. He's like the baseball Mike Gbinije, athletic with a lot of talent, but something doesn't quite fit.

Interesting numbers re RISP. Like you, I assume this would revert to (or toward) the mean. Then again, Granderson's old, Cabrera's not far behind, and Duda's Duda (plus, I don't expect much out of a guy with back problems). We'll see.

Hmm, that's odd, I really disagree with you on Cespedes. The one thing I will say is the guy is a not a CF, he's done about as well as I could have expected, but I didn't expect him to do that well because he's not a real CF. He does give away some AB, but really, every hitter does, and the overall numbers are really good. I don't even want to think about where they'd be without them.

Sure, Granderson is old, but he was only a year younger last year and the guy was amazing with RISP. And his overall numbers are pretty good, so I don't think he just gets old when guys are on base. Ditto Cabrera. Duda; I have no idea if/when he's going to come back.

I can really see the rest of the season going either way. They start to hit better with men on base, Duda and Wheeler come back, and they play 600 ball the rest of the year, they win 90 games (same as last year), which I would imagine puts them in the 1 game playoff. (Nats would have to play 500 ball for us to catch them). That could easily happen.

Or Duda and Wheeler never make it back, the bone spur for Matz gets worse, and they muddle around 500 for the rest of the year and miss the playoffs by 4-5 games or whatever.

 

[OttoMets]

Do we have faith that Wheeler will return? I've got no feel for these things, but kind of fear they're just kicking the can down the road and we won't see him.

 

[Knicks411]

Do we have faith that Wheeler will return? I've got no feel for these things, but kind of fear they're just kicking the can down the road and we won't see him.

Yes? (Not really).

They are traditionally conservative in bringing guys back from TJ, so even after having the surgery in March of last year the best case seemed to be all star breakish. But he had a set back a while ago and he's not even rehabbing yet. If he's back in the majors by Sep 1 I would consider that a victory.

 

[SWC75]

Citi Feld was built to be a pitcher's park. They've moved the fence in but I think it's still a pitcher's park more than a hitter's park. It makes the met's offensive philosophy seem strange.

 

[Knicks411]

Citi Feld was built to be a pitcher's park. They've moved the fence in but I think it's still a pitcher's park more than a hitter's park. It makes the met's offensive philosophy seem strange.

I think it's actually played pretty neutral the last few years?

Eh, looked it up. This year it's been a hitters park, 3 year park factor is now like 99, so basically neutral. But closer to 95 prior to this year.

 

[Briancuse]

Citi Feld was built to be a pitcher's park. They've moved the fence in but I think it's still a pitcher's park more than a hitter's park. It makes the met's offensive philosophy seem strange.

For the most part I agree with you, but the ball has been flying out of Citi Field lately.

 

[OrangeFoo]

Hmm, that's odd, I really disagree with you on Cespedes. The one thing I will say is the guy is a not a CF, he's done about as well as I could have expected, but I didn't expect him to do that well because he's not a real CF. He does give away some AB, but really, every hitter does, and the overall numbers are really good. I don't even want to think about where they'd be without them.

Sure, Granderson is old, but he was only a year younger last year and the guy was amazing with RISP. And his overall numbers are pretty good, so I don't think he just gets old when guys are on base. Ditto Cabrera. Duda; I have no idea if/when he's going to come back.

I can really see the rest of the season going either way. They start to hit better with men on base, Duda and Wheeler come back, and they play 600 ball the rest of the year, they win 90 games (same as last year), which I would imagine puts them in the 1 game playoff. (Nats would have to play 500 ball for us to catch them). That could easily happen.

Or Duda and Wheeler never make it back, the bone spur for Matz gets worse, and they muddle around 500 for the rest of the year and miss the playoffs by 4-5 games or whatever.

Whatever happens I hope Collins and Long go bye bye after this year. This team has never hit under Collins and Long has made good professional hitters worse with his insistence on pulling the ball... Well other than Murph whom he turned into ted Williams or Pete rose. Collins is great in the people side of the game but terrible in the tactics and he goes way too much with what his formula is or what baseball traditions tell him to do rather than reacting to what's actually happening on the field. Will always respect him for the run last year but his time is up.

 

[OrangeFoo]

Big day for the Mets... I know there is no such thing as a must win game in July but they absolutely can not go 0 for 2 today.

 

[Briancuse]

Big day for the Mets... I know there is no such thing as a must win game in July but they absolutely can not go 0 for 2 today.

The rain out really hurts the Mets, doubleheaders are very tough to win, and I don't like Verrett tomorrow against this Cards lineup.

 

[OrangeFoo]

The rain out really hurts the Mets, doubleheaders are very tough to win, and I don't like Verrett tomorrow against this Cards lineup.

Yep... especially when you have exactly one 7th inning setup guy and one 8th inning guy and one 9th inning guy you can trust. If any one of Robles, Reed and Familia can't pitch we are messed and I assume you cant pitch those guys twice in on day. I hope that the Mets can take the first and then put out the b-squad for the second.

 

[Briancuse]

This team is a joke, 2-14 with risp, I can't even get on Familia, he was due to blow one. I am done with Granderson, Walker, Cabrera, these guys are killing us.