The Mets playing baseball into November has made it a weird offseason. Combined with it being 70 degrees outside and it certainly seems too early for Christmas. Yet the kids were in a Christmas play, I saw “It’s a Wonderful Life” on the big screen and nearly every radio station is playing Christmas music. Add it all up and it’s time for our annual Christmas wishes column, where the players get what they really need!
Jerry Blevins – The good sense to take better care of his pitching arm. “When you get in a fight with a drunk you don’t hit him with your pitching hand. God, I can’t keep giving you these free lessons so quit screwin’ around…”
Asdrubal Cabrera – A few highlight reel defensive plays early, so no one looks too deep into his range.
Bartolo Colon – Nothing. He just got an undeserved $7.25 million contract so what else could he need?
Michael Conforto – Great productivity in the third slot in the order, so management will have faith in other young players.
Travis d’Arnaud – Success versus four-seam fastballs.
Jacob deGrom – The confidence to cut his hair, if that’s what he really wants to do.
Lucas Duda – No remorse over failing to sign the long-term contract that he was offered prior to the 2015 season.
Jeurys Familia – A manager who won’t use him with a six-run lead.
Wilmer Flores – A never-ending supply of low-and-in fastballs from stiff pitchers.
Curtis Granderson – A calendar missing the month of April.
Matt Harvey – In real life he didn’t get last year’s wish of a drama-free season. May he get recognition and appreciation for what he produces on the mound this coming year.
Juan Lagares – To get back in good graces with the BABIP gods.
Steven Matz – Since he wears Jon Matlack’s #32, may he reproduce Matlack’s Rookie of the Year 1972 season.
Kirk Nieuwenhuis – A full year in the majors.
Addison Reed – A repeat of his GB% (50) and K% (28.3) once he joined the Mets last year.
Noah Syndergaard – The ability to avoid the gopher ball or at least to have a normal HR/FB rate.
Ruben Tejada – When they change the rules to protect middle infielders, for it to be known as the “Tejada Rule.”
Neil Walker – Contentment being a platoon player in his walk year.
Zack Wheeler – Harvey’s control the first year back from TJ surgery.
David Wright – His 2015 offensive stats over his 2014 playing time.
*****
Sandy Alderson – The good sense to quit overpaying, in terms of dollars and/or prospects, when acquiring lefty relievers.
Terry Collins – A season where he doesn’t have to write in the names Eric Campbell, Darrell Ceciliani or Daniel Muno into the lineup card.
*****
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of the readers here at Mets360! I’m very happy that you come to our site on a daily basis. And I’d like to give an extra special thanks to loyal readers like Name, Metsense, DED, Chris F, James Preller, Eric, Eraff, TexasGusCC, Aging Bull, NormE, Meticated, Steve S., Hobie, Pete and AJ, whose contributions add to the site and make us all better writers. And finally, thanks to all of the writers at the site. May you have a wondrous holiday season.
It’ll be called the “Utley Rule,” I’ll put $20 on it.
The Lagares comment is interesting to me. He does so many things wrong at the plate, I don’t think a few lucky bounces would (or should?) really change how we perceive him as a hitter. This is an eyes vs. stats debate, I guess.
My wish is for Lagares to wake up and get his act together, and fast. I don’t think the contract helped him going into last season — and injury seemed to sap him of something, too.
He is a different hitter against LHP, though I don’t think it’s about luck. I just hope he’s not paired with “Venable the Inexorable.”
As Utley is the more famous player, you’re probably right.
Lagares is definitely an interesting guy – no doubt why we’ve spent so much ink talking about him. My subjective memory tells me he’s gotten quite a few bloop hits in his career. The numbers say he hits the ball harder than just about anyone else on the team.
After a .341 BABIP in 2014, Lagares had a .308 mark last year. And that’s only after a torrid streak to end the season. The final two months of the year, after the Cespedes deal, he had a .349 BABIP.
Maybe he’s a guy that should put in the work to overhaul his swing and look to put more balls in the air. As hard as the numbers say he hits the ball, if he hit more fly balls he could be a HR threat. I think he’d be more valuable as a 20-HR guy than someone who needed the hits to fall in to post a high AVG to be worthwhile offensively.
On Juan, I don’t think he turns on the ball very well, so his hard hit fly balls go to RF, where he doesn’t quite have that opposite field power. I just think he’s got bigger problems than BABIP, which I still see as a “result” stat more than a “process” stat.
In general, while BABIP is very popular here, I’m not a big fan of it in most cases. As a stat, it doesn’t speak to me. It is helpful to look at when a prospect has an outlier season that might be a fluke.
Lagares is a guy who appears to have everything necessary to make a leap as an offensive player. He really should be able to produce an OPS of .750. More power and a little better plate discipline (which should go hand in hand), and he’s there.
And yet, and yet. Like Eliot wrote toward the end of The Wasteland: “It’s time.”
Or, Freud: The problem might be in his head.
If we want to give Kevin Long praise for every positive stride a player makes, that’s find, I guess. But I’d love to see him fix this hot mess.
Lagares has a head problem. Hes constantly behind in count and gets frustrated. At some point someone has to tell him that pitch is gonna low and a mile out of the strike zone no matter what it looks like. He needs pitch and count recognition skills. If Long cant do that then, well, I give up.
On the bright side, he seems to be having a good winter ball season at the dish.
De Aza doesn’t make sense to me.
He hasn’t played much CF in the past few years. His RHP well, can’t hit LHP. So he only makes sense as a guy who pairs with Lagares.
Have the Mets just decided to drastically cut their ability to play defense up the middle? Because they found a guy willing to sign a one-year deal? He’s not valuable at all giving a break to our LH hitters Conforto, Granderson, or Duda.
Hey, maybe he’s a terrific CF and I don’t know it. I just look at the fact that teams don’t play him at that position and draw conclusions based on that. If he can play a good CF, I guess this is acceptable. Though I remain frustrated with an organization that does not value defense.
De Aza is living proof that the Wilponzi’s are siphoning off all baseball revenue to shore up the gushing wounds of debt that Buddy and his offspring have willfully ignored without blinking.
I really dont know what this team values JP. Its a hodge-podge of mixed signals. Hey at least we got to the WS no matter how it happened.
Thanks to Brian and the whole Mets360 staff for making this an essential part of Mets fandom. Ive become a smarter fan through the insightful words brought forth from the main crew, and the dedicated loyal readers and posters make this part of daily life.
Happy holidays to you all.
LGM!
2015 Eastern Division Champions
2015 National League Champions
My observation concerning Lagares (who I loved to watch in 2014) is that he looks thicker around the middle. That may be an illusion created by his blousy shirt, but he would not be the first young player who was betrayed by a body that did not age well, thus losing flexibility.
To Brian and all the writers, and to my fellow Mets360 participants—-Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Joyous and Healthy New Year.
LGM!
I thought it was rather odd for the FO to invest 7 million+ on Colon knowing Wheeler would be back by mid June. Unless? That’s a helluva a lot of money for a security blanket against Wheeler’s recovery. There weren’t cheaper options out there? Does Colon go to the pen when Wheeler returns to the rotation? Bartolo got His Xmas wish. Maybe we can get ours? Fred, Jeff please don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Most Met fans would be glad to offer you a hand to open the door. A ticker tape parade next year down the canyon of heroes would be my Christmas wish.Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all the writers and commentators. Best wishes to you and your families.
Thanks Brian and everyone who contributes. It’s been a fun year cheering, booing and prognosticating with like-minded fans.
On a side note Chase Utley is getting coal in his stocking.
Merry Christmas to all of us here at Mets360. A special thank you to the administrator who keeps a lean website and the editor who keeps a strict “no caps” policy. Great job Brian 🙂
Thanks Gus!
Wow! How many hats does Brian wear? He must be paid well. If not, he should join a union—the UFBW (the United Federation of Blog Workers). But, if he represents ownership/management that might be a problem. In any case, Brian is worth a lot more than he makes.