Each year before the season starts, we put up a projection for players thought to have a big role in the upcoming campaign. Then, once the season is over, we do a review of how the projections turned out. As you might have heard, this year was a little wacky. So, instead of doing an [...]
Wilson Ramos was likely the Mets’ third choice when it came to importing a starting catcher prior to the 2019 season. But he was still an improvement over what the Mets had the previous year behind the plate. There were concerns about his durability and his overall defensive play, even if he was expected to [...]
Seth Lugo has pitched four seasons in the majors and lifetime he has 31 starts and 30 games finished, without a complete game to his credit. He was very effective as both a starter and reliever when he first came up in 2016 but the following season got off to a late start because of [...]
It’s certainly been an eventful ride for J.D. Davis since joining the Mets. Acquired to be a depth infield piece and lefty masher, Davis ended up getting nearly full-time play in 2019, with most of it coming in the outfield. And he did just fine against RHP, too. Then when it seemed like he had [...]
When the projection series started back in January, it was unlikely that one would have been done for Michael Wacha, who seemed likely to get most of his work done in 2020 pitching long relief out of the pen. But the injury to Noah Syndergaard gives him a clear path to a gig as a [...]
We like things that are easy. It’s why we add together OBP and SLG to get OPS, which we use as a shorthand for offensive production. In mathematical reality, you never add things with different denominators. But adding together OBP and SLG gets you very close to the “right” answer so we do it anyway. [...]
Rick Porcello made 32 starts in 2019, the eighth time in his 11-year MLB career that he topped the 30-start plateau. He’s never had fewer than 27 starts in a season, a pretty remarkable run of health and durability. In his 2,037.1 lifetime IP in the majors, Porcello has amassed a 99 ERA+. Put it [...]
In his final 60 games of 2019, Michael Conforto had a .913 OPS. In his first 42 games of last year, he had a .926 mark. So, what happened in the middle of the year? In the May 16 game, the one that ended the opening hot streak, Conforto collided with Robinson Cano and ended [...]
It’s been established in everyone’s mind that Steven Matz is a riddle, someone who’s consistent only in his inconsistency. It seemed like more of the same for Matz in 2019. However, a look at the numbers show he was extremely consistent over five of the six months of the season. It was only the cursed [...]
Amed Rosario has made steady improvement since making his MLB debut back in 2017. That season he put up a 76 OPS+ in 170 PA. The following year his OPS+ rose to an 88 and last year it was 102, a really nice number for a 23-year-old shortstop. Over his final 372 PA, Rosario slashed [...]
The Mets acquired Marcus Stroman near the trade deadline last year, partially as an upgrade to Jason Vargas and partially as a 2020 replacement for Zack Wheeler. The cost was two prospects, which by itself was okay but combined with giving up two prospects in an earlier deal, really caused the Mets to be thin [...]
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about the 2019 season – and there are a ton of good options from which to choose – was the team not believing more in Jeff McNeil. Sure, they believed in him enough not to trade him. But they thought so little of him that the GM considered second base [...]